Wood-Burning Stoves in 2021: 5 Review

Wood burning stoves can be a great addition to your home or to take with you camping. Not only are they a cozy heating source, but you can also use them to cook eggs, bacon, and coffee on a chilly morning. There are many options on the market, so it’s important to find an efficient, portable, and easy to use a wood-burning stove that will make your outdoor adventure or time at home fun and relaxing. Here are a few tips and reviews to help you find the best wood burning stove for your needs.

Top Wood Burning Stoves of 2021

When purchasing a wood-burning stove, you want to consider how and when you will use it to determine what features you need. Always consider the weight and portability of the wood stove, especially if you plan to take it camping.

Drolet HT3000 on Pedestal

Highly efficient and EPA Certified, the Drolet HT3000 on Pedesta gives you a high 110,000 BTUs of heat with a super low emission rate of only 1.32 g/h. With several improvements from the HT2000, the Drolet HT3000 has a high level of safety, reliability, and durability.

The Drolet HT3000 on Pedesta is the ideal wood burning stove to take camping or in an RV. Accepting logs up to 22-inches, this wood-burning stove is also eligible for a $300 biomass stove tax credit.

Camp Chef Alpine Stove

Adjustable and compact, the Camp Chef Alpine Stove comes with accessory shelves, spark arrestor, internal log grate, and a damper. Every component was designed to fit in the stove for easy storage and portability including the removable legs. A nice spacious top gives you plenty of room to make bacon and eggs in the morning along with much-needed coffee.

In the bottom, you will find a fire grate that helps to protect the base from overheating. The Camp Chef Alpine Stove also is equipped with a wide for drying and shelf rack and a five-inch diameter chimney pipe.

This five-piece nesting stove features a door damper that allows you easy control of the heat when you cook. The Camp Chef Alpine Stove was also designed to accommodate a typical water heater for a wood stove in case you need more hot water. This stove is a great value when you consider everything you get.

REDCAMP Wood Burning Stove

This foldable stainless-steel wood burning stove is portable and easy to stick in your backpack. Ideal for hiking and camping, this survival stove is made with high quality 430 stainless steel allowing to handle heavyweight and high heat. With its cuboid design, this stove can provide reliable and stable support.

With a backing plate made of 304 Stainless Steel, you can create a stable cooking platform to make meals and brew coffee. Plus, the cuboid design increases its stability and provides reliable support for cooking utensils. You can use wood, twigs, and leaves in this stove making it a really fun wilderness experience.

Lightweight and easy to collapse, the REDCAMP Wood Burning Stove measures 8.3 x 5.9 x 5.5-inch when it is unfolded and 8.3 x 5.9 x 1.5 inches folded. Weighing only 1.9 pounds, this is a very portable stove that is equipped with its own carrying bag allowing you to carry it easily to your campsite.

Guide Gear Outdoor Wood Stove

Strong and well-built, the Guide Gear Outdoor Wood Stove gives you a lot of heat. Made with tough galvanized steel, this stove is a sturdy stove that features a high-temperature finish. This stove is ideal for cooking bacon and boiling eggs for your family when you are camping.

Equipped with a hinged door, this tough cast iron stove includes easy to control vent holes. With detachable legs, the whole stove can fit inside itself for smooth transporting and easy storage.

Made with galvanized steel, this heat-resistant wood stove comes with a top platform where you can make coffee and cook dinner. Sturdy and strong, the Guide Gear Outdoor Wood Stove provides reliability with a robust design.

Kotulas Outdoor Wood-Burning Stove

Long-lasting and powerful, the Kotulas Outdoor Wood-Burning Stove is perfect for camping since you can use the top platform for pots and pans as well as your coffee pot. This heavy-duty wood stove is equipped with a hinged cast iron door that includes an adjustable air vent in the front. Not designed to work indoors, this wood-burning stove only weighs 47 pounds making it very portable and easy to carry out to a campsite.

The top platform allows you to make coffee, boil water, and cook eggs and bacon. With detaching legs and interlocking stove pipes that nest in the stove, you can easily store this stove and transporting it smoothly.

Made with galvanized steel, the Kotulas Wood-Burning Stove can withstand high-temperatures and features a heat-resistant black finish. Built to last, this small wood-burning stove gives you a good amount of heat. The Kotulas Outdoor Wood-Burning Stove includes adjustable air vent in the front allows you to adjust your cooking temperature.

Considerations When Choosing a Wood-Burning Stove

What is the most efficient wood burner?

The most efficient wood burner should follow EP emission standards. In the past, wood stoves weren’t very safe and were emitting between 15 and 30 grams of particles every hour. The emission standards for wood-burning stoves were cut in May 2020, and they are now required to emit fewer than 2.5 g/h of particles during combustion in the U.S.

