I think I have a low emission stove. My neighbors pipes belch smoke when they are burning. I can barely see if i have smoke coming out of mine. You really have to look hard. Might be that i have better wood too.
I've been having downdraft issues lately though. Damn house gets smokey when it starts blowing 30mph +.
Mine belches smoke when I first load it, once it burns down a bit, the smoke goes away, unless a green piece found its way in. The one thing nice about the pre-EPA stoves is that if the wood isn't as seasoned as much as it should be, it will still burn without much issue aside from a little smoke. These new EPA stoves will choke off and sit there and smolder without putting out any heat, just alot of smoke.
Yeah, this is an "EPA-rated" stove, but it's a non-cat, and will hopefully not need to be stoked every 3 hours like the Vogelzang Boxwood cast-iron stove that had been in the cabin for years before I got it.
Heck, if the EPA gets their way in 2015 (proposed wood stove regs), we'll be lucky to get anything for under $1000....
Those Vogelzang Boxwood stoves are crazy, they have so many places air gets into them, they turn cherry red, there is no real way to shut the air off to them. You are right, my buddy has one, two or three hours and there's nothing left of a full load. My lord do they put out some heat though, sometimes TOO much!
I figure after 2015, wood stoves will pretty much be a thing of the past, most folks will say it isn't worth it, and go back to 'taxable' natural gas, oil, and electric. Which is what .gov wants anyhow. Self-sufficiency has become a four letter world in this country.
