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February 27, 2001
125 people turn out
for kick-off Wood Stove Workshop
An enthusiastic overflow crowd assembled at Sault Ste. Marie's
main downtown fire station on Feb. 26 for the first in a
series of Wood Stove Workshops offered in the Georgian Bay
area.
Organized by the Hearth Products Association of Canada and
co-sponsored by Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Ontario
Ministry of the Environment, the workshop is part of the Great Wood Stove
Changeout of the Georgian Bay Watershed. The workshop featured an outdoor
burn display, firewood moisture testing, chimney and flue pipe samples, and
plenty of printed information people could take home.
| As people arrived for the
workshop they found a crowd gathered in front of two wood stoves burning
in a special outdoor display. Moving closer, they could see that
the stove on the left was burning very differently from the one on the
right. Although both stoves had glass doors and both were painted
black, the similarities ended there.
The stove on the left, an advanced technology, EPA certified model,
was full of lazy flames rising from the wood and small jets of flame
apparently coming from small holes at the top of the firebox. The
fire in the stove on the right was duller, with darker flames that
stained the firebricks brown and black. It was an older
conventional stove and there was a steady plume of smoke drifting from
its chimney. Meanwhile the chimney attached to the advanced stove
showed not even the slightest hint of smoke.
The difference was dramatic and the people arriving for the workshop
had a lot of questions about what made that new stove burn so
well. Organizers were kept busy explaining what was going on
behind that crystal clear glass. |
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| Despite the snow and wind,
people crowd around the burn display at Monday's event. Note the
plume of smoke from the chimney on the right that is connected to an
older conventional stove. |
Once inside the station, visitors found lots of free brochures and
booklets on wood heating they could take home for reading later.
Now armed with information, and a coffee and donut courtesy of Hearth,
Pool and Patio, folks found a seat ready for the workshop to
begin. Well, not everyone found a seat since the organizers were
overwhelmed by the size of the crowd and about 25 people were forced to
stand throughout the workshop. No one seemed to mind.
One of the hand-outs that people picked up was the workshop summary
that you can read here. |
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| The crowd listens as workshop
leader Martin Brooks describes how the technologies in the new stoves
work. |
During the break, samples of firewood that many attendees had brought
from home were tested for moisture content. Over in the moisture
testing corner there was a lively discussion of firewood processing,
storage and seasoning that continued until the intermission was over and
the workshop started again.
After the break, Brian Stocks of the Ontario Lung Association,
explained why he and his organization support the changeout
project. Since advanced wood burning equipment reduces smoke
emissions by up to 90 percent, better air quality results from the
replacement of older, smoky stoves, with the new models. |
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| Here is workshop leader Martin
Brooks explaining the finer points of advanced woodburning. |
At 9:30 pm, Martin Brooks thanked the sponsors and everyone for attending and
brought the evening to a close. As people left the workshop they stopped
outside for one more look at the cheery fire still burning in the advanced stove, and, looking up at the top of its chimney, marveled again that it was
impossible to tell a burning wood stove was connected to it.
Back to the Changeout home
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