Demand for automation in wood stoves moves forward in Europe, but could be sidelined in the U.S.

Updated July 18 - The newest type of stove on the market is the automated or ‘smart’ stove that use sensors and computer chips to adjust airflow, instead of relying on the operator. Automated stoves enable the operator to "load and leave," allowing the stove to maximize efficiency and emissions reductions on its own. These stoves are likely to be the next major step towards cleaner residential wood heating because it is well-known that poor operation by the consumer is one of the main reasons for excessive smoke, and often it is the main reason. 

Automation does not just seek to address poor operation by the consumer.  It also can assess variable draft conditions caused by different chimney configuration, the altitude of the home, and the moisture content of the wood.  In addition, automated stoves are often interactive, helping to educate operators through visual prompts or detailed apps on smart phones. 

 

In Europe, automated stoves have been advancing far more quickly and are recognized as by the regulatory community as an important solution.  In the U.S., the EPA and other agencies are focusing on an equally important process - improving test methods for manually operated stoves – with little attention to automation. Improved test methods still leave manually operated stove vulnerable to wildly variable real-world emissions.  

 

Outside of regulatory circles, automated stove technologies have been promoted in the U.S. by the Wood Stove Design Challenge, a series of technology competitions, and by funding from the US Department of Energy in association with national labs.  A 2023 study from Brookhaven National Lab described the technology as “a minimal set of measurement sensors and a heuristic control strategy to actively modulate incoming air to enhance stove combustion performance, thereby eliminating user-error as a factor for emissions production.” More recently, researchers at Oregon State University and Aprovecho Research Center are focusing on automated technologies that show PM reductions up to 95% compared to older models

 

The first such stove on the US market, MF Fire’s Catalyst, launched in 2016, is now off the market. The second, Charnwood, a British manufacturer entered the US market in 2020 with their Skye E2700. The company say, “This stove uses Charnwood I-Blu combustion intelligence that continuously monitors the state of the fire and optimizes efficiency while reducing emissions through real-time adjustments. Air is introduced in just the right amounts, in the right places, at exactly the right time to ensure a cleaner, highly efficient burn.”

 

A third manufacturer, Pacific Energy has added automated technology to three of their stove models. The Neo 1.6 LE2 and the larger NEO 2.5 LE2, both of which come in freestanding and insert models. Under their True North brand, the TN25 C, they use the same technology on a hybrid stove with a catalyst that is continuously engaged, and does not have a damper control. According to an email from Pacific Energy, they use an “algorithm controlling two sources of supplemental air, working in the background to seamlessly improve combustion.  This patent pending technology uses two probes to monitor the firebox and the flue temperatures. Based on the absolute, delta and the rate of change in temperatures, the combustion is being optimized at all times.”  Pacific Energy markets these stoves as regular wood stoves without explaining the details of their automation to the consumer. 

 

The Canadian manufacturer SBI won an award at the 4th Wood Stove Design Challenge for their progress toward an automated stove and they received a grant from the DOE to develop it. A final version of it is expected to be EPA certified and on the North American market later in 2025. 
 
Automated stoves on the European market
In Europe there has been far more R&D and diversity of automated stove technology.  Notably, in Europe, manufacturers highlight the environmental benefits of automation to the public and to the regulatory community. Models include: 

 

Hase, Lima IQ (Germany)

Hwam SmartControl (Denmark)

Nordica, Larissa (France)

Rika, Rikatronic4 (Austria)

Scan Zensoric Technology,  (Denmark)

Xeoos Twinfire Blue (Germany)

Wodtke, Stage F (Germany)

Full vs. partial automation.  There are many ways to automate a wood stove and one of the main variables is whether the stove still has air levers that the operator can control.  If the stove has controls for the operator, it is virtually impossible to tell if the automation can override the operator, or vice versa.  Many consumers, particularly in North America, want to at least have the sense that they can control air flow, which is key to heat output.  Otherwise, control of heat output can be with the amount and frequency of wood that is loaded into the stove. Also, there is always the question of whether and how well an automated stove works during a power outage.  Most, if not all, can work, but will do so sub-optimally. 

