Choosing a wood stove - Advice?

[ethompson66]

I am in the market for a small wood stove for my half-finished skoolie. I am interested in hearing from anyone who uses a wood stove to heat their skoolie. What type of stove do you have and how well does it work? Do you know the BTU rating?

RELEVANT DETAILS OF MY PROJECT:
- I am in the process of converting an '88 Thomas school bus into a full time home. I don't plan to move it much, and I am sure I want to use a wood stove for heat.
- The bus walls and ceiling came insulated with fiberglass, and the floor is covered with a thick Pergo laminate. It has a very open floor plan. It has 200 sq. ft. with 6-foot ceilings. (1200 cubic feet)
- A glass front is a necessity. A cook surface would be great, but not a deal-breaker.
- I have room to run the stovepipe out the back or the top.
- I can spend about $1000.

A few stoves I have had my eye on include the following:
Horse Flame Shetland HF-905

Salamander Hobbit

Does anyone have experience with these stoves, or could you recommend any others?

Thanks for your help!

[crazycal]

I deleted your middle link because it opens a separate window without asking.

[sammy]

I'm also interested... also looking at the Hobbit as my #1 choice, although I was also thinking about the Mini 12 Gray Stove -

Mini 12 CT Survival Stove (Black) - GrayStove.com

Would love to hear from people with stove's in their skoolies!

[jazty]

With stock insulation you'll want the biggest stove you can fit if you'll be sleeping in the bus. Heat disappears through the metal walls incredibly quickly so you'll want lots of thermal mass. The smaller wood stoves will work well for taking the chill off while standing/sitting in front of them.

I have a Mini 12, which heats the back half of my short bus well, but I'm currently losing too much heat through the windshield and front door which makes the front noticeably cooler.

[ethompson66]

Has anyone tried quilted curtains to help hold in some of the heat?

[sammy]

I'm hoping to heat a 38ft but with just the Salamander Hobbit (I might be crazy). I'll have a well-insulated floor, walls, and ceiling (closed cell spray insulation), but I'm keeping almost all of the bus windows. Planning on curtains, or possibly something like the "Hank Bought a Bus" solution - drop-down translucent insulation panels built into the lower walls, which can be raised into place with the aid of magnets.



We're in the Pacific Northwest, just outside of Portland, so typically not dealing with temperatures below 25F, and most of the winter, it's more like 35-40.

If need be, I was thinking of adding a propane catalytic heater? Should be reasonable easy to install (I was thinking of adding it in the center of the bus, and mounting it so I could swing it to face forward or back, so I could heat the back or front of the bus... or maybe better just to purchase two smaller ones).



I'll let you know how it works out with the wood stove next year—at which point you probably won't care about this thread anymore

[perryT200]

if I ever do a bus, it will be bunk beds and radiant heat up to the ceiling around them. gotta go with

Specialty Boiler #151 Bucket-A-Day | MessickStove.com (856) 364-8727 - Wood Stove - Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302

then I get shower water too.

[Tango]

Cats are the most efficient heaters made. Rated at 99+ percent. But I do wish someone made a physically smaller unit (for my physically smaller bus).

[Stu & Filo. T]

There's these stoves.

Technical Specs - GrayStove.com

I picked up these two stoves, I'm planning on using the smaller one in my build.

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by Stu & Filo. T

There's these stoves.

Technical Specs - GrayStove.com

I picked up these two stoves, I'm planning on using the smaller one in my build.

Ok I don't know why it loaded sideways.

[CaptSquid]

Naw, they didn't load sideways. Those are the NEW wall mounted units.

[sammy]

Originally Posted by CaptSquid

Naw, they didn't load sideways. Those are the NEW wall mounted units.

[Elma]

I have a Jotul f100 rated at 35000 Btu in a 91 bluebird. I bought if off craigslist for $400 with 10' of 6" triple wall stainless chimney pipe. The bus is about 28' back wall to back of drivers seat. We gutted the bus and put in 1.5 inch poly iso on the walls and ceiling with half-inch poly iso and 3/8 plywood on the floor. We are east of Seattle so the winters are fairly mild. The stove was my only source of heat for the two previous winters in a 10' x 14' two-story cabin with 12 double pane windows. Even though the bus is a bit smaller, it seems that the stove works a little harder to keep it warm. The metal really conducts the cold and single pane windows are lame. We currently burn about two 5 gallon buckets full of wood in a 24 hour period. The stoves you listed look great. I believe they may be a little small though. A smaller stove means you have to get up in the middle of the night to feed it. The other thing is that it's a lot more work to cut shorter pieces of firewood. If I were to do it again I would look for something with an ash pan and possibly a cold air intake. The other thing I will be doing is to install a small computer fan and duct to pull cold air from the bedroom area in the back

[TravelingTuttles]

Originally Posted by ethompson66

Has anyone tried quilted curtains to help hold in some of the heat?

I made custom curtains for our bus. Used a thick duck/canvas for the inside facing part (the pretty side, then the heaviest duty blackout curtain fabric that exists and in between those layers I used a metalized insulated fleece. They're SUPER thick and heavy and help immensely.

[TravelingTuttles]

In response to the bigger question, we just received our Cubic Mini Woodstove in the mail today.



We already have a propane catalytic heater as someone else pictured before as a possible addition to their heating strategy.

We LOVE the Wave3 that we have, but we bought it initially for our first conversion (an ambulance into Campbulance!), so it was never meant to heat a large space.



It works GREAT as a heater when we're hanging out near it, but as far as heating the entire space, it just doesn't cut it.

Hence the new wood stove addition.

The Cubic Mini seems to be a lot more affordable than many of the other stoves we researched. (We've been looking a few years because we'd wanted one for the Campbulance too…)

[ethompson66]

That looks great! Thanks for the lead on that fleece. I'll check it out.

[jazty]

These stoves just keep getting smaller and smaller! Any idea what it gets for burn time?

[Tango]

There is one stove that is smaller. It is made by BIC.

[ApplePie]

My cubic mini Grizzly just arrived in the mail yesterday. Hoping that will head our 6 window bus sufficiently.

[teambadass]

Originally Posted by TravelingTuttles

I made custom curtains for our bus. Used a thick duck/canvas for the inside facing part (the pretty side, then the heaviest duty blackout curtain fabric that exists and in between those layers I used a metalized insulated fleece. They're SUPER thick and heavy and help immensely.

Sweet solution! Do you find any issues with condensation at all? I was thinking about this style of curtain for my bus as well, and maybe adding magnets on the sides/bottom to tighten it all up....