Wood stove inclusive energy audit standards still missing in America

By John Ackerly and Caroline Solomon 

The DOE's weatherization program for
low income households is the largest 
weatherization in the US

In 1988, when wood stoves were at the height of their popularity in the U.S., the Department of Energy issued a memo clarifying that wood stoves in DOE-funded energy audits and weatherization programs should be included and could be replaced.  But, they also said that “DOE considers wood stoves to be a unique measure… and …  it is the energy audit which is the driving force for determining whether a wood stove should be replaced.”

 

This was a victory for the many states that wanted to use DOE funding to repair and possibly replace old wood stoves that pose health, safety, and environmental risks. However, fast forward to today – 33 years later – and wood stoves remain a “unique measure” and are often overlooked in DOE funded energy audits. Nearly 10 million homes have been audited and weatherized with DOE funding and all homes with gas furnaces, for example, had those furnaces inspected for safety – and efficiency.  But there is no consistency or uniformity for how a stove should be inspected or when it and how it should be repaired or replaced.  To understand how and when the breakdown happened, we went back in time and dug into countless documents, reports, and energy audit standards. Here’s what we found out.

 

In 2012, we wrote a blog about how energy audits were routinely overlooking wood stoves, many of which were unsafe, dirty, and hazardous. At that time, many auditing standards, including those approved by the Department of Energy’s Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), did not contain guidelines for how energy auditors should inspect wood stoves while in a home.

 

In 2013, AGH worked with the Building Performance Institute (BPI), who developed long-overdue standards on safety inspections for wood stoves. But the standards were voluntary, and eight years later, we found that virtually no one is using them, and most energy audit companies don’t even know they exist. AGH continued to work with EPA staff, who were also eager to see stoves consistently included in energy audits, but our impact was minimal.

 

In the summer of 2021, AGH turned again to the DOE, who runs the nation’s largest auditing programs through their Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). Senior WAP officials were very accessible and open to discussing the issue, and pointed to their regulatory language, which dictates that “all heating systems, regardless of type” be inspected, repaired if necessary, and even replaced under some circumstances. DOE has to approve each of the audit programs used with their funding. So far, so good.

 

Things began to unravel when we dug into hundreds of documents, from national audit program notices to state weatherization plans to work specification field guides to local application forms and field data collection forms. The problem is not that wood stoves are excluded, but that very few states have any detail about how to inspect a wood stove. Usually, documents from the DOE all the way down to a county audit program have all of the details about inspecting, repairing, and reporting on a gas furnace, for example. Boilers are often well-described, but details dry up very quickly when it comes to wood stoves. The result is a patchwork of state programs, with some meeting DOE regulations, and others falling far short.

 

The problem also involves national auditing tools, approved by DOE.  NEAT is the most popular energy audit tool and is used in about 35 states.  It addresses wood stoves in its Health & Safety audit mainly as an indoor smoke issue.  It references inadequate floor protection and oversizing but does not mention clearance to combustibles or cracks in the firebox or glass.  Adding to the issue is that DOE published Standards for Conformance that includes a lengthy list of “tune-ups/efficiency improvements” for furnaces and boilers, but not even one for wood stoves.

 

Far from being a unusual heating device, wood stove
are more common that many other heaters in the US

If wood stoves were just a tiny fraction of heaters, like coal stoves are, overlooking them would make more sense.  But there are more wood stoves in America than there are oil boilers, oil furnaces or propane furnaces, and almost as many as gas boilers.  Some states, like Maine, New Hampshire and Wisconsin have provided extensive guidance around wood and pellet stoves.  Oddly, Oregon, a state with far more problems with wood smoke, has little guidance, resulting in fewer inspections, repairs and replacements of old wood stoves.

 

One distinct feature of wood stoves makes them particularly in need of safety check-ups: unlike other heating systems, many if not most wood stoves are homeowner-installed, and these stoves are often not up to code.

