Solid fuel-burning stoves and fireplaces
Do you use a wood-burning heating system? Since 2015, the city has regulated the use of solid fuel-burning appliances in each of Montréal’s 19 boroughs. Learn more about this new by-law.
Heating with wood is among the leading causes of winter smog. Limiting the emission of particles into the atmosphere thus promotes better air quality and helps improve public health in Montréal. For this reason, residents are required to comply with this by-law. Those who do not will be liable to fines.
Solid fuel-burning appliances
Solid fuel-burning appliances include stoves or fireplaces designed to burn wood logs or any other solid materials, such as ecological logs, pellets or coal.
A gas or electric fireplace is not a solid-fuel burning appliance.
Mandatory certification
It is now prohibited to use a solid fuel-burning appliance unless it emits fewer than 2.5 grams of particles per hour, regardless of the fuel used.
This emission rate must:
- be certified by the Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA)
- or be compliant with Canadian standard CSA/B415.1-10
Please ensure that the technical specifications for your appliance mention one of these certifications and the number of grams emitted per hour.
Installing a filter or using ecological logs does not guarantee the appliance’s environmental efficiency. Only EPA-certified appliances or appliances compliant with standard CSA/B415.1-10 are authorized in all of Montréal’s 19 boroughs.
Smog
In the event of smog, the use of all solid fuel-burning appliances, including certified appliances, is prohibited. Residents who fail to comply with this prohibition will be liable to fines.
Subscribe to Environment Canada’s alerts so as not to miss any smog warnings, or check the weather forecast daily.
However, you are allowed to use your stove or fireplace, whether or not it is certified, if there is a power outage in your building lasting more than three hours.
Comply with the by-law
In some Boroughs, before installing, replacing or removing a heating appliance that uses fuel (wood, coal, ecological logs, pellets, natural gas, oil, ethanol, propane), you must get a permit.
Once you receive the permit and the installation, replacement or removal work is done, you must submit a declaration within 120 days (four months). Residents who fail to do so may be liable to a fine.
If you still own an old solid-fuel burning appliance, you absolutely must declare it even if you no longer use it.
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