The paper summarizes the in-house performance of new technology woodstoves. Use of wood as a residential heating fuel increased markedly in the U.S. during the 1970s in response to an increase in fossil fuel costs. Most of the increase represented wood burned in airtight parlor stoves which are generally operated air-starved, leading to low combustion efficiency and the release of substantial quantities of unburned organics into the atmosphere. Field studies over the past several years have quantified emission rates from new technology stoves designed to significantly reduce the quantity of unburned organics released. The new stoves, employing either catalytic or noncatalytic secondary combustion features, are currently mandated by the U.S. EPA. These studies have shown that the new technology stoves, while reducing emissions, do not achieve the emission reduction expected. Studies during the winter of 1988-89 showed that emission control was gradually improving, but they also showed that some stove models were experiencing degraded emission control performance after only a few months use.

Caption title. AEERL-P-682. Paper "presented at 83rd AWMA Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA, 6/24-29/90." Includes bibliographical references (pages 14-15) . Work performed in part by OMNI Environmental Services, Inc. Microfiche.