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[adamant]

Burner law is passed by council
 By Louise James, staff writer
 

MILLERSBURG - Borough council, at its Oct. 8 meeting, adopted a 13-page ordinance regulating Outside Fuel Burning Appliances (heat plants located in the yard, outside the residence).

This ordinance applies only to OFBAs, and does not apply to outside cooking grills, inside heaters, nor patio burners, council said.

The ordinance was written due to concerns about air pollution problems that have surfaced in some communities with OFBAs, council said.

Regulations. The following lists some, but not all, of the regulations in the ordinance:

Must be located at least 200 feet from a neighbor's home;

The smoke stack must be 3 feet higher than the roof peak of any residence within 500 feet of the furnace;

The smoke stack may not be higher than 55 feet;

No OFBA may be installed or operated in a building used for human or animal habitation, unless designed and manufactured specifically for that type of use;

A scrubber or filter system must be attached to the unit;

A fan or blower system must be a part of the unit;

OFBAs may not be located within 25 feet of any structure without borough permission;

Must meet EPA emission standards;

No home-made OFBAs are permitted;

Only fuel specifically permitted by the manufacturer may be used;

No OFBA may be operated until it is inspected and approved both by an authorized representative of the Millersburg Fire Co. and an official representative of borough council;

A permit must be obtained before an OFBA is installed and operated. Permit fee is $100;

Ashes or waste cannot be accumulated on the property; it must be disposed of weekly with the trash;

OFBAs may be utilized from Oct. 1 through April 30;

No OFBAs may be operated on days that the EPA declares "air quality action day;"

Burning materials to be stacked and/or stored under cover, free from insects and rodents and

The smoke stack must be reinforced so that it is not a threat to anyone during high winds.

Prohibited fuel. The ordinance states that the following may not be burned in any OFBA  in the borough:

Any wood that does not meet the definition of "clean wood;"

Garbage, household trash and newspapers;

Tires and tire products;

Waste petroleum products;

Paint and thinners;

Construction and demolition debris, fiberglass or asbestos products and plywood;

Manure and/or human waste;

Asphalt products;

Animal carcasses, or other animal by-products;

Plastic or rubber products, wire, and cable insulation;

Leaves or wet and soggy wood, grass clippings, and other vegetative matter;

Recyclable materials;

Batteries;

Bio-hazardous waste, bandages, wound dressings, syringes, etc. and

Materials that create a foul or offensive odor, or that cause smoke emissions that are reasonably offensive to occupants of surrounding properties.

Rapid response praised. Mayor Brian Musa congratulated council on its expeditious handling of this ordinance.

[PhinPhan]

A scrubber or filter system must be attached to the unit;

What?

A fan or blower system must be a part of the unit;

Does this mean the Central Boiler units without a fan are illegal?  If so that is ridiculous.

No home-made OFBAs are permitted;

So the creative people and the engineers get punished.

I understand needing rules and regulations for use of these in populated areas but some of these things are ridiculous.  Just my 2 cents.

[charlie]

I love the one about the firewood! No rodents or insects. So what's next, if you have a mouse in your house along with some carpenter ants in your walls, you can't live in your house, or they will fine you?   Also the one with putting weekly ashes in the trash, yet the fire department has to approve your set up. Looks like stove ashes in the trash went right over their heads. Maybe they're bored in need some dump fires to put out.LOL. Just get a Gasification boiler and be done with all that crap. They will never make you get rid of what your already own. Just new installs after "THE RULES". Time for the people who build the stoves to step up to the plate and start to lobby . Pollution is another joke. My Woodmaster went 2 years with no chimney pipe cleaning and ran 24x7. Took my cap off the pipe a week ago . Wasn't anything to even brush out. Nothing, not even in the cap. A nice light tan color. If that stove was burning dirty as they claim , it would have had a major build up of creosote and been dripping all over the outside of the pipe. They don't want everyone beating the system. Bottom line. Next they will say no hunting or growing your own food. Time for the guns and to defend your property. You pay the taxes not them. I want to see them tell someone went it's zero out they have to shut their stove off. That could cause a hunting accident. These people who make these rules don't pay for their heat, we do with our hard earned money that they tax us on. Get the price of heating fuels down where they should be and people wouldn't care about heating with wood. Because people want a reasonable way to afford to stay warm, and who have common sense not to pay for overpriced fuels, they have to be burdened with a bunch of laws to stop them from doing so? NICE COUNTRY!