This has obviously reduced the choice of efficient wood stoves that are available, so it’s important to only look at EPA certified wood stoves if you are concerned about efficiency. Also, when looking for the most efficient wood burning stove, consider how much fuel will be used and then how much will be wasted. If a stove is rated for 70% efficiency, then it will lose 30% of the heat during the combustion process. Make sure to add more moisture to the room to avoid dehumidifying.

How do I choose a wood-burning stove?

Weight

Weight can differ from brand to brand when choosing a wood-burning stove. Typically, all wood-burning stoves are made of a lightweight and rugged 304 stainless steel, but some manufacturers can reduce the weight by not including extra attachments and using a small design. Remember that when it comes to accessories, each has its own weight, so as the stove is put together, it will get larger and the weight will increase.

If you are taking the woodstove with you camping or hiking, you need to determine how much weight you can carry and then choose a wood stove accordingly. If you plan to car camp or you can handle a lot of weight, pretty much any type of wood-burning stove should work for you. But if you are concerned about the weight, look for something smaller without a lot of extras – or simply check out this guide to find a nice, portable fire pit.

Stability

You want a wood-burning stove that will be able to hold a pan or pot of any size or weight. Besides sustaining their weight, you want the stove to have the stability to hold the cooking pans in the right position without your support. Not every wood-burning stove can hold any pot, even if it is made with cast iron.

Make sure to read reviews and see which stoves users have had issues with and which were successful enough in holding the pots and pans in the right position. You can also look for stoves that come with support arms that help to keep the pots and pans in position as you cook your meal.

Storage

Many small wood-burning cookstoves can easily fold down to make storage and portability easier. Some will fold down so small they can fit into your backpack. Others won’t but are still lightweight enough that you can easily carry them to your campsite.

Heat Efficiency

Besides considering stability and robust design, it’s important to look at features that will boost the stove’s performance. You want a stove that gives you just the right amount of heat to boil water, cook a meal, and warm everyone at the campsite or in your house. Look for a wood-burning stove that has enough air holes, or air inlet rings, to allow for consistent oxygen flow to keep the fire burning.

You also want a stove that a decent sized fuel door that will allow you to easily load natural fuel. This is important when cooking large meals and you only have pinecones, twigs, and wood to put in the heating chamber.

Design

When considering the design of a small wood burning stove, consider a nice balance between weight and sturdiness. You don’t want to worry about it being too heavy when you carry it, but you want it to have enough weight that it is stable when you use it. Foldable design is also a plus making storage and portability that much easier. Also, look for fuel doors with an ergonomic design making it easier to look fuel of different sizes easily.

Ease of Use

Always look for products that are easy to put together, especially if you choose a wood-burning stove that folds down for transport. You also want something that will keep the fire locked into the chamber so you can cook your meals and make coffee quickly. A lightweight stove that uses very little fuel to give you the heat you need for cooking is also a plus as well as a design that is easy to collapse and store.

Durability

When considering materials for durability, cast iron is the one that pops into your mind first. However, stainless steel also offers durability and stability that is as strong as cast iron. It’s also anti-corrosive, so it will stand up to harsh conditions in the great outdoors.

What is the best small wood-burning stove?

A small wood-burning stove is incredibly space-efficient and more than able to warm up an RV, apartment, condo, cabin, or small home. Plus, they are typically reasonably priced, so it won’t hit your wallet too hard. Offering the perfect image of coziness, family, and tradition, a small wood-burning stove is a great addition for those cold wintery nights.

When choosing a small wood burning stove, keep in mind the benefits of a small stove, so you can make sure to take advantage of them. Not only are they space-efficient, but it should also be eco-friendly as well as ecologically safe, so you don’t want one that uses petroleum. It should provide you with a nice cozy feeling throughout the house and be able to provide comfortable warmth in every room. By using wood, they are also cheaper to operate and provides greater efficiency.

Keep in mind though that they do require regular maintenance and monitoring as they can emit dangerous emission and potentially lead to a house fire. And, it is really only designed for a small house and won’t be effective in a larger home.

Small wood-burning stoves are ideal for heating small houses, but they can also provide other benefits. You can cook on a small wood burning stove, which can be a huge benefit if you take it camping. When you cook food on one of these stoves, you get the same retro taste as if you were cooking over an open fire.

You can also heat beverages like tea and coffee. And, believe it or not, you can use it to dry your laundry. Just create a small rack next to the stove, and you can dry your clothes and help save on your electricity bill.

Want more? You can find out more about similar products like a realistic electric fireplace, today’s best pellet stoves, and more.