How To Choose A Wood Stove? Comprehensive Guide

It’s not easy to zero in on the wood stove that’s just right for your home. A vast range of sizes, designs, purposes, and potential heat output characterize today’s stoves.

When we were looking for a new stove a few years ago, we had to take a number of factors into account in order to settle on the ideal wood-burning or multi-fuel stove for our needs. Therefore, I’ve put together this buying guide for wood burning stoves to help you make an informed decision.

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To find the best wood stove, you should prioritize:

• Whether it’s a wood stove, a multi-fuel stove, or a pellet stove
• Wood stoves, multifuel stoves, and pellet stoves are all accessible choices.
• Intensity of heat generated depends on volume
• Efficiency
• Products with either the EPA’s or DEFRA’s seal of approval are fine to use.
• Methods, both catalytic and noncatalytic
• Airwash
• Affordability
• Secondary combustion means burning that happens after the initial combustion has already taken place.
• Refuse receptacle for ashes
• Blower

In the following paragraphs, you’ll get a glimpse of our wood stove’s design, features, and our rationale for purchasing it.

What To Look For When Buying A Wood Burning Stove

1) Wood Burning, Multi Fuel Or Pellet Stove

There are three alternative ways to categorize stoves as “wood burning,” each influenced by factors such as personal taste, fuel availability and budget. What I mean is that here are some instances:

• Wood-burning stove
• An alternative fuel stove.
• one that burns wood pellets

Wood Burning Stove

If you want to use wood in your home but don’t want a lot of extra complexity, a wood burning stove is an excellent solution.

Here is a picture of our very own wood stove:

Stoves designed for burning wood aren’t efficient at burning coal or any other fuel besides wood.

Since a wood stove is exclusively intended for burning wood, its air vent controls are more basic than those of a multi-fuel stove (which allows you to burn types of fuel other than wood).

Though other models, like the ones we looked at, have two (one at the bottom and one at the top), our wood stove just has one. We like how simple it makes lighting and tending a fire in your wood stove.

If you’re looking for something straightforward and easy to operate, maybe think about getting a wood stove with just one air vent. If employing two air vents is not much more difficult, it may be possible to make concessions with the other items to look for when choosing a wood stove.

Even if you have no current plans to switch to using solid fuel, you may want to consider purchasing a wood stove that can be modified to use other fuels.

A multifuel conversion kit, consisting of a new base, grate, ash pan, and an additional air vent, must be installed in our wood stove before it can be used to cook with other fuels.

If you’re set on a wood stove right now but eventually want to switch to burning anything else, look for one that can be adapted to do so.

Multi Fuel Stove

If you want to burn fuels other than wood, such coal, you should look for a multi fuel stove.

Our multi-fuel stove sees most use for cooking with wood, but it was constructed such that coal may be used if preferred.

When properly used, wood stoves allow for a top-fed air supply to promote a clean, efficient burn.

Since multi-fuel stoves let you direct air to the top or bottom of the fire, they may be used to burn both wood and coal.

Multifuel stoves are similar to wood-burning stoves in appearance, but they may also burn other fuels besides wood.

• Metal grate bases replace traditional flat bottoms in fire pits.
• This ashtray has a removable ash tray.
• More air can be supplied to the space below the fire by opening the vent in the ash pan’s compartment.

In this section, we’ll go over the many ways in which multi-fuel stoves differ from wood-burning stoves.

If you want the option of burning different fuels in your stove, you should look for a multi fuel stove.

Unlike its wood-burning counterparts, multifuel stoves have a few unique features, so I’ve taken the time to explain how they function in greater depth and provide some helpful graphics.

Pellet Stove

If pellets, as opposed to wood or coal, are your fuel of choice, you may want to look into getting a pellet stove.

Pellet stoves guarantee a steady stream of heat by slowly feeding pellets (often wood, but alternative pellet fuels are available) into the fire via a hopper mechanism.

While there are pellet stoves that can run on batteries, the vast majority are hardwired to the electrical grid.

Within this article, I have discussed the most vital parts of pellet stoves.

