Photos: 2014© Douglas Barnes Photography. www.nowpicturethis.com.

Attendance may have been down at the 2014 HPBExpo, March 6-8 in Salt Lake City, but that didn’t seem to dampen enthusiasm and optimism from dealers and manufacturers. Most reported very welcome sales increases for 2013 and are expecting an even stronger 2014. Some are already experiencing record-breaking sales in the first part of the year, such as Kozy Heat that reports January and February as being the best January and February in company history.

Valor Fireplaces/Miles Industries says it did well through the industry downturn but now is seeing a much greater uptick in sales.

Total attendance hit 5,131, but that was down 17 percent from the 6,195 attending the 2013 show. Buying entities, the number that tells exhibitors how many potential customers attended, was 1,031, down 15 percent from the 1,222 who attended last year. The number of retailers was also down, 706 compared with 901 in 2013.

HPBExpo – Facts & Figures

*Unaudited HPBA figures.

“Numbers typically take a dip when we go west, so this was expected,” says Kelly VanDermark, HPBA’s director of Meetings and Expositions. “But overall feedback from manufacturers was positive despite the lower turnout.” Along with the normal reluctance of easterners to travel west for a trade show was the opinion that, with the recent very cold weather in the East, most hearth dealers were busy making sales and catching up on installations, foregoing the trade show to keep up with consumer demands.

However, preshow exhibitors signing up for space at the 2015 Expo in Nashville contracted for a 20 percent increase in space.

Despite a record number of 79 first-time exhibitors, exhibiting companies totaled 316 versus 313 last year. Forty-two percent of first timers from the 2013 show returned this year, up from an average return rate of 27 percent. HPBA had budgeted a 7.5 percent decrease in total booths, but the actual decline was only six percent – 1,024 booths compared to 1,119 for 2013.

Indoor booth numbers took a three percent hit, but outdoor spaces dropped 21 percent. Even with a far smaller outdoor burn area, major manufacturers outside were very pleased with their traffic.

“We had very good traffic,” said Marc-Antoine Cantin, president of SBI-Stove Builder International. “Everyone wants to see the outdoor burn area, so the smaller it is, the more traffic and attention we get.”

ICC/RSF.

“Traffic was unbelievable,” said Ray Bonar, vice president of ICC-RSF. “We were slammed the first two days. Even so we’ll be exhibiting inside next year to save money and because we really don’t need to burn our products, especially our venting products.”

“This was the best show we have had in a very long time. We met with decision makers from the top retailers in the country. These retailers came to put the finishing touches to their business strategy and we are delighted to be part of their plan.” said Alan Murphy, vice president of Blaze King Industries, on the last day of the Expo.

Exhibitors and attendees couldn’t help but notice that attendance was down, but the vast majority was still pleased with the traffic. To repeat a very tired phrase, exhibitors said the better customers were there even if traffic was down somewhat.

“We had a phenomenal show,” says Jess Baldwin, senior vice president of Sales and Customer Service for the Vermont Castings Group. “We were very busy and sometimes overwhelmed. We couldn’t have been busier. And there were no tire kickers – all were very interested buyers.”

A few manufacturers have not exhibited every year, among them Jøtul North America, but this show seems to have changed a few minds.

“It felt good to be back in the show,” says Bret Watson, president of Jøtul. “We had a terrific show, and we’re ecstatic about being back. We’ve already signed up for Nashville.”

Insta-Fire.

“We had great traffic and lots of interest,” says Rick Forshaw, owner of Forshaw of St. Louis, an exhibitor, distributor and retailer. “People were here to buy. They didn’t have their hands covering their wallets. And they were looking for innovative products.”

“There was great traffic, but not from the Northeast,” according to Charlie Page, president of rep firm Jump Start Marketing. “Many dealers in the Northeast were simply too busy after having their busiest February ever.”

“Traffic was down a little,” said Nick Bauer, chief operating officer for Empire Comfort Systems, an exhibitor in the outdoor burn area, “but we saw everyone we wanted to see. The big dealers and two-steppers were here but not the smaller dealers.”

Steve Hall, president of Fireside Distributors, had a few words for manufacturers who did not exhibit: “Those manufacturers not showing are missing a bet. They need to at least have a presence at this show.”

Government Affairs Briefing

Battling with the DOE – On Feb. 8, 2013, the HPBA won its lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) when the federal court judge required the DOE to define decorative hearth products. On Dec. 31, 2013, the DOE issued a new Proposed Determination of Hearth Products as Covered Consumer Products, an extremely broad and very non-specific proposal that promises to cover virtually all gas-fired appliances including grills and patio heaters.

“Anything with an exposed gas flame,” said Rachel Feinstein, the HPBA’s Government Affairs coordinator, at the March 7 briefing for retailers, distributors and sales representatives.

