Although general wood-burning stove standards across the United States are consistent, California -- particularly the Bay Area -- has some specifics for using wood-burning stoves. All wood-burning stoves must comply with generalized Federal Regulations, but California has additional standards that must be complied with before a wood-burning stove can be used.
In California, the only types of wood stoves that are allowed are pellet-fueled stoves that burn commercially made wooden pellets. Pellet stoves are U. S. EPA Phase II certified devices, which means these stoves burn at least at a 70-percent efficiency. A low mass wood-burning appliance must be approved in writing by the air pollution control officer.
Reducing the harmful emissions from a wood-burning stove are some of the major restrictions of the California standards. These restrictions become even more stringent in the Bay Area. For example, when air quality is deemed unhealthy or a winter "Spare the Air Alert" is issued, burning wood or pellets in stoves is severely restricted to a 20-percent smoke opacity limit until the ordinance has been lifted. This essentially means that smoldering, overnight-maintenance burning is prohibited.
What to Burn
The hottest fires give off the least amount of pollution. Hard woods burn hottest, and wood such as oak and cherry make the hottest fires. Never burn wet wood, which is an incomplete burn and will give off the most smoke and pollution as well as emit large amounts of creosote which will clog your chimney and which may cause a potentially dangerous back fire. Never burn garbage or treated wood because these items give off toxic pollutants that are released into the air.
When a "Spare the Air Alert" is issued in the winter, restrictions for burning wood are placed on every wood-burning device. However, there are some exemptions to this rule. Burning wood is allowed for those who have no natural gas availability, for those that have no electrical availability or for those whose only source of space heat for a residence or commercial building is burning wood.
- Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images