Bi-metal springs that have been used for decades in stoves produce a very modest amount of automation to stoves, and they can be used in conjunction with electronic automation strategies.  

Other features. Some stoves have a LED light that will come on when its time to reload the stove.  Some are connected via wi-fi apps and can produce a sound to prompt the consumer when to reload. The Austrian company Rika has a feature where you load firestarter in the tray, add wood, and then you can program the stove to start remotely, as pellet stoves can.

Aftermarket solutions. Several companies have built devices that can monitor and/or control the airflow of existing stoves or be integrated into new stoves.  Maxitrol is a leading supplier and makes the battery powered “E-Flame air control system” that drives an actuator to control primary and secondary air flow.  It was designed in part to help companies meet future European EcoDesign Directives.  The Danish stove manufacturer Aduro has had it’s Smart Response on the market for several years. The app-connected thermometer provides feedback to the consumer on their smart phone about whether their stove is burning well, and how to improve its use.  Baltimore-based MF Fire is working on something similar. These technologies do not automate stove functions but monitor conditions and prompt the user to give the stove more air, add wood, clean their chimney, etc. 

Regulations and incentives to automate: In the United States, there is little regulatory pressure or incentives for manufacturers to automate.  The new Integrated Duty Cycle (IDC) test protocols are designed so that all types of stoves can be tested and to our knowledge the test method was not designed so that automated features would help a stove pass, though it is possible that will be the case. It is imperative that the National Residential Heating Task Force test the automated stoves on the market in the U.S. and give them the profile that other stove types are getting.  Currently, the test regimen may show the benefits of catalytic and hybrid stoves in the lab, without sufficient data or attention to how well cat stoves are used and maintained over their 10 – 20 year lifetime.  Automated stoves may also have maintenance issues over their 10 – 20 year lifespan, and it’s important to start assessing which automation strategies are more robust.

Test protocols are perhaps the best way to encourage manufacturers to innovate.  Protocols can make it harder for manually operated stoves to pass by requiring air adjustments that are likely to produce more smoke, unless sensors in the stove can adjust airflow themselves.  Making certification marginally tougher for non-cats to pass, leading to a growing percent of catalyst and hybrid stoves, is not an ideal solution compared to growing the number of automated stoves on the market.

At the state level, change-out and other incentive programs can start to recognize automated stoves and give them higher incentives.  Massachusetts is the only state that sought to provide incentives to automated stoves in a change out program in 2017 but it came too early and automated models were delayed coming on the marketplace.  States and air agencies can start to make consumers aware of this new type of wood stove, along with catalytic, non-catalytic, hybrid and pellet stoves. 

The lack of attention and support for the development of automated stove technology in the United States is connected to similar lack of support for cleaner pellet heating appliances.  Despite the ability of pellet stoves to emit very low levels of PM, the EPA allows them to emit the same level of PM as wood stoves, even though they have a different type of fuel, which should lead to stricter emission standards. In Europe, the EcoDesign Directive of 2022 requires pellet stoves to emit only half of what wood stoves are.  

The lack of “eco” or “green” labels for wood stoves in the U.S. has left manufacturers with little incentive to produce cleaner or automated stoves.  In Europe, some eco labels require pellet stoves, for example, to produce a quarter of the PM of wood stoves, and half of regular pellet stoves.  Manufacturers selling on the US market have mainly focused on achieving 75% efficiency, in order to qualify for the tax credit under IRS Section 25C.  Congress revoked that section, effective Dec. 31, 2025 and its unclear if it will be a permanent revocation or just for several years.  The credit has often lapsed since 2005, when it first began.  In Europe incentives have steered away from residential log heaters and focused on the best pellet stoves and boilers, which is a possible path forward in the U.S.

