Clean Air to Breathe

[lampmfg]

The Federal Government, via the EPA, had to step in and propose to regulate emissions from woodburning furnaces in 2014 due to the inordinate amount of smoke, just like it has done for wood boilers and stoves. This smoke can be so bad that when people are outside they can have a hard time breathing, especially those with respiratory problems. Smoke also contains cancer causing carcinogens that no one wants to breathe. People want clean air, and deserve clean air to breathe!

That's why here at Lamppa Manufacturing we designed our VaporFire furnaces that burn up to 99+% with no smoke. The testing done by Intertek proves this because the results show less than 1 gr/hr. of emissions, and as low as .45 gr/hr. It was our main goal. The other great thing about smokeless burns is it gets rid of the dangerous creosote at the same time.

It's my understanding that the wood used for the woodburning furnace testing will be oak 18-28% moisture content, in cordwood form, and loaded according to the manufacturer's directions. This will reflect real world situations. I've always thought that the wood used in testing stoves was ridiculous. It didn't reflect real world situations. No one in their right mind would nail cleats to their wood so that it's spaced for burning. They would have to be someone with a lot of free time or a little goofy. Thankfully the EPA woke up in time for testing boilers and furnaces.

There has been some chatter that combination furnaces like wood and oil,or wood and gas will not be able to use the same chimney and/or heat exchanger as their partner. I imagine the reason behind this is that the UL safety standard always calls for a woodburning device to have its own class A chimney for safety reasons. I'm sure this will come to be, which is bad news for combination furnace manufacturers

 

[Coldfront]

I also believe that people who have close neighbors should not be allowed to burn wood for heat. It's not for everyone, but ok for people who live out in the country. My closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away.

 

[laynes69]

You'd be surprised how many people burn wood within city limits. Their woodpiles aren't in sight and there's no smoke from the chimney. It's not just for country folks.

 

[Highbeam]

I also believe that people who have close neighbors should not be allowed to burn wood for heat. It's not for everyone, but ok for people who live out in the country. My closest neighbor is a 1/4 mile away.

There are rules, at least in my state, about smoke emissions that have the intent and purpose of preventing a close neighbor from being negatively effected by his neighbor's wood burning activity. You don't outlaw the act of burning, you outlaw the negative side effects of an inconsiderate and poorly operated wood burner.

People have been burning wood in dense cities for hundreds of years.

 

[upsnake]

Coldfront - What do you consider close? (asking as a legit question, not in a snarky tone, it is hard to tell inflection from text).

Just wondering b/c everybody is going to have a difference option on what close is.

 

[openloop]

If your chimney is smoking for longer than a few minutes after lighting/reloading....you might be doing something wrong. Give dry wood the right amount of air and all you should see is heat mirage.

 

[WetBehindtheEar]

My neighbor is less than 30 feet away from me. We share a driveway. My chimney stack is on his side of our house.

I don't burn 24/7 because I'm not home much during the week & my wife doesn't want to keep the fire burning all the time. But we go through ~1.5-2 cord/year & my neighbor can't (or won't admit to) smelling the wood smoke.

We have a neigbor 3 doors down who also burns (more recreationally) & you can barely smell his fires. He's got a Jotul, I'm running a Hearthstone insert.

It CAN work in urban areas if the burners are committed to using quality firewood & aren't burning garbage in their stoves.