MEMORANDUM September 9, 1999
TO: ICC Masonry Fireplace Code Review Group Interested Parties
FROM: Walter Moberg, President, FireSpaces, Inc.
RE: ICC Final Action on Fireplace Code Proposals St. Louis, Sept. 15-17, 1999
Greetings. Two months ago, we sent all of you a copy of our proposed revisions and public comments to IBC Item S261-99, and IRC Item RB595-99. While these revisions could not be included as an option for consideration at this point, they formed the basis for our public comment, and our subsequent recommendations for Disapproval of the current proposed revisions. Those of you who have received the Final Action Monograph for the upcoming votes of the membership can note that our efforts produced 11 submittals in favor of disapproval of the current proposals. There were no submittals supporting approval beyond those of the initial proponents.
We are contacting you now to urge your support in our efforts to reject the current proposals. By doing so, you will also help initiate a dialogue for developing a truly broad-based approach to the ICC Code language for fireplaces and masonry heaters. With all due respect to the proponent and the associations which he apparently represented in developing the current proposals, the language is still seriously flawed and, we believe, misrepresents the interests of the industry at large. The language is exclusive of major sectors of the fireplace and heater industry and self-serving to others. There is no coincidence that the proponent has built in exclusive advantages for products he personally represents and excluded the products of competitors. This is not an appropriate use of a building code process.
If you have associates or affiliates who are voting members of the ICBO, we urge you to encourage them to endorse the motion for disapproval. If they have questions prior to the vote, they can call us here at FireSpaces (ask for Tom Stroud or Walter Moberg) or they can contact me in St. Louis during the session, by phone request through our Portland office (503) 227-0547. Copies of the full text of our comment are also available upon request. Thank you for your consideration of our concerns.
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Rebuttal
by Jim Buckley 9/10/99
I feel I must comment on Walter Moberg's memo dated 9/9/99 (above) because it misrepresents the code development process, gets the issues wrong and maligns and insults those of us who worked to develop the code language.
Those who have been involved in the code development process through the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards (MACS) or who attended the ICC Code Development Committee Meetings in Costa Mesa will need no explanation. But I resent Walter having sent his memo to a number of people who have had little or nothing to do with the code development process. Now I feel I must waste your time and mine to respond to this scurrilous and misdirected attack.
My name is listed as the "proponent" of S261-99 and RB595-99 but the proposed changes are the result of several years of committee work and several code change cycles in the residential code arena. In fact very little of the language is mine. It came from the other model codes, especially the CABO One and Two Family Dwelling Code and the NFPA 211 Code and was largely drafted by David Johnston (then NFPA 211 Chair) and Mark Nunn (then with the BIA) with input from many industry associations and building code officials. S261-99 merely coordinates the language in the fireplace and chimney chapter of the IBC with that of the IRC. RB595-99 adds a reference to the masonry heater ASTM E-1602 standard which was supported by the Masonry Heater Association.
If Moberg disagrees with the masonry heater builders about how a masonry heater should be defined I think he should make his case to the Masonry Heater Association or submit a proposal to revise ASTM E-1602. At the very least he should go though the full ICC code change process next year and give us all a chance to consider his arguments.
Walter's last minute effort to disapprove the whole chapter on fireplaces and chimneys in the IBC, and to eliminate any reference to masonry heaters in the IRC, when he has not participated in any of the process, is inappropriate. His contention that the language is "seriously flawed" and "misrepresents the interests of the industry" or that his efforts in any way would lead to "a truly broad-based approach to the ICC Code language for fireplaces and masonry heaters" is insincere and insulting.
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Rebuttal
by Norbert Senf 9/11/99
X-Sender: mheat@mha-net.org
Date: Sat, 11 Sep 1999 15:42:49 -0400
To: Jim Buckley
From: Norbert Senf
Subject: Rebuttal
Cc: Jerry Frisch , staywarm@tempcast.com,
Pat Manley , nehearth@bigfoot.com
Mime-Version: 1.0
(These comments are for inclustion on Jim's web page regarding Walter's
September 9 comments
http://www.rumford.com/code/ICC00Moberg.html)
From: Norbert Senf
To: Interested Parties
Re: Walter Moberg's September 9/99 comments
I must wholeheartedly agree with Jim Buckley's rebuttal of Walter Moberg's
comments.
I have been involved in this process as a techical expert for a number of
years and can attest to the veracity of Jim's statements.
While this is not the right forum to go into all of the historical details,
it should be stated that the current state of affairs in fact had its
origins with Mr. Moberg's 1994 Colorado masonry heater definition.
I wrote a letter to Mr. Moberg on June 19, 1994 stating my concerns about
the definition specifically being written to include his (Mr. Moberg's)
proprietary fireplace.
http://mha-net.org/msb/docs/letter-m01.PDF
I did not receive a reply.
The evolving ICC and IRC masonry heater language has been available for
comment on the Masonry Heater Association website
http://mha-net.org
and on the Buckley website for well over a year.
For those who are interested, a number of background documents related to
the masonry heater definition issue can be found in the MHA Technical
Library at
http://mha-net.org/msb/lop-arc.htm
I invite Mr. Moberg and other interested parties to join the ongoing,
democratic, consensus standards discussion among the Masonry Heater
Association membership and other interested parties.
Derailing the ICC and IRC process after several years of effort is in
nobody's interest.
Norbert Senf
----------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat@mha-net.org-nospam
Masonry Stove Builders
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Quebec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092