2) Freestanding Or Insert

Rather than installing a fireplace insert, which would have covered the entire entrance, freestanding wood and multi-fuel stoves were used.

Stove inserts are similar to freestanding stoves, only they are fitted into an already existing fireplace rather than being freestanding. It is not necessary to have a fireplace in order to use a standalone stove; you may put it wherever you choose.

Fireplace inserts now come in a far wider variety of styles and materials, so you can choose from:

• Wood,
• Quite simply, it’s wired in.
• Gas.

A standalone stove or fireplace insert is preferable than an open fireplace for heating a home.

3) Steel Or Cast Iron Body

These days, most wood-burning stoves are made of steel or cast iron. Cooktops benefit greatly from the use of heat conductors like copper and aluminum, yet these metals radiate their heat in distinctive ways.

Both steel and wood stoves have their benefits and drawbacks. While steel stoves heat up more quickly, they don’t retain or radiate heat for as long. Cast iron stoves take longer to heat up, but they keep radiating heat for a long period after the fire has been out.

Cast iron stoves offer greater design flexibility due to their one-piece construction. Steel stoves are more in keeping with today’s aesthetics.

Since steel stoves are simpler to manufacture, they are more cost-effective.

Our cast iron multifuel stove door is just that, but the rest of the stove is steel.

Think about your desired heat output, budget, and aesthetic preferences before settling on a wood stove. Both metal and ceramic wood stoves have the potential to be highly efficient heating appliances.

4) Size & Heat Output

When making a purchase, make sure the wood heater you get is sized properly for the room in your house that it will be used to warm.

If your stove is too tiny for the space you need to heat, you may find yourself constantly forced to crank up the heat.

When trying to heat a room with a hot stove, leaving the air vents wide open can cause the wood to burn too quickly, negating the stove’s intended purpose. Over-firing also causes wear and tear on the stove, as parts exposed to temperatures beyond their design range may crack or bend.

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A stove may be mistreated and underperform if it is purchased for a larger area than it needs to heat.

If the fire is too small for the wood stove, it may not be able to reach the necessary temperatures for proper operation. Increased creosote (tar) and smoke are what our stove thermometer indicates when a stove is not functioning properly.

It’s important to think about things like stove size and expected heating needs while searching for a wood burning stove.

Consult a professional to assess the optimal size and heating capacity of a wood burning stove for your home, as this will depend on a number of factors.

• Take some measurements of the room or space you intend to warm.
• You should think about whether or not your fireplace has enough clearance for the necessary offset distances.
• The effectiveness of the insulation and air seals in your home.

5) Efficiency

A wood stove’s efficiency can be determined by its official efficiency rating. More heat is produced by a given amount of wood in stoves with higher efficiency ratings.

Because of the stove’s higher efficiency rating, less heat escapes up the chimney.

In general, a wood-burning stove with a high efficiency rating will cost more than a less efficient model.

Over 70 percent efficiency is fine; the extra 10 or 15 percent won’t make a huge difference. Our wood stove is very efficient at maintaining a comfortable temperature in the living room for 78.9% of the time.

The new EPA regulations mandate that wood stoves produce less than 2.0g/h of smoke after May 15, 2020.

6) Certified (Or Approved) Stoves

When shopping for a wood stove, be sure it has the EPA’s seal of approval to ensure it won’t cause any harm to the ecosystem. Modern stoves produce almost no smoke and burn wood effectively, reducing the amount of wood needed to produce the same amount of heat while also reducing the amount of ash produced.

Many contemporary wood stoves have earned EPA certification, reassuring buyers that they are purchasing an energy-efficient product.

If you need more information, you can find the complete list of wood stoves that have been approved by the EPA here.

It’s important to keep an eye out for stoves that have earned the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval and meet the 2020 smoke emission level of 2.0 g/h.

In the United Kingdom, stoves are regulated by DEFRA, the Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Stoves located in Smoke Control Areas (SCA) must meet DEFRA requirements.

If you live in a Smoke Control Area, you must use a wood-burning stove that has been approved by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DEFRA).

I explain in greater detail how and why our stoves met DEFRA requirements in this article.

