The Odd OX

[cschlessman]

Hey Luke,
If the batteries are sulfated from sitting to lng the charger wont do any good. Do you have a good volt meter? If so measure the voltage of your battery (one lead to positive one lead to negative) this should read around 12.4 to 12.8 volts, next hook up your charger, turnit on at its highest 12 volt charge rate, wait 15 min. and measure the voltage while the charger is working. If the voltage is still above 15 volts your batteries are sulkfated you need new ones. If the volts are below 15 let the battery charge at a lower rate for several hours. Remeber if your batteries are good the engine should crank, if you get clicking remove each cable end one at a time clean with a wire battery brush reinstall andtighten securly and try again. Let me know what happens

Chuck

[crazyluke4]

Originally Posted by MikeyBskunk

Hey luke Looks GREAT im loveing what you have done. As far as i have heard some people will put up thick blankets, "curtins" in front of there windows during the winter as a quick cheap fix and im sure that would also help "protect" your windows from the stove heat. Also i was wondering what you have used to attach all your cabinits and your counter to the floor with???

the 2x4 that runs on the floor in front is secured down with just normal screws 2 in i think. everything is tied together pretty well... screwed to the floor, wall, each other.

Originally Posted by Smitty

You'd be better to remove the couple windows next to the stove, blank them in outside, and cover them with your heat shielding inside. Be sure to protect your floor as well, and add some way on those legs to bolt your stove down to keep it in place

the window to one side is getting covered but the window i had in question was the emergency exit and i didn't know what i would be getting myself into if i removed it cause it has that alarm on the handle. the window that i broke out is where the stove pipe will be exiting.

and the stove should have a foot and a half or two between it and the floor once i'm done figuring out what to build under it now that plan A didn't work. Has anybody made kind of a custom stand or cabinet for their stove? love to see them.........so i can brain storm not steal your design

[crazyluke4]

Originally Posted by cschlessman

Hey Luke,
If the batteries are sulfated from sitting to lng the charger wont do any good. Do you have a good volt meter? If so measure the voltage of your battery (one lead to positive one lead to negative) this should read around 12.4 to 12.8 volts, next hook up your charger, turnit on at its highest 12 volt charge rate, wait 15 min. and measure the voltage while the charger is working. If the voltage is still above 15 volts your batteries are sulkfated you need new ones. If the volts are below 15 let the battery charge at a lower rate for several hours. Remeber if your batteries are good the engine should crank, if you get clicking remove each cable end one at a time clean with a wire battery brush reinstall andtighten securly and try again. Let me know what happens

Chuck

thanks i'm gonna do it. i had been preoccupied doing build stuff on the inside i set the batteries on the back burner but i need to get this cranked up before it is to cold and get her blood flowing again

[crazyluke4]

thanks smitty! i really like your stove. and i'm gonna have to go through the "bussin it" blog cause seems there tons of other good info too. i really like the idea of the outside door for loading wood and the hidden storage for it...wish i had seen these earlier so i could have included it maybe after this winter i could change things a bit. I am kind of in a time crunch to get the wood stove in and finish all the little projects that i have collected material for cause it is inevitable i'm gonna have to be moving on soon. a few post back somebody asked about the house in the back of my photos and like i said it is not mine and it sits on 80 acres and i'm tucked back in the woods I LOVE IT totally just squatting. but soon i'll have to go and i am using the old house to keep all my things dry so gotta get them installed so i don't have to find some other old house to store them in


any suggestions on removing that emergency window? can i just remove it and cut the little wire going to the latch.....is it that easy to not set the alarm off?

[Diesel Dan]

I pulled out my emergency window and it did not set off the alarm. However, I also had a friend deactivate some other alarms, like the rear door, etc. And I had deactivated the stop sign alarm. So who knows, I might have done something already that deactivated the window alarm without intending to. I would suggest you just open up your electrical panel box (next to the driver's seat) and have tools ready, so if an alarm goes off, you can locate it and pull off the wires.

[crazyluke4]

well pulling the emergency exit window is just as easy as cutting the wire. i pulled the window and just cut the wire right there and tucked it up out the way. no alarm went off. got the hole cut for the stove pipe and the three windows that are by the stove skinned over. have two more to skin over but they were added after i got sheet metal cut to size and they are not too important just where a shelf goes so have to do them later. i have been out of state for work for a few weeks and i'm back home with no stove hooked up yet and the cold is setting in. the race is on.

[crazyluke4]

got my closet finished off with doors and such. got all the windows skinned, the stove installed and burned it for the first time last night! it was awesome!! perfect timing too cause we had our first snow last night it was just a dusting but was so nice to finally be warm. woke up and cooked some eggs and toast on the stove.

