Riteway Wood Stoves: The Model 37, Parts and Replacements

Riteway stoves were plain, heavy steel heaters from Harrisonburg, Virginia, and a lot of them are still running in basements, decades after the company disappeared. Owners like the big firebox and the thermostat that holds a steady burn.

If yours is getting tired, or your insurer is asking questions, here's what you have, what can be kept going, and what replaces it. One distinction matters first: Riteway built room stoves and furnaces and boilers, and they need different replacements.

What happened to Riteway

The Hearth.com wiki identifies the maker as Riteway Manufacturing Co. of Harrisonburg, Virginia, active through the 1970s and into the 1980s. The stoves were utilitarian and used a downdraft combustion design, and some models were built as furnaces and boilers. Models from 1982 on reportedly tried catalytic converters. The company didn't last long after that. The wiki calls it a "casualty of cheap energy prices": cheap oil in the mid-1980s undercut demand for wood heat, and Riteway was gone before the EPA's 1988 standard arrived.

Harrisonburg was a busy stove town. The same city gave us Shenandoah and the original Sierra stoves (see our Shenandoah and Sierra guides). Riteway is the one with no successor company.

How a Riteway burns

In a downdraft stove, smoke is pulled down through the hot coal bed before it leaves, which burns off more of it than a simple box does. The design depends on a deep bed of red coals and a bypass damper. You open the bypass to light the stove and to reload, so smoke goes straight up the flue, then close it to send exhaust down through the coals.

Owners on Hearth.com describe what happens when that step is skipped. One says his father first ran his without using the bypass properly, and describes another Riteway user who plugged a chimney solid. Another, who used a Model 37 from 1976 to 2007, called it "a durable ugly stove that makes its share of stovepipe gunk." Run right, one owner says, it is "very good on small amount of wood." Run wrong, it makes creosote. Either way, inspect the chimney often.

The models

Model 37 owners describe a fan-and-plenum or jacket setup that turned the stove into a forced-air furnace, and some ducted it into the home's return air. Owners also report burning anthracite in a 37. Several mention near-identical stoves from other builders, including Amish-built copies, so a stove that looks like a Riteway isn't always one. Factory specifications and BTU ratings haven't survived in any source we could verify, so we won't quote one.

Parts and value

No factory parts exist, and no company holds the tooling. What you can still do is generic work: firebrick, rope gasket, a blower motor for jacketed units, and fabricated pieces like a shaker handle (a bent rod with a square socket, per one owner). The thermostat control and the bypass damper are what you can't order. If either is shot, that's usually when owners start shopping.

On value: one forum post mentions a used Riteway offered for about $75. People want them for the steel and the firebox, but there's no collector market.

The certification problem

Every Riteway predates the 1988 EPA standard. It has no certified efficiency, no tested emissions number and no listing. The 1982-on catalytic models don't change that. This rarely matters while a stove stays put. It matters when you reinstall or move it, when your insurer asks about the solid-fuel appliance, and when you sell the house. Call your carrier and building department before you spend money. Our EPA certified wood stove guide explains the current standard.

What replaces a Riteway

Every stove below is EPA 2020 certified and ships with No Sales Tax in any state and free shipping over $250. Each one shows its live shipping status.

Replacing a Model 37 or other large room stove

A 37 owner wants a big firebox and a long burn. The Drolet HT-3000 ($1,899, Ships in about 2 weeks) delivers both: 3.5 cu ft, 22-inch logs, up to 10-hour burns and coverage up to 2,700 sq ft. It has a 6-inch flue and an optional blower. If the 37 sits in a basement and you're counting on heat reaching upstairs, read wood stove for a basement first. Moving heat up through floors is the hard part, whatever the stove.

For a medium house, the Drolet Escape 1800 on legs ($1,549, Ships in 2–6 weeks) covers 500–2,100 sq ft at 75,000 BTU/h with 20-inch logs. For a cabin, shop or single room, the Drolet Escape 1200 N ($1,129, Ships in 6–10 weeks) and the Virginia-built Englander Blue Ridge 100 N ($1,099, Ships in 1–3 days) both cover 250–1,200 sq ft.

Replacing a Riteway furnace or boiler

A room stove is not a like-for-like replacement for a ducted Riteway. If your house depends on the ductwork, the honest answer is a wood furnace. The Drolet Heat Commander II ($4,349) is the one we carry. It's EPA 2020 certified, heats 1,000–2,500 sq ft through existing ducts, syncs with a wall thermostat and is approved in the US to run alongside an oil, gas or propane furnace. Availability is limited this season: No confirmed date. Call us before planning around a date.

We don't sell wood boilers. If yours heats water for radiators or radiant floors, you need a boiler dealer. Our wood boiler vs furnace vs stove guide explains which appliance fits which house. If you're willing to give up central distribution, a large room stove on the main floor often heats more of the house than a basement furnace did.

The honest comparison

The downdraft idea was sound. Modern stoves just do it better, with controlled secondary air and insulated baffles instead of a damper you have to remember. A certified stove burns off the gases a Riteway sent up the flue as creosote, so you use less wood and clean the chimney less often. What you give up is fuel flexibility. A Riteway would take coal, scraps and marginal wood. A secondary-burn stove needs seasoned wood. We don't sell coal stoves, so if coal is your fuel, see coal stove vs wood stove.

Before you swap

• Flue. One owner noted the Riteway's flue outlet sits at a very different height from his other stove, so expect new connector pipe. The stoves above vent at 6 inches. An oversized or creosote-glazed masonry chimney should be cleaned, inspected and usually relined. See the chimney liner guide and stovepipe guide.
• Clearances. Take them from the new stove's manual, not from where the Riteway sat.
• Floor protection. See the hearth pad guide and the installation guide.

Bottom line

If your Riteway is sound, the chimney is clean and you run the bypass correctly, there's no rush to replace it. Replace it when the thermostat or bypass is gone, when you're tired of creosote, or when an insurer or home sale forces the question.

HT-3000 for a Model 37, Escape 1800 for a medium house, Escape 1200 N for a small space, and Heat Commander II if the house depends on ductwork. No Sales Tax in any state and free shipping over $250. Browse all wood stoves for sale, or call 1-888-914-0022 with your model and the square footage you heat.

Replacing another vintage stove?

Same honest assessment for the other brands owners still run: Shenandoah, Sierra, Fisher, All Nighter, Warm Morning, Atlanta Homesteader, Timberline, Vermont Castings Vigilant and Resolute and Nashua.