What our tiers mean, precisely
A directory that will not define its own badge is not worth reading. Ours:
| Tier | What it required | Records |
|---|---|---|
| Verified | The retailer's own site loaded, AND it carried hearth-category evidence, AND a contact detail matched | 1,558 |
| Attributed | One of those two evidence conditions, not both | 159 |
| Unverified | No site, a dead site, or nothing corroborating | 2,028, not published |
| Withheld | Judged on the evidence not to be a hearth retailer at all | 146, not published |
Listable means verified plus attributed: 1,717 records, 44.1% of what we collected. Of the full set, 3,346 records (86.0%) carry a website domain and 3,728 carry a phone number.
The withheld tier is worth explaining rather than hiding. Our discovery pass had no hearth filter, so it collected businesses that are plainly something else. We classify those on the evidence we hold and withhold them with a written reason attached. Nothing is deleted: the record survives, the reason survives, and the same judgment answers for itself the next time the same business is discovered.
Coverage: 111 metros carry at least three listable retailers, which is the bar a metro page has to clear before we index it, and 47 states are represented among listable records. Metros below that bar still render for anyone who lands on them, but they stay out of the index. We publish the thin ones as thin rather than padding them.
We emit structured business markup for the verified tier only. A record that cannot support the badge does not get the badge, and does not silently get it in the page's markup either.
What verified deliberately excludes
We do not hold, display, or use: star ratings, review counts, review text, or third-party photos. That is a deliberate design choice about what a reference layer should be, and it means this directory cannot tell you whether a retailer is pleasant to deal with. Use it to find who exists and what they report carrying. Use reviews, references, and a showroom visit for the rest.
We also do not verify licensing, bonding, or insurance. Those are state and local questions with state and local answers, and the authoritative source is your state's contractor licensing board, not us.
Brand claims, and the language we use on purpose
We say a retailer reports carrying a brand. We never say authorized, certified, approved, official, or partner, because we have no relationship with any manufacturer that would let us say so truthfully.
The evidence rule behind that language: an association is recorded only when it was read on the retailer's own website, with the URL and the crawl date stored alongside it. Manufacturer dealer locators are never fetched, consulted, or inferred from. All 5,273 associations we hold carry both a source URL and a crawl date, without exception, because a row missing either is rejected rather than published.
The most frequently reported brands across our listable registry: Superior (275 retailers), Napoleon (223), Majestic (214), Heat & Glo (209), Dimplex (208), Regency (204), Vermont Castings (186), Modern Flames (180), Big Green Egg (172), and Mendota (164).
Two honest limits on that data. First, brand coverage reaches 1,088 of the 1,717 listable records, or 63.4%, so roughly a third of our listable retailers have no brand data at all, usually because their site does not say. Second, a site that failed to crawl tells you nothing about the retailer. Absence of a brand on a listing is not evidence the retailer does not carry it. Call and ask.
The questions to ask a dealer
About the installation
- Do you install, or do you subcontract it? Get the installing company's name either way.
- Who pulls the permit, and is the fee in the quote?
- What clearance specification are you working to for this model, from the manual?
- Will you do a level 2 chimney inspection before finalizing the quote if we are reusing the chimney?
- What does the labor warranty cover, and for how long? It is usually shorter than the appliance warranty.
About the appliance
- What is the EPA listing for this exact model, including the model-line name on the certificate? Names on the showroom tag and the certificate often differ.
- Does it publish an efficiency figure? Roughly two thirds of EPA-listed models do not, and a rebate with a threshold will want one.
- If it is catalytic, what does a replacement combustor cost and how often is it replaced?
About money
- Which rebate or change-out programs does this appliance qualify for in my jurisdiction, and do you handle the paperwork?
- Are you a participating retailer for those programs? Several programs, including Nevada's, route buyers through a specific retailer list.
About after the sale
- Do you service what you sell, and what is the in-season response time?
- Do you sweep, or do you refer? Get the referral's name.
Two things to do before you pick
Check licensing yourself. Your state contractor licensing board is the authority on whether an installer is licensed and bonded. No directory, including this one, substitutes for that check.
Tell your insurer before installation. Adding a wood-burning appliance changes the risk on the policy, and some insurers require documentation of clearances, a permit, or a certified installation. Finding out afterward is the expensive order.
Methodology and freshness
Retailer records: discovery across the top 100 US metros with five query variants, then a verification crawl of each retailer's own website. Crawl discipline: no more than one request per second per site, no more than eight pages per site, robots.txt honored, identifying user agent, 15-second timeout, links followed from the retailer's own homepage rather than guessed. Tier assignment is mechanical from the evidence recorded, and a record claiming verified without both a verification method and a verification date is downgraded automatically.
Brand associations: retailer's own site only, 5,273 associations across listable retailers, 100% carrying a source URL and a crawl date. Re-crawl cadence: quarterly. A retailer whose evidence cannot be re-confirmed is downgraded, not left at a stale tier.
Corrections and claims: if your business is listed wrong, or listed and should not be, tell us and we will fix or remove it. Claiming a listing is free and does not change your position in any list.
This page is a reference directory, not an endorsement and not legal, tax, or installation advice. We do not sell, install, or service stoves and we do not arrange installation work.