In Europe, some manufacturers feel that is not if, but when, they will have to start producing automated stoves. There is more urgency in Europe because of more widespread use of wood stoves in cities like London, and densely populated areas of Denmark, Netherlands, France, Germany and other countries. The German Blue Angel label and more local regulatory efforts, such as in Berlin, have also led to far more innovation and R&D on automation.  As in the U.S., lobbying by industry is slowing efforts at national and local levels to pass stricter measures that could lead to quicker adoption of automated stoves and more reliance on pellet stoves.

In early 2025, the European Commission released draft language of a new directive to take effect in 2027, including language that automation in stoves would be required. This led to strong industry push-back, and work on the new directive has been delayed.  The European Committee of Manufacturers of Domestic Heating and Cooking Appliances stated:

 

“The requirement of for automatic combustion control systems, additional testing, second conformity contradicts Ecodesign principles: it increases costs, energy consumption and maintenance need, limits technological neutrality and makes appliances more expensive.”
 
“Any Ecodesign regulation should not favour specific technologies. It should be technology-neutral and allow manufacturers to choose how to meet the regulation's requirements…. Although not explicitly required, a stove without a built-in catalytic converter and electrostatic precipitator is unlikely to meet the emission requirements. All seven known Blue Angel stoves have these features.”

 

This industry response to the draft of the next European Directive has many valid points which will also be part of the landscape in North America.  Regulators on both continents should shift their focus away from manually operated stoves and address these concerns and others as they move toward next-generation solid fuel heating solutions. One European study found automation reduced PM by 66% compared to one test method.

 

 

More resources on automated stoves

 

Eurocities, “Cities call for stronger EU rules on new wood-burning heaters to tackle deadly air pollution,” June 2025

AGH Webinar, “Harnessing Electronics for Cleaner, Smarter Wood Heating,” June 2025

14th U. S. National Combustion Meeting, “Forced-draft Airflow Control Tuned to Reduce PM Emissions in a Cordwood Room Heater Under Variable Operating Conditions,” 2025

 

Chemical Engineering Reactions. “Reducing Emissions from Current Clean-Burn Wood Stove Technology by Automating the Combustion Air Supply and Improving the End-User Interaction -Two Important Primary Measures,” 2023

 

IEA Bioenergy, “Design of Low Emission Wood Stoves,” 2022

 

Tarm Biomass, “Automated Wood Stoves: Technology Policies and Barriers,” 2017

 

Technical University of Denmark, “Guidelines for automated controls for wood stoves,” 2017

 

AGH Blog, “Automated stoves entering the marketplace,” 2014

 

AGH Blog, “Nine reasons manufacturers don’t use sensors in wood stoves,” 2013

Automated Wood Stoves Entering the Marketplace

Updated: Nov. 2020: There are at least a half dozen stoves on the market that are fully automated or have some automated features that are gaining traction.  Many of these features help the stove burn cleaner and are aiming at a demographic looking for easier operation.

We define a fully automated wood stove as one where the consumer can "load and leave" and not have to worry about adjusting the air flow to get an optimum burn.  On all traditional wood stoves, the consumer must adjust one or sometimes two levers that control the air.  Often consumers don't do this well, resulting in poor combustion that fails to maximize efficiency or minimize smoke.  Thus, even a brand new wood stove that performed very well in the test lab can perform very poorly in the hands of an inexperienced or inattentive operator.

There is only one fully automated stoves on the US market and several more that will be released in 2021.   MF Fire, a Baltimore-based company makes the fully automated Catalyst.  It uses electronic sensors to monitor combustion and adjust air flow as needed.  SBI has an automated stove in the final R&D stage and Buck stove is participating in an automated stove project, both of which are funded by the bioenergy office of the Department of Energy.

MF Fire, a small Maryland
company is trying to disrupt
traditional stove technology.

The automation in the Catalyst is a great option for consumers who want to minimize smoke from their stoves and enjoy the ease of automation.  You can more easily leave for the day or go to sleep at night knowing that your stove won't be smoldering away, which is one of the leading causes of excessive pollution from both old and new wood stoves.

