a real wood burning fireplace is possible

We have a mobile "pizza bus" which is a small school bus that was re purposed into a mobile pizza unit.

They have a wood burning pizza oven inside.

I followed it one winter day, they had all the windows down and smoke billowing out ALL the windows.

As funny as that looked, it is no joke when it comes to your safety.

I USE a purpose built wood furnace in my home through out the winter, wood heat applied in a SAFE manner is great, BUT, it is nothing to flippantly play with. Wood fires can easily exceed 1000 degrees in a short time, you have creosote fires which can easily melt single wall pipes. You have dust, ash, embers to deal with.

My wood furnace REQUIRES 24" clearance on the front, back, sides and top from any combustibles (and that is with a air jacket with forced air fan). It also requires a non combustible surface to sit on.

The you have another major danger to consider... Wood fired appliances require a good draft to work, this means you will need a CHIMNEY which is taller than a few feet. The chimney MUST be kept warm at all times while there is any embers or you will not wake up...

In such a small area like a RV I would think that is is highly impracticable to install, use, maintain a wood fired appliance SAFELY.

I realize that there is a few woodfired appliances marketed for RV/marine use, I for one would not consider such a application...

By the way, wood even if it "free" to get is not free. YOU must put considerable amount of work and money into it. I have at least two chainsaws ($800 at a min), chains and sprockets were out so those cost $30 for each saw every few years. Burned two gallons of fuel this year ($9 fuel and oil), a gallon of bar oil ($9) and a new log splitter this year ($1200, I am tired of wood mauls and noodling).

My wood furnace 25yrs cost me $1000, 35ft of triple wall pipe was $400, now days that same furnace is $1800 and triple wall pipe is $1000..

I spent two months felling, cutting, splitting 4.5 cords of wood.

I also used a tractor with front loader to move and haul wood up steep hills out of the woods to my storage area (that was an expensive purchase 5 yrs ago but well worth the savings on my back).

Then there is storage, nothing worse than having soggy, damp, soaked frozen, snowed on firewood. So, I bought a temporary "shelter" a few years ago for $200, it is now at the point I will need to replace and most likely build a 12x20 shelter ($5K or better)..

Burning "green" fresh cut firewood is a complete no-no, all your heat goes up the chimney, it is hard to start, hard to keep burning until it dries out, it smokes and smolders. So you need at a minimum of 6 months of decent warm weather to dry the wood..

While I do like my lower gas bills, it is not free...

There are plenty of small wood stoves made for very small spaces on the market. That is what you would want. If installed using correct clearances and you do not overheat the stove, I see no problem. But I have lived for many years in various wood-framed, wood-sided houses that used wood for primary heat. I prefer lp as I do not care to split wood anymore. I am getting lazy in my old age. I would think you would need to clean the ashes out of the stove and sealing into a metal ash bucket before traveling anywhere. I just remember having ashes al over the houses I lived in. I am in mid west NM and you can go up into the mountains and collect downed cedar wood for free.

As far as the folks who say they would not do the same.... well there are lots of things that some will not do that others will. Do your research. Learn how to use a wood stove safely. Learn how to install it safely. And remember, now "period" means "but this is not the last word, I will change my stand on this subject".

I've seen it, but doubt I would try it

This is possible with old hippies, but only if the stovepipe comes out of the side of the coach before pointing up to the sky.....;)

This is something I would have considered many years ago, but no way would I do it now. Not only does it seem dangerous, but it just doesn't seem practical, as suggested by gbopp. I heated my house strictly with wood for many years, so I understand that wood heat is as safe as the user makes it...but still, using it in a camper would seem like a very different animal. Just my opinion based on experience.

They may work great and be relatively safe. But, I would not try one.
Campfires are one thing. Hauling/cutting wood to keep the RV warm is another thing. It doesn't seem practical to me.
If you are camped in one location for long periods, it may be worth trying.
But, it's each to their own......JMO

I knew a guy who was a tree faller in the high woods and he had a wood burning stove in his old TT. he would cut enough wood for a week and he lived in it and burned that wood and never lost a TT yet.

Well there is the Dickinson Marine Propane Fireplace for $1100-$1300.



And then there is the Kimberly Gasification Wood Burner for $3700 and for just $550 more you can add the Thermo Electric Generator (20 watts at 14.7V and 2.47 amps) Such a deal :S



Neither are in my RVs future.....period.

Moderator edit to re-size pictures to forum limit of 640px maximum size.

Neverhappy wrote:
A few wood burning units are available for boats and small spaces.
has anyone tried ?

Please don't try this.