I have a 18x21 wall tent and am interested in a stove. Suggestions on sizes and whatever.
Thanks
Jim

build a barrel stove.......

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...807245420&utm_content=All%20Products

make a cooktop outta expanded metal for heating water and cooking....

Get you airtight one that somebody has had in a decent size house then you can control the temp and the wood will last all night if your camping out of a pickup.

I like your stove. I would rather build my own anyway. What size barrel is that?

I have an old Timberline that fits that bill but that thing likely weighs 250-300 pounds. The airtight I understand though and absolutely correct.

my little barrel stove is a Sotz round door kit on a 15 gallon drum cut off at the second ring. It heats a 9x12 walltent. With your big tent you'll need a 55 drum if it gets to single digit temps. A 30 will have to be kept burning at a good rate to heat that space, and may not go all night. If you can find a Sotz kit, rather than Vogelzang or US Stove kit, they are airtight and much more efficient.....

These other kits leak around the door? Does your Sotz have a seal on the door?

the other kits are cheap cast iron. Crappy fit on the door/frame, and intake slide. They do let some air in, no matter how far you shut it down. Which ain't always a bad thing.... a little RTV hi-temp silicone can help, but it always ends up peeling off.

The pressed steel Sotz kit does not have a gasket, either. But the way the door fits the bellowed frame lets no air in.

Thanks. I'll start looking for one of the kits.

I had a 3-Dog stove in my 17x14 wall tent and it was more than enough and I am sure it would to an 18x21. It is heavy and not wha you would want to pack in.

Thanks. We won't be packing in, camp will be set up where we can drive. From what I read those are great stoves.

We have a wall tent thats 20x16 and use a stove made by Colorado Cylinder stoves. It has a water tank that attaches to one side and keeps water warm. Good for washing up after a day hunting.....
Stove works well. We have been happy with it.

That barrel stove is the [bleep]! I would like one made with a water jacket please!

stock pot on top is so much easier than a tank or jacket

Barrel stoves are ok. There are lots of good stoves out there. Just make sure all the pipe and elbows if used fit in the stove. Make a grate from rebar, in case you want too use coal.

The Kni-co Alaskan sets up nice in my current 14x16 - I bet you’d like it in your larger tent. Also, I used Sims stoves Sportsman for years till it burned out. I like the collapsible versions because they stuff in panniers easier.

Have a fold up sheep herder stove that heats a 12 x 14 wall tent with temps down into the -20's. Light weight material and it throws out heat within minutes of lighting. So far, we have about 30 seasons out of it. Super for horse packing, as it's about the size of maybe two encyclopedias. Have been in camps with much heavier units, and it takes 15 to 20 minutes for those to heat up and start emitting warmth. Actually, with a lantern, the stove, and a couple cooking burners running, we usually need to open the doors to get things down to a reasonable temp.

Can't find a xerox copy, but the following link has some close approximations.

Fold Up Stoves Link

Thanks guys, I'm seeing allot of good choices for stoves.

I bought a 12x12 Alaknak tent from Cabelas ( 6 man anyhow) and I had two choices of wood stove, SM or LG) I went with LG but I did not have to! I did not need that much stove. I should have got the Small.

I vote for a Three Dog stove. I had a Three Dog stove for my14x16x5 wall tent and it kept us warm through some really cold nights both in Idaho and Colorado. Here is a link to the company.

https://fourdog.com

L.W.

^^^^This^^^^
I've been using a Sims folding stove in my 12x14 with no complaints. As 1minute said, cooking and a lantern and it gets warm enough to open a door flap.

Have the three dog stove with water heater in Davis biggest tent works perfect.

I looked on their website today https://fourdog.com and all they have listed are the titanium stoves. Tried calling them and never got an answer. Wonder what's up?

1minute has the right idea. Good advice!

A question from a non-wall tenter...

Since you arer driving/trucking in to the campsite area (ability to carry supplies "easily"), is kerosene heater an option for a wall tent?

I have a heavy(50+ pounds) stove and wish I had got something that weighed less and was collapsible.
This place has a few worth looking at:
https://www.walltentshop.com/collections/lightweight-camping-stoves

buttstock:



Anything will work, but if one wants to seriously crank things up, it should be vented to the outside. If flame is involved, one always wants a vented unit. Same with propane.

