By JOSEPH FITZGERALD

NORTH SMITHFIELD - Time may be running out for North Smithfield homeowners who are considering installing outdoor wood burning furnaces to help with rising energy costs.

neighbor's use of an outdoor wood burning furnace has prompted the Town Council to consider placing a moratorium on any new furnace installation until the town can study the effects of the devices and draft local regulations that could either set strict regulations or ban the stoves altogether.

At its meeting Monday night, the council voted 3 to 2 to hire an expert consultant to provide scientific data to the council and help the town craft a local ordinance and determine whether or not it should move forward on a moratorium in the meantime.

The local case in question involves resident Keith Klockars of 676 Pound Hill Road, who has been operating an outside wood boiler manufactured by Minnasota-based Central Boiler, Inc. Klockars' neighbor, John Wilbur, who lives 200 from Klockars' house, has complained to town officials about constant clouds of thick smoke he says has made it impossible for his family to enjoy their backyard.

An outdoor wood furnace resembles a small utility building that sits outdoors and contains a wood fired, water-jacketed stove. The hot water is circulated through underground pipes to the inside of the house, where they are hooked to a heat exchanger in the majority of cases. In some cases, they can be directly plumbed to the hot water heater or tied in with an existing floor heating system or boiler.

Proponents say outdoor wood furnaces are simple, clean and efficient. Instead of moving the wood and corresponding mess and bugs indoors, the wood burning furnace is outdoors next to the wood. Indoor air pollution is also cut to zero by moving the fire and smoke outside. Users typically load it once at night and once in the morning.

Opponents point to the fact that wood burning furnaces cause dense smoke that

impacts neighbors by creating a nuisance and health problems. Most units come

equipped with very short stacks and the smoke from these low stacks disperses

poorly.

The problem, according to Stacey McFadden, a senior environmental engineer with LFR Environmental Management and Consulting, is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends emissions and air quality standards, but does not regulate where and when the wood-fired burners can be installed or used. A growing number of communities nationwide, McFadden told the council Monday, are setting their own rules on the increasingly popular wood boilers, which are not federally regulated.

Some states, including Connecticut and Maine, have regulations and let their

municipalities adopt even stricter limits or ban the boilers altogether, she said. Massachusetts has considered statewide rules but has not enacted them.

McFadden's firm was hired by Wilbur to sample the smoke enveloping his property. The sampling was conducted on Dec. 1-2 and determined that the concentrations of particulate matter (gases and particles) were in excess of national ambient air quality standards.

Klockars challenged the results, saying when he was given a copy of the test results by Wilbur he sent them to the manufacturer of his boiler, whiuch in turn sent them to Tech Environmental, which questioned the accuracy of the LFR sampling.

"No one is pointing the finger at anyone," Councilwoman Linda B. Thibault told the parties involved. "We're just looking for information. We've been getting complaints about this issue for two years and we need to know more."

Councilman Paul L. LeClerc said he visited Wilbur's property recently and couldn't believe the amount of smoke impacting the property. "You could barely see his house," he said. "Seeing that house covered with smoke scared the hell out of me."

LeClerc said it was he who suggested that Wilbur hire a firm to test the air.

LeClerc made the motion Monday night to implement a moratorium on new outdoor wood furnaces affective immediately, but Town Solicitor Mark C. Hadden advised the council to first hire a consultant.

As for the problems between Klockars and Wilbur, both men are trying to deal with the issue as neighbors. "On Dec. 3 I got a call from Mr. Wilbur saying he was bothered by the boiler," Klockars told the council. "We met on Dec. 5 to talk about a few things like raising the stack higher and putting in a draft."

Klockars says he's willing to volunteer his furnace for any future objective

scientific testing. "If you're going to ban them you have to find out what they're doing to the environment first."

Wilbur described Klockars as a "good neighbor," but said the reality is that neither he nor his children can go outside because of the smoke. "It's not simply an issue of burning wood. It's a matter of life and death."