Pellet stove/wood burning stove

[Darkspeed]

I am doing a wood stove in mine and I did a LOT of research on this before deciding on a Hobbit with the outside air option.

It pulls combustion air from an outside vent and not from your coach!

No letting cold air into the bus to feed the fire.

http://salamanderstoves.com/product/small-stove-direct-air/

http://salamanderstoves.com/the-hobbit-stove/

[buswarrior]

There are restrictions in some places about moving firewood around, due to the risk of providing damaging invasive species transportation to new areas to infest.

Dead Elm, Ash, Oak, Pine and Spruce ruin both the lumber industry and tourist type pursuits.

For example, from New York:

New York's forests are under attack from numerous invasive exotic insect pests. In years past, we have been hit with Chestnut blight, European gypsy moth, Dutch elm disease and Beech bark disease, all with devastating results. Recently, we have discovered Asian long-horned beetles, Hemlock wooly adelgids, Pine shoot beetles and Sirex woodwasps infesting New York's urban and rural forests and killing thousands of trees. Other, potentially devastating insect invaders such as Emerald ash borer and Asian gypsy moth loom just over the horizon

The western forests are similarly facing challenges.

Don't be a carrier!!!

Gather, source and burn your wood locally, don't transport it.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Lin]

Of course, for those that are unhappy with the efficiency of RV gas furnaces but don't mind giving up the floor space for a wood stove, there are small, efficient (80%+), residential gas furnaces available.  One could even paint flames on the side for ambiance!

[Gary Hatt - Publisher BCM]

This should up the ante for the Kimberly stove some.  You can also burn cow patties or any other similar free "natural material" to create genuine warmth in your bus.  So those of you that drive thru the country, should get a Kimberly stove then stop at all of the farms along the way and fill every open cabinet with this free "fuel" and you will be able to heat your bus for practically nothing. This is called "recycling" which is the new trend. This kind of fuel goes a long way so if you fill your bus one time, it will probably last you several months or even a year on the road.

Then the tree-huggers won't be following you around the country pestering you about killing trees. This way too you won't have to worry about any of those dadgum propane or fuel leaks that so many folks are concerned about. 

I grew up in the country and we found gathering up cow dung was much easer then cutting wood for our boy scout campfires that we cooked our hot dogs on.

[PRZNBUS]

I personally like wood burning stoves. I heat my house with one now and enjoy cutting and splitting the wood. I don't mind the mess which is very manageable, I actually enjoy farting around stoking the fire box and all the chores which come with it. I like the ambience of a fire and how it's relaxing in the evening, I'll probably have a wood stove in my MC9 but I'll also have a propane furnace for backup.  Like everything else in life it's only dangerous if you neglect to take the necessary precautions. And also like everything else in life at least for me, if you don't like it.....don't do it but let those who want to try. I will say I totally agree with the earlier post about not bringing your own wood, source it locally to avoid spreading disease.

Bruce

[PRZNBUS]

Here's a diesel fired stove if anybody's interested.

http://www.marinestove.com/herringinfo.htm

Bruce

[pabusnut]

I have a diesel fired cabin heater to install in my bus, in addition to the 40K BTU propane furnace.
My intention is to use the cabin heater (think bulkhead sailboat heater) during the spring/fall when dry camping.

I do love my wood stoves, but I do no like getting up in the middle of the night to put more wood on the fire when I get cold.  If I were full-timing in only a couple of fixed locations, then the wood stove might make sense, if you could get one that would go 8 hrs w/o needing stoked.  Coal is also a possibility, but the smoke is really nasty, especially when in a confined area like a campground (and would definitely draw a lot of attention at WalMart!).

Two factors always kind of drive my designs--Efficiency and Redundancy.  The diesel heaters are very efficient in three ways: 1) They burn liquid fuel with the highest BTU/gallon available, and 2) the fuel requires little space to carry on-board, and 3)they are not extremely expensive (under $1K for a very good one). 
To Redundancy - 1) the Propane is great when parked and 12V DC is plentiful 2) The diesel heat is a backup if something goes haywire with the propane/12VDC in the middle of the night.  Vice Versa of the above is also true.

The tiny woodstoves that are available come with a price that is disproportionate to their size($2.5K - $4.5K), which makes me think 1) people who buy them are getting ripped and 2) I should start manufacturing my own!  I really would think about one, but even the differential cost between my $400 propane furnace and the $2.5K wood stove would likely buy me enough propane for at least a decade of spring and fall camping.

To each his own, but when space and $$ are scarce, you need to examine your camping/full-timing goals and see what makes the most sense for your own situation.

Steve Toomey

[Scott & Heather]

That's why a pellet stove might be best. You can buy them anywhere and store a few bags in your luggage bays. Safe to transport. Also, we have to keep in mind it takes very little wood/pellet burning to roast you out of your 200 some odd square foot bus. I was thinking of using like a ten hour duraflame prefab log wood keep you warm all night long


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Scott & Heather]

These are fairly cheap burn 12 hours. Very little ash:

http://www.hearthwise.com/pricing.html


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unforgettablefire]

Hello Group,

I got to meet Gary Hatt recently (nice guy by the way) and he has asked me to share with you all what I know as the inventor of the Kimberly Wood stove with regards to installing in bus conversions. My first comment is that while it is a new thing here at home it is quite common in England where allot of "caravans" are heated with wood, in fact if one thinks bout it even Leaf Erickson and the Vikings needed heat on their sailing ships, coal and wood were very common.

