National environmental standards for air quality: Authorised wood burners

Design standards for wood burners are fundamental to improving ambient (outdoor) air quality in urban areas in New Zealand. The NES for air quality requires that all wood burners installed on properties less than 2 hectares must have a discharge of less than 1.5 grams of particles for each kilogram of dry wood burnt, and a thermal efficiency of at least 65 per cent.

The Ministry has compiled a list of wood burners that have been tested and found to meet the performance requirements of the national wood burner standard.

The Ministry does not accept any liability arising from the list and will not pay compensation to anyone relying on this list in the event a wood burner is found to be non-complying and has to be removed. The Ministry encourages retailers to make purchasers aware of these caveats.


The list has been updated to include the results of Phase 1 and Phase 2 of a national performance review of wood burners. However, it is not necessarily an exclusive list of all currently compliant models at any given time.


If you have any queries regarding wood burners, please refer to the frequently asked questions.


If you would like to be notified of updates to the authorised list, or have any queries regarding wood burners, please email woodburners@mfe.govt.nz. 


Note: A building consent for the installation of a solid fuel burner will be required from the local city or district council. These authorities, including the regional council, may also have additional requirements for solid fuel burners. Please check with them.


For more information about wood burners see the following publications:

Pellet burners

Pellet burners are not included in the National Environmental Standard as they cannot be tested in accordance with the method due to their automatic feed mechanism.  Pellet burners are however, extremely efficient and clean burning. The Ministry has compiled a list of appliances authorised by Environment Canterbury and/or Nelson City Council.

Multifuel burners and open fires

There is no Ministry list of multifuel burners or open fires as these are not recommended forms of heating. Some regional councils are also discouraging these heating types through their regional planning processes.

Functionally equivalent wood burner authorisation

Wood burners that are currently excluded from the specified testing methods in the National Environmental Standards (NES) now become authorised through the functionally equivalent authorisation stream.

 

Last updated: 30 April 2012