Earth Equity News

Wood Stove Options. By James O'Brien, BostGlobe, February 8, 2009. "As environmental regulations have tightened over the years, stove makers have had to adapt to lower emissions, and yet the stoves have not sacrificed efficiency: They throw off a lot of heat. The basic stove falls into two types, convection and radiant. A radiant stove sends heat in all directions; a convection stove funnels heat out out through vents position at its front. Little heat is wasted out the sides and back... The 1992 mandate for clean-burning stoves by the Environmental Protection Agency prompted makers to adopt catalytic and noncatalytic technologies that use up more of the gases thrown off by the burn, reducing airborne pollution. In a catalytic stove, a ceramic or stainless-steel honeycomb laced with platinum or palladium draws in gases and particles at 400 to 500 degrees and subjects them to a secondary burn of up to 1,200 super-efficient degrees. You get a hotter stove, and the environment gets a break from emissions. However, the honeycomb chamber gradually wears out and will need replacing every five or six years, at a cost of $150 to $300. The industry now favors noncatalytic stoves, as their baffles don't need to be replaced as often. Noncatalytic versions have insulated fireboxes, small holes that introduce more air to the burn, and large baffles at the roof of the stove that provide a big surface for the gases to burn longer and hotter. A baffle should last at least 10 years and costs $30 to $100 to replace... Whatever you buy, take advantage of the government's tax credit for choosing a clean-burning stove. That's $300 if you buy a woodstove with a listed combustion efficiency of greater than 75 percent."