The 5 Best RV Wood Stoves for a Cozy Winter

(cover photo courtesy Elsa Rhae)

A warm, welcoming glow, the unmistakable aroma of toasted wood, a percussion of snaps and pops as the embers dance. Can you even get cozier than that?

An RV wood stove is more than a feature, it’s an experience. One that can make almost any space feel like home.

But are there RV wood-burning stoves that are feasible and compatible?

Now, before you talk about space efficiencies and “luxuries vs. necessities”, hear me out. Yes, RV wood-burning stoves are somewhat romantic and elegant, but they’re also surprisingly cheap and impressively effective.

Here’s a chart for you to take a quick glance at our favorite RV wood stoves. If you want to learn more about how these stoves work and more details about each stove, keep scrolling.

Image	Product	Features	Price
	Dwarf 4K	3 air compartments for burn control Steel and cast iron Cooking area	Check Price
	Cubic Mini Wood Stove	Heats 100-200 sq. feet Low smoke output Safe and eco-friendly	Check Price
	Kimberly Wood Stove	Nearly smokeless High quality Most expensive	Check Price
	England's Stove Works	Large cooking area Heavy steel No viewing window	Check Price
	Dickinson Newport Propane Direct Vent Heater	Propane heat source Rugged, made for marine life Non-rust stainless steel	Check Price

The Best RV Wood Burning Stoves We Could Find

Here are our in-depth descriptions of each RV wood stove recommended in the chart. We hope this helps you pick the best wood-burning stove for your motorhome.

This Cubic CUB mini wood stove boasts the coveted classic design of a cast-iron stove, but with lightweight, steel-plated construction. Less than a cubic foot in TOTAL unit size, this unique little stove is full of charm.

Its small size limits its heat output and it’s ideal for spaces between 100 – 200 sq. ft. This little stove is designed to heat boats and RVs up to 40-feet long.

With dramatic gold-plated accents and a whimsical, dollhouse feel, this stove will add warmth and character to any small space.

The Cubic Mini Cub is an eco-friendly stove that produces very little smoke thanks to a secondary combustion system. It also removes humidity from an RV, which is important during the winter months.

This sturdy little wood stove is made out of steel and cast iron with a large viewing window so you can enjoy the look of a dancing fire in your RV.

The Small Dwarf 4k emits about 12,500 BTUs when lit, but you can also choose a more powerful stove (the 5k) or a less powerful one (the 3k).

Tiny Wood Stoves builds its wood-burning stoves with three separate, air-tight air supplies for better control of burn rates. You’ll also get a cooking surface on top.

The Dwarf can burn wood, coal or compressed logs with a fire box made out of cast iron and fire brick, which reflects heat back into your space.

This company has been designing wood stoves for small spaces for many years and offers plenty of information on installing stoves and choosing the right one for your RV.

The England Stove Works Survivor has an amazing 168 sq. in. cooking area, which makes it top almost all models of its size in cookability. So if you’re planning to do much cooking with your RV wood stove, this might be the option for you.

The heavy-duty American steel, which brings its weight down to a very manageable 45 lbs. Perhaps a more superficial factor, this RV wood stove does not have a viewing window.

This exclusion likely allows the fire to heat slightly more efficiently, but many RV wood-burning stove lovers wouldn’t consider an option without the dancing flames and warm firelight that a window provides.

The Dickson Marine Propane Fireplace isn’t exactly a wood-burning stove, but it’s a popular heater for RVers and van lifers, so we figured we might as well include it.

The stove does create soft blue flames that mimic the look and feel of a fire, but without the wood smoke and crackling.

This fireplace is less than 6 inches deep and weighs just 26 lbs. For such a small unit, its heat output of 5,500 – 7,500 BTUs is pretty incredible.

This small propane stove is built for marine living and claims to be unaffected by motion, winds, or weather conditions.

The body is made of non-rust stainless steel, which isn’t quite as durable as cast iron, but at 26lbs, this unit is ideal for boat or van dwellers, and it comes with a one-year manufacturer’s warranty.

Look out, the future of RV wood-burning stoves is coming in hot. This unit is pretty amazing.

The Kimberly wood stove is built off the history of an inspiring father who moved his small family into an even smaller boat out of desperation during the Great Recession.

