A draft-free home makes for a high-efficiency stove.

Chances are, you’ve heard about the new style and performance standards of modern wood burning stoves. You’ve begun to explore the market. But you may be wondering, “Is my current home well-suited for a wood stove?”

The answer is a qualified Yes–because today’s wood burning stoves come in a variety of models, designed to fit virtually every living space. However, there are some things you can do to make that Yes absolutely confident.

Here are some suggestions.

Optimize your house for wood stoves.

That means sealing up any leaks or drafty areas. Practically speaking, verify that your home is well insulated; check the seals on your storm windows; replace sagging caulking; make sure weather stripping is secure. When your house is as tight as a drum, wood burning stoves are an excellent investment. You’ll use less wood, save money, and cut down on air pollution.

Choose a stove to match your home size.

When you shop, you can’t only consider style and design questions (although that’s the fun part). Wood stoves come in a variety of sizes. But unlike some other purchases (Biggie Size it?), choosing the wrong size can lead to serious problems. Appropriately-sized stoves will heat your space well, no matter the temperature. But choose too big and you’ll feel scorched. Go too small and you’ll have to huddle up. However, if you’re willing to take your home type and square footage into account and evaluate stove size accordingly, you’ll come out feeling like a winner.

Trust wood burning stoves with your bank account.

As fund managers, you’ll find them quite dependable and trustworthy. Kidding aside, you owe it to yourself to buy the most efficient wood stove you can afford. Why? Because wood burning stoves pay for themselves in the long run. Shell out a few extra bucks up front, and a few years down the line, you’ll be sitting happy in the black. Today’s stoves incorporate devices like drafts, catalytic converters, and fireboxes that make them efficient–and financially smart.

This medium-sized stove by Piazzeta could heat a small house.

When you set out to find a suitable wood burning stove for your home, there’s a lot to think about. The good news is that once you identify some basic specs, sorting through the available models becomes a question of style–not survival! Here are some steps to help you navigate the world of wood stoves today.

1. Know why you want a wood burning stove. First, what main purpose will the stove serve? Heating, cooking, ambiance, or some combination? Second, how much heat does the stove need to generate? Are you heating just one room, an entire, floor, a moderately-sized house, or a small cottage? Third, how will the stove be installed? Free-standing, or using an existing fireplace? A final question is how often the stove will be used–frequently or occasionally? Deciding what you want to your wood stove to accomplish is the big first step toward making the right purchase.

2. Read the small print on the wood stoves–casually. When you look at models, find the stickers on the stoves that tell you they’re EPA-certified stoves, meaning they’re environmentally friendly and fuel efficient. If you’re shopping for stoves online, this information will be readily available. The EPA approval is the crucial thing. You’ll find the Btu ratings and square footage heating estimates as well–but since Btu ratings aren’t standardized, and factors like climate, fuel choices, and house type affect square footage ratings, it’s a mistake to depend on them too much as you shop. Instead, consider the size of the stoves you’re looking at. (See below.)

3. Don’t buy big, shiny wood burning stoves. Unless that’s what you need. You can buy a Hummer for cross-country road trips without sacrificing comfort. But buying large stoves for small heating needs causes potential fire hazards, not to mention stuffy rooms. Beyond that, stoves that are too large cost you money. To control the heat, you’ll be forced to reduce the air supply into the stove, which will reduce the stove’s efficiency and waste fuel. Buying over-sized wood stoves is a common mistake–one that you don’t have to make. Stoves come in only three sizes: small, medium, and large. Here’s a breakdown of how the sizes relate to your needs:

• Small - these heat a small cabin or large room.
• Medium - these heat small or moderately-sized houses.
• Large - these heat large or drafty houses.

Ultimately, a solid understanding of why you want a wood burning stove, with your climate, house type and fuel choice factored in, will lead you to the correctly-sized, EPA-approved stoves. At that point, it gets fun: questions of color and style. Our advice on how to buy wood stoves might come in handy.

You could take this stove's temperature easily by attaching a flat thermometer to the base of the flue.

You’ve done some research. Maybe you’re already a stove owner. So you’ve heard that modern wood stoves are well-designed, radiant heating machines. Now you’re wondering, “How can I make sure my stove is one of those peak performers? How can I get a full return?” Good question. First, be sure to look at Wood Stoves & Wood Burning Efficiency. Choosing the right fuel makes a world of difference.

Beyond that, here are some tips to stoke your stove to its limits:

1. Check your wood stove’s temperature.

Some stoves have preinstalled thermometers. If not, it’s fairly easy to install a stack thermometer on the stove flue–your stove’s exhaust pipe. Doing so will let you “take the temperature” of gases as they leave the stove. For most wood burning stoves, the optimum range is between 300 and 400 F. Stoves in that heat range are the most efficient and the least polluting.

2. Service your stove.

This one is simple, but easy to forget: Clean out excess ash. When ashes start building up, it’s time to give your wood stove the equivalent of a good lube job. You get the point: Piled up ashes clog up your wood stove’s air vents and deprive the fire of oxygen. Burning all that wood to heat your home is hard work, so making your stove short of breath is the last thing you want to do.

3. Spy on your wood burning stove.

In the friendly, “just checking up on you” sense, of course. When wood stoves are burning at peak efficiency, they make virtually no smoke. So vary the amount of oxygen and wood you give your stove, then sneak outside and take a peek at your smoke stack or chimney. No smoke? That means your wood stove is burning clean, green and hot.

