How to Identify Your Buck Stove Model (and Find the Right Parts)

By Fireplace Choice September 12, 2026 0 comments

Buck Stove has been building wood and gas stoves in Spruce Pine, North Carolina since 1975, and a lot of the early ones are still running. That is good news for the owner and a problem when something breaks: the model number decides which glass, blower or gasket fits, and on a forty-year-old insert it is not always obvious. Here is how we identify a Buck in the shop, in the order we check.

1. Find the rating plate

Every Buck has a metal rating plate with the model and serial number. On a freestanding stove it is riveted to the back, low down, or under the ash lip at the front. On a fireplace insert it is usually inside the door frame, on the side of the firebox, or on the surround where it meets the fireplace face. Pull the ash pan and check the area behind it too. If you can read the plate, you are done: jump to the parts list for that model in the table below.

2. No plate? Measure the stack opening

The three classic wood stoves from the late 1970s and 1980s, the 26000 (Little Buck), 27000 (Regular Buck) and 28000 (Big Buck), are the ones most often missing their plate. Buck's own advice is to measure the rectangular flue opening on top of the unit:

13¾" × 3¼" opening: a 26000 or a 27000. The Little Buck is the smaller firebox of the two; if the stove is under about 24" wide it is a 26000.
16" × 3¾" opening: a 28000 Big Buck.

All three share most parts, so if the opening puts you in this family you can shop Buck 26000, 27000 and 28000 parts with confidence and use the firedog size to pin the exact model: 9" firedogs are the 26000, 10¼" and 14" sets fit the 27000, 16" the 28000.

3. Still unsure? Measure the door glass

Buck's later wood stoves fall into two glass families, and the panel size settles most identification questions:

9½" × 15¹³⁄₁₆" glass (PG2124GL): Models 18, 20, 20ZC, 21, FS21, 81, 85 and 261. If the stove has two angled side panels beside the door it is a bay-window 18 or 81.
11³⁄₁₆" × 17½" glass (PG 265191GL): Models 26, 51, 74, 74ZC, 80, 80ZC, 91 and 94NC.

Within the second group, look above the baffle at the top of the firebox. A honeycomb ceramic block (the catalytic combustor) and a small probe port mean a catalytic stove: the 91 (the large one) or the 80. No combustor means a non-catalytic 74 or 51.

4. Gas stoves

Buck's vent-free gas stoves and fireplaces (Models 34, 329, 384, 1110, 1127, 42 and FP42ZC) carry the plate behind the lower louver or on the valve tray, and the plate also states the fuel: NG for natural gas, LP for propane. Fuel matters more than model for gas parts, because the SIT 820 valves and ODS pilots are fuel-specific and cannot be converted. Parts for all of them are in Buck vent-free gas stove parts.

Buck Stove models and their parts

Model	Type	Quick tell	Parts
26000 Little Buck	Wood, 1970s–80s	13¾" × 3¼" stack, 9" firedogs	26000/27000/28000 parts
27000 Regular Buck	Wood, 1970s–80s	13¾" × 3¼" stack, 10¼" or 14" firedogs	26000/27000/28000 parts
28000 Big Buck	Wood, 1970s–80s	16" × 3¾" stack, 16" firedogs	26000/27000/28000 parts
18 / 20	Wood, bay window	Small glass, angled side panels	Model 18 & 20 parts
21 / FS21 / 21ZC	Wood, non-catalytic	Small glass, compact firebox	Model 21 parts
51	Wood, non-catalytic	Large glass, no combustor	Model 51 parts
74 / 74ZC	Wood, non-catalytic	Large glass, no combustor, mid-size	Model 74 parts
80 / 80ZC	Wood, catalytic	Large glass, combustor, ACI-45C	Model 80 parts
81	Wood, non-catalytic	Small glass, Buck's most popular size	Model 81 parts
85	Wood, non-catalytic	Small glass	Model 85 parts
91	Wood, catalytic flagship	Large glass, combustor, probe port	Model 91 parts
34, 329, 384, 1110, 1127, 42	Vent-free gas	Plate behind lower louver, NG or LP	Gas stove parts

What to replace first

Across every model, the same three parts account for most repairs: the door glass (cracked or etched white), the blower motor (stove heats but does not move air, or hums without spinning) and the door gasket. Catalytic models add the combustor every five to eight seasons. Every Buck part page on our site now shows the models it fits, and the Buck Stove hub links to each model's parts. If you have the plate photo and still cannot match it, send it to us and we will identify the stove.