Burning with Efficiency: Explore the Best Outdoor Wood Burners

We list the best outdoor wood burners with flues and discuss the warranties offered by each manufacturer and their proper maintenance.

An outdoor wood burner or furnace efficiently heat your home and water during colder seasons.

The best ones on the market are designed to keep you warm without consuming excessive amounts of wood.

They are a must-have for anyone who wants to stay cozy and comfortable throughout the year.

If you are looking for high-quality wood burners with flue, you should consider those that can produce enough BTUs to keep your house warm while minimizing wood waste and smoke generation.

In addition, they should have a significant water-holding capacity and come with a manufacturer’s warranty for added peace of mind.

Red furnace shown as one of the best outdoor wood burners on the market.
Solid fuel boiler

HeatMaster MF eSeries Wood Furnace

On our list, the eSeries Wood Furnace by HeatMaster is the first outdoor wood burner with a flue.

It can heat up to 800,000 BTUs and store between 130 to 555 gallons (492 – 2100 litres) of water.

The HeatMaster MF eSeries Wood Furnace can burn any biomass, including wood and coal.

This wood burner is built with heavy-duty 409 stainless steel walls. It has a dual firebox door latch and a large round firebox.

HeatMaster MF eSeries Wood Furnace offers optional second air injection and heat exchanger pass as additional features.

These can decrease wood consumption by 20 to 30%.

Video of the Heatmaster SS MF Series

The manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty against defects in workmanship and 5 to 10-year warranties on the device itself.

Benefits

  • It can burn both green and wet wood efficiently.
  • It is easy to operate and maintain.

Crown Royal Pristine Wood Furnace

The Crown Royal Pristine Wood Furnace is a popular outdoor wood burner.

It has a stainless steel firebox and water jacket and is EPA phase-2 certified.

The Pristine Wood Furnace also features a firebrick refractory, which can significantly help improve its heat efficiency.

In addition, it also features an insulated rear door, a firebox door, and a handy indicator for water levels in the furnace.

This wood burner is easy to operate and maintain and very efficient at its job.

A lot of customers have commended its fantastic energy efficiency.

Simply put, it can produce more heat by burning less wood.

The manufacturers offer a 20-year limited warranty on these furnaces.

Benefits

  • It has commendable energy efficiency.
  • You can expect excellent long-term customer service.
  • It does a really good job of heating the house.
shutterstock 652652269

Nature’s Comfort NCB-G Wood Furnace

The Nature’s Comfort NCB-G Wood Furnace has an efficiency rating of 78% and features a firebox that is 1/4 inch thick and a 7-gauge water jacket that is 3/16 inch thick.

And it is pretty good at its job. It can generate up to 500,000 BTUs of heat.

The updraft gasification design means the Nature’s Comfort NCB-G Wood Furnace produces a cleaner burn.

Build-wise, these furnaces are corrosion-protected with a powder coat finish. The built-in ashtray makes it more accessible during clean-up.

Nature’s Comfort NCB-G Wood Furnace also features intuitive controls, an aquastat for monitoring water levels, a pump, and a blower

Nature’s Comfort NCB-175 Complete Walkthrough

The manufacturers offer a 20-year material and labor warranty on the fire drum and a 10-year warranty on the water jacket.

Benefits

  • It is easy to operate
  •  It produces a clean and efficient fire

HeatMaster G Series Wood Furnace

HeatMaster’s G Series Wood Furnace has a heating capacity of up to 350,000 BTUs and can hold 100 to 250 gallons (375 – 950 liters) of water.

Like the MF eSeries, the G Series by HeatMaster is also constructed using 409 stainless steel. This guarantees durability.

The HeatMaster G Series Wood Furnace is easy to operate and maintain.

It features multi-level insulation, and it also comes with several user-friendly features and safety features, such as a dual firebox latch and a real hinged door that is insulated.

Features of the new Heatmaster SS G-Series Furnaces

The manufacturers offer a prorated lifetime guarantee that decreases to 10% coverage at the end of 20 years and stays at that amount after that. Customers have also praised the company’s customer service.

Benefits

  • It is easy to maintain.
  • It has a good energy efficiency.
  • It produces less smoke.
  • It offers excellent long-term customer service.

Hawken Energy Greenhawk

The Hawken Energy Greenhawk outdoor wood burner is an EPA-qualified wood furnace that uses Hawken’s own improved gasification technology to improve energy efficiency when using seasoned wood greatly.

The Hawken Energy Greenhawk wood burner is made of A36 structural carbon steel, which is durable.

However, this material is also susceptible to corrosion.

To prevent corrosion, it is recommended to treat the water that is being put into the burner.

Since A36 structural carbon steel has a much higher heat-transferring capacity than stainless steel, this furnace can produce the same amount of heat as other models using a much smaller amount of wood.

“Why I chose Hawken Energy.”

