Gents,

I am in need of a wood stove for an off grid 450 sq ft cabin. One big room. Needs to be easy to start and simple to keep going. Would be good to have it hold coals overnight but that is not a requirement.

Now looking at a Morso 2b (may be too large) or barrel type outfitter tent stove.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

TF

Might look at an Englander nc13 (runs about $699 at Home Depot) or the Pleasant Hearth that Lowes carries for about the same price. Both USA made. For "el cheapie", there's always the Vogelzang/USSC cast iron stoves (old looking style). Harbor Freight has the 96000 btu one on sale for $169, and with a 25% off coupon, you're looking at about $125.

My brother just bought one of the Vogelzang stoves from Harbor Freight. It is pretty nifty and a dead ringer for the one that sells for $500 at Lowes.

If that cabin is insulated fairly well, it'll be hard to find a good stove that is small enough. IOW, buy the smallest stove you can find

I hadn't thought of that. It is very well insulated. Good doors and windows too. Read about the englander stove and it dawned on me that I may need an outside air intake. Don't think I can do that with a cylinder stove.

Will go out tomorrow to Home Depot, Lowes and Jax and see what I can learn.

Guess I may need a small one with an outside air intake.?????

Thanks for the tips.

TF

I bet you need the air intake to cool the place. Those little VOGELZANG will run you out of that cabin.

You can hold coals overnite by using some really hard wood and banking the fire with some ashes at bedtime.

I used a cheapo copy of a Franklin stove. I could load it with a mix of oak and beech, bank the fire and fire right back up 7 or 8 hours later.

Given ones location and building requirments are unknown, all I would suggest is that one first look at ones local codes and select a unit that is tight but well dampered to control burn rate.

If two story, is there electricty and ceiling fan opportunity. A scout cabin we use is comfortable below and near unbearable in the loft.

Burn rate will also be a function of the density of wood one has available.

I would look for a wood cooking stove.

^^This^^

Or a wood or gas combo stove a rental house that I had came with one and it was so good that my (very good) renter was constantly trying to buy it from me.

When I had to tear down that house to build my own; I gave her the stove, discounted rent, and plenty of notice in thanks for her years as the best tenant that I have ever had. I wish that I still had both the stove and the tenant!

+1

My grandparents in North Dakota had one with 4-6 plates and it heated the entire farmhouse. In fact, everyone lived in the kitchen most of the time.

If I ever live in a rural area, I'd want one like that in addition to any other type of heating that might be available.

http://www.marinestove.com/sardineinfo.htm

a small stove like those will not hold a fire overnight. a larger stove will work fine IF it is air tight. you need to be able to control the O2 feeding the fire.

barrel stoves are good, but again, the door kit needs to be sealed very well.

If by chance you're within civilized driving distance of the Twin Cities, I've got one similar in size, but a bit taller to the ones pictured in this thread. You could have it for free. I haven't even looked at it in years. It's out in my spare garage. If memory serves me right, it's an old white enameled job. Flat top-you could get two pans on top of it for cooking or a pot of water to keep some moisture in the air. If you're interested, I'll go out back and check it out. It's been sitting for over 10 years. If you're close, the price is right.

The EPA is doing some nasty things with regs for wood stoves. I don't know if stoves for cabins or shops are exempt. What was available in '13 might not be now. I've heard that '15 will see even stricter regs.

Made my own for my 16x26-foot uninsulated study.

Small oil drum was too small.

55-gallon drum was just right.

Didn't use fire brick. Just let ashes
accumulate. They packed into a hard layer,
and the bottom of the stove stayed cool even
when I carelessly let the top get red-hot.
Added a flat sheet of steel for a humidifier
or to cook on. Very efficient!

Shop the 'net for drum-stove kits. Northern Tool
sells the Vogelzang kit, and drums don't cost much.
You should be toasty for about $60�75 and a bit of
home handymanning with a screw-driver and a wrench.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_20894_20894?cm_mmc=Bing-{adtype}-_-Heaters,%20Stoves%20+%20Fireplaces-_-Heater,%20Stove%20+%20Fireplace%20Accessories-_-16160

You'll wonder where the yellow went
When you brush your teeth with stove cement.