The Kimberly was invented solely to heat the boat my family took refuge on after the economic disaster hit Seattle in 2008, we lost pretty much everything but a 28 foot Bayliner Contessa Sunbridge that ran on occasion, I never meant to go into business again. Oddly however the "little stove that could" seemed to develop a life of her own and a story of helping people as it did for us. It not only had to heat smokelessly (or close) but cook, bake, and produce all our hot water for cooking and sanitation. On top of that it had to do so in a very small and enclosed space, with fuel on board, both Gasoline and Propane. This may address one of the most common questions we get.....is it safe?.

My safety concerns for our family of Kimberly owners runs very deep because when I was a young man I witnessed a car accident in which 3 people burned to death right before my eyes....I was nearly hurt in the process of trying to rescue them.....a night I will NEVER forget. In my mind the things needed for a safe Kimberly installation are often things that should be kept a close eye on with any moving home. As a former gas line installer for residential application I know that gas line fittings should be periodically checked with soapy water for leakage. A wood stove poses no more danger than a running stove/oven or even a cigarette when LP gas leaks and pools on the floor. Care should be taken with all gasoline engines to make sure these lines are not leaking either......this should be regular maintenance regardless of what form of heat one relies upon.

Over the last 4 years we have sold nearly 650 stoves, mostly in the Tiny House Community as well as the RV and Conversion community. We have worked on everything from hippy buses (see the March 2013 BCM cover story) to the more upscale and expensive models. This has given us many parameters to work with. We offer full design and installation support to our customers at no extra cost. We are able to provide customized pipe and safe install practices as well. The biggest concerns I have is that people get their information directly from myself or one of my trained professionals. One must consider all aspects of living tiny with a heat producing appliance......any appliance, Kimberly is no different.

Another common topic regarding our particular stove is always cost. Yes we realize that this is no cheap stove and we make no bones about it. It is simply ungodly costly to invent and produce anything in America today, it is what it is so to speak. We also know that most people will spend around $2000.00 a year keeping warm. With Kimberly one can see a payoff in about 2 years, much faster in some cases. A great example would be the fellows working in the North Dakota Bakken oil fields. Talk about crazy, these poor fellows are often spending up to $600 a moth on propane to keep a camper warm....do the math right? But that's not the only way in which Kimberly is a sensible investment. The ability to cook and bake food as well as boil water could be really set back if anything big were to happen to our power grid, having off grid capability could well be a life saver. Being as that there is no amount of money that can replace your life this investment again makes sense.

I guess my last comment comes from a biased opinion as the inventor, but also from someone who has 31 years in the wood stove industry. I believe there is no better choice for the offgrid, mobile lifestyle than Kimberly. We have built this stove like a bomb shelter and put a full 5 year fix or replace warranty on both of our stoves (the Katydid is meant for larger homes). Her heat output, portability and our customer care are simply not represented by any other product line I know of. Sure there are cheaper stoves available but most weigh 3 or 4 times what Kimberly does and take up far more space.....and eat allot more fuel. I hope this answers some of the questions I know people have about this "new" yet exciting addition to "down sizing" and going mobile.......stay safe and stay warm !!

Anyone interested in further information is welcome to email me directly at unforgettablefire66@gmail.com or visit the website at www.unforgettablefirellc.com

Roger Lehet...inventor, CEO and fellow traveller!

[unforgettablefire]

Well......

I shared what I wrote with my wife and she said......................

One thing we discovered living aboard was MOLD. We had tried numerous types of heat from an expensive portable generator and space heater to propane with all the bloody moisture (propane carries 33% water) to a pellet stove (try getting pellets if the grid fails and pellet stoves need electricity) and finally I built a wood stove. My fuel costs took a deep dive as often dry wood in this size is often free and Kimberly's appetite is petite, around 30 lbs hardwood a day. The most comforting this was that my wife was sick from mold and we had a way to cure it. I believe that smaller homes are harder to keep dry because they don't breathe like larger homes do, therefore mold can grow and do damage to your health and your home, dry rot is no fun to fix.

[Scott & Heather]

Roger, does the stove have a catalytic burning system? Is there a kit to draw outside air for combustion?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unforgettablefire]

Hello Scott and Heather

I have designed my own form of secondary combustor without the use of hard to mine, hard to maintain and easily damaged noble metals normally used in catalytic combustors. We use time, temperature and turbulence to expend all volatile gasses during the "re-burn" process through a stainless steel honeycomb that achieves the same effect without the environmental damage that catalytic equipment embodies. We also hve through the botom or the rear wall outside air induction available for all our stoves as per National building code for residential application.

Thanks for asking

Roger

[Scott & Heather]

Thanks roger.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unforgettablefire]

Hello bus nuts.......hopefully everyone is warm??

Unforgettable Fire is interested in working more with Bus Conversions Magazine and we have an idea. If anyone would be interested in being a part of the magazine we are looking for news worthy projects to do at least one article on in BCM. The idea is that we give away a chimney kit with the purchase of a Kimberly stove and feature your bus and the story of your installation along with what Kimberly can do for you. We have done this before and it worked out really well as this is something people need to know is available. This would save you about $500.00 on your package and your bus would be featured in BCM.

Thanks everyone

Roger Lehet, inventor