The real promise of automation is not to get a hot stove to hit an ultra-low particulate matter number in a test lab, but to improve real-world results by seamlessly optimizing performance throughout the burn cycle, reducing start-up emissions, and even reducing emissions from unseasoned wood.  EPA certification testing does not test for real-world performance, and incentive programs do not yet recognize the positive attributes of automated or semi-automated stoves, so stove companies have not had much incentive to invest a lot of time, effort, and money in developing them.

In Europe, fully automated stoves have been on the market for some time and are beginning to gain wider recognition from consumers and air agencies.  Two companies have advanced automatic stoves that unfortunately are not available on the US market: The Danish company Hwam, who developed the Autopilot IHS, and Austria's Rika, who developed the Rikatronic.  In the United Kingdom, solid burning heating devices are classified by whether they are automatic or manual. To achieve a rating to be used in more polluted areas, manually operated stoves must submit lab tests showing 5 burns for each output level because “manually controlled appliances show much higher variation between tests.”  Automatic appliances only have to be tested 3 times at each output level.  The chart below shows a wide variety of technology that exists in both stoves and boilers in Europe, but only exists in boilers in the U.S. 

In 2013, 2014 and 2018, the Alliance for Green Heat partnered with Brookhaven National Lab to assess and test automated stoves and prototypes at stove design competitions.  Their designers aspire to be part of a real trend towards cleaner, more automated residential wood heating.  But can they do it at an affordable price point?  And, are consumers ready for them?  Here, we look at stoves with partially automated features that are already on the market.

Partial automation solutions

A bi-metal coil acts as a heat-
sensitive thermostat which can partially
control the opening and closing of the damper.

1. The bi-metal coil. One of the oldest forms of automation of steel wood stoves is the bi-metal coil which has been used on scores of stove models and is now mostly just used by a few catalytic stove makers, principally Blaze King and Vermont Castings.  A bi-metal coil is simply a thermostat run by a metal coil that can close a damper down when it's really hot, and open it up when it's cooler. The stove’s air inlet can still be operated manually, but the bimetal coil will adjust the air inlet further. They tend to not work nearly as well on non-cat stoves, because the temperatures in a non-cat firebox can be more unpredictable, and if the coil shuts down the air, or opens it too much, the stove would operate poorly, which adds far too much uncertainty in passing the EPA emissions certification test. A new, more sophisticated version of this technology is the VcV valve developed by a Australian company and Ben Myren.

The rotating trigger mechanism in the
Smartstove Collection by Englander
reduces air flow once the stove is hot.

2. Better start-up: Several companies have features that help start-up: the Quadrafire "Automatic Combustion Control" and the Travis "Green Start."  They all use different automated approaches to starting the fire quicker and with fewer emissions.  After the start-up period, the stove operates like any other.

Quadrafire's Explorer 2 Start-Up air
control helps give the stove more
air in the first 25 minutes.

Another recent arrival on the market is Quadrafire’s Explorer II, which provides a similar automated start-up.  The website says “Automatic Combustion Control-provides the fire with air when it is most needed-leading to longer burns.”  A marketing video says the operation is so easy that all you have to do is “load the wood, light the fire and walk away.” According to the installation manual, ACC is basically a timer which the operator must manually initiate with a control mechanism.  Essentially, it opens the front air channel which allows air to enter for 25 minutes before closing.  Once the front air channel is closed, manual controls are used to deliver preheated air to the top of the firebox to burn the rest of the unburned gases in the remaining three combustion zones.

The slider on the Cape Cod
adjusts the rate of burns.

Travis industries Hybrid-Fire technology™ developed an automated “Greenstart” which shoots 1,400 degree air into the firebox for 15 minutes to start your fire, or when you reload.  The Greenstart can significantly reduce start-up emissions, and emissions during reloading on a low temperature bed of coals, by jumpstarting the start-up process and heating the wood up faster than it would with newspaper.  After the first 15 minutes, the stove has no automated features, but some of the Travis stoves that use catalysts are among the cleanest in the industry.  The Travis Cape Cod stove won second prize in the Wood Stove Decathlon.

