Wood stove safe alternative

[Stephen_Albers]

Originally Posted by steve dunham

I think a lot depends on how you define “WINTER”
Winter in Tennessee is not the same as winter in California is not the same as winter in Minnesota . We had -2 below zero this morning .
Trying to heat a Scamp or a Casita at 40 deg F is easy , heating one at below zero temps is not .
Fiberglass trailers are 3 season trailers as best . When we travel in the winter we do the practical thing , rent a motel room.

When you wake up I the morning and you shoes are frozen to the floor , it will all make sense .

This is great perspective on the need for floor insulation.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Barb Hunt

I have a circulating oil heater in my 19' Escape and it keeps my trailer warm. It is also totally silent and doesn't send toxic smoke into the environment.

I have one too. It does require AC though, doesn't it? Hopefully, the electricity comes from hydro and not a coal plant.

[Stevieboy]

Are you talking about an electric oil-filled radiator or an oil burning heater?

Also re feet freezing to floor in below freezing weather: The floor got cold so I covered the floor of my 17’ Casita with 1/8” of cellular PVC sheet on 1” foil-faced foam.

I have lived in this TT since November 2017. This will be my second Winter.

Last Winter it got down to -9° one morning and I was fine. I have an electric hookup and last Winter I used the heat strip in the AC unit 24/7. This year I’m using an oil-filled electric radiator. It has three settings: 600, 900, and 1500 watts. Working fine so far, and blessedly QUIET !!

Dry toilet etc etc.

[Stephen_Albers]

I'm not familiar with diesel heaters. Are they forced air? Do they run on 12 volt? Can you give an example?
tnx,

[k corbin]

Originally Posted by Stephen_Albers

I'm not familiar with diesel heaters. Are they forced air? Do they run on 12 volt? Can you give an example?
tnx,

There are several brands of diesel heaters. Some have larger fans in them that others. Some are ducted, others are not. But they do all have at least a small computer sized fan in even the non ducted ones. They do use some electricity, how much depends on the size of the fan. They do typically have a thermostat unit as well. The glow plug for lighting them also uses power, it won't light if you have a weak battery.

For fuel the ones used in diesel engine boats and vans pull from the primary fuel tank. But it is also possible for them to be run from a tank dedicated to the unit. My diesel heater is different than many others as it is not just a heater, it is also a stove top. When the lid on the stove is closed a fan comes into play and pushes the heat out through slots in the sides of the stove top.

The least expensive of the diesel heaters, one that is sometimes installed in VW Campers and in Sprinter vans cost $850.00 and up. That of course does not include the cost of a fuel tank and kits for running fuel lines are add-ons and purchased as a separate item from the heater. Go to youtube and paste "espar d2 heater" into the search box and you will find lots of reviews, installation videos, repair videos, etc. That is for the small sized one.



There are larger diesel heaters than the D2 that have multiple outlet hoses for the heat, those are more typically installed in larger motor homes and trailers.

[Steve Outlaw]

I think the best alternative is a surburban propane furnace.

[Stephen_Albers]

Many thanks for diesel heater info which I'm checking out now. Stephen

[ZachO]

I've found some video reviews of the cubic mini woodstove for sailboats and campers. If it didn't sound a bit brutal to live in my trailer in the winter (summer is one thing, but that's a small space to be confined in even if it's toasty warm), I'd be looking into it.

The temperatures I deal with in spring and fall are probably a lot harsher than the winter temps in some states. It really does depend. My Atwood furnace does just fine, with western state sun and 90W solar. Wood stove would cut down on my condensation, though (I know there are other ways to mitigate moisture).

[CarlD]

This very innovative, hardcore, Canadian fellow built his own pellet stove and installed it in his Aliner. I personally wouldn't do this, however, it is an interesting utube series.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJyty0-uSY0

[Air Doug]

If you are considering alternatives to your wood stove idea, be sure to check out the Propex propane furnaces. There are a number of threads in this forum on installation of their inside and outside models.

[Tom 72]

Two thumbs up for Slim's A-liner series, mentioned 2 posts back. He should get a dog. I understand, too many places you can't take them.

A wife ? Somehow I doubt it.

[Raspy]

Originally Posted by Stephen_Albers

I'm not familiar with diesel heaters. Are they forced air? Do they run on 12 volt? Can you give an example?
tnx,

There are two main categories. One has a combustion chamber and a fan. It produces hot water or hot blowing air that is then used to deliver the heat through radiators or ductwork. These are mounted in a mechanical area somewhere and not out where you look at them.

