I use a 40 year old wood burning stove to do most of the heating in my 2 story 2000 sq' home - it's the best wood burning stove I've ever used - we burn 3 - 3 1/2 cords of wood each year - it easily takes a 26" log - the stove is about 24" wide, built from 3/16th plate with a warp proof cast iron door - the draft control is threaded and is able to close the air off so well that a chimney fire can be extinguished just by closing the draft completely - in temperatures at the freezing point we can load the firebox with 3 - 5 pieces of dry fir or less if it's dry birch, once in the morning and once before bed time - as far as cleaning ashes, I clean it once per year if I remember to clean it - I forgot this fall, and there is still ample room in the firebox for plenty of wood - the ashes heat up and hold the heat quite well - the fire actually burns better and more efficiently when there is a bed of ashes - if I'm going away for the weekend, I load the firebox over a modest bed of coals, shut the draft right down and come back 72 hours later and there are enough coals in the fire box that kindling is not needed to start the fire - just throw in some regular sized firewood and open the draft - the house is cool after that long of an absence, but the plants aren't frozen and the pipes are clear of ice - the only time you can see smoke coming from the chimney is when a fire is first started or when the draft is first opened in the morning - - in all the years I've owned the stove I've never seen any evidence of fly ash - when opening the door to add wood, I open it slowly so the smoke can vent off through the chimney before I open the door fully ( takes less than 5 seconds I think ) - when I set my bus up I'm going to have a miniature stove built using the same internal baffles as the big stove, big enough to hold firebricks to prevent metal burn out, big enough to hold 16" birch, out of 1/4" plate with a warp proof cast iron door with a vent that can be shut right down - the chimney will go straight up through the roof of the bus with an extension to increase the draw - I have a buddy who is a well equipped journeyman welder that charges me $50 an hour - I doubt the stove will cost more than $200 for the labour of building it - I plan on heading north in the winter, perhaps to the NWT, but certainly northern BC and Alberta and I want an efficient, dry, toasty comfortable heat in the bus - for my purposes I'll gladly live with a shortened counter top so I can have a real stove that doesn't need poking, feeding, cleaning, and nursing every half hour - if I'm going to be parked for 4 or 5 days, I should need about 30 or 40 pieces, max, of dry birch to stay warm and toasty when temperatures are -20 C - shouldn't be too hard to accommodate that little bit of wood in a 38 - 40 foot bus