7) Catalytic & Non-Catalytic

Catalytic combustion is commonly used in high-end wood burning stoves to increase efficiency and decrease emissions, which helps to justify the stoves’ increased complexity.

The market is dominated by wood stoves that don’t use catalytic converters. These stoves can nevertheless provide high efficiency and heat outputs due to mechanisms like secondary combustion (more about secondary in another one of our articles here). The majority of wood stoves have a firebox, baffle, and tertiary air intake all working together to maximize efficiency (which is how our own wood stove works.)

When using a wood stove that is capable of catalytic combustion, the smoke is passed through a catalyst before being released. If you want a cleaner, more efficient burn, a honeycomb-like construction can help. The stove’s performance drops off significantly due to the element’s frequent replacement needs. It takes more work and time to get the most out of a catalytic stove.

A catalytic stove is the best option for those who want to burn wood indoors without creating excessive smoke and ash. But this comes with a heftier price tag and more labor-intensive upkeep.

There is additional information about catalytic and non-catalytic stoves on this page.

8) Airwash

Many kinds of wood stoves include an airwash feature that keeps the glass door clean with regular use.

What airwash does in wood stoves is create a flow of air along the interior of the glass to help prevent particles from gathering on the glass and obstructing the view to the fire, as I’ve explained in greater detail here.

Both the wood stoves and the multi-fuel stoves that we sell have an airwash option. If we use these two strategies, we can get by without buying many cleaning supplies.

If you want your glass to stay spotless throughout the life of your wood stove, you should look for one that has an airwash system.

9) Ease Of Use

A wood stove’s air intake and outlet are the key controls.

Choose a wood burning stove with a single, regulated air vent rather than two or more vents if you want something that’s easy to use.

Our wood stove’s solitary air vent is located at the base of the unit and is operated by a handle that projects from the front of the stove. This vent regulates the flow of tertiary air to a set of openings in the back of the firebox (more about the types of airflow in stoves here).

10) Secondary Combustion

Secondary combustion, also known as secondary burn, involves burning off the fire’s waste gases at a higher temperature. Addition of fresh air to the stove at a small height above the flames promotes secondary combustion.

When shopping for a wood-burning stove, it’s vital to look for the term “secondary burn” to ensure you’re getting an efficient equipment.

11) Ash Bin

Many wood stoves have an ash bin that slides out from under the firebox for easy disposal of ashes when the stove is not in use.

Look for a wood stove that has an ash bin unless you want to leave the fire going for days at a time.

12) Blower

If you want to warm up the entire space, a wood burner with a fan is your best bet.

Without a fan, our wood stove provides sufficient heat for the living room.

The lack of a blower on a wood stove can be remedied by installing a stove fan.

Best Wood Stoves In 2022 (Comparison)

1. Best Wood Stove Insert: Ashley Hearth AW1820E

The best wood stove is the one that not only meets but also improves upon the minimum standards. Until now, no other wood stove has been as successful as the Ashley Hearth AW1820E. This wood stove from Ashley Hearth, a reputable company, is their best seller.

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is an excellent addition to any house and is also quite energy efficient. Wood stoves are the most efficient way to heat a home with wood, with an efficiency rating of 75 percent or higher. Many homes may get by just fine with a heat output of 69,000 BTU/hr. Heating an area up to 1,800 square feet (with almost 30 BTU heating output per sq ft).

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is already remarkable, but its 69,000 BTU/h efficiency makes it very remarkable. More than 40% of the heat produced by burning wood is typically lost in stoves. With an efficiency rating of 75%, the Ashley Hearth AW1820E is a top contender among wood stoves.

There are two main benefits to such an efficient level of operation:

• It produces barely perceptible smoke.
• Burn time is 12 hours, which is much longer than typical (average for a wood stove burn time is about 4h).

The 8-hour burn time is much-appreciated. The Ashley Hearth AW1820E can be loaded with wood at noon and will keep your home warm till you wake up at eight in the morning.

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A fireplace may accommodate logs up to 28 inches in length. The firebox has a width of 21 inches and a volume of 2.4 cubic feet.

