http://www.biomassmagazine.com/articles/11331/what-epa-leadership-looks-like I love Nashville and my birthday is in March. So I'm going to see if the wood stove convention mentioned in this article is open to the public and attend. If you read the article, check out the comments ...
Not sure the woodstove industry needs the EPA to fund universities to do research. Some of the top stove manufacturers (BK and WS to name two) have alot in common already and create incredible numbers with regards to emmisions and air quality. I think the technology is already there.
But perhaps if people keep tinkering, someone, someday will come up with a stove that can burn green wood and still burn clean. I keep thinking perhaps one could build a stove and have part of the heat blow into a separate chamber that would hold green wood. The heat and a blower maybe could be enough to dry the wood. Then after the wood is dried, when the stove needs wood, could it be loaded automatically? Just thoughts so far.
Dennis, I keep thinking about what you wrote here, and you've shared the concept with me in the past. I do have a heated alcove under my stove that has air convecting through it. I use it to prep kindling and it can power dry about a days worth of fuel if I need to. I keep your concept in my head whenever I'm thinking of new designs, and I do think we can get there. I also believe that in a standard woodstove format there is room to design a similar alcove underneath the stove, using insulation to moderate the temperature and convection to help power dry the next load. It's a great idea, and I think could be a neat feature on many stoves. In a traditional stove that burns 8 hours or so on a load, I think one could change the next load's MC by a significant amount in a well designed drying space.
Good thread with pertinent info, just do your best to keep the politics out fellas..... I truly feel the biggest key to cleaning up the air and efficiency is teaching and preaching to season wood, which is what we all do here! Maybe the EPA should manditorily hand out FHC cards with every stove purchase!!! Lol....
Thanks Matt. I'm also thinking that perhaps the wood would have to be split into quite small pieces so as to dry the quickest. The idea of this would not help me at all but we know so many who just don't have good wood and if that is what they want to do, then this could help them out. Also, for some it would do away with wood piles that some seem to not like the looks of.
Dennis, what am I gonna do with my 4 years ahead supply of wood if we are looking to dry green wood as we burn? I like the concept but part of what we teach to each other is dry seasoned wood, particularly larger splits that will burn longer and hotter.
I'm just thinking about the fact that so many don't burn now because they tried it and found it more trouble than it was worth. That usually is because they either cut their wood after installing the stove or bought some that, of course, the seller said was seasoned and ready to burn. In addition, what about those with small lots and not much area for stockpiling wood? Something like that could help them out. Of course, it would bring up the cost of the stove.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing Dennis. Folks here who understand that the fuel MC is the most important element in good burning don't need that feature, and the folks who do need it likely wouldn't understand it or pay and extra for such a feature. Still, like Scotty says, getting the education out there and changing the way people think about fuel is the number one way we are going to get everyone burning better.
i send folks here quite a bit when they are intent on learning about wood processing. the threads in here are just LOADED with great info. you guys have provided me with an INVALUABLE tool to help my customers in understanding that there's a lot more involved with wood burning than just the stove itself "Prost!"
Mike I consider you to be a treasure trove of good info. Your reputation proceeds you sir. I'm super glad to have you here with us, and your post means alot to us as a group. Making the post earlier got me thinking.......I'm gonna visit some local stove dealers and ask if they'd like a handful of cards to hand out to their customers or potential stove buyers.....it'll help get the "seasoned wood" word out! BTW I hope your still working on your pet project. We'll be helping you push that down the road for sure!
we have a boatload of folks in here who contribute in their own specialties im just fortunately in the industry so im able to pass on things that i learned over the years. and yeah, im still working on the "project" though this time of year its hard to spend a lot of time on it
I'm on the fence about making wood stoves too popular. The more people burning stoves the less wood available for hoarding. Soon everybody will want top dollar for me to come cut their tree down. After last winter, it's been much harder to find free wood.
I am actually pro EPA stoves they actually do make it better. Everything else well Id love o go to a stove convention I think it would be awesome to see!
ok im home now and can think long enough to be coherent work and its associated mental brutality is over and im having a pint of Guinness extra stout . anyway, as for the article the OP posted, read it a while ago, I should point out that I know John, met him at the Woodstove Decathlon in DC, along with a few FHC members and some from "the other site" as well. had a blast, but I digress. I think John is honest in his endeavors and is supportive of the wood burning community, we may not agree one everything but he has been kind enough to "hear me out" in the couple of discussions we have had. what is truly important as a message to get out is that proper woodburning entails a major commitment, its really a lifestyle, more so than any other methods of heating. its almost like homesteading in a way. just buying a stove and tossing logs in is really a smallish part of it. therefore the decision to go to wood heat isn't one that should be a "knee jerk" decision. on the "political" side (not that kind of political side) where Government can make a difference is by not only incentivizing modernization (change out programs) but also phased burn restrictions, especially in areas where inversions are common. now im not a big fan of over reach by any means , but I also understand the health issues which are caused by these inversions and I can get behind having burn bans on days where it is simply unhealthy for everyone. now a phased system would bring into play several levels of restrictions from "red" total shutdowns, to "green" where burning for heat regardless of source, on days where its less than green only authorize "permitted" stoves (EPA cert units) a system built up by the locales can be set up where one can apply for a "cert permit" for burning on "yellow" days. this type of system could be employed not only to help ease the overall environmental impact on yellow days (possibly preventing as many "red" days I need to read up on the "science" of inversions a bit before pontificating too much, I clearly do not know everything about how they happen) But the hidden benefit of "cert permits" over time would encourage folks to upgrade so they could burn on yellow days and not have to rely on fossil fuels as much. its a "carrot and stick" approach in a way, but the biggest change environmentally we can as the wood burning community make is to as the EPA puts it "Burnwise" on the Industry side, we at ESW as I know the rest of the manufacturers here in North America work hard to make stoves that can burn longer yet cleaner squeezing every available BTU out of the fuel we can. we are handicapped in a way because we have to "design to the test" to be able to market the product, but for the most part we ALL try to field the best stoves we can come up with, why? because if we cant sell it , we don't eat <kidding> actually, not in a way, if we cannot keep the emissions down eventually woodburning (and our industry) would be in jeopardy. across the board it looks like everyone is doing great things, the guys at Woodstock, BK, Harman, the US made US stove subsidiaries, too many to mention, all deserve credit, im a huge fan of these companies and their leaders, I'd be proud to work for any of them (not job hunting yet but ya never miss an opportunity ) our mission is simple, we need to supply a great product, we need help in educating the public on how to best use that product, the private sector , government, and the public sector will have to work together to turn this timeless form of self reliance into the 21st century.
I got to go to the HPBA in Atlanta in 08 I was a "kid in a candy store" got texted constantly "where you at?" im like "over at the Harman booth" or the "scan booth" or wherever, got to meet Dane Harman, a guy who I have the absolute utmost respect for, felt like a school kid meeting a rock star. yeah bro, its insane! you'd love it
