IKI wood-burning stoves pass CE tests with flying colours

Along with passing CE tests, the European directive for safety and environmental requirements, IKI stoves are also proven to comply with the German 1.BImSchV standard.

In the summer of 2012 sauna stove manufacturers will face a new challenge as the EU standard (DIN EN 15821) comes into force, followed by mandatory CE markings on all wood-burning stoves. The standard sets limitations to wood-burning stoves' exhaust fumes: furnace efficiency must be over 50% and the maximum temperature of the combustion gas expelled from the stove pipe is restricted.

Because IKI Kiuas Ltd had high expectations for its stoves, the company decided to go ahead with the CE testing well before it becomes mandatory. There were no certified test laboratories in Finland in the beginning of the transition period, so IKI Kiuas had its stoves tested in Germany, at TüV in Munich, one of the largest and most respected test facilities in the world.
IKI Kiuas had Mini IKI, Mini IKI Plus, Original IKI, Original IKI Plus, Maxi IKI and Maxi IKI Plus – in practice all of IKI's standard wood-burning stove models – tested during October 2011. The conformity tests are two fold, consisting of safety and use case tests. In the safety test, the stove is heated as hot as it allows, until the sauna room temperature reaches at least 110°C degrees. The stove's safety measurements and combustion gas temperatures are thus tested under abnormal conditions. In use case tests, the stove is used according to the guidelines provided by the manufacturer. The test is used to determine the stove's efficiency ratio, emissions and output capacity.

Each of the IKI wood-burning stoves that were tested passed all the test's limit values clearly. The efficiency value for all of the stoves was over 74%, which is well over the 50% limit. Carbon monoxide emissions stayed under 0.2% for each of the stoves, which is again well under the limit value of 1%. The average combustion gas temperature for all of the tested wood-burning stoves was around 350°C, which means they can be attached to ready-made T600 class chimneys without a care. Output capacity for the stoves ranged between 16 to 20 kW.

The stoves' test results were also compared to the German 1.BImSchV standard, because in Germany wood-burning stoves must pass much stricter test criteria than those set for the EU standard. While all measurements were again in order, let's mention as a noteworthy addition that for IKI stoves fine particle emissions measured from combustion gas were 0.020 gramme/m³, which is well below the 0.075 g/m³ limit.
The tests prove that IKI wood-burning stoves can be called truly eco-friendly with good reason. They are proven to be of high quality, safe to use and environmentally sound.

For more information, please contact:
Juho Suomi, tel. +358 44 066 6276, juho[at]ikikiuas.com.