The other type is what I had. It was a Dickinson drip style diesel heater that looked and worked like a wood stove. Fuel entered a pot in the bottom and vaporized from the heat of the fire in that pot. It had a window and looked like a wood fire. It was safe, I was working and gone all day, but I left it running all winter. I might turn it up a bit in the evening and down a bit in the morning, but that was it. It ran from the main diesel tank with a small 12v click click fuel pump that took almost no power. It was throttled by a small adjustment made on the control valve that simply adjusted the drip rate. I had it down to about 1 gallon per day to heat my 42' ketch.

A diesel stove is much more practical than a wood stove, in small places, because it burns at a constant rate as long as fuel is available and it doesn't require fiddling around with wood. No splitting, hauling, a huge mess inside or constant stoking. The problem is how to get diesel to it in a trailer. In the overall picture, it's really hard to beat a propane forced air system in a trailer. They are proven, affective, clean, thermostat controlled and the fuel is usually there anyway for cooking and water heating. Diesel heaters on boats make sense because you already have diesel available and you don't want propane to ever have a chance to accumulate in the bottom of a boat. If you drill a hole in the bottom of a boat to let the propane out, water is much more likely to come in.

I did not use a room fan and no fan was needed to induce the draft. The only power used was the small fuel pump.

This method is also used in Dickenson diesel stoves on larger power boats. These have a cast iron flat top for cooking. The stove heats the boat and cooks the food. These stoves look very much like wood burning cook stoves from the 1900s.

[Mike Magee]

Originally Posted by Tom 72

Two thumbs up for Slim's A-liner series, mentioned 2 posts back. He should get a dog. I understand, too many places you can't take them.

A wife ? Somehow I doubt it.

A dog and a wife would be redundancy, right? (Is that why my wife won't let me get a woof?)

Here is a vented propane stove... http://nuwaystove.com/product/model-2000/

[Coastie]

Saw this Casita on eBay . . . interesting.

[Glenn Baglo]

Looks like he has lots of trees for fuel.

[Roamer]

If you like Buddy Heater, then just hook it to a bigger can. There are adapters and hoses, and you could keep BBQ tank outside and run a hose in for Buddy. Are the mounted RV propane heaters too big? Mine is super small.

[ZachO]

Originally Posted by Coastie

Saw this Casita on eBay . . . interesting.

Looks like the Cubic Mini. Looks like a great full-timing rig with the woodstove and solar.

[k corbin]

Going back to the original posting and the specific trailer they are trying to heat in the interest of focusing on the original question....

You can't safely put a wood stove in a Campster, the ceiling is too low to get heat clearance or a good draft. In the area of the kitchen at the aft end there is not enough room to the sides on the roof surface adjacent to the popup opening for installing a chimney

At the tongue end there is still not enough clearance to the ceiling unless it was sitting on the floor in which case there would not be enough clearance from the two dinette bed/benches that are along the sides of the trailer.

A family with children needs every inch of bed space and dinette space, that means a wood stove can't be installed at the tongue end of the trailer.

Plus it is such a tiny trailer with very little headroom that even a small wood stove would drive everyone out of it from too high of a temperature that is difficult to control. Then of course there is the problem of where to store the wood. Repeat...it is very small trailer and because of the low ceiling there are not any upper cabinets in it.

While some FGRV trailers are suitable candidates for very small wood stoves, the Campster is not one of them.

[k corbin]

mounting a catalytic propane heater in a Campster. There is very little in the way of suitable space for such a heater. If it was mounted down low it would be a major burn risk for a family with small children. If it was mounted up higher it would be a major burn risk for adults.


The Campsters did have an upgrade option for installing a propane, force air furnace in the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink. If their Campster did not have that option they will need to put in a fitting to add a gas line over to it, put the appropriate vents on the exterior and modify the cabinet door so the lower area is separated from the upper section of the door. The lower area will need to have the heat distribution grill installed on it. But there has to be 12v power to run the furnace fan.

That type of propane furnace or a diesel furnace are going to be the two safest options for heat when not connected to shore power.

Or running a generator to provide electricity for a small electric heater which can sit on the kitchen counter.

Of course it is such a small trailer that the body heat of the people in it will make a noticeable difference in keeping it warm. But of course not sufficient for camping in a snow park in the mountains in the winter time.


With enough battery power stored for night time it might be possible to use the 12V heated mattress pads to put under the childrens bed. That and some warm zip up one piece, footed, fleece pajamas would keep them warm enough at night. Adults can keep each other warm enough in a double sized down filled sleeping bag.


In the day time putting something on the stove simmering on low heat will warm the trailer up enough to make it comfortable.