Buckley Rumford fireplaces have been approved by the State of Washington. Tested by OMNI Environmental, an EPA certified testing laboratory in Portland Oregon, the Rumfords were found to be clean-burning. The test results were submitted to the Washington Department of Ecology which approved the Rumford fireplaces pursuant the new Washington State fireplace standard WAC 51-30-3102 Section 3102.5.4. The new state standard takes effect January 1, 1997.
The new Washington state regulation requires both metal and masonry fireplaces to be clean-burning as defined by a standard of 7.3 grams of particulate matter less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10) per kilogram of fuel burned. (Masonry fireplaces are allowed a one year phase-in period and there is an exception for one-of-a-kind fireplaces.) The Rumford fireplaces tested averaged about 4 grams per kilogram of PM10
"They are the first clean-burning traditional open masonry fireplaces to be tested and certified anywhere in the United States," said Jim Buckley, who has worked to bring back the 200 year-old fireplaces.
Buckley Rumford fireplaces are designed by Jim Buckley of Port Townsend, WA. Components are manufactured by the Superior Clay Corporation in Ohio and "Certified Buckley Rumford fireplaces" will be assembled and distributed in Washington by Mutual Materials.
The Rumfords passed the test open - without glass doors - which was surprising to many designers who had assumed open fireplaces could not be as clean-burning as heaters and stoves with closed combustion chambers.
The Rumford fireplace, however, points out Buckley, is not just any fireplace. It was designed by Count Rumford 200 years ago this year, when people heated with fireplaces. Thomas Jefferson was one of the first Americans to see its virtues and specified Rumfords at Montecello within months after the publication of Rumford's 1796 essay.
Rumford fireplaces have tall and shallow fireboxes to reflect radiant heat, and rounded streamlined throats that work on the venturi principle to minimize the loss of heated room air. The traditional, roast-your-chestnuts-on-the-hearth, Rumford fireplaces are much cleaner and much more efficient than regular modern fireplaces.
The Rumfords were also tested with glass doors, even though the glass blocks much of the radiant heat, because glass doors are required by the Washington Indoor Air Quality Code. The open door and the closed door tests were averaged for official certification according to the Washington rules.
Buckley has also submitted the OMNI test results for certification of the Rumford fireplace in California. Colorado has already approved them.
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