The manufacturer offers a 15-year prorated warranty. For an additional price, buyers have the option to buy extended warranties.

Benefits

  • It offers excellent energy efficiency.
  • It is EPA-qualified
  • It comes with the option of extended warranties

Polar Furnace G-Class Wood Furnace

The Polar Furnace G-Class Wood Furnace is another great Outdoor wood burner that offers downdraft gasification technology to increase combustion efficiency as high as 99.5%.

This furnace is easy to install and is also easy to operate.

One of the most incredible things about the Polar Furnace G-Class Wood Furnace is that it includes the company’s particular auto-cleaning system that can make cleaning up very easy.

The burner has a smoke “X-tract” system that reduces the smoke and prevents any from blowing toward the house.

Furthermore, the built-in “Strong-Wall” system significantly prevents corrosion in the fire chamber.

The G-Class heaters are advanced-generation downdraft gasification heaters.

The manufacturer offers a 15-year limited warranty on this furnace.

In addition to this, they also provide a 1-year warranty on all repairs and a 4-year warranty on leakage-related damages. 

Benefits

  • It is easy to clean and maintain
  • It offers up to 99.5% combustion efficiency.
  • It has excellent energy efficiency.

Heatmor X Series

The seventh and final outdoor wood burner with flue on our list is the Heatmor X Series furnace.

They are built from 409 stainless steel, so you won’t have to worry about this furnace corroding anytime soon.

It’s essential for buyers to know that the Heatmor X Series furnaces are not gasification furnaces.

However, some users actually prefer this. A traditional furnace like this has some advantages.

For instance, it has fewer moving parts, which means it’s less likely that something will go wrong.

Outdoor Wood Boiler / Wood Stove

The manufacturer offers a full 5-year warranty and a prorated additional 15-year one.

After 20 years, this comes down to 10% and stays at that amount.

Benefits

  • It has a corrosion-preventive build.
  • It can burn unseasoned firewood well.
Depositphotos 311348054 l 2015

How to Fuel the Best Outdoor Wood Burners

Using an outdoor wood burner can help you save a lot of money on your heating bills.

However, it’s essential to remember that it still requires a fuel source.

Fueling your outdoor wood burner can be time-consuming, but some tools and best practices can help you minimize the time and effort required.

You’ll need to split plenty of logs and wood. A log splitter can help you save time and keep your firewood rack full.

You can check out my post about the best budget wood splitters. However, you can always use a trusty axe.

Related Reading: The Best Log Splitters for the Money in 2023: Maximizing Value

Storing Your Wood

Don’t waste your efforts by carefully piling your firewood out in the open.

Instead, follow this process:

  1. Stack your firewood in a clean, accessible, and dry place.
  2. Ensure the place is elevated to prevent firewood from absorbing moisture from the ground. It also keeps your firewood out of reach of destructive insects.
  3. Make sure there is enough space for air circulation in between your stacks of firewood.
  4. Make sure your storage area is some distance away from your living quarters. Stacks of firewood are likely to attract small animals and creepy creepers.

Proper firewood storage is essential. Check out my review of top-rated racks with roofs and covers by clicking here.

How Much Wood Does An Outdoor Wood Boiler Use?

Determining how much wood is needed from a wood burner/boiler depends on a bunch of factors, such as:

  • Are you heating the entire home?
  • What is the outside temperature?
  • Are you using it every day?
  • Is there floor heating?
  • How efficient is the model?
  • How big is the home?
  • Are you heating your water?
  • The total number of heating zones?

But, a cookie-cutter type of answer would be this:

 “The standard rule of thumb is that a 1,000-square-foot home will use three cords of wood for a season,” she says. “If your wood-burning stove is super high-efficiency, or if you live in a more moderate climate, you may need less.”

 Fireside Hearth & Home

Keep in mind that a cord of wood includes a certain amount of air space.

The actual volume of solid wood in a cord may vary based on the size of the pieces, but for firewood, it typically averages to around 85 cubic feet.

Maintaining Your Outdoor Wood Burner

Outdoor wood burners with flues are a significant investment and it’s worthwhile to ensure that investment stays protected and operates optimally.

Wood boiler water treatment products help protect and treat:

  • Rust
  • Corrosion
  • Scale
How to clean out an outdoor wood boiler

You can see in the video that the person is wearing a protective mask, which is essential when cleaning an outdoor wood burner.

You can pick up these sorts of safety products on Amazon.

Final Thoughts

We reviewed seven different outdoor wood burners in this article.

These devices can really help keep our homes and water warm during the winter.

When purchasing an outdoor wood burner or furnace, it is important for the buyer to be aware of several factors.

These include the energy efficiency of the unit, the materials used in its construction, and the specific maintenance requirements for each model.

It is also recommended to choose a model that offers additional features, such as aquastats for monitoring water levels and conditions.

Most manufacturers offer long-term warranties for these expensive purchases.

Enjoy living the outdoor life!!!