Policy Recommendations Local Space Heaters

Policy Recommendations for Local Space Heaters

Current Regulations

The corresponding Ecodesign regulation will only enter into force January 1st 2022. Up until then, the regulation for the energy label is already mandatory (entered into force Januar 1st 2018).

Policy recommendations

One of the main concerns is the emission of pollutants when wood is burnt. Many regions/countries have forbidden certain biomass stoves as a result. This may be reversed once the Ecodesign minimum requirements come into action and stoves emit less pollutants. Ecodesign for stoves and boilers needs to push for increasingly strict air-pollutant regulations.

Another important aspect is proper maintenance of the chimney and stove, not only for a clean burning process but also for fire safety reasons. Some countries have national regulations on this (e.g. in Switzerland, control and cleaning is mandatory on a regular basis (depending on the oven once to twice a year). It would be advisable to include adequate requirements in the Ecodesign regulation.

Furthermore, the question of how the wood is burnt (for manual stoves) is important for a low-emission-burning. In view of the fine dust problem, a new firing method has been developed and successfully tested; this method results in significantly reduced emissions of pollutants when firing manually fed logwood stoves. Instead of lighting the wood at the bottom as was previously the case, the stove load is lit from above. For this purpose, a so-called firing module with a firing aid, e.g. wax-soaked wood wool rollers, is assembled and placed on top of the wood stack. New wood should only be added to the strong embers when it no longer has any flames. If no more flames are added, reduce the air flap on the stove a little. Only when the embers are no longer visible, close the stove and chimney flap completely. With the lower firing method, which has been customary up to now, there is a lot of cold wood in the flames over a longer period of time, emitting smoke (including fine dust) and corresponding pollutants. Now the flame eats its way slowly downwards from the top, which greatly reduces the incomplete combustion of the entire stack of wood. The burning process thus takes longer than before, and the heat output is more even.

Source and more information: https://www.holzenergie.ch/ueber-holzenergie/richtig-anfeuern.html