Wood Heat

[veggie]

The new Tiny House movement has brought about many variations in heating and powering of small homes.
Micro versions of what is used in larger homes.

Of interest to me are the micro versions of wood stoves that can heat a place in a very simple manner.
May of these are derivatives of marine versions which can heat boats.

Dickinson Wood Stove
http://www.go2marine.com/product/20010F/dickinson-marine-newport-solid-fuel-heater-00-newsf.html

Here is another maker who builds specifically for tiny places...
http://cubicminiwoodstoves.com/

http://www.livinlightly.com/off-grid-heat-small-wood-stoves/

The Tiny home community is helping to revive the interest in a lot of Marine products. Products which lend themselves quite well to the Tiny House requirements.

very interesting to watch,
Veggie

[mobile_bob]

hey thanks for the links,  dang those are cute!

looks like if one live around a source of old pallets or other scrap, a small generator
and a skilsaw could put up alot of fuel for one of these little guys.

i like em a lot!

bob g

[mike90045]

You want thermal mass, like a Masonry Heater, perhaps the smallest is the Vermont Bun Baker
http://vermontwoodstove.com/
Not a rocket stove with a steel drum radiator.

[LowGear]

Here's my bucket of cooling water.  Please do some research about respiratory problems associated with wood heated habitats before falling too much in love with one of these little buggers.

My attention is still stolen by views of the Petite Godan from France. https://www.google.com/search?q=Petit+Godin&sa=X&biw=853&bih=419&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ved=0ahUKEwjNpsmQn7XPAhUB7GMKHZoaBUMQsAQIIw

Casey

[mike90045]

because of their thermal mass and heat storage, masonry heaters are fired at full draft for the entire 2hr burn.  Very little emissions, on par with the best pellet stoves, and carbon neutral.

http://www.homepower.com/articles/home-efficiency/equipment-products/efficient-heating-wood?v=print
masonry heaters listed last

http://www.mha-net.org   MASONRY HEATING ASSO.

[LowGear]

I ran into one of these "Russian Fireplace" units on Hood Canal in Washington State, USA.  What a mind opener.  It was about 6:00 PM and the house I stepped into was a very warm 70-something degrees inside while it was a brisk 50-something windy day out of doors.  The gentleman owning the system was nearly 90 and had the system constructed about 20 years past.  He had a some rules:

1.)  Always, Always use quality dry wood.

2.)  Burn, baby burn.

Yup, thems the rules.  If it was too warm he simply opened two windows.  I felt the brick and it was just nicely warm.  He build a robust fire every morning and keep it going for about two hours.  There was a magic dial on the wall for "Just In Case" situations and Carl was sure he could find the directions for operating the baseboard heat.  One of the important side effects of this system is that the full on burn is cleaner than the smoldering fires that are now associated with wood stoves.  Before you set your keyboards on fire with the friction of flying keys; Yes, the gas burns escape the problem but it's the getting there and the last third of the fuel that just isn't operating at these hyper burn temperatures.  I'm still open to the art of wood stoves and completely understand ceremonial fires but heating houses with fires in mostly steel boxes has some challenges.

Casey

[mobile_bob]

i have studied the russian fireplace design for longer than i care to admit
going back to the mid 70's

and i have always been fascinated by the design, and particularly the operation.

bob g

[vdubnut62]

Well I am gonna have to agree with Casey's assessment of "heating houses with fires in mostly steel boxes". I have done so for the last 33 years and I do have to agree on dirt, dust, ashes, respiratory ailments, dry skin and eyes etc. etc. etc. And my furnace was out in the garage with hot air ducted into the living quarters. I had a regular thermostat on the wall, and the temp would stay within 1 degree of the set temp as long as I remembered to feed the darn thing. And it ate MASSIVE amounts of wood! 
But I do so love a wood fire!

  Now I have a new electric heat pump and a set of gas propane logs with a ventless infrared propane wall heater for power outages. I do still have a plan for wood heat with a TARM woodboiler that will be located in another woodshed/generator house away from the main house. I still have the S1100 Zing Dong/ST setup The Great Walla Walla Zing Dong, another factory built S1115 Changfoid/ST set up and the 'Roid with a 7.5kw ST head. So many choices, so little time.
Ron.

