Greetings,
I'm about to embark in the wood stove installation portion of my bus. I'd love to hear any tips/pitfalls others have encountered. I'm mostly interested in how you've fashioned heatshields and hearths for the tight quarters. I'm also interested in how you passed the pipe through the roof of yer bus.
I'm planning to do the walls around the stove in concrete board (instead of pine), then another heat shield of concrete board separated from the wall w/ 1" spacers. I'll cover the heat shield w/ a decent thickness of sheet metal as well.
The hearth is still churning in my head. Originally I'd planned a layer of brick on top of the t+g plywood floor, and then cap the brick with a sheet of concrete board. But I can't lay my hands on any used brick and I'm loathe to spend money on something I'm going to cover up. I'm now pondering concrete paver stones, or maybe just 2x4's on edge to create an air space under the concrete board.
thanks
bruce
Tips for installing a wood stove?
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TinnedFish
- Posts: 28
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- Location: A San Juan Island, Wa
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Geez, don't go too nuts. Unless you are planning on thermonuclear meltdown inside your stove, you can probably get by with a lot less. I have a 2x2 square of asbestos (yes, asbestos) between the body of my stove and the cedar wall and that's it. The single wall pipe is exposed, and the stove stands on top of a maple pedestal. No special fireproofing, no cement cladding, no sheet metal, no nothing. Been just fine for 30 years now...
a guy i knew made a frame on the floor where he wanted the stove to be, then put a bunch of screws in the floor, within the frame, 1/2 way, so they were poking up out of the floor. he put in 4 pipes where the legs will go. he then poured cement into the frame, thereby making a slab that was screwed into the floor! he pulled out the pipes when the cement was like 1/2 dry. then set the stove in place, in the holes, and screwed the legs in to the floor.
I cant remember what he did for insulation from the wall...prolly sheet steel.
The stove pipe went out of a hole in sheet metal that had been placed where a window was. the pipe went out, then up. he had a cap on it in the summer, and in the winter had a propper "umbrella" style top on it.
I cant remember what he did for insulation from the wall...prolly sheet steel.
The stove pipe went out of a hole in sheet metal that had been placed where a window was. the pipe went out, then up. he had a cap on it in the summer, and in the winter had a propper "umbrella" style top on it.
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TinnedFish
- Posts: 28
- Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 6:15 am
- Location: A San Juan Island, Wa
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Super cool approach!
Wow, that's installing a stove!
The fellow at mobilehomestead.com, in his prolific posting, convinced me I shouldn't adhere my stove to the rig with cement, in case it needs to be removed in a hurry. I've been completely stalled in my bus progress, but I'm planning my hearth to involve cotter pins or some other semi-reliable system for securing the stove to the floor.
Thanks for the concept.
bruce
The fellow at mobilehomestead.com, in his prolific posting, convinced me I shouldn't adhere my stove to the rig with cement, in case it needs to be removed in a hurry. I've been completely stalled in my bus progress, but I'm planning my hearth to involve cotter pins or some other semi-reliable system for securing the stove to the floor.
Thanks for the concept.
bruce
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dragonhorseboy
- Posts: 37
- Joined: Fri Feb 04, 2005 11:00 am
- Location: ottawa-hull, canada
- Contact:
I just found a really cool wood stove supplier online!!!
http://www.marinestove.com/index.htm
Looks like theyre mainly for ships.
they are quite expensive, but theyre so cool!
i like the "sardine" modle, but the "halibut" is a cook stove, with an oven!!
Start saving up!!!!
-Dadeo
http://www.marinestove.com/index.htm
Looks like theyre mainly for ships.
they are quite expensive, but theyre so cool!
i like the "sardine" modle, but the "halibut" is a cook stove, with an oven!!
Start saving up!!!!
-Dadeo
Last edited by dadeo on Sun Dec 03, 2006 7:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Dennis The Bus Dweller
- Seasoned Nomadicista
- Posts: 1874
- Joined: Mon Nov 15, 2004 9:33 am
- Location: Southold N.Y.
