"You can thank the Outdoor Wood Burner manufacturers for this proposed regulation. They dumped thousands of their high polluting devices into residential neighborhoods basically smoldering homes with commercial incinerator levels of smoke. Even traditional indoor wood burners were disgusted with OWBs. Essentially, OWBs gave the wood burning industry a black eye. Keep in mind a typical indoor wood burning device emits approximately 7 grams an hour (GPH) of particulate matter where a first generation OWB emits well over 200 GPH. The problem exacerbated when state environmental agencies did not have the political will to respond to thousands of complaints from neighbors effected by the smoke from OWBs thereby pushing the issue to the EPA. If you want to be upset thank your state DEQ for burying their heads in the sand. That said, this problem is not going away with the current EPA testing methodology. The EPA test that will govern OWBs has been watered down to the extent that it does not compensate for over-sized units, and the weather data it uses to assess units during the test is based on averages and not actual temperatures of where the unit potentially could be installed. In other words, if the unit is correctly sized (big if) to match the building calling for heat and the temperature of that particular area is warmer than the averages used in the EPA test, the units will still smoke like hell. Keep in mind most OWBs average 180K BTU per hour while an average home only has a demand for 50K. Once the demand for heat is met, the OWB goes into what is called closed damper mode smoldering the fire and building up creosote on internal metal parts. When the building again calls for heat the fire is energized and the accumulated creosote ignites belching out harmful smoke and pollutants. Only if units are properly matched to the building calling for heat and the local temperature is factored in will there be a reduction in smoke. States and local communities do not require permitting based on this criteria so consequently the EPA test will not work as designed and this problem may even get worse because many local governing communities who once banned OWBs will now believe the problem has been solved and lift the bans. This will cause the complaint level to rise. This is what happens when the OWB lobby gets involved with the development of the EPA test."
I still laugh when I think back when at a friend's house, he showed me why his OWB wasn't working right. He and his neighbor took a few hours to clean out his boiler. One chunk of creosote measured about 8" across. I wish I could have got a picture of it. But fortunately around here there is getting to be more of them that are starting to burn dry wood instead of going out to cut enough for this week and throwing it into the stove. I know of a few who have run out of wood at inconvenient times. One had to be out cutting after dark when we got 12" of snow that night. Must have really been interesting but the guy learned nothing. He still does it.