3. Remote operation. A remote control device does not necessarily provide any automation to the air flow.  It can just allow you to do it manually from the couch.  However, some like the Nestor Martin’s Efel has a partial “automatic mode” that can keep the room at a desired temperature.  In timer mode, it can adjust the room temperature at a pre-set time. The stoves uses a simple ambient air thermostat in a remote control device that you can operate from the couch or anywhere nearby.  If you don’t use it in automatic mode, the remote control allows the user to adjust the intensity of the fire just as you would with a manual air control. One of the key things that distinguishes this Efel from truly automated stoves is that there are no sensors in the stove that can prevent the stove from smoldering or override an adjustment by the operator that would make the fire smolder.

HWAM's Autopilot technology uses
sensors, along with a bi-metal spring to
regulate combustion temperatures.

Fully automated stove on the European market

1. The final two stoves are more fully automated stoves and are on the market in Europe, but not in the US.  Danish company HWAM has integrated a new patented system: Autopilot.  Along with the Austrian Rikatronic, described below, the Hwam is one of the most advanced and fully automated stoves in Europe. HWAM 3630 IHS features a control system that electronically measures combustion conditions through the use of a lambda oxygen sensor and a thermocouple.  An onboard computer then allocates combustion air through three separate valves to help the consumer achieve the same results at home that are obtained in test labs under ideal conditions.  According to the Danish Technological institute, HWAM stoves with this system are 17% more efficient and produce 40% more heat.

Rikatronic has a microprocessor-controlled
motor and a flame temperature sensor
which drives the RLS air distribution system.
The light tells you the optimal time to reload.
By pressing the button, the stove knows
 it has fresh wood to handle. 

2. There are numerous versions of the Rikatronic wood heater system. The Fox II stove features manual and automatic control settings.  In manual mode the air distribution can be controlled in each combustion phase-even in the event of a power outage.  Automation in Rikatronic technology works with a microprocessor-controlled motor and flame temperature sensor which operates the RLS air distribution system.  Airflow in each of the 5 combustion zones is effectively adjusted for efficient burn.  A red light indicates the optimal time to reload the stove.  You can set the room temperature you want and once the required room temperature is reached, you can activate the eco mode by pressing the Rikatronic³ button.  This causes the air supply to be optimally controlled to maintain the fire for as long as possible, without smoldering, and to leave behind as little ash as possible.  Power consumption is 2 – 4 watts.

DOE offers funding for “state-of-the-art” residential wood and pellet heater R&D

Updated, May 2022 - The DOE has announced a fourth round of funding for manufacturers to design and produce innovative wood stoves.  The funding opportunity is likely to come in early summer of 2022.

Updated on April 9, 2021 - The US Department of Energy has announced its third round of funding for R&D towards more efficient residential wood and pellet heaters.  The funding level is $5 million, the same as it was for the first two years. 

The announcement is part of a larger bioenergy funding opportunity. The timeline for applying is short and requires a concept paper to be submitted by April 30 as a precondition of submitting the full application on June 21, 2021. Applicants will be notified of funding decisions in August and funds will be disbursed in September. To get started, interested applicants should register with the EERE Exchange. 

"The Alliance for Green Heat applauds the DOE bioenergy program for supporting innovation in the wood and pellet heater sector for a third year," said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat. "This funding will help kickstart a new wave of American innovation and ingenuity in wood heater design which is vital to keep wood and pellet heaters competitive with solar and other renewable technologies."

Jonathan Male, the former Director of
the Bioenergy Technology Office at
DOE,  speaking at the 2018 Wood
Stove Design Challenge

The first year, the DOE selected  two companies – MF Fire and ISB Marketing – to receive $3 million for research and development. Both companies are focusing their efforts on how to make stoves cleaner in the hands of consumers through automation – not just in the test lab – which has become widely recognized as the Achilles heel for the millions of Americans who heat with cord wood.

The DOE is trying to fund more than just tweaks and adjustments to traditionally-designed cat and non-cat stoves. Applications that can demonstrate genuine advancements toward state-of-the-art technology that ensure heaters burn well during start-up and reduce the opportunity for human error will have an edge.

