HOW I MOVED MY STOVE INTO MY MOTORHOME

I heated my 25' motor home last winter and am absolutely sold on this stove - liked mine so much I started selling them. I was not even chilly on the coldest windiest days and my motor home is drafty - lots of places heat can escape but I kind of like it that way. Just an extra precaution against monoxide dangers in small sealed spaces (recommend buying a detector).

The stove was not made to be installed in campers. I decided to try it in my motor home for the heck of it and with many precautions taken, was more than satisfied with the result. Still, I cannot recommend using it in your camp trailer - if something went wrong and you were hurt I would be horrified. I am only telling my story of how I did it. Again, I am not recommending you try this. I did it with several precautions. But, cannot recommend you do it.

Notice the flue goes straight up through a removed ceiling vent and attached securely to metal crosspiece in the vent frame which is all metal. I did not want the pipe to come any closer to the combustible surfaces than necessary and, as you can see in the pictures below, I used fiberglass packing around the pipe through the modified vent area. I also took an old steel table with a 1 inch lip around it, cut a 2 1/2' hole in it, laid it on the roof and ran the pipe through it to keep the weather from coming in... surprisingly only a few times did any rain sneak in.

Notice the stove position is fairly close to the couch on one corner. After testing the stove and stoking it up to a moderately hot temperature, I decided that a heat shield should be put in place to keep the couch, or blankets on the couch when I had company, from becoming too hot. I found an old metal folding chair worked perfectly to deflect the heat more than adequately. My company was more than comfortable with the heat shield in place.

Note: In place of using an old steel table top (which not everyone has at their disposal) I believe a scrapped refrigerator's doors would do the job for the floor pan and roof pan.

Notice on the floor I took another old metal table with a 1 inch lip and laid it upside down and placed the stove on it. This worked well and kept any hot embers from finding their way into the carpet. Notice a nearby fire extinguisher and a 5 gallon jug of water next to stove and several 1 gallon jugs nearby just in case something went wrong. I also kept heavy leather gloves nearby and a large steel bucket for hot coals or embers to be disposed of.

NOTICE: This is not a recommendation or an instruction on how you can install a stove in your camper. I am only describing what I did and why.I suppose if you were going to go through wall you could fabricate your own double wall pipe with a length of larger diameter pipe, fiberglass, and a friend with a welder. I liked the straight up approach better. Made cleaning the flue much easier for me. Just had to climb on roof and ram a long straight branch in and out a few times - I was burning a lot of unseasoned wood and unclean stuff so my pipes needed to be rammed about once a month.

Final Note: The first couple of weeks I spent a lot of time looking for potential problems and tweaking my installation and stove operating methods. This stove is a real performer! Fires up easy and warms up very fast! With a little bit of experimenting a 7 to 8 hour burn is possible. It is not an air-tight stove but drafts great with little or no smokiness unless the flue is clogging up.

Stay warm and please be safe about it!

Great Little Stove

Over the last winter season I have had the great pleasure of the warm companionship of this great little stove. Seriously, for an inanimate object, this stove comes very close to exhibiting the characteristics that one looks for in a great friend - it keeps me warm without requiring much fussing over; it is easy to start and requires minimal maintenance; it is very versatile and made to last.

This last harsh winter of 2007 was made warm and quite enjoyable for me by this great little stove.

Soon, it will be time to move the little stove back outside. I will still cook with it - fuel in the form of abundant oak is free where I am settled which really keeps the lifestyle overhead super affordable without the expense of propane and electric cooking expenses.
Of course, I can cook over the campfire, but, the stove is handy when the weather is not so condusive to keeping a campfire good and cooking hot. The stove burns rain or shine. This is a great little stove!

I Love My Portable Stove

I hate being cold. Aspirations of becoming a 'snowbird' someday still fill my horizon as life travels along. In the meantime, I have developed a new hobby... chopping and splitting wood to stuff into my little camp stove.
It all started last summer as I was cutting up a heap of felled dead oaks on my friends property. The plan was to install a wood burner in her cottage and put all that wood to good use. The search was on to find a bargain wood burner for her. While looking for her wood burner I came across some Mil-Spec camping stoves made for tents... and, that's when the ol' noggin began to do some figgurn'.
Being able to 'fly the coop' for the winter was not looking too promising for the upcoming season. And, there sure is a lot of firewood available where I am settled. And, that little Mil-Spec stove sure looked like it might fit just right with a few modifications. So, I did it.
Today, the temp outside is about 10 degrees (F). I am sitting here in a tee shirt and pajama bottoms with an inside temp of 80 degrees (F)... and, I don't even have this little stove stoked to it's potential.
The manufacturer of the stove would probably not advise the stove for this kind of installation. Actually, my advice is not to put a wood burner in a motor home. It's kinda weird and may not be the safest thing to do. But, for me, it works great and, with a bit of common sense care and caution, confidence against the cold is a go!
As you can see in the pic to the left I am well equipped with staying warm contraptions - wood burner, kerosene heater, electric heater, propane furnace (not shown - OEM built in). I love working this wood burner so much that I may just put off my 'snowbird' plans for a few more years...at least, until the wood runs out.,, or global warming kicks in.. ?