Wood stoves

[snowyegret52]

My 1986 Bounder 31 footer is permanently parked on our property and I want to pit a small wood stove in it for heat as there is no power on our land and we like to go camp in the winter. Has anyone put a wood stove in a RV?

[guardrail53]

snowyegret52 ,, after you install a house battery, you will most likely be able to get the house furnace running. It has to have 12 volt power to operate and light! it will be much nicer that the unvented Mr buddy, heater!! those things use a lot of those little cylinders, and are not safe either, because they consume the air inside the MH also! You will be happy you got your furnace going, and do not have to worry about wake'ng up dead!!!!! Hahahaha!! the solar chargers will work good, as long as you have plenty of sunshine! Plus you can hook the tanks you bought to the rv tank and keep your self in propane that way, also you can fire up the water heater and take hot showers too!! And cook!!

[snowyegret52]

We decided to get a Mr Heater Big Buddy. It can take either 2 of the small propane tanks or has adaptability for larger tanks. Propane stays good forever and I found 3 100 pound propane tanks on craigslist for 100.00. I think this is a good deal. We tried out the propane tanks and the Mr. Heater this weekend. 2 of the little tanks lasted about 7 hours on low. That seems like it went through the gas.

We also made an attempt to repair the roof. The drivers end has a leak in the roof. We think the 1986 Bounder originally had a metal roof but someone along the way painted on a rubber coating of something then someone else (or maybe the same person) painted on several coats of a silver stuff that sort of disintigrates when you try to remove it. We scraped off as much as we could and painted on the elastic something or another paint and hope this works. Our regular house has a flat roof so we have the black rubber stuff on our roof and I wondered if this would work for an RV????

Other items, I found the house battery. Thanks to whomever suggested it might be up front with the engine battery. I could not find any switch that makes the RV stop using the house battery. The date on the battery was 2011 so I'm sure it's dead and gone. It's an Everstart Maxx 29 Deep Cycle Marine battery. Since I need to buy a new one (there is room for two) I'd like some advice on a good deep cycle battery to buy. Is the Maxx 29 a good one? We also want to install a solar panel kit to keep the batteries trickle charged. I've seen lots of different kits on ebay and amazon for anywhere from 150.00 for a portable up. We'd like to spend around 400.00 for a panel or two and inverter and charge controller. Is this reasonable?

There is a panel which tell the status/levels of the gas, propane, fresh and grey water tanks but it isn't working and I assume this is because the house battery isn't working.

The electrical panel has some unlabeled switches (located above the panel not in the panel) but since the house battery isn't working, I couldn't tell what they do. The console by the steering wheel also has a couple of switches (and a toggle switch) that are unlabeled so I'm in the same boat with them. Would love to provide you with photos but photo bucket doesn't seem to like my photos and won't upload them. You can try here.

http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141342b_zps91ca9e10.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0[/img]

or

http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141341_zps0ca430da.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1[/img]

or

http://s344.photobucket.com/user/zen4pamela/media/1019141342c_zpse85c4e00.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Will keep trying to upload on photobucket. Let me know if the above links don't work. In the mean time, we have to put another coat of the white rubber paint stuff on the roof. Remove the satellite dish holder and the antenna holder (can absolutely do without the garbage on television) and figure out how to seal up those holes.

[MrsMingo]

Consider a Kozy-World propane brick heater. We bought a one-brick heater to use while boondocking in Quartzsite and have used it many times since. In fact, it's on right now because our transfer switch needs to be replaced (on order). We bring the propane hose through the window (and use towels in the open space) and it keeps the rv warm, even when the temps are in the 30's. Of course, if we had to use it all the time, we'd come up with a better solution to the partially open window. Our is a basic model, low and high only, but there are other models (two- and three- brick) that have thermostats on them. Bought ours in 2004 at a camping store in Quartzsite, can't remember the name. Look on-line.

[happy-2]

ONE THING FOR SURE You would be the online with a 10 ft stove pipe out of the tpo of your mh.

