New rules go into effect for wood-fired boilers

government regulations on ANYTHING EXCEPT oil which our government officials rely on to "grease" their pockets and increase the zero's in their bank accounts.

bunch of bastards!

i guess the oil companies are after the polititions to try to restrict these non-oil burning boilers, it's so unfair!

As usual Massachusetts is the leader in making more expensive regulations on people who can least afford it. Massachusetts seems to always be the leader in more oppressive rules for the average citizen. Our gun laws are ridiculous. People are afraid to raise their kids in this state. Cigar and Smoking Bars are going to have to close down. Don’t make Fluffernutter sandwiches for your kids. And Please, please, please do not use your Leaf Blower. And the list goes on and on. Its no wonder we are the only state in the Union to lose citizens in the last census. What we should do is eliminate the tyrants at the EPA.

Here we go again, more government regulations to increase cost of living. Why don't these regulators sit back and smell the coffee????????

So much for green power. New rules probably written by some cambridge wacko liberals, who would rather see all those bad humans freeze to death. Morons!! What's the diffeence between a wood stove inside the house and one outside? There isn't a difference.

All woodburning is the aim of the Mass dep!!!!!!
All woodburning stoves limit air and smoke look around!!!
Mass dep wants us to burn oil and gas so they can put you under their control.
No grandfathering unlike other states! !
In 2000 I installed one (oil is over 3.00 per gal.)I paid for all permits and was brought to court ,fined $15,000 dollers,for a law that was illegal to use .
Don't let the eco nazis take YOUR RIGHT TO USE WOOD FOR HEATING YOUR HOUSE ! !

As soon as I can sell my home and move out of this state I"M GONE .
I paid too much as a veteran not to live free. Let the d.e.p pay the taxes.
I like to do bad things like hunt,fish,shoot,and cut wood and be self sufficient.
I think mass. is A GREAT PLACE TO SELL DRUGS! ! !
I'll take maine!
Sick of this place

The house on the corner of my street installed one of these.
And it was AWFUL.
The residents of the house refused to follow the rules of what could be burnt.. as a result we had days and days of this thing belching the worst smelling smoke that surrounded all the houses for blocks. Maybe if the morons had FOLLOWED THE RULES it wouldn't have been so bloody awful. It stank, it made breathing outside while it was burning almost impossible.
Thank the idiots like my neighbors for bringing down the heavy restrictions you see here. Responsibility is mandatory when you own one of these.

To the posters above: Oil-fired boilers produce far less pollution and emissions than the wood-fired boilers. These regulations are long overdue.
A lot of these units have been installed in areas that are densely
populated and some people have used them to get rid of pretty much anything that would burn.
The wood-fired boiler has its place: Out in the middle of nowhere.
I think it would be nice to see DEP start enforcing the regulations on particle emission for people using wood stoves. A lot of people don't know how to use those either.

Hey, before everybody condemns the regulatory guys, learn something about these heaters-- pros and cons-- and make an educated comment. I live in a rural central Mass community with a lot of these heaters and I've heated with wood for decades. We citizens had our in-fighting and resolved it with reasonable regulations.
One of the plusses in favor of outside furnaces is that you can burn green wood-- you shouldn't do that in your home stove because it burns cool and condenses creosote in your stove pipes and chimney which can cause chimney fires and can clog the flues over time. Most of us will burn a hot fire periodically to drive out the creosote.
It's my understanding that, because you don't have to worry about your chimney with an outside heater, you can burn "green" or unseasoned wood-- but you have to blow it out with a hot fire the same way you do in the house.
It's only fair to locate the heater so that it doesn't corrupt your neighbor's air-- face it, it's going to get into the atmosphere like any other combustion by-product, but be fair to your neighbors! Local regulations specify setbacks from property lines. Our town meetings are not infiltrated and controlled by Big Oil, but they do reflect the need for neighborly consideration.

My grandfather was sued and went through hell and highwater over a wood stove in his garage. He has had the house and garage since the early 70's if not earlier and after over 30 years of use all of a sudden the smoke was noxious and my grandfather is no longer allowed to use the stove. He only burned wood and airflow was not restricted, it had natural draft and was cleaned and maintained regularly. There was no soot or carbon build up on the stack cover, it was clean. There are people out there that will illegaly burn trash and other things but guess what, these new regulations will not stop them because they don't care about the law anyway. Laws only affect those who follow them.

I applaud Mass for protecting their citizens. Outside Wood Boilers put out 22 times more pollution than a standard wood burner and most have a chimney height 10 feet off the ground. No one has the right to harm their neighbors to save a buck. I too am a veteran but it doesn't give me a right to cause a nuisance or harm others. To those thinking about moving you may want to do your homework, OWB's are being banned or severely restricted either by state government or local communities across the U.S.