- Contact:
Navigator's "Little Cod stove"
Hi Kids
I may put the little cod stove in my new Buffalo/home. Im fighting it because of the cost of it ( almost 2 grand shipped in a color) but they are really nice stoves. I have lots of propane heat goin in the new rig but wood heat makes for a cozy bus/home. I have 2/ 40,000 btu hot air furnaces, 1 to keep the bay compartments heated and 1 for up in the rig in the day time when im at work, at night when I get home I have 3 Wave-3 cat heaters ( 1 for each of the 2 bunk rooms and 1 for the bath room ) 1 Wave-6 for midship and a Wave-8 for the living room/kitchen. Im also installing a diesel coolent heater for radent heating tube for the 2 bunks, I figure I'll flip the switch a half an hour before hitting the sack and have a nice warm bunk to crash in }:o) Sure it's a little over the top but there's nothen like a little overkill when it comes to staying warm. }:o)
I may put the little cod stove in my new Buffalo/home. Im fighting it because of the cost of it ( almost 2 grand shipped in a color) but they are really nice stoves. I have lots of propane heat goin in the new rig but wood heat makes for a cozy bus/home. I have 2/ 40,000 btu hot air furnaces, 1 to keep the bay compartments heated and 1 for up in the rig in the day time when im at work, at night when I get home I have 3 Wave-3 cat heaters ( 1 for each of the 2 bunk rooms and 1 for the bath room ) 1 Wave-6 for midship and a Wave-8 for the living room/kitchen. Im also installing a diesel coolent heater for radent heating tube for the 2 bunks, I figure I'll flip the switch a half an hour before hitting the sack and have a nice warm bunk to crash in }:o) Sure it's a little over the top but there's nothen like a little overkill when it comes to staying warm. }:o)
Peace along the way
Dennis the bus dweller N.Y.
Dennis the bus dweller N.Y.
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matt
In my experience, there is no middle ground. It's not possible to have enough pipe on a vehicle to provide a decent draft and still keep your chimney cap intact. A lot may depend on the stove and it's installation as well. Mine has an offset in it to aviod cutting one of the roof trusses, and the two 45 degree elbows add a lot of back pressue to the flow. A pipe exiting straight up the wall and out would help a lot.
Figure that with an 8 foot ceiling, you can get about 6 feet of pipe to the roof. This has always seemed to be barely enough to keep the smoke traveling in the right direction for me. What I do is install another 2 feet to the outside when the Housetruck is stationary, which seems to help quite a lot. When the pipe gets coated with creosote, the draw lessens considerably until I eventually have to remove it and clean the barnacles out.
Figure that with an 8 foot ceiling, you can get about 6 feet of pipe to the roof. This has always seemed to be barely enough to keep the smoke traveling in the right direction for me. What I do is install another 2 feet to the outside when the Housetruck is stationary, which seems to help quite a lot. When the pipe gets coated with creosote, the draw lessens considerably until I eventually have to remove it and clean the barnacles out.
Find an old hardware store or farm store and ask for a heat shield. They are a thin metal tray, different sizes, with a non-cumbustable (asbestos) backing. They should also have, or can get for you, a fan that fits your stove pipe. It's a simple device that uses the pipes heat to spin a fan and circulate room heat. There are some that use venturi's thru the pipe instead of a fan. There's lots of old fashioned stuff out there that works really well.
Just my .02 cents
Larry
Just my .02 cents
Larry
If the spirit lives forever then I am as dead now as I'll ever be
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Dj
Stack, chimney and draft
Well, I must admit this is another thing I've considered as well.
Quite a number of years ago, I found an old bus that was nearly a perfect fit for me, the only thing keeping me from buying it was that it was an old Flyer, and I couldn't find any parts availability information. My bus won't move much, but when it does I want it to go miles and miles non stop with no problems... and if there are problems, I want to find parts quick and easy.