Many years back 3 guys seriously tightened down the skirts, ridgepole holes, and doors of their wall tent, and shut their propane unit down for the night. Two were using cots, and the third rolled out on a pad on the floor. AM the first two got up feeling like crap and rushed out to do an in the dark climb to peek over rock figuring their partner was sleeping in. With propane being heavier than air, the third guy never woke up. Seems the burner was off but the unit was still leaking gas. Cookie and I will sometimes use propane to knock the chill off if bunking in small tents. Usually just a 5-minute run though and we shut off both the heater and propane tank before tucking in.

They may work okay but I've been around enough of them in other peoples homes that it wouldn't be something I'd use. They always give me a headache. A wood stove never has.

Like coal, I can't imagine Elk are fond of the Kerosene smell

Like everything else you have to use your brain a bit and not camp near where the elk are.

Do elk get affected / notice wood stove smoke?

You bring the smell with you...

Which matters not. You have to play the wind regardless.

Wood, kerosene, coal, whatever. What elk smell and avoid is MAN. If you set up camp in the middle of your hunting area, they'll smell YOU and avoid YOU. Your stove won't bother them because they'll be gone before you get it set up.

All our camps were set up in the middle of our hunting area, for years. We all smelled like bacon , eggs and coffee, every day. The horses we rode must have thrown the elk off their game!

Exactly.

This doesn't address the smoke / smell issue. I found this link and thought it was an interesting way to heat a tent. Who knows? It may come in handy as a back up plan. All you need is some piping. If you are driving in to your campsite, the pipes neither weigh much, nor take up much room.

FWIW. Just thought it was interesting and thought I'd share it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QeHGDr81XwM

Good video. Clever guy.

Afternoon, some company (name)??? Make a propane stove or burner that goes outside the tent and has a blower on it that blows the heat into the tent through two 4" hoses. Like a dryer vent hose, won't use oxygen from tent or leak propane inside. Can't cook on it though. I think it's the same company that makes the instant hot shower deal. Never seen the heater but one camp had the shower deal, really great after a long day. I'm going to buy the shower deal, maybe the heater but would like to see how it worked first. I'm sure camping with the better half and having the shower along would work wonders for the relationship. Nothing like the heat from wood though!!! I wonder if you had a tarp out in front for a kitchen if you could rig up an oven sort of deal with a 12 volt fan and dryer hose to blow in the hot air from it??? Hmm. If your interested in the shower deal buy the double burner, the single one doesn't get hot enough. Bill. 👣🐾👣🐾🇨🇦

we have always just used a 55 gallon barrel stove, we made an expanded metal top for it to heat bath water in, Vogelzang is the kit we used. We heat an army GP medium tent, coldest so far has been 2 degrees.

Thanks for all the ideas, comments and info on the stoves. I'm going to build one myself. I just picked up the main part of it yesterday. I had my steel supplier bend this up for me from 12 gauge steel. It measures 18"x18"x26" long. I'll make the ends and top. I'll likely start a new thread on building the stove after I get a little further along. Oh and the nesting stove pipe came in too. 5" at the stove. I'm looking forward to building this.

put your air intake at the top of the door, with an internal channel to the bottom (ala Sotz). Pre-heats combustion air and never a spark out the front...... Don't forget to reinforce the top to minimize warpage

Okay, just to confuse this matter further- do you guys prefer a log tray/grate in the bottom of your stove or not?

I've talked to stove suppliers, sellers, etc... and they are mixed on this. Some say it makes a difference in how your stove burns and others say it is a waste of time? What say the sage members of this site?

grates only when I burn charcoal....

Good idea. Not only the top will be reinforced but I plan to the sides and bottom too. The top is thicker too, 10 gauge but it'll still get some bracing.

Jim1611: We have used this stove in our wall tent for decades now - be sure and get the water heater if you are packing in!
That water heater is a Hunt extender and a life saver.

LINK: https://www.sportsmansguide.com/pro...msclkid=d0027952f52b1c8f5b3d18a652a27490

Hope this link works it appears long?
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Sheister, you will probably get varying answers because there are a lot of different stoves and designs out there. There will be plenty of personal opinions based on how individuals use their stoves. You will probably have to experiment with what you get to figure out what works for you and the stove's idiosyncrasies.

