Photo Gallery U.S. Stove View 11 Photos

SOUTH PITTSBURG, Tenn. — A generation ago before the government began limiting allowable smoke emissions from wood stoves, hundreds of U.S. companies produced wood stoves, including some small business owners who welded parts together in their garage and sold their products out of the back of their pickup truck.

Most of those producers have since gotten out of the hearth business since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began regulating the amount of particulate matter such stoves are allowed to emit into the air in 1988. From as many as 500 wood stove manufacturers in the 1970s and '80s, only about two dozen U.S. firms remain and that number is expected to again shrink as EPA begins implementing even stricter air emission standards next year.

The new rules, which require that wood stoves not emit more than 2 grams of smoke per hour, are designed to help reduce unhealthy amounts of particulate matter and other pollutants which can harm the lungs, blood vessels and heart. But the cleanup is adding to the complexity and cost of wood stoves now used to help heat millions of U.S. homes.

Although existing stoves which often last for decades are not covered by the new regulations, new wood stoves sold after May 1, 2020, will be subject to the new EPA limits. That could cut the number of major wood stove makers to only a handful.

U.S. Stove Co., which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, is already making the next generation of wood stoves to meet the tighter standards. As America's biggest and oldest wood stove maker, U.S. Stove heralds both its history and its innovation in responding to market and environmental changes with its credo "Expertise through longevity."

U.S. Stove Co. at a glance Started: 1869 Headquarters: South Pittsburg, Tennessee Staff: Nearly 150 in South Pittsburg and nearby Bridgeport, Alabama Ownership: Privately held by the Rogers family with Richard Rogers as the chairman of the board and his nephew August S.L. Jones serving as the company president. Products: Wood stoves, cast iron stoves, circulators, pellet stoves, multi-fuel stoves, gas heaters, patio heaters, furnaces fueled by wood, wood pellets, propane and natural gas Brands: United States Stove Co., Ashley Hearth Products, Newmac, Vogelzang, USSC Grills History: Company began as the Perry Stove Works Co. and changed its name to United States Stove Co. Inc., in 1826. Plants: Bridgeport, South Pittsburg and Eugene, Oregon Web site: www.usstove.com

The family-owned company has been headed for the past decade by August S.L. Jones who is determined to not only carry on the business but to help it to grow even with the cost pressures brought about by meeting the new air regulations and coping with more expensive raw materials.

"Our challenge is how do we maintain a price point that is affordable and meets these standards," Jones said. "Our design team has not only had to figure out how to make our products compliant with the new rules, but how do they do it under the economic constraints of what consumers are willing to pay."

At the same time that U.S. Stove battles to comply with the stricter environmental rules, the company has had to cope with higher steel and aluminum prices from Chinese import duties of up to 25%.

"This year has been tumultuous to say the least," Rogers said. "We have spent a lot of money on the technology to not only meet these new EPA rules but to do so with an affordable product."

Three years ago, U.S. Stove introduced its EPA-compliant wood furnace and the price of the product jumped 30%.

"There was a huge impact on our sales," Jones said. "We had to go back to the drawing point. The sticker shock was too great."

To avoid sticker shock on the next generation of stoves, U.S. Stove designers had to re-engineer both their products and how they are made. Brandon Barry, a vice president of engineering at U.S. Stove, said the company has been able to avoid major retail price jumps on the new stoves compliant with the 2020 EPA rules.

While many stove producers have added catalytic combustion devices to burn off the smoke generated by the fire in a wood stove, U.S. Stove engineers have developed a number of non-catalytic technologies using secondary combustion processes. Engineers have figured new ways to recycle the initial burn smoke back through a secondary burn process and to interject more air and, in some stoves, more pellets or fuel, to create a hotter burning stove.

"This design allows you to heat up the oxygen entering into the stove to a point where it can auto ignite the different gaseous fuels that come off the wood fire and fires off the smoke," Barry said.

The controls virtually eliminate any visible smoke from wood burning, which absent any controls usually emits 70 or more parts per hour of smoke or particulate matter.

U.S. Stove Co. has a bigger challenge than most companies because it makes nearly 100 different products, including wood, natural gas, propane and wood pellet stoves for both stoves and furnaces.

To prepare for the new EPA rules, U.S. Stove built its own test facility in South Pittsburg in 2012. Jones said just the three most popular U.S. Stove designs cost more than $2 million in engineering, design and testing to bring them into compliance with the stricter air regulations.

In response to previous EPA rules and changing markets, the industry has consolidated. For its part, U.S. Stove has acquired more than a dozen other companies in the past couple of decades, including seven acquisitions since Jones became CEO. In 2012, U.S. Stove bought one of the other major players in the wood stove market, Vogelzang International Corporation in Holland, Michigan.

"We were really aggressive with our M&A in the past 10 years," Jones said.

Most of the production facilities that were bought have been consolidated and the company is moving to combine more of its operations in South Pittsburg even while keeping a wide array of different products and brands.

U.S. Stove Vice President of Business Intelligence Paul Williams said the diversity of U.S. Stove products have helped the company respond to changing market conditions as fuel prices for gas, propane, wood and wood pellets have changed.

"We have made sure to diversify our lineup so to stay relevant within the marketplace," Williams said. "What we've seen, when energy prices are high, people will lean on wood burning appliances to supplement their heating needs. When gas prices are low, we see strong gas sales."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 757-6340.