Wood and Coal Stove Advisory

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The Smog Patrol

Local authorities have the power to force emissions from all stoves new or old into compliance with Federal air quality standards. In some towns, Board of Health inspectors prowl the streets using an opacity strip to check smoky chimneys. Since any new or air-starved fire will smoke, the operator is warned and given a reasonable time (30 minutes) to bring emissions into compliance. Repeat violators risk fines ranging up to the price of a new stove, and in firmly regulated areas, the old-style smog producers are being replaced.

Zoning or building-code regulations may also require that any new stove, or any stove in a property being sold, satisfy the federal regs. For example, in 1991, Seattle's King County was contemplating a near-total ban on new wood-burning stoves but settled for a requirement that all such carry an EPA tag. Further, a growing number of home insurers—particularly in urban areas of the Northern tier of the United States—require that any newly installed stove carry an EPA-Certification tag.

Always check local ordinances before installing a wood heater. If a building permit and safety inspection are mandated, get them. If not, follow installation specs in your local Building Code. If an EPA-approved or exempted stove is required, get one and install it properly. Thankfully, the days of trial-and-error do-it-yourself stove-installation are long gone. All stoves come with full instructions and many stove sellers double as installers. If in doubt, especially as to adequacy and safety of your chimney and stove pad, look in the Yellow Pages under Wood, Heating, or Stoves for a qualified expert. As a last resort, contact the local fire department for help.

Older Stove Safety & Operation

We've learned a lot about safety since you and I put in our first wood heater (and I at least was too ignorant to install a stovepipe damper and nearly burned down the farm). Safety and environmental good sense suggest that we update our stove installations to modern standards and change a few old habits so we burn more cleanly.

If your stove has been working for years with little more attention than an occasional stove-blacking, give it a good inspection. Be sure the door and draft gaskets are still flexible. Replace soft, crumbly firebrick liners. Look inside and outside the firebox and smokeboot for hairline cracks in steel welds or places where dried stove cement is falling out in the seams between cast iron plates. Fresh cement-putty knifed in the cracks may suffice for a while, but cracks in steel may widen and need brazing. You may have to cut a few stove bolts and re-cement some of the joints of an iron stove. (Don't be afraid of it, our grandfathers tore down and rebuilt their iron stoves every spring. Lacking confidence, look in the Yellow Pages for an old-stove reconditioner to do the work for you.) If you haven't replaced the stove pipe and dampers on a regular basis, take yours down, disassemble, and clean it. Don't reinstall any pipe with rust—especially around the flanges where sections meet. If the flue connection is not solid, replace the rusted thimble (the metal collar that is cemented into the flue to accept the end of the stovepipe) and flaky mortar down to sound brick and rebuild.

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