Wood and Coal Stove Advisory

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Effective July 1, 1988, the EPA—unbeknownst to wood-burning consumers, with ineffective opposition from a fragmented stove-making industry, and encouraged by the Fortune-500 promoters of a new glass-honeycomb smoke combuster—promulgated a two-phase program to limit smoke emitted by stoves made or sold in the U.S.A. Colorado and other states experiencing wood smog problems issued parallel legislation. (Oregon added wood-burning efficiency standards as well.)

Wood smoke, particularly from an oxygen-starved fire, contains a whole catalog of noxious chemicals. But EPA measures only "particulates"—miniscule (10-micron and smaller) specks of partly-burned hydrocarbon that lodge deep in the lungs, and that are found in smoke from even the hottest, cleanest wood fire—assuming that other less easily measured smoke toxins will be reduced along with particulates.

We are now into Phase 2 of the EPA program affecting new draft—restricting heating stoves made after July 1, 1990 or sold after July 1, 1991. Freestanding and fireplace-insert airtight stoves are covered, while cook ranges and fireplaces—lacking doors and dampers to operate in airtight mode—are exempt, whether built-in or freestanding. Smoke from stoves without a catalytic combuster is limited to 7.5 grams/hr. of particulates and catalytics to 4.1 grams/hr. By July of '92, all stoves meeting the 1988 Phase 1 standard (5.5 grams/hr. for catalytic stoves and 8.5 gr/hr. for non-catalytics) had to be gone from retail stores even if unsold.

This year ('92), cast-iron log-burners and Franklines in pre-airtight designs (with sloppy-fitting doors and leaky air controls) have been exempted from EPA regulation and are beginning to appear in stores at pre-airtight prices. Suitable for occasional use in workshops or rural camps, they are dirty-burning, inefficient, and once again are being flimsily made in offshore foundries. Don't use them for serious home-heating in populated areas.

New-Generation Wood Stoves

With a combination of sincere environmental responsibility and a practical "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" resignation, solid fuel industries fell in line with the new regulations. To date, four technologies have been introduced in response to the new standards. Best-known are the catalytic stoves.

Warming up some tea on top of an old wood-burning stove is one of the coziest ways to start a winter morning.

Once it was certain that the EPA standards would become law, the stove industry committed millions to redesign their airtights around the catalytic smoke combuster, a device that works on the same principle as an auto-exhaust converter: Stove emissions pass through a glass/ceramic honeycomb coated with a rare-metal catalyst that forms a fleeting chemical bond with smoke particles to lower their combustion temperature. Inside the combuster, they burn up, increasing fuel efficiency by a quarter to a third. While an old-style 50 percent-efficient stove can spew hundreds of pounds of toxic crud into the air over a heating season, top-performing catalytics exceed 80 percent efficiency and produce less than one gram/hr. of particulates.

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