Wood Cook Stove? (Full Size)

[BigBlue]

Lately we've been looking into our heating solution and while the small wood stoves look great we've been tossing around the idea of just getting an old vintage Wood Cook Stove that would have an Oven compartment as well. The one's that would fit through our doors look to be in the 400 pound range.

Has anyone put something like this in their bus?

Good idea? Bad idea?

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. My biggest concern is weight.

But I love the idea of the Wood Cook stove heating the house as well has having plenty of surface for cooking but we're noobs so we have no idea if that would even work out.

Have a great day!

[Iceni John]

I would not want to add a fifth of a ton of extra weight to my bus without it having a very tangible benefit. That's also so much extra fuel needed to drive it all over the country. Besides, from where will you get suitable firewood, and where will it be stored? A wood stove in winter would be nice, but imagine cooking in a hot summer with it!

Nice idea for a house in Alaska, but maybe not the best for a mobile vehicle in all seasons and temperatures.

John

[BigBlue]

Thanks for your input!

Hmm the fuel cost with extra weight is definitely something that I haven't thought about. But I wonder if those who have electric ovens deal with about the same weight maybe?

The one we're looking into is a Wood/Electric stove which I was thinking would have the perfect options for summer cooking and if the electric part of it doesn't work I was just planning on using the instant pot or a little countertop electric burner.

Ultimately we're trying to avoid propane and stay with electric or more renewable resources. Our bus has large under storage compartments where we plan to keep our wood for the wood stove heating. We also tend to notice tons of "Free Wood" online in ads or even just in our local area, for how little wood we'd need to heat the house we're thinking it'd be sustainable enough and we'd plan to plant a tree once a month to displace our wood use.

[PNW_Steve]

I read an account of a gent who put a compact wood stove in his bus.

He carried a cordless circular saw with him. When he needed wood he would look on the local, wherever he happened to be, Craigslist for free pallets.

[BigBlue]

That's a wonderful idea! Thanks for chiming in! Looks like a circular cordless saw will be on the list!

Also I was thinking. . . 400 pounds sounds like a lot, but 4 middle school kids would weight out to be more than that and would most likely have no effect if sitting on just the left side of the bus. Considering we took out around 1,000 pounds of seats out and probably 300 at least on the ceiling panels I'm wondering if weight even matters at this point.

We're looking at the duality of the Wood Cook stove as a really valuable piece of the home. Being able to fully make use of that fire heating the house and not use extra resources to cook sounds like a dream come true.

I just really want to make sure this isn't a ridiculous idea when it comes to weight.

(Also, we're not a Mini-Skoolie I just can't find where to edit that. We currently weigh under 10,500 pounds last time we were weighed.)

[johnbloem1974]

Originally Posted by BigBlue

(Also, we're not a Mini-Skoolie I just can't find where to edit that. We currently weigh under 10,500 pounds last time we were weighed.)

The words under your name are representative of your post count. As you post more, your "description" will change....

John


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[BigBlue]

LOL oooh that makes more sense! Thank you!

[Twigg]

Originally Posted by BigBlue

Also I was thinking. . . 400 pounds sounds like a lot, but 4 middle school kids would weight out to be more than that and would most likely have no effect if sitting on just the left side of the bus. Considering we took out around 1,000 pounds of seats out and probably 300 at least on the ceiling panels I'm wondering if weight even matters at this point.

I have a 40' Thomas.

I weighed it recently at the point where everything was stripped out that is going to be stripped out.

So, for context ... The vinyl on the floor weighs over 300 lbs.

The empty weight of the bus is 18700 lbs, and the GVWR is 33 000 lbs.

I don't think adding 400 lb will hurt it, but do try to balance where the heavy items go ... For example, a 100-gallon fresh-water tank would weigh 600 lbs when full, so put it on the other side.

Four Trojan house batteries would come in around 280 lbs .... etc.

[BigBlue]

Thank you so much for your input on weight!! We'll absolutely try to even out the weight to our best ability!

Great idea about the water tank being on the opposite side of the wood cook stove!

[Alan N]

A wood stove in the bus is a good idea in my opinion. It is on my bus to do list.
I would recommend a modern cookstove over a vintage one however.
IMG_20180327_204548.jpg
This is what we have in the house. It would definitely keep your bus warm!
Whatever kind of stove you choose make sure you Securely bolt it down!