Buying guides
Which one, for the house you are heating
A hub compares one family against itself. A guide takes one question instead — a budget, a first stove for somebody who has never lit one, what has to be bought before the flue is even assessed — and answers it with a short ordered list and the reasoning that produced that order.
- Wood stoves
A first wood stove, and the four things to check first
How to buy a first wood stove: start from the chimney, read firebox size and warranty, check the clearances, and see four stoves on sale on Amazon.com.
- Flue parts
A chimney from parts: what goes where, and what must match
How the parts of a wood stove flue fit together, from stove pipe and elbows to wall thimbles, Class A chimney and rain caps, and which parts must match.
- Wood stoves
Wood stove sizing: BTU and square feet
How to size a wood stove: what BTU and square-foot ratings mean, why they are maximums, and how insulation, climate and layout cut them, with five stoves.
- Cook stoves
Cooking on wood: what is really for sale on Amazon.com
What you can buy for cooking on wood: flat-top stoves, camp stoves with ovens and a cast iron cookstove, with what each one needs and what it is not.
- Firewood saws
Cutting logs to length: the right saw for how much you burn
How to choose a chainsaw for cutting firewood: bar length, corded against battery or gas, safety gear, and which of the saws on sale suits your woodpile.
- Kindling splitters
Making kindling: a safer way than a hatchet
How to make kindling safely: fixed-blade kindling splitters with and without safety rings, what size to buy, and how to fix one down and use it well.
- Stove fans
Moving heat around the room: what a stove fan can and cannot do
What a heat powered stove fan does, how to choose one by stove top and budget, and why fuel savings on listings have no test behind them.
- Pellet stoves
A pellet stove in a power outage: what happens, and what to buy
What happens to a pellet stove when the power fails, how battery backup works, and how the Freedom Stoves PS21 compares with stoves that simply stop.
- Wood stoves
A wood stove for a small cabin: size, log length and weight
How to choose a small wood stove for a cabin or tiny house: footprint, log length, weight and clearance, with the 750 sq ft stoves on sale on Amazon.com.
- Log splitters
Splitting a winter by machine: electric, gas or manual
How to choose a log splitter: electric, gas or manual, how many tons you need, log size, warranty, and which machines on sale suit your woodpile.
- CO alarms
A CO alarm for a wood fire: where, which, and what it will not tell you
How to choose carbon monoxide alarms for a home with a wood or pellet stove: placement, display models, UL 2034 alarm times and replacement dates.