Wood Stoves in Manufactured Homes in Oregon: What the Rules Require

Two Labels, Two Different Questions

People mix these up, and it matters at sale. The DEQ or EPA label says the stove meets emissions limits. DEQ says a stove that has no such label from its manufacturer cannot be certified later, and that a UL (Underwriters Laboratories) safety label "is not the same as an Oregon DEQ or U.S. EPA emissions certification label and does not allow the device to remain in the home after it is sold."

The listing is a separate safety test that says what the stove may be installed in and how. A stove can be listed and still be uncertified for emissions, which is why the first thing to check on an old stove in a manufactured home is whether it carries one of the DEQ or EPA labels.

What the Federal Rule Says

The federal construction standard for new manufactured homes is 24 CFR 3280.709(g). It governs how a fireplace or fireplace stove may be built into a home at the factory, and it is the standard the Oregon installation code points back to. It says the appliance may be installed if it is "listed for residential use" and conforms to the conditions below. It also says the fireplace or stove "is not to be considered as a heating facility" when determining compliance with subpart F of the standard.

One thing changed recently. The 2024 text of the federal rule for stoves added in the field, 24 CFR 3285.503, said stoves "must be listed for use with manufactured homes." The current text says "listed for residential use." Oregon's own installation code has not followed, as the next sections explain.

What Oregon Adds

Oregon installs manufactured homes under the Oregon Manufactured Dwelling Installation Specialty Code, which the Building Codes Division lists as the 2010 edition, effective April 1, 2010. Section 9-3.2 says solid fuel-burning appliances shall "be listed for use in manufactured dwellings or mobile homes," be installed under 24 CFR 3280.709, the code and the maker's instructions, and be secured to the floor. Section 9-4.1 says combustion air intake ducts "shall not terminate under the home and must extend to the home's exterior outside the skirting."

The state's alteration rule, OAR 918-500-0580, adds that a solid fuel burning device must be installed to the maker's instructions and be certified as the DEQ requires, and, in a note, that listed fuel burning appliances "must be installed to provide for the complete separation of the combustion system from the interior atmosphere of the manufactured dwelling." The federal rule separately requires the stove's combustion air inlet to conduct air directly into the fire chamber, and Oregon's code requires intake ducts to extend outside the skirting.

We read the state rule as it appears on a public mirror of the Oregon Administrative Rules, not the Secretary of State's own page, which did not load for us. The federal change in 2025 may lead the state to revise its wording, so ask the building department which edition it enforces.

Permits and Inspection

OAR 918-500-0580(5) lists "solid fuel burning appliances, wood stoves and fireplaces listed or approved for manufactured dwellings or mobile home use, and listed pellet-fired appliances" among the site-installed equipment that "must be inspected by the municipality." Subsection (2) exempts some alterations from permits, including "replacement of equipment or accessories in kind" and "minor repairs with approved component parts," while saying they are still not exempt from the code's requirements.

Whether swapping one stove for another counts as replacement in kind is a judgment for your local building department, and we found no Building Codes Division statement on it. Call before you buy. Adding a stove where there was none, or fitting an insert, is a new installation.

Who Is Responsible for the Sale Rule

Oregon's sale rule, OAR 340-262-0700, applies when a "residential structure" is sold. DEQ's definitions rule takes that term from ORS 701.005, and the statute's list of residential structures includes "a manufactured dwelling." We found no manufactured-home exemption in the DEQ rules. The exemptions in the rule are for fireplaces, cook stoves, antique stoves, pellet stoves, masonry heaters, central wood-fired furnaces and saunas, which is the same list that applies to a site-built house.

So an uncertified stove or insert in a manufactured home has to be removed and destroyed at sale, by the seller unless the buyer agrees in writing to take it on, with 30 days after closing for the buyer. The Rogue Valley city and county rules on top of that are in our guide on selling a home with a wood stove.

What a Chimney Inspection Looks For Here

The chimney on a manufactured home is a factory-built, listed chimney with a spark arrester, so the questions are different from a masonry flue: whether the sections are still tightly joined, whether the termination and spark arrester are intact and not choked with soot, and whether the roof jack and flashing are sealed. A $99 inspection in Southern Oregon covers that. Do not substitute another type of pipe for a listed chimney. The federal rule requires the chimney attached to the stove to be the listed one.

What We Could Not Confirm

• Whether the federal and state "listed" wordings will be brought into line. The two read differently today.
• Any Oregon rule restricting who may install a stove in a manufactured home. We did not find one, but contractor licensing is a separate question we did not research, so check with the Construction Contractors Board before hiring.
• The share of Jackson and Josephine County housing that is manufactured. The Census Bureau pages would not load, so no figure appears here.

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