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is the best wood stove insert, despite a few small drawbacks. A 69,000 BTU/h wood stove with good efficiency and low emissions can be yours for a relatively affordable price.

Pros

• The best stoves for burning wood are those that strike a compromise between efficiency and safety.
• High-efficiency wood-burning stove producing 69,000 BTU/h
• Minimal radiation output
• It has a burn time of 12 hours, thus it is best used at night.
• Ashley Hearth offers an elegant look at a price anybody can afford.

Cons

• Its unavailability is rather common.

2. Best Pedestal Wood Stove: Ashley Hearth AW1120E-P

The best wood stove is the one that not only meets but also improves upon the minimum standards. Until now, no other wood stove has been as successful as the Ashley Hearth AW1820E. This wood stove from Ashley Hearth, a reputable company, is their best seller.

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is an excellent addition to any house and is also quite energy efficient. Wood stoves are the most efficient way to heat a home with wood, with an efficiency rating of 75 percent or higher. Many homes may get by just fine with a heat output of 69,000 BTU/hr. Heating an area up to 1,800 square feet (with almost 30 BTU heating output per sq ft).

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is already remarkable, but its 69,000 BTU/h efficiency makes it very remarkable. More than 40% of the heat produced by burning wood is typically lost in stoves. With an efficiency rating of 75%, the Ashley Hearth AW1820E is a top contender among wood stoves.

• It produces barely perceptible smoke.
• Burn time is 12 hours, which is much longer than typical (average for a wood stove burn time is about 4h).

The 8-hour burn time is much-appreciated. The Ashley Hearth AW1820E can be loaded with wood at noon and will keep your home warm till you wake up at eight in the morning.

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A fireplace may accommodate logs up to 28 inches in length. The firebox has a width of 21 inches and a volume of 2.4 cubic feet.

The Ashley Hearth AW1820E is the best wood stove insert, despite a few small drawbacks. A 69,000 BTU/h wood stove with good efficiency and low emissions can be yours for a relatively affordable price.

Pros

• The best stoves for burning wood are those that strike a compromise between efficiency and safety.
• High-efficiency wood-burning stove producing 69,000 BTU/h
• Minimal radiation output
• It has a burn time of 12 hours, thus it is best used at night.
• Ashley Hearth offers an elegant look at a price anybody can afford.

Cons

• Its unavailability is rather common.

3. Drolet Escape 1500-I Review (Most Efficient Wood Stove Insert)

There is no more efficient or environmentally friendly wood stove than this one. For the Drolet Escape 1500-I It’s the best wood stove insert there is, period, and it’s great for homes of any size.

Inserts are typically much simpler to set up than pedestal wood stoves. If you’re looking for a stove, go no further than the Drolet Escape 1500-I insert wood stove.

It generates heat at a rate of 65,000 BTU/h. Though it has the capacity to heat a 1,800 square foot house, this size range of 500 to 1,200 square feet is where it really shines.

Among wood stoves, its efficiency rating of 78 percent is the highest. Reduced wood consumption is only the beginning of the environmental benefits of this development.

High efficiency wood stove inserts reduce emissions and allow for extended burn times.

The smoke output of the Drolet Escape 1500-I is an unprecedented 1.26 g/h. This is a considerable improvement over the EPA’s certification level of 4.5 g/h. As it has a 6-hour burn time, you may even leave it on all night.

The 29″ x 44″ blackplate required to finish the job is included in the package. Even dispersion of the wood burner’s heat is guaranteed when a high-quality blower is used.

When it comes to inserts for wood stoves, the Drolet Escape 1500-I is your best bet. It is 78 percent efficient and boasts record-low carbon dioxide emissions. (eco-friendly). It’s also one of the most aesthetically pleasing wood stoves available.

Pros

• The efficiency rating of this wood stove insert is 78%.
• The 1.26 g/h rate of particulate emissions is the lowest ever recorded.
• The included blackplate elevates the look to a higher level, which is especially appreciated in an interior design context.
• Most contemporary homes can get by with a heat output of 65,000 BTU/h without any problems.

