Small Stove in a Camper or RV

 
2DeXtreMe
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Post by 2DeXtreMe » Thu. Feb. 03, 2011 9:22 am

LsFarm wrote:Notes on what come to mind on this:

The stove must be firmly fastened down.. must have bolted on legs, and legs bolted to the floor.. A camper, motor home or pickup camper shake, twist and in general will cause anything not bolted down move around.. you don't want a 200+ pound piece of steel /iron 'walking around' or falling over and rolling around.

The same concernes about the flue pipe, and the timble through the roof or wall of the camper..

My parents had a wood burning stove in a mobile home.. the mobile home was made from thin particle board, thin plywood and wood stringers over the steel framework.. The wood paneling was tinder dry,, and one day it caught fire, the mobile home took only 20 minutes to burn to the bare steel..
So my feelings about a solid fuel burning device in a camper or trailer SCREAM NOT SAFE to me.. My parents just barely got out of the place before the doorways were blocked by fire.. and nobody could have got out the windows.. too high and too small.

Next is burning anthracite.. are you planning on stopping for an overnight stay on this pilgramage to Mickey world ?? You can burn a lot of propane for the cost of just the insulated flue pipe, much less the non-combustable floor, and walls around the stove and flue pipe.. Propane can be turned on almost instantly,, and off, safely instantly..

My thoughts are to use propane to safely heat a movable camper..

Greg L.
Thank You for your honest insights. It's always good news to know when people get out of a fire alive. Did your parents have the required setup for their wood stove (non combustible floor and wall) (bolted down stove)? You mentioned a mobile home, Did they have the stove on while driving?

I have the non combustible floor and wall that I can use. The stove comes with double wall pipes. And the Penn stove can be bolted down.

I don't know if you have young children. But a one night stay at Disney would bring back home some very questionable faces after a 24+hrs drive. Why couldn't we stay a couple more days, Daddy? :( Camping there vs staying at one of their resorts is so much economical and more fun IMO. Besides, that isn't when I'd need the stove the most. It's on my road trip with the camper parked, and at rest stops. With the crazy temps we've gotten this year, and that includes Disney (FL), I'd light up a stove at their campground too. :lol:

On average, My family and I vacation in Orlando for 10 days (including driving round trip). When one factors in the use of propane while camping and rest stops for cooking, heat, hot water, you start to 2nd guess yourself on whether you should of stayed at a hotel/resort.

All in all, the purpose of this thread is to find out if a handful of people ( not just 1) has done this before? If so, I'd like to hear from them. Poconoeagle, Is so far the only one person that comes close to what I am trying to find out. He has a wood stove in his boat.

 
2DeXtreMe
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Post by 2DeXtreMe » Thu. Feb. 03, 2011 9:52 am

grizzly2 wrote:Excuse if I am too emphatic, but It would be a shame for you to get hurt or dead.

This is a horenously BAD IDEA :down: :!: 1. suffocation from lack of oxygen, CO poisoning, burns, camper fire are all very real threats. Also, in the event of a vehicle accident forces you can't immagine unless you have been in a bad an accident will tear something as heavy as even a small coal stove loose. The forces could easily pull up a section of floor, pull bolts thru the floor, shear bolts off, break cast iron legs off, tear the stove pipe off.

Can you visualize gasoline spilled all over and red hot coals spilled all over while you are unconscious in your camper?
Thanks for your opinion. Yes, being involved in an accident with heavy impact will most likely cause the stove to let loose. That is a concern. Lack of oxygen can be preventable by opening the trailer's vent/fan. Carbon Monoxide poisoning is always a concern no matter what or where the set up.

I mentioned to Fireman, that there would be no way in :devil: I would haul my camper with hot coals in it. They would be disposed of before driving!

Quote.... Can you visualize gasoline spilled all over and red hot coals spilled all over while you are unconscious in your camper

This is Hollywood bound. :lol:

 
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Post by 2DeXtreMe » Thu. Feb. 03, 2011 10:17 am

Thank You for this rare link! This looks to be smaller than a chubby, and furthermore it's made to burn coal or charcoal for boats.

 
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Post by LsFarm » Thu. Feb. 03, 2011 10:24 am

The mobile home that my parents had was like a trailer park home.. this one they put on their retirement property in mid-Michigan.. It was fixed and perminant, on a foundation. The living room had a non combustable masonry floor and back wall, and the proper insulated chimney, thimble etc.. Dad used a small wood stove.. he was careful.. we're still not sure what/how the fire started.. there was no chance of investigating the fire,, they had to get out..

My point was that most campers and anything 'mobile' are built to be light weight.. so there is almost never any drywall or similar fire-resistant wall coverings. The typical camper is a tinderbox on wheels..

I remember my Dad's emotional, post-terrified voice telling me about grabbing Mom, shoving her out the door, grabbing her purse, his wallet and his favorite rifle, and the dog, and getting singed from the flames traveling down the hallway.. the fire 'flowed' down the wood ceiling of the mobile home. like an upside down river of flame.. my Dad's words..

