Agenda - Environmental Policy Board - 04/21/2025

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review the test results and make them available to consumers on a website. • Wood -burning hydronic heaters sold in the United States will be required to have a permanent label indicating they are EPA -certified to meet emission limits in the final rule. This label will signal to consumers that the heater meets EPA standards. • Each model line subject to the rules will be required to demonstrate compliance through performance testing, similar to requirements of the 1988 wood stove regulations. Under that certification program, manufacturers have one representative appliance tested by an accredited laboratory to demonstrate compliance for an entire model line. This is a commonly used approach and will minimize testing costs for manufacturers. • The final rule also includes test methods that manufacturers will have to use to determine PM emissions and demonstrate compliance for each emissions limit in the rule. Based on public comment on the proposed rule and additional review, EPA has determined that the agency does not yet have sufficient data to require hydronic heaters to be tested using fires that burn cordwood (split wood) at this time. Instead, manufacturers will be required to test emissions using fires that burn lumber assembled in standardized configurations known as "cribs" — the same type of testing used for the 1988 woodstove standards. • EPA believes emissions testing using cordwood is important, because it presents a more realistic picture of emissions from wood heaters in daily use. The agency will allow manufacturers to test emissions using cordwood both for the 2015 (Step 1) and the 2020 (Step 2) emissions limits. Manufacturers choosing to test with cordwood will be required to have EPA approval of the test method. • In addition, to encourage further development of cordwood test methods, EPA is including an alternative Step 2 emissions limit based on cordwood testing. Manufacturers may test using either cribs or cordwood in Step 2, and must meet the limit corresponding to the type of test they choose. (Manufacturers testing with cordwood for Step 1 must meet the same emissions limit as those testing using cribs.) • Any manufacturer that tests hydronic heaters using cordwood will be allowed to use a special EPA label that will recognize that emissions from cordwood testing more closely reflect likely emissions from in -home use. Use of this label is voluntary. For additional information • For additional information about today's final rule, including the text of the rule and additional fact sheets, visit: http://www2.epa.gov/residential-wood-heaters . 3