Canberra's air quality is excellent compared to other capital cities, but the use of wood smoke heaters continues to push up pollution levels across the capital.

A report by the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) includes measurements taken during 2013 of four pollutants: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, photochemical oxidants and particulate matter.

Seven times during the year, tests showed the ACT exceeded national standards for particulates in the air.

On three occasions, controlled burns in New South Wales were to blame for the spike in pollution but combustion particles from wood smoke heaters during winter were identified as the biggest problem.

Christopher Collier from the EPA said the correct use of wood heaters made a big difference to air quality.

"If you use your heater incorrectly you tend to generate a lot more smoke," he said.

"If you don't use seasoned wood, if it's wet and those kinds of things, they make a very big difference to the air quality going up the chimney."

Mr Collier said there were many government programs in place to address the problem of wood smoke pollution.

"We've got licensing of fire merchants, we've got 'burn right' campaigns, ongoing administration of the wood heater replacement program," he said.

The ACT Government has also banned the installation of wood heaters in some suburbs of the Molonglo Valley.

The report said the monitoring results showed those programs had been effective in reducing wood smoke, with particulate levels on a downward trend.

It also noted one of Canberra's air performance monitoring stations managed by ACT Health, does not comply with standards around height, clear sky angle and distance from trees and traffic.

ACT Health's Andrew Pengilly said that meant data from the Civic station did not meet some requirements for national comparison, but was reliable.

"It's a question of standardising those measurements so they are comparable," he said.

"The Civic site is a perfectly functional air quality monitoring station, it tells you very accurately what the air in that area is like."

In February, the ACT Government began operating a new air monitoring site at Florey, in addition to the existing Civic and Monash stations.