 

AGH is now midstream in our effort to work with DOE officials, DOE contractors, state officials, and others to get feedback on how to correct this problem. One DOE contractor who is deeply involved in the matter says she thinks we can begin making substantive changes quickly, but systemic problems like this, take years to address. 

 

We are currently preparing a report that (1) assesses audit programs approved by the DOE, (2) assesses state Standard Work Specification guides and (3) Assesses how local WAP programs collect information about heating systems. Stay tuned for more in-depth coverage of this issue.

 

We expect our report will be extremely helpful to the DOE who could update guidance to ensure a minimum level of stove inspections to establish more uniformity how stoves are inspected and what repairs should be considered.  The report should also be helpful for states that want to address the safety and performance of old wood stoves.

 

We want to thank the scores of people who have helped address this problem, starting with folks at BPI who worked on it back in 2012 and 2013, to all the federal, state, and local WAP officials we interviewed this summer.

 

And thanks to all our supporters who provided data about how and whether their stove was included in their energy audits. If you have had an audit recently, please share the results with us (info@forgreenheat.org).

 

John Ackerly is President of the Alliance for Green Heat and Caroline Solomon is an AGH fellow.

BPI Energy Auditing Standard and Analysis of Buildings Includes Wood and Pellet Stoves and is Open for Public Comment

On Oct. 4, the Building Performance Institute (BPI) released BPI-1100-T-201x: Home Energy Auditing Standard and its companion, BPI-1200-S-201x: Standard Practice for Basic Analysis of Buildings for public comment for a period of 45 days.

These standards were developed in an effort to standardize and clarify what is included in a whole-building, science-based energy audit of existing homes and include assessments of wood and pellet stoves for the first time. Up until now, hundreds of thousands of home energy audits have been done without any provisions to inspect the efficiency and safety of wood and pellet stoves.  Audits often lead to upgrading old and unsafe heating appliances and can involve subsidized or low interest financing.

The Alliance for Green Heat identified the omission of wood stoves in energy audit standards in 2011 and began campaigning for their inclusion. In the spring of 2012, an Alliance article about this systematic omission that particularly impacted rural, low and middle-income households led to serious talks with BPI who agreed to work on it. The Alliance and BPI built the Solid Fuels Task Group, inviting representatives from EPA, HPBA, CSIA, and the Washington State Department of Ecology along with Scott Williamson and Mike O’Rourke.

The standard will direct BPI certified energy auditors to do a visual inspection of wood and pellet stoves and how they are installed. It will outline the indicators that will guide the audit process and tell the auditor when a recommendation should be given to the homeowner to call in a trained hearth professional with either National Fireplace Institute (NFI) or Chimney Safety Institute of America (CSIA) Certification.


The Home Energy Auditing Standard addresses energy usage, occupant health and safety, and includes a cost-benefit analysis. This standard has received wide interest and has undergone multiple rounds of public review. 

The Standard Practice for Basic Analysis of Buildings parallels the Home Energy Auditing Standard. This standard is primarily focused on energy conservation measures and criteria.

The standards are undergoing American National Standards Institute (ANSI) review, which includes a 45-day public comment. Comments are being solicited from stakeholders and the general public.

To view the standards, visit: Standards Under Review 

To submit comments, visit: Formal Public Comment Process.

Task Group begins work to include wood heaters in energy audits

Tens of thousands of energy audits happen every year, but wood and pellet stoves are almost always left out of them.  The Alliance for Green Heat took this on, challenging energy audit institutions to justify overlooking such a critical piece of heating equipment. The leading institution in this space, the Building Performance Institute, agreed to work with us to develop standards. We then invited key industry and government experts to be on a BPI Solid Fuels Task Group, a sub-group of a BPI working group (WG-7) addressing the development of BPI-1200 Standard for Basic Analysis of Buildings. 
 

