Advertisement
i'm looking for an alternative way of heating my bus. thought about a wood stove. from some of the pix i've seen, some of you have them. where did you find them? I've heard that cast steel is better in a bus than cast iron because the iron can be brittle, or can bust in sudden stops. does anyone know of a good source for them that wont cost an arm or leg? thanx
Advertisement
Advertisement
-
Re: wood stoves
Fri, March 3, 2006 - 12:48 PMwe got our stove out of a friends garage, so its history was a mystery, but it did crack quite a bit .still it kept us toasty warm all winter (a freezing cold new england winter at that) and we will definitly go with another wood stove to replace it--the real trick, i think, is finding one small enough not to overdo it. also concider propane heaters--not too expensive, very safe and efficient, portable, but not nearly as cozy or useful for cooking.
-
Re: wood stoves
Sat, March 4, 2006 - 10:38 AMHey Jeff !
I think woodstoves in bus conversions are the best way to go !!
I wouldn't dream of not haveing one ! We have a small Lopi ( patriot is the model name)stove with a glass insert that allows us to see the fire..which is very nice. We chose the lopi because they are airtight and one of the most efficient woodstoves you can find. A few pieces of wood will last a lot longer and you will get more heat from it. Also because it more thouroughly burns the wood there is less pollutants in the air. It cost us around 650 about 5 years ago. The model we chose is small, for cabin use, and has never failed to keep us warm in below 20 degree weather. We dont use it while driving though for safety reasons.
If you do decide to go with a woodstove be very careful that you build a heatwall and make shure there is enough clearance and all. If it's not installed corectly it can be dangerous. Also be shure thatOn our blog we have pictures and details for folks on how we made our heat wall and platform, installed the pipe ect..it's all up to code for mobile home specs..
One more thing about the lopi patriot stove that we like is that it has a shield in the back that makes it so it doesnt get too hot..even when the stove is roaring it is warm to the touch.This is great in small places like buses as you can get closer to the walls and thus can use less precious space.
In my photo album there are pics of the woodstove installed, and here is a link to how we did it, its really simple...
www.enchantedgypsy.blogspot.com/20...tml
Just scroll down a bit to see the pics... -
-
Re: wood stoves
Sun, March 5, 2006 - 3:20 PMthanks, pixie for your suggestion. I'll check it out asap. We're going in so many directions on the bus its kinda got us running in circles. There's so much to do and some of it is definately over my head. (like wiring!Yikes!) anyway thanks for your input. many blessings, jeff
-
Re: wood stoves
Sun, March 12, 2006 - 10:01 AMHow did you secure the legs to the floor? That's the one thing I was thinking about when it came to choosing a wood stove for heating. Also, do you have directions on how to make the heat wall and flooring and so forth? With spring/summer coming to Cal I'm not worried about heating now, but I want to do some winter camping next year and the old girl is COLD when its cold.
Thanks! -
-
Re: wood stoves
Tue, March 14, 2006 - 11:39 AMHey..
We drilled through the legs, (on our stove model,the legs have a flat area on the bottom where we could do this) all the layers of the platform and the bottom of the bus and ran a bolt through each of the four legs.
If you will be at the colorado national we will see you and would be more than happy to show you and explain in detail how we did anything you are intrested in. Look for our bus or us and if we are not there leave a not and where you are camped.
If you go and look at our site you will see kind of how we did the back part of the heat wall.It is just some 1x2 inch strips of wood glued to the wall (which in that area is covered in plywood).Then we screwed/glued on a piece of cement board . This creates an air space , which is very important .
I know it probably all sounds like jiberish , but it really is so easy once you have someone show you. I remember that frustrated feeling well. When Moss and I first started we were so completely clueless on building anything, we had to be shown how to actually use the tools !
It sounds like you are way ahead of us to begin with in knowing how to build things and use tools.
Keep at it ~ Pix -
-
Re: wood stoves
Thu, March 16, 2006 - 1:53 PMwe used ceramic spacers behind our heat shield; you can get them at any hardware store. they are tube shaped so we predrilled through our heat shield, which is copper, and nailed right through the spacers into studs on our wall. we also set a piece of beautiful pink granite into our hardwood floor to be the hearth. part of what we love about building our own bus-home is that we are able to salvage, score, create, and occasionally buy, to build with materials and quality pieces that we could never have afforded for a bigger house.
-
-
-
-
Re: wood stoves
Sun, April 30, 2006 - 2:05 PMCheck for " camp stoves" on the net. there are gangs of options. Welded steel rather than cast iron, or folded sheet metal is best. Many have mounted hot water tanks, ovens, options for pot inserts for cooking , side tables etc. Also, when you build your heat shield, try to make it curved as much as possable from top to bottem. It moves the air around, distributing heat.