I only use whatever local firewood I can get where I am camped, which has been a variety of places. My comments come from having owned a couple different stoves for years, and used others. All of them were collapsing or at least folding portable sheetmetal types that are sold to go with wall tents. But with that said, I am a genetic fire-poker, and I like a fire the way I like it.

The one I have kept all these years is a stove I got from Beckel Canvas Products back in the early 80s. They have a newer model now that is similar but way fancier. But the one I have does best with a small fireplace-type grate in it. As did another that I am not sure the maker on that; I sold it with my other tent sometime back. But they will burn without a grate as well. I just find that with mine, it helps to get the logs a couple inches off the floor so I can accumulate coals on the floor for steady heat and have the logs up a little so air circulates around the logs better. But I probably manage a fire differently than many. I do not run my stove overnight. It burns out after bedtime, and is relit in the morning.

The grate I use looks like this cheap little one shown in the link below. What I have is modified from its original size by cutting the legs to shorten them to about 2.5 to 3 inches, and it was cut down to fit the firebox. But the style is like shown.

stove grate example

I and my campmates have simple cylinder stoves in our tents and we both use grates in ours. I've always thought they burned better with a place for air to flow around the wood and it also helps with damping the fire IMO.... I only mention it because I asked this question of our tent suppliers, a few stove manufacturers' reps, and many guys I run into who also run stoves in their elk tents and the answers are all over the map. Some of them make no sense at all, while others seem to have the experience to explain their reasoning. I've been using this cylinder stove with a grate for a very long time and don't plan to change my habits any time soon....

Bob

Hey Jim1611, what became of the stove build project? Any photos of the end product?

I had the Simms Sportsmsn Stove, and used it from 12x15 to a 16x20 tent for 20+ years. I sold it and the guy is still using it. Great for pack ins as it fit in a canvas pannier. After getting a bed of ashes built up, it would last most the night, or at least have some red coals in it by morning that would catch fire easily. Unless someone was staying in camp, we never lit it up in the morning. We didn't want to leave it burning while we went hunting, While cooking breakfast, two lanterns and the 3 burner coleman got it warm enough

A friend built a real nice pair that double as panniers. Been awhile since I’ve seen them but think he used stainless steel. They work really well.

If you like soot all over the chit you pack in them.....

I always just put about an inch of dirt in mine.

Here is an alternative I had when there were fire bans in place. I set it inside my wood burner, so I had the stove pipe for a vent It burns propane.BTW,it is for sale ,$35 + shipping as I don't use it anymore.

.

I used this Blue Flame ventless propane heater,30,000 BTU in my stock trailer and big tent when I got tired of cutting wood. A little more humidity ,but it was sure nice to reach out and turn it on in the morning. Again,there were fire bans in place. A common thing in Colorado now days.They go on sale at Northern Tool frequently .

I’ve never used a stove in a tent but have been burning coal my whole life. If you’re burning anthracite it will produce carbon monoxide(what we call coal gas). When you start your fire, get a good hot burn for a while before you damper. And have a detector. I had a stove malfunction 35 yrs ago that near killed my young family.

I always used a wood stove, (Simms Sportsman) fold up, in our wall tent. We didn't camp real close to where we hunted, but it was within hiking distance.We cooked, ate, washed, slept in those tents. In one area, I killed 8 bulls in eight years and quite a few cows later. Other areas, we had similar experiences ,but not quite as good. I cannot remember missing an elk season for at least 40 years, may be more. My success rate was better than 95% .The last three years, it went down considerably as all I can do is ride to where I hunt and sit due to disabilities.

The last several years before that, when I quit packing camps in and camped at the trailhead in my stock trailer, I initially had a wood stove in it and then switched to a Blue flame 30K BTU propane heater. Cooked, ate, slept, in the trailer too.Then I moved up to a little 6&1/2ft pop up slide in camper on my pickup. Ditto same thing. Elk don't care if you stink just a little bit,or a whole bunch.They don't like it and leave. Pay attention to the wind and use it to your favor. ( your hunting partners will appreciate you keeping clean though).

Here is a photo of where those 8n bulls were taken. All in the surrounding hills of the meadow. We camped in the pines just a little past that hill on the right. An outfitter later and screwed up the whole area..