[John_Joey]

kgarrett9999 wrote:
Just this morning at the local café, the conversation was about Volkswagen vehicles and one of the old timers (anyone older than me) told about building a wood fire in the floorboard on the passengers side to warm up the vehicle in the winter...

Must make me an ol timer also. We would use a bucket of sand with a few briquettes going on top. Those old air cooled engines pulled their heat off the muffler system. That outer housing would always rust out and never hold onto the heat.

A bucket of coals, and an ice scrapper for the inside of the windshield, and you were good to go.

[Francesca_Knowl]

kgarrett9999 wrote:

On the serious side, my sister burnt down her trailer (mobile home) when a log in the fireplace rolled out into the living room while she was stoking the fire.

Same thing can happen no matter what kind of structure a stove's installed in.

This subject has come up before, and it's always interesting to read the various responses. Maybe because heating with wood is so common where I live, I see nothing unusual/undoable about this kind of installation. Lots of trailers around here have such stoves. And though I myself live in a stick-built house, our main heat source is a wood stove; this due to the availability/steady supply of free fuel on our forty timbered acres.

[kgarrett9999]

Just this morning at the local café, the conversation was about Volkswagen vehicles and one of the old timers (anyone older than me) told about building a wood fire in the floorboard on the passengers side to warm up the vehicle in the winter. I'm not sure if this is something he saw/did personally or more likely one of those I heard a guy that knew a guy ........
Just put down a good insulated layer on the floor and build your fire. Or I have a firepit that I use outside. I guess that with a window or two opened a bit, it could be used inside.
On the serious side, my sister burnt down her trailer (mobile home) when a log in the fireplace rolled out into the living room while she was stoking the fire.

[MrWizard]

There are small "pellet stoves", that can be installed'm in an RV
Check YouTube videos
How ever
I would be more inclined to get the extend a stay propane adapter
And use portable 7 gallon aka 40# bottles, for weekend camping
You're going to need the propane anyway
For the water heater and fridge
Might as well use it for heat also

Unless of course you plan on turning a perfectly good RV into an old style cabin, no shower, no fridge, no bathroom,...install an out house

[cpoo]

The temptation will be to do it on the cheap and avoid high cost of insulated chimney. Make sure you have spark arrester. The roof could be vulnerable. You will need to fireproof the floor area and not cheat on setbacks from walls. Cheaper stoves are often metal and provide fast heat even with a roll of newspaper but can overheat easily. Anything involving fire can be dangerous but if you do it carefully and have some functioning battery operated fire alarms you should be ok. Danger is always while sleeping. Dry wood will make a huge difference to your heating and safety. Check your chimney regularly. Purchase fire prevention products that will extinguish a fire in fireplace and of course a good fire extinguisher. Best to have stove that burns closed. Better heat and safer. Good luck.

[bluwtr49]

Personally, I can't see why a small stove wouldn't work quite nicely. Sure it needs some holes but those with a fresh air inlet as well as the stove pipe should work just as well as in a house with the same sort of installation requirements.

I might consider a pellet stove just for the ease of use and control of the heat but still, there are many small units available.

[blazenpm]

I apoligize to the original post on the possibility of installing a wood burning stove in your motorhome. It is possible and if it is done with a safe installation. I watched many videos that one of the members had posted a link. You should watch it. There is one video that clearly shows how to install a wood burning stove in your motorhome. I never would have condoned this method of heating in such a small confined space, but is certainly is possible and workable. So, good luck and be safe.

[BigBlockTank]

http://www.motorhome.com/rv-how-to/rv-tech-tips/7-motorhome-fire-safety-tips/
http://www.roadtripamerica.com/rv/RV-Fire-Safety.htm

[John_Joey]

It's not what I would do or recommend, but here is a list of video's to look at.

Clicky

[old_guy]

a friend of mine was a tree faller in the woods and he had a TT with a wood stove in it. he would cut enough wood every day to keep the stove going for 24 hrs. I have no idea how he put the pipe through the roof, but he didn't burn the place down, so I would say it can be done.