(the blackest stuff that you'll ever see)

Be careful abouit the size as previous posters warned. I had a construction trailer that was either 8x30 or 10x30. A buddy worked in a landfill and got us a real small one NIB because the box was water damaged in a warehouse fire. We built three double bunks in there and installed the stove. We had it going as low as it would go, top bunks were about 100 degrees, hard to sleep like that. In the morning the inside of the trailer would be what the outside temp was. Once we got the stove going it was up to 100 again.

I would look at a propane heater that you could regulate the heat a little better. Good luck.

With a good stove, it doesn't take much. A few years ago a guy here selling Christmas trees had a motor home rigged with a wood stove. He used a foot of 12" well casing with heavy steel welded on for a top and bottom. He had it sitting on a counter covered with firebrick. It had the motor home up to 80+ just burning twigs.

Thanks very much but I'm in Colorado and that's a bit of a drive.

TF

If you don't need light from the stove I'd look at these.
http://www.cylinderstoves.com/stoves-c-21.html

Well built, light enough to move around by hand yet heavy enough steel to hold heat and can be delivered to your door.

That looks damn nice!

A far cry from the abominable pack-in stoves that we used to have to use in the high country in the Forest Service! Hated those things!

The older cook stoves are anything but airtight. They take a lot of wood and do not hold a fire well. There are modern wood cook stoves that are airtight but they coost a lot. The advantage of a modern cook stove other than cooking is they are exempt from the new EPA regs. We are looking at a modern wood airtight cook stove that will replace both the wood stoves in our cabin. It will heat and cook, hold a fire, is clean burning, and will use way less wood. The downside is the six grand price tag.

There is a style of stove with a lot of mass from bricks that hold heat in the mass. they differ from fire places in that they are stoves and they have chambers that heat the mass. They are expensive to buy but if your a DIY guy I bet you could do ok.

Maybe build a two barrel stove, have the upper chamber hold the mass.

There is a manufacturing community that caters to the Amish/Mennonite type folks. The still make and sell wood cooking stoves and house heaters. Do some Google pho and find their web sites. They have great products.

I have a similar size cabin. 16x20' = 320 sq ft plus a 9x16' loft = 144 sq ft - total 464 sq ft.

It is well isulated, log walls and R 30 insulation roof and floor. My first mistake was to put in a Round Oak stove...too much heat and was a lot of work to keep a small fire going. Those stoves operate best with a good load of wood.

Second mistake was to install a wood cookstove with a water reservoir. Fun to cook and bake with it, had an ample firebox, would hold a fire if coal was placed on top of wood fire, but it took up a lot of room.

Went searching on Craigslist(all stoves found on Craigslist)and located a "Kitchen Heater". Turned out to be the perfect stove for the size of the building and cooking needs.



This stove has a two lid cook top and the firebox is larger than some full size wood cook stoves. As you can see it does not have an oven, but I went out on Ebay and purchased a Coleman stove top oven that fits on top of the stove. Bannock bread, muffins, pot pies and beer can chicken are some of the items baked in the oven.

If I bank the fire with wood and coal I can get good heat for about 4 hours.

Here are a couple of cook stoves I had in the cabin and you can see how much room they take up.

Round Oak cook stove


Quick Meal cook stove

Another suggestion would be to find a used Jotul 118 woodstove which would a good size for the square foot building you have.

I owned one years ago and you regulate the heat quite well. Small fire to let her go with a large fire. The only draw back, which is minor, it does not have a grate and an ash pan.

If you find a used one look for cracks and check to see if baffle is intact and good condition. The door seal rope can be replaced easily and material found at most hardware stores.

I see them for sale on Craigslist in my area from time to time.

In fact there is one for sale in Florissant (Colorado Springs) currently on Craigslist...$450.

Good luck

Another comment or two: For stoves that are not especially tight, a chimney damper does a fine job of regulating burn rate.

I learned that lesson with my fold up elk camp stove. Choked all the way down it could still over heat the tent. Installed the chimney damper and we now have absolute control.

