Posted on 02/07/2015 6:36:42 AM PST by xzins
When my husband and I move to a new area, we specifically look for a home with a wood burning stove. It’s cheaper and if the power grid goes down, we have a way to survive it. Yep, we’re preppers. These regulations are meant to do away with wood stoves and force people to get their heat from gas or electric, paid for at exorbitant rates from utility providers. In some areas, even with gas or electric, the only way to truly keep a home warm is with a wood or pellet stove. This is more of the EPA’s fascist heavy handedness, trying to control all we do and force us into behavior and routines like you would livestock. The EPA can pound sand as far as I’m concerned.
From the Daily Caller:
The EPA has finalized a 344-page rule to make wood stoves more environmentally friendly, meaning that millions of Americans will soon be forced to buy more expensive wood-fired stoves.
Republican lawmakers have opposed the rule, saying it would harm millions in rural America that rely on wood stoves to heat their homes every winter. With natural gas and electricity prices on the rise, wood stoves can be an economical choice for many living in the countryside.
“The EPA’s shortsighted regulatory overreach is once again hitting hardworking Montanans in their pocketbooks,” said Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines.
Some 2.4 million American households rely on wood stoves for heat. When the agency proposed the rule last year, critics argued 80 percent of wood stoves in use would not meet tightened standards and consumers would never be able to buy them brand new — raising energy costs for millions of people during the coldest times of the year.
“Thousands of Montanans rely on wood burning stoves for affordable, cost-effective energy — yet once again, the EPA is moving forward with new, costly regulations that could stand in the way of Montanans’ access to new residential wood heaters or burden Montana families with higher costs,” Daines said.
But EPA claims the rule will save lives while only costing $45.7 million per year. EPA also argues that forcing people to ditch their wood stoves will result in 360 to 810 fewer death per year from reduced emissions of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds.
“To the extent that children and other sensitive populations are particularly susceptible to asthma, and that minority populations and low-income populations are more vulnerable, this rule will significantly reduce the pollutants that adversely affect their health,” the EPA said in regulatory documents.
The finalized version of EPA’s rule also gives manufacturers more time to make and certify stoves that emit fewer pollutants. Politico’s Morning Energy notes that “[c]ompanies that make small wood-burning forced air furnaces will have to meet first-step emissions limits by 2016, with large furnaces having until 2017.”
“All sizes have to meet second-step limits by 2020,” reports Politico. “EPA will also allow conditional certification for up to a year for several devices if the manufacturer gets an EPA-accredited lab to certify an emissions test.”
[…]
Wisconsin Republicans State Rep. David Craig and State Sen. Frank Lasee introduced legislation to prevent state regulators from implementing the EPA’s wood stove rules. Craig and Lasee argue the rule will only serve to raise energy prices for state residents and hurt manufacturers. Missouri has also introduced a law to block the EPA wood stove rule.
“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to introduce regressive standards that hurt Wisconsinites, particularly low income families who rely on wood heat,” said Craig.
States such as Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Wisconsin and other states that have very rural areas are not likely to take this sitting down. It will hurt millions of people and many just won’t be able to afford to get a new, more expensive wood stove. This has nothing to do with asthma or pollution either. That’s just another piece of governmental propaganda. It has everything to do with controlling energy and resources and wait for it… money. Like doing away with coal, this will also cause energy prices to skyrocket even more. We don’t have to see Russia from here anymore… we’re living in it.
Plus I am being GREEN!
:)
Sarc
Seriously though, I would rather know that the money I am spending for energy is going to a company and source here in North America. When your buying heating oil, who knows where that oil came from. If I choose to, I can buy the pellets from a manufacturer right here in NH, the aforementioned New England Wood Pellet.
As long as he’s gay married, the bureaucrats will be satisfied.
Others on the thread seem really certain that such a thing would be illegal on their part. In any case, it would be really hard to detect.
Yes, you do need electricity to run a pellet stove. However, we have a Honda gasoline generator in case we lose power.
Which is why they wrote it. They love lawyers.
After what they did to asthma patients banning their inhalers for “global warming” they have a lot of gall claiming this for asthma cheeeldren.
For a long time in my life, I had one in a drafty old farm house where we lived. Power outages were routine. I believe in 1973, we had a severe Dec. ice storm, that kept power out for 21 long days and nights.