He needed a small wood stove that didn’t burn through much wood and minimal smoke output with a longer burn time. So, he created an innovative two-stage combustion chamber to successfully accomplish everything he needed, boasting an incredibly efficient, nearly smokeless stove.

If you can stomach the price of this unit, it’s an incredible investment. They also include expert installation and all required materials (flu pipe) with your purchase, giving you even more peace of mind.

What is an RV wood stove?

RV wood stoves are not just for RVs, and are also used by people living in tiny homes, vans, buses, boats, travel trailers, and more. It’s just a small, usually somewhat self-contained wood stove.

They come in many different styles, but all will need some sort of chimney pipe for the combustion gas.

Different styles of RV wood-burning stoves

Cookstoves.

Some RV wood stoves double as heaters and cookers. You might have to sacrifice a bit of heat efficiency during cook time, but other than that, this can be a great option for some buyers.

Window doors.

While this category is totally superficial, it often makes a big difference for buyers. Having a window door turns your wood stove for an RV into a fireplace. If you’re all about the wood-burning aesthetic, this might be a must.

Size of your RV wood stove.

This will largely be dependent on how much space you have inside your RV. The bigger the area you need to be heated, the bigger stove you’ll need. Though size is usually a good indicator of capability, the next category is even more so.

Heat output.

This can get a bit tricky with RV wood-burning stoves, as there are so many variables at play that affect how much heat your small wood stove will throw. Even things like the type of wood or the wetness or sappiness of the wood can drastically affect your heat throw.

If you’re going to be traveling in particularly cold climates, definitely overestimate how much heat output you’ll be needing from your camper wood stove.

Pros and cons of installing a mini wood stove in your RV

Things to consider before picking out the best RV wood stove

Mini wood stoves come in all shapes and sizes. No matter how small or strange the space you’re looking to fill may be, there is an RV wood stove out there for you.

If you’re shopping online, make sure to measure carefully and check the measurements of the unit you’re buying.

Sometimes it’s hard to gauge the size of a mini wood stove from the photos, and familiar proportions might lead you to think a small wood stove is much larger than it actually is.

Find something roughly the size of the stove you’re going to buy and use it as a reference.

You should also really consider the upkeep and maintenance of an RV wood-burning stove before you purchase.

Are you ready to chop all your wood, haul it away, dry it, store it, light it on fire, keep it on fire, and clean all the soot and ash that it produces?

The challenge can be fun and incredibly rewarding, but make sure you’re ready to take it on.

Using a wood-burning stove in a campervan

Vandwellers are perhaps the most space-starved of all tiny livers.

For that reason alone, many may scoff at the suggestion of using a small wood-burning stove in their van, but if you haven’t already written off the idea, it might be worth your consideration.

The biggest downside to a wood stove in a campervan is the loss of stealth camping.

With plumes of smoke (though many new models tout massively reduced smoke outputs) and the unmistakable scent of burning wood (which is also said to be minimized in newer, more efficient models) it’s hard to go unnoticed.

Campervans are the most discreet option of nomadic living and many vandwellers make use of that stealth often. If this is an important factor to you, and your locale requires near-constant heat, a mini wood stove might not be an option for you.

If space is your biggest concern, you should look at the dimensions of some smaller models, they might surprise you.

Many travelers with smaller stoves also choose to elevate them and use a shorter chimney pipe, allowing for storage or other use of space below the stove. This can be an awesome option, but make sure your stove has the proper overhead allowances for safety.

For most small wood stoves, that likely won’t be an issue.

Q&A about wood-burning stoves for an RV

Conclusion on an RV wood stove for winter

Living a nomadic or minimal life is extremely rewarding, but it does come with some undeniable challenges, one of which tends to be comfort. With these tiny RV wood-burning stoves, you can turn virtually any size space into a welcoming, warm environment.

And with a huge range of styles, sizes, weights, and materials, it’s hard not to find one that can work for you.

Even if you’re living in a van or a sailboat, a small wood burning stove can offer not just coziness, but efficient and affordable heat.

Take care during installation and adhere to all safety procedures, and you’ll do nothing but enjoy this investment.

So which one of the RV wood-burning stoves we’ve listed here will be your next big purchase?