I can see both sides of the story.It is a problem with people,not with the stove.
I want one.I have 3 young kids,and both my wife and I work.Winter is always the time we fall behind on our bills.And when I saw this new idea of an outside wood burnning stove as a source of heating my house.I thought " I bet I could cut my oil use way down,keep up with my outher bills.GREAT "But now because of a few jerks burnning CRAP they should not be burnning.So now the BIG WiGS who spent there whole life backed by money and POWER step in and start feeding us there permit fee,fee for the permit,tax on the fee,fee tax,also fee for prossing the papper work .So that leaves some one like me out in the cold again.Is there away to everyone happy????is there some one living in the answer? We know there is a problem!!!Where are you ...Blame it self has no leggs.GIVE ME SOME LEGGS!!!

get a corn boiler. zero emissions equal to wood in btu. moist heat and zero soot. need i say more

George near the Quabbin:
You are the reason these regulations were written. Green wood does not burn; it smolders. Do everyone and the environment a favor and burn seasoned hard wood.
On a side note, if you have to purchase the wood to run one these, the price of cord wood does not make outside boilers much cheaper than oil.

Hey Roy-- I can't afford one! I've used a Canadian wood furnace in my cellar for years and will burn only well seasoned wood. I'm simply stating some info that was missing from the discussion. I'm affraid you mis-read between the lines. Pointing a finger at me is the sort of thing that polarizes a discussion and continues to leave guys like Whitney P out in the cold.

George, I'm glad to hear you're only burning well seasoned wood. The idea behind the regulations is not just to protect the air quality for the neighbors. It is the job of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to consider the whole picture. The outdoor boilers will smolder with green wood which does not provide for proper combustion and dramatically increases the emission of pollutants no matter where the unit is sited. No one should be 'burning' green wood anywhere.

Roy, Points well taken! With a little planning, users of outdoor boilers can have their wood supply in the 20% -25% moisture range-- suitable for clean combustion-- in just two to three months if they cut it to one foot lengths and stack it loosely .

Do you have any suggestions for the prudent regulation of these devices? Education, monitoring? As I drive through the countryside and observe different levels of smoke production, wood piles, and locations, it appears to be a daunting task. All told, it's hard to find much wrong with outdoor boilers if they are properly used.

I have the misfortune of living 80 feet from one of the older, most ineffecient models. Our neighbor has no regard for us whatsoever and creates such a nuisance with the unit, our smoke alarms go off daily and the fire department is summoned to our house. God forbid our house ever catches fire, as we are so desensitized to the alarms now, we assume it is yet another false alarm caused by the smoke. Oh, and the neighbor admitted on record to the DEP that he was burning painted wood. Our entire family is now prone to all kinds of health issues. Maybe we'll finally get to use our yard or open the windows.

tronsilver ,
If your a vet you know THIS IS ONLY THE START!!!!!
YOU COULD, YOU MIGHT BE, BURNING RUBBISH!! Should sound an alarm!
Yes a mack truck makes 100 times as much emissions as a vw,try to put
80,000 lbs. on a vw and see what happens.ALL woodburning will soon end
in Massachusetts WATCHOUT!Just like ethanol ,pellets take more electricity to make,more plastic bags,more transportation,and more TAXES!! Also
tires and trash burn quick in a fireplace and the ash goes nonstop.

The problem is this as quoted by the U.S. EPA: "Current outdoor wood-fired heaters are substantially less efficient and more polluting than other home-heating devices." That pretty much sums it up. An OWB creates on average 72 g/hr of pm 2.5 particulate matter as compared to other forms of heating (even with wood) of: OWB = 72 g/hr Conventional Wood Stove = 18 g/hr EPA Certified Stove = 6 g/hr Oil Furnace = 0.07 g/hr Gas Furnace = 0.04 g/hr Secondly, these DON'T I repeat DON'T save a person money. These cost around at minimum $10,000-$15,000 to purchase and operate before you even throw your first log on the fire. So when someone claims "I can't afford my bills" well they sure could afford $10,000 to buy one of these monstrosities. I know I don't have $10,000 to throw down on anything much less, something like this. Also take into consideration the $2,000 -$5,000 in installation costs that are associated with this. You can easily spend $15,000 before the so-called savings even start. So don't believe the "I'm so poor I can't heat my home" argument because it is all bogus. The other thing to mention is that these things consume and use electricity about 3 times as much as a normal furnace. Electricity bills nearly triple when using these. So spend $150 a month on electric instead of that price on gas? So in closing would you want this across from your home? Probably not......