Anyhow, what does that have to do with anything? It was the first bus I can remember seeing that had a wood stove in it, and that's set in my mind that when I finally get a "Round Tuit" I'm going to have a wood stove in my bus as well.
I can't profess to be any sort of expert on the subject, but as I understand it, you have to understand how "stack" and "draft" affect the flue.
Too long of a chimney, and you don't have enough differential in the "stack" to effectively draft. Too short of a chimney, and the same thing.
There certainly seems to be a sweet spot that has to be maintained in order to maximize the draft, but not so much as to shoot all your heat right up the flue and not so little as to backflow smoke into the dwelling.
In the case of the house I'm living in now (typing this next to a roaring fire) the ceiling in the livingroom is vaulted, which gives a larger air mass in the 'stack' equation. As such, a taller chimney is needed to utilize the stack to maximize draft efficiency. The highest point in my living room is about 14 ft, and the lowest about 12 ft. That highest point is very close to the exterior roof. As such, my chimney rises 6 or more ft above the house. If you figure the hearth sits about 1 ft off the ground, and the flue starts at about 2.5-3 ft off the ground, that means I probably have about 15 ft of chimney on this fireplace.
That kind of height isn't going to cut it on a bus, where your chimney starts at least half-way up the height of the bus, but then again there's a lower ceiling in the "stack", so the chimney should need to be shorter as well.
Certainly, like Sharkey says, the two 45-degree elbows in his setup add significant backpressure, which reduces the overall efficiency of the stack and draft. A straight shot is vastly more efficient.
But what, really, is the optimal chimney hight for a bus? I am fairly certain you won't find any 'fireplace professionals' willing to design or install a wood stove in a bus, especially if the space where it will be installed isn't up to 'code' for a house... but surely someone could call one of these installers and say "I have a shack (cough), I'm installing the stove and chimney myself, and I just need to know what a good rule of thumb will be for this height of ceiling and this height for the output of the stove." Maybe, just maybe, someone can find some knowledgable person to run the numbers and figure out what's necessary.
It would be nice to be able to keep the chimney in place while the vehicle is in motion, but I'm betting it'll have to be a two-piece setup where you put a cap on the chimney pipe when in motion, and then top it with the rest of the chimney when you settle in.
Besides- a 70 mph wind on your open chimney may either cause it to draft excessively, robbing you of on-the-road heat, or if it's poorly designed, may cause it to back-draft while you're trucking down the road, which would at best send foul odors into the cabin, or at worst would blow any remaining ash inside the stove out through the air inlets, making a mess of your home-on-wheels.
Does anyone know anyone running a wood burning heater in their bus/truck/rv/whatever who is capable of operating the stove while the vehicle is in motion? I can think of several dozen reasons why you wouldn't want to do this (think, passenger loses balance, falls on the stove, or maybe the door isn't latched adequately and a hard curve sends coals all over your aisle, or, or endless list) but, I really really don't want to have anything BUT wood heat in my bus, and I can't guarantee at this point that whatever bus I end up going with will have adequate or operable or even salvagable on-the-road heat like it did when it was a coach.
Hmmm...
Quite a number of years ago, I found an old bus that was nearly a perfect fit for me, the only thing keeping me from buying it was that it was an old Flyer, and I couldn't find any parts availability information. My bus won't move much, but when it does I want it to go miles and miles non stop with no problems... and if there are problems, I want to find parts quick and easy.
Anyhow, what does that have to do with anything? It was the first bus I can remember seeing that had a wood stove in it, and that's set in my mind that when I finally get a "Round Tuit" I'm going to have a wood stove in my bus as well.
I can't profess to be any sort of expert on the subject, but as I understand it, you have to understand how "stack" and "draft" affect the flue.
Too long of a chimney, and you don't have enough differential in the "stack" to effectively draft. Too short of a chimney, and the same thing.
There certainly seems to be a sweet spot that has to be maintained in order to maximize the draft, but not so much as to shoot all your heat right up the flue and not so little as to backflow smoke into the dwelling.
