Selling a Seattle-Area Home With an Old Wood Stove

Sellers are often told the old wood stove has to come out before closing. Statewide, that is not true. The Washington Department of Ecology says removing an uncertified wood stove is not required when you are buying or selling a house. State law goes further: RCW 70A.15.3600 bars local rules on uncertified devices from adding separate obligations at the time of sale, apart from the seller disclosure. So there is no time-of-sale removal rule in the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency area.

What the law does limit is what happens to the stove. Under Ecology's rules you cannot sell, exchange or give away an uncertified wood stove, and under RCW 70A.15.3520 a used stove cannot be installed again unless it is EPA-certified or meets Oregon's Phase II standard. The stove can stay with the house. It cannot go on a classifieds site or into the next house.

Signs you need this

• A stove or insert with no EPA label on the back or sides
• Solid metal doors, or two glass doors
• A UL label but no EPA certification label
• A buyer or agent asking for the stove to be removed
• Form 17 asking whether your stove is EPA-certified

How we do it

1. Check the stove and chimneyAt the free inspection we look for the EPA label, check the stove, liner and chimney, and photograph what we find.
2. Put it in writingYou get written findings you can use when answering the disclosure form and when talking with the buyer.
3. Decide what to doLeave it and disclose it, remove and recycle it, or replace it with a certified stove or a gas insert. We price each option.
4. Do the work before listingIf you choose removal or replacement, we schedule it in a 3-hour window so it is done before photos and showings.

What do I have to disclose on Form 17?

Washington's seller disclosure statement, Form 17 under RCW 64.06.020, asks whether the property has a woodstove, fireplace insert, pellet stove or fireplace, and whether the woodstoves or inserts are EPA-certified. Another section asks about defects in chimneys, woodstoves and fireplaces. It also asks whether the home has carbon monoxide alarms, which RCW 19.27.530 requires the seller to install before the buyer can legally move in. Our written findings help you answer accurately.

What if the house is in the Tacoma-Pierce County Smoke Reduction Zone?

This is the one stricter local rule. Since October 1, 2015, buying or operating an uncertified wood stove or insert inside the Smoke Reduction Zone has been illegal. There, an uncertified stove must be removed and recycled, or rendered inoperable, unless the home has an approved No Other Adequate Source of Heat exemption. Rendered inoperable means the doors are broken off so they cannot be reattached, or holes are punched in the firebox. The zone covers part of Pierce County, not all of it, so check the zone map on pscleanair.gov for your address.

What are my options, and what do they cost?

Leaving the stove in place costs nothing beyond disclosing it, though it cannot be used in any burn ban. Removing it for recycling may qualify for PSCAA's $500 payment, which covers uncertified stoves and inserts in working order, with photos reviewed before recycling and the owner taking it to an approved recycler. Replacing it with an EPA-certified wood stove typically costs $3,000 to $8,000 installed. A gas insert typically costs $2,000 to $8,000 and can be used during both Stage 1 and Stage 2 bans.