Feds offer tax credit for high efficiency wood and pellet stoves

DULUTH, MN. (Northern News Now) - It’s said that wood heat warms you up several times over from the splitting to the stacking to the burning. Firewood is a renewable resource but it still can pollute. Matt Boo of Duluth Stove and Fireplace remembers when wood stoves were very inefficient.

“In 1980 something at Ace Hardware downtown we got an Ashleigh in and it was 45% efficient and we thought nothing could be better than that.”

But we are doing better than that. 40 years later, high efficiency stoves and fireplaces have nearly doubled the number.

“That efficiency now is pushing 80 to 85 percent on some of these stoves.”

The reason is the use of clean burning technology that includes automobile style catalytic converters or tube reburning systems.

“Both do the same thing, they reburn the particulates in the gases.”

The U.S. Government is hoping more people turn to wood or other biomass materials for heating. Certified high efficiency burners qualify for federal tax breaks.

“If they meet a 75 percent value for high heat efficiency, there’s a thirty percent tax credit.”

Alan Delvecchio with Fireplace Corner in Pike Lake tells us that people pondering

putting in a wood burner don’t have to worry about their house insurance if it is done right.

“As long as it’s an EPA rated fireplace and it’s UL listed and it’s installed properly by professionals, they don’t have a problem.”

Delvecchio also cautions potential customers that even modern high efficiency heaters have to have proper annual maintenance.

“Check the chimney to see if it needs to be cleaned, make sure all the components are working safely and enjoy it!”

The tax break for a high efficiency wood stove is based on the full cost of purchase and installation. The credit is 30 percent of those costs up to a maximum of two thousand dollars. This tax credit will stay in effect until December 31st, 2032.

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