Beyond merely preparing for traditional EPA testing, “applicants are encouraged to expand the testing regimen to evaluate performance over the full cycle of residential wood heater operating conditions (representative of how homeowners actually use their residential wood heaters with representative wood feedstocks).”

Areas of R&D interest

DOE listed specific areas of interest, though other innovations are not excluded.

• Novel and innovative residential wood heater designs
• Improvements in automation of stoves
• Wood heater power generation via thermoelectric module integration,
• Modeling and simulation tools, and
• Improvements in catalyst technologies

The second area, improvements in automation of stoves, includes robust sensing technologies and remote control and real-time performance monitoring. Wood and pellet stoves, boilers, and furnaces could all integrate sensors that monitor and control combustion conditions better. The DOE was a core funder of the 2018 Wood Stove Design Challenge that focused on automation and gave them insight into the potential of this area.

Eligibility

DOE has relatively broad eligibility requirements. Individuals, for-profit companies, non-profits, universities, and state, local, and tribal governments can all apply. Foreign entities and companies can also apply as long as they have a US office. Federal agencies and DOE labs, such as Brookhaven National Lab, are not eligible to be prime recipients but could be a sub-recipient of a grant. All work must be performed on US soil.

Cost Share

Applicants must provide 20% of the total project costs. The 20% can include in-kind services or cash from non-federal sources. Cost share may be provided by the prime recipient, subrecipients, or third parties.

Questions

All questions about the FOA must be submitted to: EERE-ExchangeSupport@hq.doe.gov. DOE personnel are prohibited from communicating directly with applicants. All questions and answers related to this FOA will be posted on EERE Exchange: https://eere-exchange.energy.gov.

NYSERDA Provides Grant to Develop Automated Wood Stove

In an effort to bring more automation to the wood stove, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) is providing a $49,000 grant to support the Alliance for Green Heat to test and work towards improving automated wood stove designs.

The project will bring some of the world’s leading automated stoves and prototypes to Brookhaven National Lab in November to test their performance and assess which designs hold the most promise in smoke reduction, reliability and consumer demand.  Seven companies with different approaches to automation are competing in the event.

John Rhodes, CEO of NYSERDA
announcing Renewable Heat NY
funding in August 2014

 NYSERDA support is part of Governor Cuomo’s Renewable Heat NY initiative, which encourages the expansion of sustainable markets in New York State for high-performance wood-fired heating technology and encourages the use of renewable biomass fuel, such as cord wood and wood pellets. NYSERDA has become the largest supporter of research on residential wood and pellet heating technology in the U.S. 

This project, called the Collaborative Stove Design Workshop, is a follow-on to the successful Wood Stove Decathlon on the National Mall in November 2013 that was also supported by NYSERDA.  Unlike the Decathlon, which was a more formal technology competition, this Workshop will bring a variety of experts together to study and help improve the automated designs, some of which may be open sourced so anyone can build from them.

“A wood stove is only as good as its operator and its fuel,” said John Ackerly, President of the Alliance for Green Heat (AGH).  Automation can eliminate the widespread problem of operators who don’t give their stoves enough air at the right times, leading to excessive smoke in rural communities, suburban neighborhoods and towns.  It can also mitigate the problem of using unseasoned wood. “Pellet stove technology represents the biggest breakthrough in residential wood heating in the past quarter century but we believe more breakthroughs are possible,” Ackerly said.

The Organizing Committee that oversees the project consists of John Ackerly, Alliance for Green Heat; Ellen Burkhard, NYSERDA; Tom Butcher, Brookhaven National Lab; Craig Issod, founder of Hearth.com; Mark Knaebe, US Forest Service; Ben Myren, Myren Consulting; Norbert Senf, Masonry Heater Association; Dean Still, Aprovecho Research Center; Rod Tinnemore, Washington Department of Ecology; and Rebecca Trojanowski, Brookhaven National Lab. Additional funding comes from the Osprey Foundation and the US Forest Service.

Applications to attend and take part in the workshop are being accepted until September 1.