He said a neighbor was outside, saw the smoke and my parent's leap from the mobile home, he went in and call the FD.. they set a record.. 20 minutes to travel 23 miles all down dirt roads.. Now THAT was a ride !! But the mobile home was a total loss, fully engulfed in flame.. I saw the steel afterwards..

Dad and I built a new house, regular 2x6 construction, with drywall.. and a masonry chimney.. That was house # 3 for Dad and myself.. I learned a lot working with my father.. still miss him,, he's been gone for 7 years now.

Anyway. If I were to make an instalation in a camper or anything that was going to move, I'd make it new from steel, weld it up, make a simple box stove, and with welded on feet, big feet so I could us several bolts per leg through the floor to reinforcment plates below.. and the flue pipe would probably be one piece, and the thimble, insulated chimney.. well I don't know.. I guess I'd have to see the ceiling construction of the camper..

I understand the costs and logistics of paying for propane.. but,, you willbe using some propane for hot water, cooking, right?? What is the cost per night for propane to heat the camper?? compare this to the cost of buying all the necessary stove, flue etc..

To be honest,, I'd lean towards a small pellet stove as suggested in one of the above posts.. they are set up for side exhaust, the exhaust is cool, the fuel light, but bulky.. and the heaters come in small BTU sizes.. I'm not sure even a Jr sized hand fired coal stove makes sense in a camper?? What size is the camper?
Don't most campgrounds give you 'unlimited' electical?? or has that changed?? most had a 30 amp supply for each camping spot.. that's enough to power a reasonable sized electric heater or two.

I'm just thinking of safety.. in the 'old days' as mentioned in above posts.. the ship, railcar etc was a sieve for air.. not much chance of CO poisoning.. but there is a great concern about using up the O2 and having CO leaks.. and.. with a hand fired stove,, you would have to crawl up on the roof of the camper and add 4-6" of addtional chimney to make a hand fired stove have enough draft.. and then take the chimney down when you move again..

Just the cost of two [minimum] CO detectors will buy 6-10 hours worth of propane, won't it ??

If this were a fixed instalation,like a camper used for a hunting cabin.. I don't see a huge problem... but a mobile camper. setting up, taking down, etc..
Do a cost analysis.. not sure it's cost effective..

Greg L


 
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Post by KLook » Thu. Feb. 03, 2011 12:13 pm

That was spot on Greg. I have seen trailer and travel trailer fires also. I grew up with wood and now use coal, I wouldn't even consider it in a travel trailer. As much as I dislike them, pellets are the best bet.

Kevin

 
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Post by PC 12-47E » Sat. Feb. 19, 2011 10:04 am

This stove might be a good fit.....

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Post by Poconoeagle » Mon. Feb. 21, 2011 10:30 am

2DeXtreMe wrote:
Thanks for your opinion. Yes, being involved in an accident with heavy impact will most likely cause the stove to let loose. That is a concern. Lack of oxygen can be preventable by opening the trailer's vent/fan. Carbon Monoxide poisoning is always a concern no matter what or where the set up.

I mentioned to Fireman, that there would be no way in :devil: I would haul my camper with hot coals in it. They would be disposed of before driving!
That is quite a hollywood extreme thought process there BUT I really don't think people here who would be doing this are that STUPID to drive around with gasoline and a lit stove together........ :shock: plus if there was a serious enough accident so as to disembowel a lit stove, chances are the vechicle or front seat people have kissed the windshield or crumpled the engine and the flying cast iron frying pan is also a bad thing.......

common sense is usually a by-product of lessons learned..... i.e. don't sail into a hurricane....... :roll:

 
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Post by freetown fred » Mon. Feb. 21, 2011 4:25 pm

After reading through this whole post for the 1st time :( --Thank you PE for expressing my thoughts also--it saves on my huntin & peckin finger :)


 

 
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Post by cokehead » Wed. Feb. 23, 2011 8:57 pm

Poconoeagle wrote:try the little cod.....

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

or here...i like the dickinson company...
http://cruisenews.net/db/pagetemplate.php?cat_id=8

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Here is another link from the first one in the quoted post showing instillations.

http://www.marinestove.com/installation_views.htm Double click the images for blow-ups.

There is a solid fuel heater here mixed with all the propane and diesel heaters.
http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/dheaters.php They can be found for far less money at marine retailers on line.

 
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Post by grizzly2 » Thu. Feb. 24, 2011 3:09 pm

2DeXtreaMe,
Don't do it :!:
But if you do, keep the vidio camera running. Your heirs can sell it to Holywood. The movie folks would be able to save a lot of money on stunt men and safey crews and explosive experts to film the scene for a James Bond movie. :stretcher:

 
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Post by cokehead » Thu. Mar. 24, 2011 9:42 pm

http://www.shipmatestove.com/Results.cfm?category=6

My father had a boat back in the 1930's with a Shipmate stove in it. He lived on the boat for a time even when it was very cold and he had no problems. The boat in the video was NOT his boat.

http://www.shipmatestove.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9




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