BerryBlog #24  - Wood Boiler Rules

to be Taken Up at the State Level

 

First Millinocket; then Bath.  Now, measures are being considered in Brunswick, Bowdoinham, and Falmouth.  Outdoor wood boilers, it appears, are the latest scourge.  Are these boilers the best thing since sliced bread, or a public health threat?  Hold your breath, and I’ll do my best to let you know.

 

Newcomers to the world of wood heat, outdoor wood boilers are wood furnaces that sit outside the home.  They are called “boilers” because they heat water, usually through a metal jacket around the firebox.  The heated water is sent to the home or business through underground pipes to the home or business, for use as heat and/or hot water.  The boilers range from the size of a large doghouse to the size of a toolshed. 

 

Due to the rising cost of oil and gas, wood boilers have experienced exponential sales growth.  Nationally, over 40,000 boilers were sold between 2004 and 2005:  more than double the sales of any year since 1990.  In Maine, about 3,000 have been installed to date.  The boilers’ chief advantages over woodstoves are bigger fireboxes, an outdoor location, and higher heat production.

 

As a boiler buyer, wanting to save money and heat with wood, it’s hard to tell what you’re getting.  Since boilers are not woodstoves, they have not been subject to the same state or federal efficiency and emissions regulations.  In the “wild west” of a new-product industry, some products are well-made, and some are not.

 

Well-made boilers, with a variety of designs, give the owner the most for their money.  They are no more expensive up front than the “dirty” models, and avoid problems with the neighbors.  Some of the best use a two-cycle approach, first extracting the gases from a partial burn, then burning those gases in a secondary chamber.  The result is primarily heat and carbon dioxide.

 

By contrast, poorly made boilers produce a partial, low-temperature burn.  Gases and particles are released directly, and their heating value is lost.  This incomplete burn emits a localized cloud of toxins linked to asthma, heart attacks, and cancer, including but not limited to benzene, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and formaldehyde.  The emissions disperse rapidly, so they can be eye-watering at the nearest home, but subtle or even pleasant at the next.

 

Today, over 50 municipalities have adopted regulations on outdoor wood boilers in New York and New England.  Several states have taken action, or plan to do so, to bring woodstoves “into the fold” along with woodstoves.  Improving emissions is a win-win, they argue, since doing so requires a more complete burn.  Lungs are cleaner, and more heat is produced with less wood. 

 

To protect public health and clean wood heating in Maine, I have introduced LD 128, titled a “Resolve, Directing the Board of Environmental Protection to Adopt Rules to Improve the Emissions and Efficiency of Outdoor Wood Boilers.”  If adopted, LD 128 would close the loophole, separating the good OWBs from the bad ones.  By winter of 2008, the boilers would be regulated in a manner similar to woodstoves. 

 

The bill will be heard before committee in the next few weeks, and I encourage interested parties to contact me to discuss the bill.  Until then… just keep holding your breath.

 

Best always,

 

Seth

 

Rep. Seth Berry is a regular contributor to the Coastal Journal through his biweekly weblog at www.sethberry.org.  He and his family have always heated with wood, usually harvesting their own.  One member of his family recently bought an outdoor wood boiler, and is now holding his own breath as well.