Cons

• As before, the increased device weight poses a problem for the superior Drolet components (360 lbs)
• If you need to replace a 22-inch log, you can do so with an 18-inch one.

4. US Stove US1269E Review (Best High Efficient Wood Burning Stove)

US Stove has been a staple in the fireplace market for generations. Among their wood stove options is the US Stove US1269E.

This stove is perfect for folks who are trying to downsize, as it only weighs 130 pounds. Still, it can provide up to 54,000 BTU/h of heat. The US Stove wood stove is suitable for rooms up to 900 square feet in size.

On the other hand, the BTU output of the Drolet Escape is around the same. Drolet Escape has a slightly higher BTU output, but its ideal application area is twice as vast as the other two combined (3,600 vs 1,800 square feet).

Wood with a diameter of up to 19 inches can be burned in the US Stove US1269E. The stove’s design (with a rather lengthy horizontal dimension) suggests that logs of this length will fit within.

Overall, the US Stove US1269E falls short of the best contemporary wood stoves. It’s small, boring, and cheap, but that’s not saying much. US Stove US1269E is a low-cost and low-performance wood stove.

• The US Stove US1269E is not as good as the top-tier models available today. It’s little and plain, but it’s cheap and convenient. In terms of price and efficiency, the US Stove US1269E is not a very good choice.
• We may take logs that are 19 inches in diameter.
• It’s possible to find it at a cheap price.

Cons

• Those stoves are top-notch performers, right?
• There is a lack of data on emission rates and burned area.
• In almost every manner, it pales in comparison to the best wood stoves available today.

FAQs

There are still many unanswered questions about the safety of wood-burning stoves. Some of the most often asked questions are as follows.

What Is The Best Wood Stove On The Market?

By far, the best wood stove available is the Drolet Blackcomb II, as shown by our comparison of the top models.

When compared head-to-head with other highly regarded wood stoves, the Drolet Blackcomb II comes out on top every time. It has a 70% efficiency rate, can burn for six hours, and produces few emissions.

The one limitation is that it can’t be used to heat homes that are more than 2,000 square feet in size.

What Wood Stove Burns The Longest?

A wood stove has a maximum burn time between 2 and 6 hours. The Drolet Blackcomb II, for instance, has a six-hour burn time, making it the candle with the longest burn time currently available.

The amount of time it takes to burn depends on a number of factors, including the size of the firebox, the efficiency of the fire, the BTU output, and so on. Wood stoves with the best engineering employ a combination of these factors to achieve the longest burn times possible.

Where Is The Best Place To Put A Wood Burning Stove?

Set up your pedestal wood stoves as close to the room’s focal point as you can. Think about how useful this would be, and how appealing it would be.

Being in the geographic center of a given area makes the most sense, both energetically and spatially. However, if that spot is already occupied, you won’t be able to store anything there.

A wall with a standard chimney flue opening should be chosen for an insert wood stove’s installation. When considering insert stoves, we tend to prioritize functionality over aesthetics. For optimal efficiency, a wood-burning insert stove should be installed smack dab in the middle of a wall.

How Long Do Wood Stoves Last?

Wood burning stoves often last anywhere from ten to twenty years. Since it’s such a broad spectrum, I’ll divide it in half:

1. A less priced wood burning stove can last up to ten years. In general, they have a lower weight-to-BTU ratio.
2. Premium wood stoves have a 20-year lifespan (with proper maintenance even more).

A wood stove can last anywhere from 10-20 years, however the main expense over that time period will be the wood.

Can A Wood Stove Heat An Entire House?

Traditional wisdom holds that fireplaces are best suited for warming up the kitchen. Of course, but contemporary wood stoves are a bit different. Most of them have enough heating capacity to warm a whole house, said the EPA.

Larger wood stoves can provide as much as 100,000 BTU/h of heat. That’s enough power to potentially heat the entire house.

It’s A Wrap!

To that end, I’ve put together this buying guide for wood stoves. Take this as a guide while shopping for one for your house. By doing so, you may ensure that you get what you require. By adhering to these guidelines, a wood stove can be constructed and installed in a basement or garage.

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Danh mục: Stoves