Are you exploring the contemporary stove market? You may also want to read: 4 Steps to Buying the Right Wood Stove.

This cast iron stove from Napoleon is a nice blend of form and function.

With the wide variety in the modern wood stove market, actually buying stoves for your home can be intimidating. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be. Here are some steps to make the purchase as straightforward as possible.

1. Begin by choosing wood burning stoves that fit your home.

This primarily involves deciding what you want to accomplish with your stove, then identifying what size category is appropriate. (See How to Choose Wood Stoves.) The good news is that, on the technology level, any EPA-certified stove you look at will deliver clean, efficient heat-so you don’t need to sweat numbers like Btu output and square footage ratings (which aren’t standardized). Once you’ve identified the right size, buying a wood burning stove is nearly painless.

2. Identify preferred materials and designs.

For example, welded steel is durable and cheaper than cast iron–but if you’re looking for style, the graceful, molded lines of modern iron wood stoves will catch your eye. Ask yourself, “Am I shopping for function only, or function and class?” In terms of durability and performance, there’s really no difference between welded steel and iron wood stoves. Materials like soapstone and pewter provide additional options, but no heating drop-off. It’s your call.

3. Note any “extras” you want in your wood stove.

For example, will you only consider wood stoves with a cooking surface? Do you want a stove with ash pans or removable fire screens? Looking for special colors or textures? These options pertain to convenience and aesthetics–not crucial heating specs-so take your time and enjoy the search.

4. Finally, buy your wood stove from a reputable source.

In years past, brick and mortar stores were the only place to buy wood burning stoves–and there are still advantages to speaking to a dealer and examining floor models. However, buying online is also an option today, and this is especially true if you know what you’re looking for. Shopping around online may lead to additional savings, and online stores often have live reps to answer your questions, and reasonable return policies. Either way, if you’ve read the articles on this site, then you’re well on your way to an informed purchase.

Can wood burning stoves multi-task?

The sense appeal of burnished metal and crackling flames, combined with the warmth of radiant heating, make wood burning stoves hard to resist. However, the picture in your mind may no longer match the reality. Traditional, pot-bellied stoves have gone the way of the American Cowboy–a thing of the past. And that’s good news.

Today’s stoves are just as aesthetically appealing–actually much more so: Black iron, pewter, porcelain and soapstone are used to create attractive, functional stoves with a variety of enamel finishes and designer colors. Antique-looking wood stoves have enjoyed a Renaissance because of their affordability and old-world style, but streamlined contemporary models are also popular. So forget that picture of a metal cask welded to stovepipe.

Not only do modern wood stoves look better-they also burn hotter, cleaner, and more efficiently.

But not only do modern stoves look better–they also burn hotter, cleaner, and more efficiently. Producing virtually no smoke and minimal ash, today’s stoves burn less wood and they’re better for the environment. From the ‘90s on, wood burning stoves have been certified by the Environmental Protection Agency, and produce as little as 2-5 grams of smoke per hour-saving you money, increasing the air quality, and reducing the risk of fire. Ready for efficient, radiant heating?

Wood burning stoves also come in sizes and models that are tailored to your home. Maybe you’re wondering, With dozens of wood stoves to choose from, how can you find the right one for your home?

Begin by deciding what you want to accomplish. Are you heating one room or an entire house or cottage? Will you be firing up your stove in the summer or winter months? Armed with this basic information, you’re primed to explore further. (See How to Choose Your Wood Stove, coming soon.)

Ready to invoke some flickering, hearth-side ambiance? Wood burning stoves have a lot to offer. This site is here to help you explore.

This is a cast iron stove by Napoleon.

Have you begun researching contemporary wood stoves? Started narrowing the field to a handful of stoves that suit your home? Or maybe you’re already the owner of one or more wood burning stoves, and you want to make sure you’re getting the most bang for your buck–generating the most radiant heat possible with the least wood. Here are some suggestions.

First, be aware that inefficiency in modern stoves is caused by wood burning incompletely, which often results in overly smoky fires. The good news is that by increasing efficiency, you’ll also be decreasing air pollution and waste at the same time.

Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Feed your wood stove with seasoned wood.

This is the equivalent of eating low-fat meat or filling up with high quality gasoline. Green wood is moisture-heavy-up to 50 percent of the weight can be liquid-which means wood burning stoves have to evaporate the moisture off before heat is released. Dry wood, on the other hand, burns hot and bright, leading to fuel efficiency, cleaner air, and money savings. See also, Choosing the Best Fuel for Stoves.

2. Treat your wood burning stoves to “Indian fires.”

Back in the day, Indian fires were the solar panels of frontier heating: efficient and kind to the environment, burning small and hot. Small, hot fires burn unstable gases more quickly. That means they lower safety issues and raise air quality. You’ll spend more time tending your stove-but then, you probably won’t mind. Better heating efficiency and air quality are great dividends.

3. Give your stove the appropriate fuel.

This may seem like common sense, but it can be easy to get carried away and treat wood stoves like all-purpose burning machines. So, for example, don’t burn coal in wood-only stoves. No hunks of treated wood from your home improvement project. And no trash-especially plastics or items with chemical elements. Not only are these poor fuels, they may also damage the wood stove’s internal workings, which are designed to burn-you guessed it–wood.

Looking for more tips? See 3 Easy Steps to High Efficiency Wood Stoves.