Again, anything that involves inspections or code compliance in Oregon means one is going to install a certified up to snuff unit. Put something in that's under the counter or not up to code, and the insurance companies have an out if the place goes up.

The high mass stoves might be a good call. Slow to heat up, but once there, they're good for the long haul. We have a King sized Blaze King in our home for primary heat and it sits on a fairly massive stone hearth. It can be loaded and easily do the night, but there's enough heat storage in the hearth to keep the house up to temp. I see no reason to have a raging fire going when we're all under the blankies.

The don't go oversize warnings should be heeded.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think I'm on the look out for a small stove like round oak showed. If not, then maybe a cylinder stove set up high like bootsfishing showed.

THanks for your help!

TF

Are you dead set on a wood stove? I work on a remote camp on a barge feeding fish and we heat our living area (2 small bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and common area) with a 13,000 BTU Nordic Stove that runs on diesel. It takes a little bit to get the whole place heated up but once it is going we can turn it down pretty low and it maintains the heat really well. It will burn about .053 - .150 GPH. All the rooms we are heating are on a single level.

Here is a picture of it that I took today. We are set up with an 18 gallon tank up in the attic that we can pump fuel into with either a hand pump or a small electric pump. I filled it up halfway 4 days ago and its barely below a half a tank right now, we run it about 7-9hrs a day.

Kni-co manufacturing if'n you don't want to spend a lot.

I have a 24X24' cabin with a loft. I have an Earth Stove in it. It heats like crazy. It holds coals almost all night long. It gets the loft to 90 degrees sometimes and ya just have to open the winder a bit. It's getting old though and will be replaced but I won't buy the Vogelzang, they are made in China. The ones I see at Menards are China made and most likely cheap steel.

In the Skandanavian countries they have a word for a small cabin with a wood stove, Sauna.

One has to choose, a stove big enough to hold fire all night and it putting out so much heat you're in your skivvies and sweating until the fire dies down, or a stove sized for the cabin and not being able to hold fire all night.

Not quite sure what the magic number is but I'm thinking around 800 sq ft is the point where you can have a big enough stove to run all night, but not run you out.

Well, I went out and looked at a number of wood stoves. Cruised the internet and saw a bunch of pics. I scratched off the diesel kerosene heater option as I have abundant supply of wood and want to use that. No electricity so some options don't make much sense; like a blower to ramp up the performance of a small wood stove.

Anyway, I have decided that while a small Jotul wood stove might be ok, they are pretty darn expensive to buy new and the only used one I could fine are too big for this little 430 sq ft cabin.

So, gonna keep it simple and get one of those cylinder outfitter type stoves. Won't keep fire overnight but that will be ok for this small place. If I need to augment the heat in the am, I'll just turn on a propane burner for awhile.

Thanks for you help and ideas!

TF

That sounds about right. Almost twice the size of our home. To hot vs getting up once or twice a night to add wood.

Just got an email from Sportsmans Guide with a "US Govt. Surplus Dual Fuel Stove" for $197. Says the stove is new/unused. You might search their site for it. They have a video showing it in action. It will run off diesel or you can burn wood/coal in it. Looked pretty cool to me. Put "us stove" in the search bar on their home page.

I recommend a Jotul 602. They have been around quite a while and you might find a good used one. It would fit the bill.

How about one that is supplemented by a drip waste oil?

I've had an Englander 13ncl for about 6 years now. It is the sole heat source for my house, which is 27 x 24 and two stories high. Living in CT, it manages to heat the house to 75�F, even when it is zero outside (yeas insulation and good windows/doors help). I would recommend buying the Englander in a heart-beat. I needed to replace a couple bricks inside, just went on their website, ordered them and had them in a couple days. Well worth it, easy to get lit and burns quite well.

TF49, if you get a barrel stove you can get a bag of mortar that will make fire brick. Lowes or Home depot sells it. I would mix a bag and line the bottom and sides of the inside barrel as high up the walls as it will go. This will keep heat a lot longer and will keep the bottom hot for easier fire start up in the morning. Not that I care.

A lot of bang for the buck with those cylinder stoves.
Those little marine stoves are as cute as a bugs ear but I wouldn't put one in a cabin that I left vacant for periods of time.