The HPBA is challenging the DOE’s proposal as a definition that is overly broad and non-compliant with the earlier court ruling. The association has worked with various members of the U.S. House of Representatives to introduce HR3761, a bill to properly define and protect gas hearth products.

While the association has geared up for battle, it has tried to meet with the DOE to discuss the proposal, but to no avail – there has been no response from the DOE.

HPBA members are urged to contact their U.S. Representatives to support the bill.

Mendota Hearth Products.

Sparring with the EPA – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finally published its proposed New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for solid fuel appliances on Jan. 3, 2014. The public comment period is through May 5, 2014. The NSPS will go into effect 60 days after the final proposal is published in the Federal Register and signed by the EPA administrator.

The HPBA expects a final rule to be in effect “maybe in mid May, 2015.” While most wood- and pellet-burning appliances are covered by the NSPS, it does not cover fireplaces, coal stoves, cookstoves or corn stoves because the EPA claims the sales numbers are too insignificant to be of concern.

“The HPBA is taking on an aggressive and preemptive strategy regarding the public comments on the proposal,” according to John Crouch, HPBA’s director of Public Affairs. “This is a major undertaking. We’ve been working for five years on analyses to support our positions. The EPA’s proposal package is such a mess that it’s often difficult to figure out exactly what they are proposing.”

Key issues being addressed by the HPBA are the cost effectiveness of the proposal, the test methods to be used for product certification, grandfathering of previously certified models, and the retailers’ sell-through of older models.

A big concern for the industry is whether much lower emissions numbers than the 4.5 grams per hour proposed in step one of the NSPS are economically effective. Recent studies indicate that there are nine million freestanding solid fuel stoves in use in the U.S., but six to seven million of those are still dirty-burning, non-EPA certified models, suggesting stronger stove change-out programs would be more effective at reducing emissions.

The EPA must respond to public comments on its proposal or there may be grounds for invalidation of the final rule.

“The EPA has shown a lack of supporting data,” says Crouch, “so we’re saying ‘show me the beef,’ the data.” The HPBA also argues that retailers must have time to clear their inventory of older models. The proposal says six months, but the HPBA is shooting for one year. The HPBA will hold a webinar in conjunction with the Small Business Administration in early April to help retailers form and file their public comments on the proposal.

While most gas hearth appliance manufacturers are developing or already including barriers for hot glass doors or other technology to reduce glass temperatures, the new standard requiring them goes into effect with units manufactured as of Jan. 1, 2015. Manufacturers and retailers can, however, continue to sell units manufactured before Jan. 1, 2015, according to Tom Stroud, HPBA’s senior manager of Codes and Standards.

The new barriers will be required on any gas hearth appliance with glass temperature exceeding 172 degrees F. Some manufacturers are using double glass or an air wash, or both, to hold glass temperatures below 172 degrees F so that a barrier will not be required.

Decorative elements on the barriers cannot cover more than five percent of the barrier and cannot be wider than three-quarters of an inch. A warning label will be required on each appliance stating that a barrier “shall be installed.” The manufacturer will be required to supply, but not necessarily install, the barrier, so it will be up to the stove installer to make certain the barrier is installed.

Schott.

PFI’s Breakfast and Biomass – At the March 6 breakfast meeting of the Pellet Fuels Institute (PFI), chairman Scott Jacobs of Ozark Hardwood Products announced that 10 pellet fuel plants are now qualified for the new PFI fuel standards program and can now use the PFI quality mark and information on their fuel bags.

The plants include two from American Wood Fibers, one each from Curran Renewable Energy and Marth Peshtigo Pellet and three each from Lignetics and New England Wood Pellet.

Jacobs also pointed out that the PFI fuel standards program has been included in the EPA’s recently proposed NSPS, which equals acceptance and approval by the EPA. Even so, the hearth and pellet industries are “under attack from the EPA,” said Bruce Lisle, chairman of PFI’s Government Affairs committee and president of Energex Pellet Fuel.

PFI’s Washington, D.C., lobbyist, Pat Rita, says the recently passed federal farm bill has become an energy bill.

Its Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels is making available $15 million annually for the life of the farm bill to pay pellet fuel producers for their sales of pellet fuels. And the Rural Energy for America Program by the USDA will result in $50 million annually in grants and loans to support the pellet fuel industry.

Rita pointed out that the federal stove credit is gone from current federal tax planning. He also warned the group that the Biogenic Framework proposal to be introduced late this spring by the EPA could negatively affect the pellet industry, so the PFI must be aware of the proposal and be ready to act. This proposal will determine how biomass emissions will be treated by the Clean Air Act. The PFI will defend the carbon neutrality of biomass products such as wood pellets.

