]]
Wood Heaters
Over the past few years, the Australian Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts and other government and industry authorities have been working through Standards Australia Technical Committee CS-62 to improve Australian standards for woodheaters.
The emission standard for woodheaters is specified in Australian Standard AS/NZS 4013(1999): Domestic solid fuel burning appliances - Method for determination of flue gas emission. The maximum emissions allowed from new woodheaters in Australia is 4.0 grams of particulate matter for each kilogram of wood burnt. The Australian Government has encouraged all States and Territories to adopt this standard.
The Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, in partnership with the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, conducted the National Woodheater Audit Program. The Program tested retail woodheater models for compliance with AS/NZS 4013. Forty-seven of Australia's most popular woodheater models were tested. Results showed that the majority of woodheaters tested did not comply with AS/NZS 4013.
Governments and the woodheater industry agreed on the National Woodheater Audit Program Action Plan with the aim of significantly improving compliance. Key elements of the Action Plan are:
Woodheater standards AS/NZS 4013 (1999) and AS/NZS 4012(1999) are currently under review to ensure that they reflect in service emissions performance and promote woodheaters that produce minimal particle emissions.
To inform the review, the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts commissioned a study to assess the suitability of a revised test method for determining particle emissions, a survey of how people operate woodheaters in their own homes to identify major factors that influence the test method and a cost benefit analysis that assessed the likely compliance costs and health benefits of introducing new Standards.
A new Australian Standard for the installation of woodheaters (AS/NZS 2918(2001): Domestic solid fuel burning appliances - Installation) has been developed to advise on the proper siting and installation of woodheaters.
A woodheater resource handbook (HB 170(2002): Wood Heating Resource Handbook Guide to the Selection, Installation and Operation of Wood Heaters) has been published to support the implementation of this Standard.
The handbook targets prospective purchasers, users, government authorities, councils, builders, retailers and installers and provides guidance on the selection, installation, operation and maintenance of woodheaters.
These documents are available for purchase from Standards Australia.