BPI is an ANSI-accredited standards development organization, which means that the procedures used by BPI meet essential requirements for openness, balance, consensus and due process. As part of that process, the Solid Fuels Task Group has begun the important but tedious task of developing standards that will then be published for public comment. 

The Solid Fuels Task Group is made up of John Ackerly of the Alliance for Green Heat, John Dupree of the EPA, Rod Tinnemore of the Washington State Department of Ecology, Ashley Eldridge of the Chimney Safety Institute of America, John Crouch of HPBA, Rick Vlahos of the National Fireplace Institute and Mike O’Rourke of  TBHI Presentations. From BPI, key people are John Jones, Darlene Welch and Jeremy O’Brien.

Our Task Group addresses the solid fuel components for the Combustion Appliance Testing section of BPI-1200. BPI-1200 provides the step-by-step procedures for conducting an evaluation of the home that addresses energy usage, and limited aspects of building durability and occupant health and safety. The evaluation will provide a comprehensive scope of work to improve the home and will include a cost-benefit analysis. 

Key issues to be addressed by the Solid Fuel Task Group surround how to assess the safety and efficiency of a wood or pellet stove and how to educate and urge the homeowner to upgrade or repair old or poorly installed appliances.

In August 2012, the New York Biomass Energy Alliance wrote to NYSERDA asking for answers about how and why wood stoves could be excluded from the energy audits that they subsidize, particularly in the northernmost counties. 

For more background about the need for this standard, click here. 

Wood Stoves Almost Included in Energy Audit Standards

Wood stoves were on the verge of being formally included in standards used by energy auditors.  With AGH's leadership, BPI developed a standard to inspect wood stoves during energy audits but it only becomes a voluntary standards, not a regular required one.  

BPI did strengthen some of its language in the Home Energy Auditing Standard (BPI-1100-T-2012) that now includes two provisions for wood stoves and other solid fuel burning devices. 

The first, listed under 7.8 of the section on Combustion Appliance Testing, requires home energy auditors to “inspect solid fuel burning appliances for safety and efficiency” (page 6).  The second, 7.23, instructs auditors to “recommend replacement of solid fuel burning appliances with UL-listed and EPA-certified appliances if the existing appliance is not UL-listed or has signs of structural failure” (page 7).  You can view the entire standard here: http://www.bpi.org/files/pdf/BPI-1100-T-2012_Home%20_Energy_Auditing_Standard.pdf  

The inclusion of 7.8 and 7.23 followed a meeting between John Dupree, the EPA wood stove NSPS compliance lead, John Jones, BPI National Technical Director and staff of the Alliance for Green Heat.  Much more detail about how stoves should be inspected and assessed will be followed in BPI Basic Analysis of Buildings Standard 1200-S.  The Alliance for Green Heat is in the process of reaching out to stakeholders to form a working group to help draft provisions this standard, a companion piece to BPI-1100-T-2012 that outlines how energy auditors shall meet the requirements listed.  It is expected to be finished later this year.  This is was the provision that could have been mandatory, but only ended up as voluntary.

BPI-1100-T-2012 is also in the process of becoming an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard, which are commonly adopted by state agencies such as NYSERDA.   

The standard represents a major step forward in the Alliance for Green Heat’s mission to make wood stove inspections a routine part of home energy audits.  Energy auditors could be assessing fuel savings by switching from oil to wood or pellets, testing wood for moisture, recommending chimney cleanings and generally helping to educate homeowners about clean burn practices.

 

Unsafe Wood Stoves Routinely Overlooked During Energy Audits

Energy audits have two primary goals: 1. Identify how a family can conserve energy and save money and 2. Identify important health and safety issues in the home. Often, the wood stove is overlooked in audits, even though it may be the primary heating appliance in the house and can be a major source of carbon monoxide and a leading cause of house fires.

