Wood Stoves and Air Quality Standards

Wood burning and pellet stoves have increased in popularity over the past decade as a result of home heating oil gas increases. Most local towns and counties have wood stove air quality standards regarding outdoor burning which apply to wood burning and pellets stoves. Most modern wood and pellet burning stoves are EPA approved to meet state and local air quality standards. Older wood stoves are still in use but the biggest drawback is that they do not meet EPA pollution standards and they are very inefficient.

If you are considering purchasing a wood or pellet burning stove check you’re your local code officer to determine what the air quality requirement are in your area. Usually the more expensive stoves burn more efficiently and produce less air pollution so they have no difficulty meeting local, state an EPA requirements. Many communities only allow EPA approved stoves to be installed in new construction. These stoves are more efficient because they burn the wood more completely and cleaner than older woodstoves. If you want to be absolutely sure your stove meets all safety and air quality requirements, ask an air quality representative to conduct an inspection of your stove.

The test is a simple test whereby a sample of the smoke is taken from the wood stove pipe and analyzed for contaminants. At the same time the test can reveal how efficient your wood stove is.

Wood pellet stoves are very efficient and also burn very clean. Normally only a four inch stack or chimney is required for a pellet stove. Essentially, the only thing that goes out the stack (chimney) is the acids resulting from burning the pellets. There is little or no concern regarding air quality when it comes to pellet stoves.

Modern air tight re-burning wood stoves that burn regular wood meet EPA requirements. The gases and debris that usually goes up the chimney in older stoves is burned in the air tight stove re-burning tubes of these modern and very efficient stoves.

Always check with the local code officer before purchasing and installing any wood burning stove to insure that it meets wood stove air quality standards.

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