Knowing you can make coffee and heat water to wash-up was a God-send. I took on the challenge and tried to learn to cook/bake on it. Operating the various baffles and drafts; when to stoke the fire and knowing what type of firewood you were using [say applewood/maple] was an essential. Can't say how many baking disasters I produced....but had fun trying. Over time, I had quite a collection of cast iron cookware. This is an skill that has been lost, over the generations of *progress*. The burning wood imparted a unique flavor to the food you were cooking; I think that is what you remember.
A fond memory was sitting in a cold dark house during a power outage [it's amazing how quiet it is] and listening to the crackle of the wood burning in the firebox....reading by a kerosene lamp.
We *turned* that old stove on about Labor day and stopped using it about Memorial day. There never a time that a stock simmering in a pot on the back of the stove.
Can't say they were *good times* but that one grand appliance kept us able to fend for ourselves during extreme weather events.
While there are a couple of places where geography can cause a local problem, this does not require everyone to follow the same solution. It makes as much sense as building earthquake proof homes in North Dakota, or burying water lines below 6 ft. in California--solutions appropriate for the other area, but not there.
“Further, I tightened up the home with R60 in the attic, 6”studs and foam insulation...”
Hey - don’t give them any ideas. There will be a run on 2”x 2” boards to bring all of the older homes up to code!
“So, how many people who heat with wood are in areas so densely populated that wood smoke is a problem? Really?”
Now if they extended this law to India and China.....
They'd just use that to impoverish the survivors.
In my own case, my closest neighbor is about 200 yards away, and there is no neighbor where any smoke drifting their direction doesn’t first have to go through a line of trees. While they might smell the smell at times, they never get smoked.
The onus of the regulation will be felt by the people who tend to be most widely spread from their neighbors, where the natural dilution of any pollutants will take care of the problem before others are affected.
It is generally a non-problem, with the exception of some valleys where local ordinances can take care of the problem.
The EPA, typically, is heavy handed in wielding a solution fro a (non)problem that did not need it.
And the director of said agency must deliver the regulation to the floor of the House/Senate in person.
And they have go be naked.
I understand that places like Salt Lake City basin now have instituted no burn days. This is because pollutants get trapped by the mountains. We do not have this issue here in NH. Our air, jet stream pushes everything out into the Atlantic generally. So, like you stated, bad air flow is more of a local problem.
That's pretty much standard in interior Alaska now. That gives an R-30 rating for insulating value. R-40 plus for ceilings.
My sister and her husband retired in northern Arkansas. They built like it was Alaska, and people thought they were nuts. Their summer AC bills sure are impressive, though.
Four wood stoves! How big is your house?
What I found with my Jotul stove was that I almost needed to clean the flue twice a year. Almost. My stove was vented into a masonry exterior fireplace. I put the six inch stainless steel pipe up about five feet past the original damper. I was the guy going up on the roof with the flue brush. I did not trust any chimney sweeps to do the job right after one guy left it so dirty we had a small chimney fire.
I had a woodshed that sounds similar to yours. Mine had two sides. I could fit about two and one half cords on each side. I was only burning about one and one half cords per year. Therefore, my wood was always about two years old before it went into the stove. The shed was eight by fourteen feet with a 4/12 pitched roof. THe floor was pressure treated. The stud Walls were did not have any sheathing on them. Oak would still take almost two full years to dry. Ash would dry in a few months. Plus ash is so easy to split. There were also some older Apple orchards around. They would sell their trimmings by the pickup load. Most of those pieces were smaller so there was no splitting involved. Shagbark Hickory really does not grow much around here.
Did you ever consider putting in a anthracite coal stove. It must be really cheap there in PA. The benefit of coal is that you do not need to keep it dry. It comes washed in the bag to keep the dust down when you pour it into the hopper. I think a coal burner furnace would be ok, but not sure I would want one in the main part of the house. That fine dust gets on everything including your lungs.
If you do build a super insulated house, you need to install an air to air heat exchanger or you will not get CO2 buildup inside your house
Super insulated is R sixty or better. Typically you need to spray foam to achieve these levels. In these type of houses your only heat loss is through your Windows and exterior doors.
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