 “The Alliance for Green Heat believes it is scandalous that energy audits, particularly in rural, northern areas, do not address wood stoves like they address furnaces and boilers,” said John Ackerly, the group’s President. “Its time for energy auditors to expand their audits to address these health and safety issues in rural, low-income homes,” Ackerly said.

(2013 update:  BPI has started to include wood stove inspections in the standards.)

The Alliance for Green Heat is calling on the relevant federal and state officials as well as groups like Building Performance Institute (BPI) to improve standards for energy audits. Most energy audits check for carbon monoxide leakage, but since blower door tests are also routinely done, auditors instruct homeowners not to have a fire in a wood stove or fireplace. This prevents the auditor from checking for elevated carbon monoxide leakage from the wood stove. Moreover, energy audit standards, such as those set by BPI, do not include checking whether a wood stove is EPA certified or whether gaskets are missing. And, there is no accepted criterion for auditors that would signal when a wood stove is a “health and safety issue” and should be replaced.

The result is that wood stoves far past their lifespan are not being replaced at nearly the same rate as old and unsafe furnaces and boilers, even when they are the primary or a substantial secondary heat source.

In response to requests from energy auditing companies who wanted to better market themselves in rural areas, the Alliance for Green Heat developed an Energy Auditor Checklist for Wood Stoves. Now the Alliance is using that Checklist as a practical tool to show federal and state officials how and why assessing wood stoves should be a vital part of an energy audit. The Energy Auditor Checklist for Wood Stoves is still being improved, and input is welcome. Click here for a copy.

In many states, low-income families are eligible to have their current heating appliance replaced if it’s inoperable or a danger to health and safety. Families on low-income heating assistance (LIHEAP) in all states are also eligible to have their heating appliance replaced if it’s inoperable or a danger to health and safety, but only if it’s their primary heating appliance. However, many if not most families whose primary heat is a wood stove, claim their low income heat assistance for their secondary heater, such as oil, propane or kerosene. They do this because the benefit amount is often larger and they cannot obtain those fuels for free, as they can with wood. And, many energy auditors and state officials consider wood stoves to be a de facto secondary, space heater, even when most of the home’s heat comes from it. This has contributed to programs overlooking the wood stove and potentially dangerous conditions.

The surge in primary heating with wood stoves that occurred between 2000 and 2010, leading to a more than 100% rise in primary wood heat, was achieved not just by consumers buying new EPA certified stoves, but often by consumers dusting off old, uncertified stoves. Compared to new, certified stoves, old stoves produce far more smoke and creosote and are more likely to have cracks and metal fatigue. This rapid rise in wood heating is one of the major reasons that the federal government and states need to ensure that standards for energy audits and related programs are not biased against those who have taken up wood heat or returned to wood heat.

Another reason energy audits should better include inspections of wood stoves is that installing old stoves, which are neither EPA certified nor UL listed, is still legal in most places outside Washington State. Many homeowners try to install these old stoves themselves without the owner’s manual, resulting in them being installed too close to combustible surfaces or not vented according to code. And, the EPA still allows the sale of stoves that are exempt from emissions standards. Although they are UL listed, these exempt stoves are likely to have health and safety issues far sooner than EPA certified units.

If your state is overseeing standards for energy audits and/or subsidizing them, we urge you to contact the relevant state office and urge them to ensure that wood stoves are assessed during energy audits.

Wood Stoves & Boilers May Be Eligible for Tax Credit in New Bill

Senators Propose New Tax Credit up to $5,000 

Senators Snowe, Bingaman and Feinstein introduced the "Cut Energy Bills at Home Act" which would give up to a $5,000 tax credit for performance-based home improvements.  The bill, as written, makes biomass heaters eligible if savings can be calculated with approved energy efficiency software packages, such as RESNET, BPI or an alternative software. The Alliance for Green Heat is working with Congressional offices and efficiency standards organizations to ensure that there will not be unforseen barriers for biomass heaters. Currently, most energy efficiency software does not have sufficient ability to analyze performance and savings of biomass heaters.