[mike90045]

I've had forced air heat, iron wood burner stove, and our new house has a Masonry heater (Russian heater, Finnish heater, Kachelofen, contra-flow) we'd designed and had built when the house was built. 24" slab under the heater to take it's weight.    I wouldn't trade it for anything (well, with reason)
We'd put hydronic coils in the slab, but never hooked them up.
Today, we started the first of the warm-up fires, we expect it to be cool and rainy Sunday.  It takes several small burns to gradually warm the heater up at the beginning of the heating season, but then, it's let 'er rip for the daily 2 hr burn.   The quality of the heat is amazing, and we've had no humidity issues, we were afraid of not being able to warm up above dew point, but it was totally unfounded.  It just sits there, radiating long wave IR.  I haul ashes out about every three weeks, and am working up to a 3 year chimney cleaning schedule.   ( 1 year was nothing, sweep didn't believe we used the heater, 2 year interval got some gunk out, no creosote.  Heater runs so hot internally, no creosote buildup, so next cleaning in 3 years)
But the catch is, build the heater first, then the house around it.
We have a 2200sf, 2 story house, the first floor is pretty open, so the long wave IR can heat everything.  But it's so awesome.

[Derb]

Another one here for wood fires. Nothing heats my massive 2 storey house as quickly as the old Kent 22 kw wood-burning space-heater. I never turn it down and don't burn wet or damp wood. If the house is getting too hot I let the fire burn low and only put the occasional bit of wood on to just keep it going "But" never damp it back! I doubt very much the neighbours can tell if my fire is going or not as there is only a clear shimmering above the flue (which I never have to clean out due to extreme combustion temps). I only wish my neighbours were as considerate though - I can understand the angst of those living with smoky fires close-by. A large number of bus/motorhome people in NZ use either a "Sparky" or "Wagner" tiny wood-burner for heating due to the free supply of wood as they go on their travels. Down side is the odd one uses coal which literally get right up your nose.

[Hugh Conway]

Tiny house and wood heat......Been there, done that. For about 10 years, we lived in a 12' X 16' self built cabin.....this before the days of solar panels, inverters, LEDs, etc. We had a used kerosene for lighting and small wood stove for heat.
The first wood stove was one of those oval sheet metal stoves for hunting camps, etc. Nearly killed us. Wet wood caused the bottom to rot out in the second winter while there was a fire in the stove......you can imagine the excitement. Fortunately happened when we were there and awake!
A proper small steel wood burner was quickly borrowed from a friend. It was still in use when we sold the place.

IMHO, There were three major problems in using a wood stove to heat a tiny home (we didn't call them that then):

1) Because of clearances to non-combustibles, the wood stove needs a large space relative to the space available in a very small living space.

2) The small wood stoves tend to have more than necessary heat output, so it was frequently too hot in the  cabin.

3) Because of the small firebox, it was hard to keep a fire going for a long period of time (like overnight)

I think a properly vented propane heater is best. Electric is also good, though with a power outage, it can get cold in a hurry. I used an oil heater in my boat for many years, one of those simple drip feed burners. It was OK, but the occasional downdraught could get things dirty in a hurry!


We are still living in the same area in the PNW, properly off-grid now with the solar panels, good sized battery bank, inverter, and a Listeroid driving a PMG to charge batteries on those sunless days. We still heat with wood and also use the wood stove to provide domestic hot water for about 5 months of the year.

I love using wood heat, and yes, it is a bit less clean than propane, electric, etc.  Nothing like a full wood shed and root cellar. Better than money in the bank.

Cheers,
Hugh

[playdiesel]

Thumbs up for thermal mass.
We do it kinda by accident with a Jotel steel box insert in a huge masonry fireplace.   Sure beats getting up in the middle of the night to feed a fire. When we need a quick warm up there is an old pot belly in the living room too.  We have an outdoor wood boiler that we moved from the old place but I think its going up for sale. We will see after one more season on the Jotel,  I do like the ODB concept other than being locked in to running it and it does consume a good bit of wood.

[Tom Reed]

We put the thermal mass in the concrete slab of the house, that's a concrete floor above a full basement with a insulated concrete floor too. With our Lopi Liberty stove we can typically just make a good hot fire in the evening.

[mobile_bob]

this has turned out to be good stuff guys!

i too am a big proponent of thermal mass, however having little experience with its use
it is sure very much something to think about when faced with so many of you guys and real world
experience.

nothing beats real world experience.

theory and math all good, but having examples of folks in various parts of the world
using various methods gives a much better understanding

thanks all and keep it coming

bob g

[mike90045]

Link to half-dozen photos of the install of our masonry heater
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.383468711726588.86888.120212794718849&type=1&l=c762d10b5f
should be public viewable.  The core is from Tempcast (Canada)