[crazyluke4]

I think i am going to run the sheet metal a little more on the ceiling almost all the way up to emergency hatch it was getting pretty hot.

[browncrown]

Nice work...and the eggs and toast sound good on a cold morning

[Diesel Dan]

Love the continuation of the log cabin look on the closet! Did you fabricate that base structure that supports the woodstove? Are you planning on putting some tile or other fireproof covering on the floor under the stove?

[MikeyBskunk]

Hey luke! that looks awsome!! loving the stove, loving the look must say im jelous! My progress has been slowed here on my bus but is soon about to kick back up due to a relocation with me my dog and my bus! My next steps are installing floors and then my wood stove. looking forward to more posts

Just got a question... did you run into and specific problems wile working with paint, wood, and insolutaion in the snow and cold??? Any little tips will help

Thanks

Mike

[crazyluke4]

Thanks for the response ya'll! ok so i will definitely be adding more sheet metal to the ceiling it just gets too hot. i did it the way i did cause i thought it would be good enough, also didn't want it where my head room was so i would not catch my head on it. but i'll put a little bumper on it or something cause it needs the metal run all the way up it just gets too hot. the floor does get too hot also!

i did make the frame work under the stove. the stove actually bolts to a frame with legs and then that bolts to a stand. would have made it all one stand but of course the original plan was something else and it got scratched. where the stove feet bolt to the stand i put a layer of cement board and now the wood floor directly under the stove stays cool but what to do about the floor around it mainly between the stove and metal wall. i could just put cement board down over it all with maybe a spacer to keep it off the floor but it is just so crumbly if it gets bumped against. and moving fire wood around and things like that its bound to get edges all banged up.
got any suggestions of other things to lay down? i might do something permanent later but mainly just want to get something down for now and cheap. with xmas coming up i need to focus on making a few gifts.

[crazyluke4]

Originally Posted by MikeyBskunk

did you run into and specific problems wile working with paint, wood, and insolutaion in the snow and cold???

my construction started in late dec. do i did quite a bit in the cold. not too many problems other than my water and beer freezing while i was out working on it quickly switched to liquor it gets you quicker and keeps you warm if you look back at my post on page 3 there is a picture of the only problem i had with the wood during the cold and that was getting it to the bus. bus is set pretty far back in the woods and my f350 diesel had shitty highway tires on it and way to heavy to mess with a nasty snowy path so i had to drive the toy out to the road to pick up materials and tools. no problems with insulation or priming the floor. it might have just worked out that it was not quite as cold of a day when i did the priming cant remember. after i laid the plywood though i snagged a space heater from my brother and heated up the bus before putting polyurethane and just kept it warm for a while to let it set up.

Originally Posted by Smitty

problems of single wall flue piping against cold outdoor temps?

NO i am not aware. please don't tell me it is anything too serious i thought i was in good shape finally got my stove done and here you come with something wrong. just kidding whatever it is its all good. i lived in shed that had the same stove pipe the only problem i had with it was the 90 degree angle coming from smoke exit rusted out i guess water was getting down it some how. somebody else had set the piping up so not sure maybe it was old to begin with. what do ya got to tell me though? teach me something

[MikeyBskunk]

Thanks for the help! hahah and the drinking tips! another question, did you use any specific screws? or twist locking nails?
to hold your floor down?

[crazyluke4]

Smitty you got a good point makes sense. It makes sense why the other place i was at rotted so quick cause it had a cap on it. won't happen right away though but i'll definitely look into the different piping. i don't like fixing damaged things its always harder would rather catch early.

Originally Posted by MikeyBskunk

did you use any specific screws? or twist locking nails?
to hold your floor down?

i used TEK screws i think they are called they are just a heavy duty self tapping metal screw for going through the floor they worked well. i did not pre drill them through the plywood but i did counter sink the head. i had a problem with them pulling too tight.

[MikeyBskunk]

awsome! thanks alot luke!!!!

mike

[crazyluke4]

Happy Holidays Ya'll! I'm excited first christmas in the bus. Might be a white christmas around here for me.

[lornaschinske]

Cold, wet, white stuff!

"I'm dreaming of a sandy Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know......"

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Smitty

... Next year, my gift to myself will be to be anywhere besides Indiana

North Dakota?

How about "Next year, my gift to myself will be to be someplace warm!"

[crazyluke4]

Whats wrong with indiana? i have only driving through it so i'm out of the loop. i like the cold weather myself and my philosophy is there is no such thing as bad weather just bad cloths or a poorly designed bus