The obligation to replace stoves will take effect from 2025 – these exceptions apply
Created: 01/12/2023 04:46
By: Fabian Pieper
Owners of wood-burning stoves may have to replace or convert their stoves in the near future.
© Wolfgang Langenstrassen/dpa
Older stoves are threatened with extinction in the foreseeable future.
When you have to convert or replace your furnace and what exceptions apply.
Berlin – Sitting comfortably in front of the warm fireplace in the cold winter and in bad weather: wood stoves definitely have their appeal and have therefore always been a popular addition to living room furnishings.
Especially in times of the energy crisis, many owners of wood-burning stoves have again considered the possibility of heating their living room with wood, although wood prices are currently higher than ever.
In the meantime there had even been firewood shortages due to hamster purchases.
But anyone who has recently returned their stove, which may have been shut down for a long time, to its actual core task, or at least still wants to, could stumble over the Federal Immission Control Ordinance.
There it is regulated that stoves may not exceed pollutant limits of 0.15 grams of fine dust per cubic meter and four grams of carbon monoxide per cubic meter of exhaust gas.
Immission Control Ordinance: Old stoves are threatened with extinction
The regulation has been active since March 2010.
It replaced an immission control ordinance that was 22 years old at the time, with the aim of reducing fine dust emissions from 24,000 tons to 16,000 tons by 2025 - and fine dust is responsible for many deaths in Europe.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, the 11.7 million stoves installed in Germany cause more particulate matter than all the cars and trucks in this country put together.
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The good news for all stove owners: At the time, the government had granted consumers generous transitional periods for converting older stoves.
The bad news: the transitional period for furnaces commissioned before March 2010 will expire at the end of 2024.
If the furnace then complies with the emission values, it must be shut down or converted.
These stoves are exempt from the exhaust gas limits
But as in almost every regulation, there are also exceptions for wood-burning stoves, which may mean that conversion is not necessary, even if the stove does not meet the required values.
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Open fireplaces that are used no more than 8 days a month for no more than 5 hours each time.
Fireplaces and stoves erected before January 1, 1950 and not moved within the dwelling since.
Ovens that are used in crafts.
Stoves and ovens that are fired with wood and have a heat output of less than 15 kilowatts.
Stoves and fireplaces used as the sole source of heat for a dwelling.
Complete replacement of furnaces can be worth more than upgrading or retrofitting
In addition, bottlenecks and delivery problems for new stoves or retrofit parts can occur if many fireplace owners want to convert or replace their old stoves at the same time in the coming year.
Experts therefore recommend taking care of it as early as possible and ideally this year.
A chimney sweep can tell you whether a stove does not meet the required exhaust gas values.
An upgrade or conversion is usually cheaper, but in the long term a complete replacement could also be worthwhile, since more modern furnaces are usually more efficient than older ones.
By the way, with a few tricks, the pollutant emissions can be reduced with every stove.
