Any small heaters for small places?

Started by Ray_N, October 23, 2006, 08:08:43 PM

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MountainDon

#25
December 07, 2006, 05:40:54 PM
My 2 cents worth... regarding the original requesr; that sounded like a request for a temporary heat source while working on the interior and the wood stove install. If so, my choice would be for what was referred to as a "rocket", or to me a "jet-engine" type of heater. You can get ones that run on propane and others that run on liquid kerosene. Just like most of the catalytic/radiant types though, these need fresh air so you don't put yourself to sleep permanently. That's my reason for my strong dislike for them.

Personal choice, IF 120 VAC is available is electric; for short term I don't mind the cost

Comment regarding the furnace pictured in reply #12. That's an Atwood RV furnace. There's also the suburban brand. They are nice in that they have an exterior vent for the exhaust as well as drawing the combustion air in from the outside. You don't loose your heated air by the furnace combusting it. Drawbacks are that they may no be approved for house use... if that's a concern for you. One other drawback, IF you rely on battery power is they suck up to 4 amps whenever the blower runs. And lastly as far as I know they ALL still suffer from a design flaw; at least I see it as a flaw. Foe those of you who do not know the basic operation cycle, here it is in brief....  When the thermostat calls for heat the blower motor turns on. This is a two section blower; one blower circulates air thru the RV/house, the other moves air thru the combustion chamber. The 2 fans run off the one motor. There is a 15 sec or so delay, while the fan runs, before the gas valve opens the auto ignitor fires. So far so good. IF, for some reason the gas does not ignite (no gas, low fan speed due to low batteries, whatever...) the system will try to ignite the gas a second and a third time. At that point it ceases trying to light, BUT the fan keeps going until the batteries are stone cold dead. That is if you are not tied to the grid. So if you're not there to turn it all off your batteries go dead, freeze, etc. Bad news. Of course this is only a big problem when/if you are on batteries only.

There is an aftermarket circuit board that does shut every thing off after 3 strikes. Aftermarket ingenuity beats the OEM.

One last further note: a couple posts wondered about how much (BTU) was required to heat a given space. The following links have calculators that are interesting.

http://www.heatershop.com/btu_calculator.htm

http://www.herman-nelson.com/btu_calculator.cfm

MountainDon

#26
December 07, 2006, 05:53:14 PM
I also meant to add that I will be recycling a Suburban brand RV furnace from my old RV once my cabin the the deep woods is done.

There was a comment by someone that their RV furnace sucked propane and electricity. I've covered the electrical issue and meant to point out that the avergae RV has really poor insulation compared to what can be achieved in a well built cabin. Makes a world of difference to retain that heat. My RV has 1.5" thick walls with f'glass. Very bad; some of the newer and more upscale are better I'm sure.

Amanda_931

#27
December 07, 2006, 08:33:17 PM Last Edit: December 07, 2006, 08:34:10 PM by Amanda_931
My leaky travel trailer may have every bit of 2" walls.  In any case the manufacturer brags on how much insulation their places have.

It's cold in here right now.  But it's on grid, so I can run an electric heater.  Which works fine if it's not too cold--like tonight.

Freeholdfarm

#28
December 30, 2006, 09:35:02 PM
Amanda, you mentioned the rocket stoves at the bottom of post number 8 above -- I'd like to know more about those from people who have built and used them.  I have one of the cob books (by Ianto Evans), and they talk about the rocket stoves in there.  I'm not into high tech, want to use wood heat, and can't afford one of the nice little manufactured wood stoves.  

Kathleen

Amanda_931

#29
December 30, 2006, 10:10:45 PM
Glenn has got his mostly built, after the instructions in new and improved Evans book on the subject.  See the last page of his underground cabin topic in builders.

http://www.dirtcheapbuilder.com/rostforcobbu.html

tc-vt, what Gary of builditsolar has done in that article about his own workshop (cover article in Mother Earth News this time), and the other one described here might work just fine--no electricity to start an explosion if there's too much hydrogen around:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/SpaceHeating/SolarShed/collectors.htm

Actually one could probably use a rocket heater if you put where you add wood on the outside of the building, or even just the large cob bench across your battery area.

glenn-k

#30
December 30, 2006, 10:42:51 PM
Here's the start of my rocket stove stuff, Kathleen.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1107141843/400

I did it with steel because that's what I have.  Bricks will probably last longer but both will work.  The book gives details on measurements.  John was going to put some info together here too.

Freeholdfarm

#31
January 01, 2007, 11:33:19 AM
QuoteHere's the start of my rocket stove stuff, Kathleen.

http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1107141843/400

I did it with steel because that's what I have.  Bricks will probably last longer but both will work.  The book gives details on measurements.  John was going to put some info together here too.

Thanks -- I just took a look at all that!  We have good soil here for cob, I think (might have to add sand, as this soil is largely clay), and I've been thinking about building a cob rocket stove in the garage.

Kathleen
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