Perhaps not everyone knows but woodstoves have to be re-certified this spring. Here is part of an article speaking about the stove we have in our home; Woodstock Soapstone Fireview. So much for testing; all the test really did was to make manufacturers deal out more dollars. Still no doubt there will be a few that won't make the cut, but all of Woodstocks stoves will cruise through. While other manufacturers are struggling to certify stoves to the EPA 2020 standards, the wood stoves we’ve been producing since 1995 have been exceeding the new, stricter wood stove standard! For the last 25 years we've been building the cleanest stoves in the United States! We just submitted our flagship stove, Model 205, Fireview for the stringent new 2020 EPA Testing with Cordwood. In 1995, the Fireview passed the EPA Standards (using then prescribed crib fuel) with an emissions rate of 1.34 gm/hr. In January 2020, the Fireview passed the 2020 EPA Standard, using cordwood, with an emissions rate of 1.12 gm/hr.
These red tape bureaucratic agencies are good at having the Reverse Midas Touch, everything they touch just turns to $$hit. They aren't interested in stopping or reducing pollution, just in making sure that everything under the sun, everything we do throughout our every day, is under their control. Causing this much trouble for small companies while the gas & oil fracking industry is raping, pillaging & poisoning a thousand times more in a minute then our stoves are in a whole year.
On the other hand the new rules should weed out some of the dog stoves on the market. Unfortunately there will be some reliable, well made stoves stoves that will miss the mark by such a small amount and will be gone.
Who'da thunk 50 years ago when so many were whining about emissions controls in cars "ruining the industry" that 50 years later we would have cars with 5/6/700 hp meeting emission standards many times as stringent getting decent mileage polluting less and being comfortable safe cars to drive in a congested driving environment ? I say let the industry innovate with constraints. It has worked in the past. Not saying the road hasn't and won't be rocky but people are pretty slick coming up with new and improved ways of doing things. Luddites will whine despite any changes .
my two cents or opinion is that the the new emissions rating is probably a good thing as well as stoves being more efficient in the amount of wood they burn. However also maybe a little too strict. Side note. I would of loved to get a Woodstock Soapstone stove. Just out of my price range for a new one and don’t have the cash for used. So I recently bought a new Englander add on furnace on credit from HD before they sell out. Price dropped significantly compared to the other big box stores. Pulled the trigger. Now buying piping/chimney accessories a piece at a time.
Just had a conversation with our local wood stove dealer in town regarding this matter. He is pretty pizzed at the bureaucracy of the EPA. He feels they want to put the wood stove industry out of business entirely. They just keep raising the bar. Used to be emission hurdle to pass was 7.0. Then it became 3.0. Now it’s 1.5. Any stove in their store after May 15 will be subject to a $20,000 fine per unit. So right now if you want a new stove is a good time to buy. New standards only apply to dealers selling stoves. Anyone already owning one by that date is grandfathered in and will be ok from those restrictions. He said dealers will be dumping these stoves for pennies on the dollar because if they don’t get rid of them they risk going out of business entirely. So literally, dealers are having a fire sale right now on the “older” stoves (which were already clean burning epa approved stoves previously.)
I remember when we were in the same sort of fix, but over time, we got enough together to get the Fireview. Have never been sorry either, especially that it uses so much less wood to heat our home. Bide your time... In the meantime, stay warm.
Yes, I remember a discussion about this way back last year and we figured there would be lots of stoves in showrooms that would take a hit. Sad for those who sell the stoves for sure. The epa could have allowed them to sell what they had in stock.
I personally think most/many stoves were clean enough as is...but, the good thing is that this time around (as opposed to the 1988 EPA stove regs) they (EPA) included furnaces and boilers...which were exempt last time...and whereas the stove side of the business was forced to clean things up and come up with cool new innovations...the boiler and furnace guys largely just kept churning out the same old school junk...fortunately there were some exceptions...one of them is Lamppa manufacturing...a small family owned shop in northern Minnesota that was striving to build the best, instead of just "good enough"...they have now been rewarded with having the only (currently) hot air wood furnace that will be available in the states come May 15th...and all with the same basic design that they have had for years now. Now, with that said, there is one other major player in the wood furnace world that is rumored to have 2020 compliant models ready to be released shortly...but these will be all new models, Lamppa has a long track record with their design, just like Woodstock! But I guess my main point is that I don't miss my old smoke dragon chimney plugging wood pig furnace! The Best Wood Burning Furnaces In The World - KUUMA
This is an interesting point. Haven't really been following this issue so it never hit me before. This may be the first I've heard of a product having been produce legally, under the current law at the time it was made, becoming illegal to sell after a certain date. The typical convention for this type of updating as it has been down through the decades, was that designs that did not meet the new standard could no longer be manufactured after a certain date but any that had already been produced, in full compliance with the regulations in force & effect at that time, could be sold still, even years later, if there was still stock to be had. I'd have to do some digging but I'd say the EPA is violating federal regulations doing it this way.
All I can say is my Vermont Casting Resolute bought in 1983, which back then was one of the best stoves you could buy then from the original company right in Vermont burns real nice for me. I have just a 1/16 to 1/8" of soot to brush out as we burn hot, with dry wood. The $650 I paid (new) back then was top dollar. It owes me nothing, and I have no plans to give it up.
For sure what they've done is dirty pool. But I also think it was dirty pool to make it necessary to re-certify stoves that already had made the standard even though the test was a little different. The difference is very little and really does not affect the previous testing. Epa needs to clean up their act.
OMG, can you imagine the whining, crying and litigation that would have ensued if they had different sets of rules for different manufacturers ? THERE'S really no valid reason for any dealer even a stocking dealer to be sitting on new old stock, They've known for far too long what the cut-off date was going to be. Only excuses. Same for the manufacturers. It's not like the EPA didn't allow for input from everyone involved for the best way to go about this.
I guess the next question is...How will they know if folks did or didn't re-certify their stoves??? What...Do they have a list of folks and will go door to door..???
