Wood Stove in Trailer

   / Wood Stove in Trailer #1  

MtHam

Silver Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
144
Location
Northern California coastal hills
Tractor
Kabota B3030
We have a retired travel trailer (28') on the ranch that is used for worker housing. I am considering a small wood stove for heat, as we have an unlimited amount of small firewood (1-4" branches from our 'thin & release' work) available. Has anyone done this? What stove do you use? Any particular recommendations? Did you run the flue through a window, or straight up through the roof? Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated.
trail1.jpg
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #2  
Not exactly the same situation, but my uncle and aunt in VA live in a "converted" trailer home, which has an addition on the South side and the whole thing has been roofed over and extra insulation added in the attic. A few years ago, my wife and I bought the smallest EPA rated wood stove, it was made by Century and Menards was running a fall special for $250 for the stove. The stove pipe and class A chimney cost more than the stove... I also had to get a ceiling "thimble" to provide the correct clearance to combustibles where we passes through the trailer roof. The flashing takes care of that interface where one intersects the main exterior roof, just the hole has to be cut to allow for 2" Min clearance to combustibles. We installed that stove in 2 days from start to finish.

It has worked out great for my uncle and aunt. They burn about 1 cord per winter and still have their oil furnace as backup. You will have to do as we did, and build a proper floor protector. We welded up an angle iron frame, laid in 2 sheets of cement board, then tiled the top surface to provide both a thermal break and a fireproof surface around the stove, since small embers will fall out every now and then when loading wood. It also spreads the weight of the stove on the floor.

For a travel trailer it is a little hard to imagine where you would put it. Because of the clearance requirements, it ideally needs to go right in the center somewhere where people can walk around it. You need to look at the clearance requirements to single wall, double wall (stove pipe) and the stove itself. In many cases the clearances may be 16". If the people managing the stove are not the brightest, you have to cover all the possibilities or your trailer will be going up in smoke. The question where to stage firewood will be another important point.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #3  
I was a fireman for vol. fireman for 10 years, we saved a lot of houses but we NEVER saved a trailer. IMHO a wood stove in a trailer is a trailer fire waiting to happen. I advise against it.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #4  
If a stove is properly installed with the right flue materials and floor protector, then the only danger compared to other forms of heat is that the operator has to open the door and load the wood and regulate the heat output. If you read up on the cat trains up above the actic circle (wagons on sleighs) they had wood and coal fired stoves in the "caboose" which is where they ate and slept and these were mobile. Granted, the risk of falling through weak spots in the ice may be greater than dying in a fire, but that was the way those guys lived.

Without a doubt, no shortcuts can be taken on the install of the stove or the flue, or else the prolonged exposure to heat will finally result in ignition of material that is within the clearance zone of the hot parts of the stove. If ones attention strays for a few minutes too long, the flue temperature will peg at close to 1500F (visibly glowing). This is one of the biggest risks when simple people do not understand the dangers of an untended stove.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #5  
If the trailer is pretty air tight, you should get a stove with an air intake tube so that it can suck combustion air from the outside rather than inside. The downside is that you will have to cut an extra hole for this air intake.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #6  
Mobile is not the problem, it is the construction. They do not burn slow and once started they are gone quick.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #8  
I lived in an old (1976) doublewide 10 years ago.
I put in a HF wood stove to save on heat.
I put down a pad from concrete blocks, set it away from the wall, made a sheet metal insert for the window behind it to run the flu pipe out and up.
Turned all the way down that thing screamed! I even put a box fan to circulate the heat.
I tried it for a couple weeks only burning it when I was home and awake. It was still scarry dangerous. I took it back out and sold the stove!
I would not trust employees manage a stove like that.
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #9  
So how do y'all feel about wood stoves in boats then ? Perhaps a diesel fired stove would be safer than wood ? At least the operation would be more predictable and less susceptible to "operator error".

home_4_pics.jpg

Here is a Diesel fired marine heater that has a cooking surface
00LOF.jpg
Sold here for $764 Dickinson 00-LOF Diesel Lofoten Floor Mount Heater - Diesel Fireplace
 
   / Wood Stove in Trailer #10  
Whether you use the stove or not make sure they have a working fire detector. I had a lady in an older single wide mobile home burn it down with a grease fire. She fell asleep while cooking tater tots in her fry baby. The trailer burned down quickly. She was fine.
I would not be afraid to put a small stove in a travel trailer as long as you set it up properly.
 
 
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