In the case of the house I'm living in now (typing this next to a roaring fire) the ceiling in the livingroom is vaulted, which gives a larger air mass in the 'stack' equation. As such, a taller chimney is needed to utilize the stack to maximize draft efficiency. The highest point in my living room is about 14 ft, and the lowest about 12 ft. That highest point is very close to the exterior roof. As such, my chimney rises 6 or more ft above the house. If you figure the hearth sits about 1 ft off the ground, and the flue starts at about 2.5-3 ft off the ground, that means I probably have about 15 ft of chimney on this fireplace.
That kind of height isn't going to cut it on a bus, where your chimney starts at least half-way up the height of the bus, but then again there's a lower ceiling in the "stack", so the chimney should need to be shorter as well.
Certainly, like Sharkey says, the two 45-degree elbows in his setup add significant backpressure, which reduces the overall efficiency of the stack and draft. A straight shot is vastly more efficient.
But what, really, is the optimal chimney hight for a bus? I am fairly certain you won't find any 'fireplace professionals' willing to design or install a wood stove in a bus, especially if the space where it will be installed isn't up to 'code' for a house... but surely someone could call one of these installers and say "I have a shack (cough), I'm installing the stove and chimney myself, and I just need to know what a good rule of thumb will be for this height of ceiling and this height for the output of the stove." Maybe, just maybe, someone can find some knowledgable person to run the numbers and figure out what's necessary.
It would be nice to be able to keep the chimney in place while the vehicle is in motion, but I'm betting it'll have to be a two-piece setup where you put a cap on the chimney pipe when in motion, and then top it with the rest of the chimney when you settle in.
Besides- a 70 mph wind on your open chimney may either cause it to draft excessively, robbing you of on-the-road heat, or if it's poorly designed, may cause it to back-draft while you're trucking down the road, which would at best send foul odors into the cabin, or at worst would blow any remaining ash inside the stove out through the air inlets, making a mess of your home-on-wheels.
Does anyone know anyone running a wood burning heater in their bus/truck/rv/whatever who is capable of operating the stove while the vehicle is in motion? I can think of several dozen reasons why you wouldn't want to do this (think, passenger loses balance, falls on the stove, or maybe the door isn't latched adequately and a hard curve sends coals all over your aisle, or, or endless list) but, I really really don't want to have anything BUT wood heat in my bus, and I can't guarantee at this point that whatever bus I end up going with will have adequate or operable or even salvagable on-the-road heat like it did when it was a coach.
Hmmm...
I have driven with a fire in the stove and haven't experienced any problems.
The first time was when about 7 of my roommates and I decided to pull a nighttime raid in the Laundromat in town. Since I had the only vehicle capable of hauling all of us and the laundry bags, we took the Housetruck. The passengers in the back said that no smoke came out, but that the negative pressure on the roof apparently caused a mighty draw on the stove pipe and made the stove want to consume all of it's wood right away.
I have also driven short distances around town with a fire in the stove and arrived at my destination without incident. In any case, I don't think driving with an unattended fire is smart, and the possibility of a collision and the attendant mayhem gives me the willies. Imagine an impact causing the loss of containment on your gas tank...
The first time was when about 7 of my roommates and I decided to pull a nighttime raid in the Laundromat in town. Since I had the only vehicle capable of hauling all of us and the laundry bags, we took the Housetruck. The passengers in the back said that no smoke came out, but that the negative pressure on the roof apparently caused a mighty draw on the stove pipe and made the stove want to consume all of it's wood right away.
I have also driven short distances around town with a fire in the stove and arrived at my destination without incident. In any case, I don't think driving with an unattended fire is smart, and the possibility of a collision and the attendant mayhem gives me the willies. Imagine an impact causing the loss of containment on your gas tank...
I don't know the first thing about stove / chimney requirements, but take a peek at this site and see if it will help you figure out an optimal chimney for your bus application:
http://www.nrc.govt.nz/planning/pdf/RAQ ... ix%202.pdf
http://www.nrc.govt.nz/planning/pdf/RAQ ... ix%202.pdf
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