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[userdk]

The EPA's funding was reduced in the new spending bill to the lowest point since 1989. Will this change their policy on outdoor wood furnaces or cause a disability to enforce them?

[yoderheating]

 My fear is it may not help with enforcement which I believe will really be bad for the decent dealers.

[slimjim]

Having no money for enforcement WILL NOT stop them from creating rules that they cannot afford to enforce!

[yoderheating]

Having no money for enforcement WILL NOT stop them from creating rules that they cannot afford to enforce!

Exactly! If the regs come out but little enforcement follows what is a decent dealer or manufacturer to do? IMO the decent folks will attempt to follow the law and the less trustworthy people will find a loophole or ignore the law all together. If there are going to be rules I certainly hope they force everyone to play by them just to keep a level playing field.

[slimjim]

Don't count on it, I could tell you some stories of how the rules worked for the crooked and against the honest, just keep in mind that eventually the cream will always rise to the top!

[userdk]

I understand that some states have already implemented similar laws. How did they go about enforcing them.
For example, what happens to the people burning wood in their "outdoor coal boiler"?

[Roger2561]

I live in NH so I had no choice but to purchase a gasser.  I know of a couple of people who are using their old, grandfathered OWB's now but when it's time for replacement they'll have no choice but to purchase a gasser.  I do not know how long the law has been this way but it's already on the books.  There is a person who lives in the valley below me in another town and he owns one of the non-gassers.  At this time of the year when the temps are above 20 degrees (going to be in the 30's all week long) the thick heavy smoke just obscures the valley; it is rather unsightly.  I don't know what he's burning in it but it smokes like the dickens.  I've got to think that the neighbors aren't too pleased with him but that's just conjecture.  Before I purchased my OWB, I called my zone enforcement officer asking if there were any guidelines I had to follow.  He emailed me the state and town guidelines.  If any of the details were fuzzy, I asked him for clarification.  It didn't help any that he has to pass my house on his way to work.  He can see everything I'm doing from the road.  Plus the job required a permit - I finished with installation over 3 years ago and I'm still waiting for him to give me the okay to go ahead and use it.      It's been heating my house and DHW for that duration.  So much for the permit process and inspections.      Roger

[mlappin]

Glad I live where I do, Indiana has the gasser law but permits are just a revenue collection gimmick. If nothing else on major improvements it gives them the heads up to get right out and reaccess your property so they can raise your property taxes. Also another loop hole in the law here, if your living there and doing the work "yourself" no need for a permit.

[userdk]

Can warranty furnaces be replaced with non-EPA Phase II qualified furnaces if the original was grandfathered in?

[slimjim]

Not here they can't!

[Roger2561]

I do believe it has to be replaced with a gasser here in NH.  In my town, if do work that's under 800sqft, I can do the work myself but a permit is still needed.  Anything over 800sqft I need to hire someone in to do the job, which is a way the town set it up to keep locals in business and the hell with the rest of us.  Roger

[slimjim]

Better to ask forgiveness than permission and be denied

[userdk]

I hear it got pushed off until April.

[aries9245]

They can all rot in hell the only permit I had to get was when I built my home 10 yrs ago other than that what they don't know won't hurt them...

[atvalaska]

u can build your whole place up here with any permit   ...some things/homes  are  good some great some crap ....that just gives this capitalist country of  ours = different price points in the market at sale time ... lol!