Green Scene video with Alison Davis of EPA's Office of Air Quality and Standards on properly installed and maintained EPA certified wood stoves.

[This is a transcript of Judy Pino sitting at a table talking with Alison Davis. This is a steady image and does not include other visual content or scenes.]

[Judy Pino] Hello and welcome to EPA's Green Scene, a series of environmental podcasts that you can take with you. I'm Judy Pino with the Office of Multimedia. As Old Man Winter finally makes its presence known throughout the country, many of you may be considering adding a wood stove or a fireplace to your home. Good idea. After all, it adds ambiance and value to your home, and it could prove to be very efficient. A properly installed and maintained EPA-certified wood stove releases significantly less pollution into the environment. And to provide more information on this timely topic is Alison Davis. Welcome, Alison.

[Alison Davis] Thanks, Judy.

[Judy Pino] Tell us what falls into the category of a cleaner burning hearth product.

[Alison Davis] There are a lot of things. First of all, an EPA-certified wood stove or a fireplace insert, which is like a wood stove that fits into your fireplace, and there are also masonry heaters, gas heaters, for example. Those are just a few.

[Judy Pino] Okay, what do you need to know in selecting a cleaner wood-burning hearth product for your home, including retailers and installers?

[Alison Davis] Well, the important thing is that you need to have the right unit for your home. You don't necessarily want to go buy the biggest, baddest fireplace available, because if your house isn't big enough, you'll wind up dampering it down, and that means you'll be putting more pollution out than you would if you bought the fireplace or wood stove that was the right size for your home. So it's important to go find an experienced retailer who can help you find the right product for your house. Take a drawing of your house with you. Take the measurements with you. And EPA also recommends that if you're going to have a fire -- excuse me, EPA also recommends, if you're going to have a wood stove in your home, that you have it professionally installed by someone who's certified.

[Judy Pino] Okay, those are all good tips. Now give us some more tips on good wood-burning practices. How about, how can you ensure safer heating?

[Alison Davis] Well, today's wood stoves are about 70 percent cleaner than those that were built before 1992.

[Judy Pino] Mm-hmm.

[Alison Davis] But you've got to use them correctly, and one of the important -- most important things to do is to build a small hot fire. Again, you don't necessarily want the biggest fire you can build. A small hot fire is cleaner and safer because it burns wood more completely. More complete burning means less smoke. It also means less creosote in your chimney, and that reduces the risk of a chimney fire. It's also important to remember that you should burn only seasoned firewood. Hardwood is best. And there are some things you should never burn. Don't burn trash. Don't burn treated wood or painted wood or, you know, old furniture, and don't burn driftwood that you found from the ocean.

[Judy Pino] People do that?

[Alison Davis] Well, evidently some do. And all of these things can actually release toxic chemicals into the air. And then, finally, make sure you maintain your stove or fireplace insert. Clean the ashes out regularly, and have your chimney inspected by a chimney sweep once a year.

[Judy Pino] Okay, what impacts does wood smoke have on your health, on your air quality inside and outside your home?

[Alison Davis] Well, you know, wood smoke smells good to a lot of us, but it's really not good for you. And wood smoke contains a mixture of a lot of gases and fine-particle pollution. These fine particles are by far the biggest problem from wood smoke, and they can have a range of effects. They might just make your eyes burn and your nose run, but for people with lung disease or asthma and people with heart disease, they can cause some pretty serious health problems.

[Judy Pino] Now, if you've had a stove made before 1992, you may want to get a new one. Explain why.

[Alison Davis] That would be a really good idea, and that's because these older stoves, they last a really long time, but they're much, much more polluting, about 70 percent more polluting than a stove that you would buy today, and that's a result of EPA regulations and some state regulations issued since then. So we'd really encourage people to replace their older stoves with an EPA-certified stove. If you're not sure if you have a certified stove, look on the back. There's a metal plaque, and it will say whether it's an EPA-certified product.

[Judy Pino] Okay, so we're looking for that label.

[Alison Davis] That's correct.

[Judy Pino] Okay, what if you have a fireplace? What can you tell us about clean-burning, safer, more efficient fireplace options?

[Alison Davis] Well, you know, we all think of gathering around a fire, but a conventional fireplace is really pretty inefficient at heating your house. So -- and they're sources of smoke just like old wood stoves are, both indoors and outdoors. If you're using your fireplace for heat, we'd encourage you to think about installing an EPA-certified fireplace insert. Again, that's like a wood stove that fits in your fireplace. It will do a better job at heating your home, but if you're just using your fireplace for ambiance, there are other, cleaner choices like gas logs or propane, for example.

[Judy Pino] Okay, finally, with all this talk about the indoor air quality inside and outside your home, how are communities getting proactive with wood stove changeouts, and how can you do the same?

[Alison Davis] Well, a number of communities are participating in EPA's Great American Wood Stove Changeout, and that's a multi-prong program to encourage people to burn more cleanly and to replace old stoves with cleaner burning units. You can find information on our Web site, and we're seeing these programs all the way from Pennsylvania to Ohio to Montana, Washington state, and California, and so it is definitely making progress not just to help make your house a safer and less polluted place to live, but it can also help your community meet national particle standards if that's a problem in your area.

[Judy Pino] Excellent. Thank you, Alison, for all your great advice.

[Alison Davis] Thanks, Judy. It's good to be here.

[Judy Pino] We invite you to come back anytime.

[Alison Davis] Thanks.

[Judy Pino] Okay, and for more information, of course, please visit our Web site, wood stoves and fireplaces, epa.gov. Just search for "wood stove and fireplaces." See you next time on EPA's Green Scene.

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