October 15, 2009
LETTER FROM ALAN CAGNOLI, THE HEARTH, PATIO, AND BARBECUE ASSOCIATION DIRECTOR
OF GOVT. AFFAIRS
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From: cagnoli@hpba.org
Subject: Re: Question about outdoor wood furnaces
Date: October 15, 2009 2:41:27 PM CDT
I am responding to your email to several here at HPBA regarding outdoor wood
furnaces, aka hydronic heaters (HH) among others. Thanks for your inquiry; I
apologize for the delay in responding.
The Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Assn represents the outdoor wood furnace manufacturers
who belong to the HPBA (about 5). Years ago the entire HH industry was given
an ultimatum by EPA: clean up your units or we will regulate you out of existence.
Why? Because some in the industry were selling units that were very inefficient
and fouled the air irresponsibly. The HH industry said ok, they will clean up
their product if the EPA gives them a reasonable time frame to develop the better
technology needed to clean up, and keep affordable, the products that consumers
want. (And consumers do want these products!) The HPBA was asked to help make
sure the partnership between EPA and the HH industry worked fairly for both sides.
Why did we agree to this role? Because we believed that the EPA was right, in
that units HAD to become more clean, but that the industry and its consumers
also had the right to make and buy good products AND to have them used responsibly.
All sides found instances of consumers both improperly siting and using their
HH products, regardless of what the manufacturer said was the best way to operate
the unit for the least amount of pollution and the greatest amount of heat.
All parties needed to recognize that the only way for a successful outcome was
for an honest acceptance by everyone of the need for a common-sense solution
to the problem at hand: better units, proper siting, proper usage, a reasonable
development time frame to get the units off the drawing board and into production,
and a promise of federal regulatory acceptance of the new units.
Thus was formed the partnership 6 or so years ago, which resulted in a voluntary
partnership agreement between industry and the EPA regarding hydronic heaters.
The partnership was so successful in aiding the development of substantially
cleaner units that now, rather than discussing the elimination of the industry,
air regulators at both EPA and the states are now thinking in terms of how to
replace older and more polluting units with the new, much cleaner units being
produced, by using state funds for a changeout program or something similar.
It is an impressive accomplishment. Please visit the EPA website (http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/)
for more information. So now it is not the industry or their new products, but
the older products that are the problem.
But how does this relate to the unfortunate situation you described? Possibly
not much, as I'm guessing this unit was not one of the new units produced after
the partnership agreement. However, I would hope that you can use some information
on the EPA website (some of which was created by HPBA and now used by EPA) about
siting requirements (http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/basicinfo.htm), usage (http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/bestpractices.htm),
and how to report nuisance smoke (http://www.epa.gov/woodheaters/whereyoulive.htm).
HPBA supports the use of biomass fuel for heating and the products made for that
purpose. HPBA it also supports the proper usage of those products and the replacement
of those units that do not operate properly. (To see our commitment to replacing
old, highly polluting units, please visit our changeout website at http://woodstovechangeout.org/index.php.)
We all have to do things the correct way, and most of our manufacturers and retailers
would rather not sell products than have them improperly installed or used. The
black-eye of smoke and pollution hurts the good guys more.
While this may not be the answer which you were seeking, I hope it has been somewhat
helpful to you.
Sincerely,
Allan Cagnoli
W. Allan Cagnoli
Director, Government Affairs
H P B A
Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association
1901 North Moore Street, Suite 600
Arlington, VA 22209-1728
(703) 522-0086 x138 fax (703) 522-0548
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from: cagnoli@hpba.org www.hpba.org
Hello,
Help me understand something. I see that the HPBA lists outdoor wood
furnace, among other things, as "a safe, affordable and renewable
option for heating..." I live appx. 300 feet from an outdoor wood
furnace. In the last 3 years, since a neighbor started operating the
device, my wife has begun having asthma attacks, I've been getting
headaches, and our home fills with smoke day after day. Clouds of
smoke roll across backyards into our home and the home of many nearby
property owners. I've spoken with 7 neighbors who feel the smoke is
aggravating health problems. My next door neighbor has Minear's
disease, and has actually passed out in the smoke. His daughter has
asthma. Their CO alarms keep going off and they are several hundred
feet from the wood furnace. (After dozens of false alarms triggered
by the smoke from the OWF, they decided to take the batteries out of
their CO detecters. How safe is that?) The neighbor across the street
has emphysema and she is worried she may not be able to spend her few
precious days outside because the smoke drives her inside at a
moment's notice.
In our neighborhood's experience, the outdoor wood furnace has proven
to be anything but safe. Our City Council refuses to look at the
problem. After all, it says right there in the HPBA literature the
devices are "safe". Case closed for them, and meanwhile our property,
our home is the exhaust system for another person's attempt to "save
a few bucks". Economical? Our electric bills have skyrocketed because
we can't open our windows, so we run our air conditioner, sometimes
when it's in the upper 40's outside(!) What a waste of energy. We
purchase expensive particle masks so we can walk our dogs in our own
yard. Our dogs stink like wood smoke and so we have to bathe them way
more frequently. We can't leave anything cloth outside, ie: clothing,
furniture cushions, because they absorb smoke.
I understand it's your job to put a good spin on your product, but
regardless of the way you look at it, outdoor wood furnaces have made
our lives a living hell. Safe and economical? Maybe for the OWF
owner, but it completely disregards those of us property owners who
are forced to live next to these devices. We are into another long
winter of horrible living conditions on the only property we can
afford. Think of us next time you tell someone OWF's are "safe and
economical."
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