The proposed NSPS is now open for public comments until May 5, 2014, and the formal rule may go into effect as early as next spring, 2015, according to the HPBA’s John Crouch. He pointed out that the NSPS will affect residential but not commercial or industrial solid fuel appliances.

When the NSPS goes into effect, pellet appliance manufacturers will be required to specify the grade of pellet fuel to be used in each appliance. Crouch stressed the need for the PFI and its members to promote the new PFI standards to consumers in order for the standards to have the most positive effect.

WiseWay Pellet Stove.

Pellet appliances are now being burned in 2.8 million of the U.S.’s 114 million households, according to the 2012 HPBA consumer study, said Don Johnson, the HPBA’s director of Market Research. The hearth industry previously had been reporting 1.5 million U.S. households burning pellet fuel.

Overall unit sales in the hearth industry were up 30 percent in 2013, according to Johnson.

“We finally have turned the corner,” said Johnson, who explained that 54,055 pellet appliances were shipped in 2013 in the U.S., with pellet appliances representing five percent of the hearth industry’s appliance unit sales. Pellet appliance sales were up 12 percent from 2012.

Gas hearth appliances now represent 75 percent of the market, with sales up 36 percent, while cordwood units were 20 percent of the market with unit sales up 15 percent. Electric unit sales were up seven percent.

“Pellet appliance sales are the most volatile in our industry,” said Johnson. “As home heating gets more expensive, sales of pellet appliances go up, and as home heating costs become less expensive, pellet stove sales go down.”

The Northeast U.S. is the strongest pellet stove sales region with 53 percent of total unit sales. The Great Lakes region has 24 percent of the market; the Pacific region has 10 percent; the Central region nine percent; the Mountain region three percent and the Southeast one percent.

Johnson also acknowledged the current shortage of pellet fuel in the East, explaining that the industry did not expect such a severe winter with resulting strong sales and could not gear up for that demand.

The PFI’s Industry Pillar Award for “exemplary service to the pellet industry” was awarded to Rob Davis, president of fuel producer Forest Energy Corp., Show Low, Arizona.

“I put a lot of effort into it because I believe in our industry,” said Davis.

The PFI’s 2014 annual conference for appliance and fuel manufacturers, retailers and suppliers is slated for July 27-29, 2014, at the Omni Orlando Champions Gate Resort in Orlando, Florida.

Other Expo News

Golden Blount, chairman of Golden Blount, the Addison, Texas-based hearth accessory and gas appliance manufacturer, passed away March 6 in Texas of natural causes after an illness.

Loretta Dolan of Loretta Dolan and Associates, manufacturers’ representatives in the Middle Atlantic states, became the new chairman of the HPBA, succeeding Jim Hussong, president of Kozy Heat.

Now it’s on to Nashville, Tennessee, for next year’s HPBExpo, March 5-7, 2015, at Music City Center.

Innovative products generally are submitted for a Vesta award, but not always. Below are a few interesting new products you did not see in the Vesta awards:

Supreme showed its Duet 4 Seasons wood-burning fireplace, an EPA 3.6 gph certified, see-through model including a built-in barbecue grill stored in the firebox.

Napoleon added to its line of furnaces with its Condo Pack, a 95 percent efficient, through-the-wall compact model with built-in air conditioning, designed for condos and high-rise applications.

Dimplex has added Cassette models to its popular Opti-myst electric units, table-top stand-alone units with the electric flame and smoke seen from all 360 degrees.

Wood Pellet Products from the Traeger family offers a unique wood pellet patio heater looking much like the familiar gas “mushroom” patio heaters.

Glass door and gas log manufacturer Portland Willamette is offering a unique spa or patio roof with louvers that can be adjusted to any angle or shut tight with a remote control. The company is also offering its new Broadway model, a glass door fire screen with no exposed hinges or handles for a very clean, contemporary look.

Ortal doesn’t need a hot glass barrier for its contemporary, linear, gas fireplaces because it has reduced glass temperatures with a forced air wash between two glass panels and over the front to also circulate heat from the glass. Ortal also offers its Cool Wall technology for all its models to reduce temperatures above the fireplace, and it offers power venting with every model for hard-to-fit venting situations.

Terra Flame Home showed its ethanol-burning models available in a wide variety of very contemporary and stylish cabinets, including see-through models and others in a mirror-style frame for wall mounting.

Kozy Heat’s new Slayton ST is a gas, linear, see-through fireplace model with mirrored glass on both faces that greatly multiplies the look of the flame while obscuring the view into each room.

Pacific Energy has coupled the Piazzetta pellet stove it distributes with Pacific Energy’s gas technology to offer a very contemporary Piazzetta gas stove with a vertical format.