A snapshot of wood stoves on Craigslist: from collectors items, to illegal stove sales to just junk

Craiglist is a popular site to buy and sell wood stoves and these 35 stoves represent a sampling of wood heaters on the market in May 2022 from all over the country.  Ordered from most expensive to least expensive, they tell a story of wood heating in America over the last century and many of these stoves represented the zenith of wood heating in their time.  Most of are operable although some are clearly beyond their lifespan and should be retired.  Many have been painstakingly restored, giving them a new lease on life.

Some new ones are being sold illegally as they do not meet current EPA regulations, which are required if the unit is sold new.  Others are being advertised and sold in states where it is illegal to advertise, sell, buy or install old uncertified stoves, like in Washington and Oregon. Many are exactly the kind of models that jurisdictions offer bounties for, to get them out of circulation.

In general, the Alliance for Green Heat does not support the sale and installation of wood stoves built before 1990, as most of these are more polluting than newer models, because they lack modern reburn technology.  However, if used with dry wood, and given enough air, some of these stoves can burn relatively cleanly in rural areas that do not experience frequent inversions and where the smoke will not impact neighbors.  The Alliance always recommends that stoves are permitted, where required and professionally installed, especially where they may need hefty clearances from combustibles.

In their lifetimes, many of these units may have displaced hundreds of tons of carbon from fossil fuel and some will continue to do so.  A few of these stoves belong in museums or collections or just used as decoration, not as heaters.  We hope you enjoy this tour down wood stove memory lane.

See our other photo essays on typical wood heating stoves around the world, tiny stoves,  and wood fired hot tubs,  

$6,699, New Central Boiler EZ Classic (uncertified), Big Rapids, MI

$3,995, Hearthstone, Catskills, NY

$2,800, Vermont Down Drafter, Keene, NH

$2,000, antique Belgian cook stove, Roslyn NY

$1,995, Harman stove, Delaware

$1,800, Lange Harmony, Cranford, RI

$1,650, New Ashley stove, Hazelton, PA

$1,250, Shipmate boat stove, Brookhaven NY

$1,200, Taylor outdoor boiler, Meadville PA

$1,100, Comforter, Kingston, NH

$1,000, Schrader, Everret, WA

$895, Fisher Mama Bear, Western MA

$675, Free Flow stove, Craftsbury VT

$500, cook stove, Jackson NH

$500, Glenwood parlor stove, Keene NH

$485, Basement wood stove, Fitchburg, MA

$518, New Victor, Baltimore MD

$500, Wedgewood, Sacramento CA

$500, tiny Cubic stove, Lockport NY

$425, Danish Lange, Catskills, NY

$400, Timberline, Delaware

$329, Franklin style stove, Canton, OH

$300, Portland stove, Effingham, NY

$300, Cawley-Lemay Stove, Portland, OR

$300, Trailblazer, Wasilla AK

$295, wood stove, Danville, VT

$275, Jotul, Berkeley Springs WV

$250, Sterling wood furnace, Rochester NY

$249, Napoleon, Denver CO

$225, antique stoves, Albany NY

$200, Frankfort stove, Utica, NY

$200, Anchor coal stove, Schenectedy, NY

$125, wood stove, Livingston MT

$125, Sandia, East Hartland, CT

$100, Morso, Washington DC

$100, Hearthstone, Waterbury VT

$100, Vermont Castings, Delaware

$40, wood stove, Kirkland, WA

Extreme Wood Stoves: Odd and Innovative Designs from Ancient Greece to Today

Over the centuries, wood stove makers have tried all sorts of designs to transfer heat to a room and to capture the imagination of consumers - or just their own imagination.  Some emphasize design and beauty over function and efficiency.  Others are both practical, efficient and the result of centuries of experimentation.  And some are destined for the dustbins of the history of heat.  For a detailed chronology of wood heating, click here.  We hope you enjoy them as much as we did, and encourage you to send ones that you think should be included.

Visit our other international photo essays on firewood collection and stacking, wood fired hot tubs and
typical wood stoves.

Ancient Greek clay anthrakia. Greeks experimented with designs to heat, cook - and to BBQ.

Troy New York, near Albany, was the stove building capital of the world in the late 1800s, when ornate stoves like this were popular.

An old cast iron stove that is still in use in Vermont. Amen to that.

This Russian masonry heater/bed will keep you warm on the coldest Siberian night. 

Alsatian (French) stove with large exhaust gas heat exchanger. Stove makers have long experimented with expanding heat transfer surfaces.

 The power go out and you have lots of ironing?

 A German masonry stove, designed to burn a load of wood quickly and then slowly release the heat from the masonry mass.   

The world's largest wood stove built in 1893 to commemorate the famous Michigan's stove company, Garland. It was built of wood and burned to the ground in 1991 during a lightening storm.

The world's smallest commercially available wood stove? Aptly named the Sardine, its made in Washington state for boats used during the winter.

 "Bender Bending Rodriguez" by UK's Rob Halftroll

Made by Tim Biggins with old truck rims, a propane tank and a pulley from a spar tree,

that were used in logging operations. Hornby Island, British Columbia

Cat Tractor themed stove in Oregon

The resourceful and spunky R2D2, faithfully serving a master in somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Steampunk Snail stove

An Estonian sculptor repurposed old Russian mine shells for something more useful.

The Italian stove maker Castlemonte's new stackable stoves.

Somewhere in Western Europe. (Would you want this in your living room?)

Can the design get any simpler?

Dutch designers eliminated the need to cut your wood with this stove.

A Swiss made "rocket" stove.