wood burner in a fish house?

[Ryan_V]

Has anyone ever but a wood burner in their fish house? We are looking at buying a different skid house on mille lacs in the near future. I have an older wood burner we were looking at installing for some "free" heat. Just wondering if anyone has any advice, warnings, do's, don'ts..... the house we are looking at is 10 x 18. I never installed it in my garage like originally planned, do they need to be vented out the ceiling, or can they be "side vented".

thanks for any advice! we aren't certain of doing this, just throwing it out there.

[efgh]

First off, I WOULDN;T USE A WOODBURNER IN A FISH HOUSE, however if you do, vent it out thru the roof and put a damper in the stove pipe. My experence is, you either are too hot or two cold and if you fire the stove to keep a even heat, you are stoking it pretty steady.

[Boker001]

I wouldn't waste your time. I had one in my old fish house. It either got too hot or you woke up freezing. Hauling wood was a pain. Wood bits all over the floor. Ash disposal. And with the wrong wind it would spit smoke out the damper. Even though it was vented through the roof. Propane is cheap unless you live in your fish house all winter.

[Alagnak]

IF you have a source of plentiful free wood they are awesome for a lot of reasons- free fuel obviously, safe, dry out everything (clothes, floor, etc), possible cooking options on top of stove, burn all of your paper trash items and have less to haul off the lake. Negatives- You'll have a messy floor, everything smells like wood smoke (which I like actually), and yes- they are hard to regulate for overnight sleeping unless you have a larger fire box it's always too hot/too cold. I've never had one in a sleeper shack for that reason but they are my first choice for a day shack.

[Dozer]

I would put it in the garage like you planned. Its going to be a pain in a fish house. Going to take awile to get up to heat and hard to regulate. Propane heats instantly and has a thermostat to keep the same temp all the time.

[Ryan_V]

we have tons is free wood, all we would ever need, so that's why we are considering the option

[Alagnak]

we have tons is free wood, all we would ever need, so that's why we are considering the option

Also, I've never had any problems with side venting either.

[slurpie]

Ran one for years in our 8 x 16. It is nice I also like the smell of wood burning. Ours was side vented out a window half, if your gonna have the house a long time put it straight out the top. A straight pipe will flow better than two nineties to go threw the wall and back up. Our damper was 24" above the stove that's just where we had it don't know if there is a right or wrong. We had stove straight in from the door the mess of bark and wood is the worst part about it. And you will need storage for your wood, a box or back of truck it takes space though. Saved a lot in fuel we fished a lot few years back sold house and guy wanted it.if you don't like it take it out your out nothing.

[crappie55409]

I use one in my my 7x14 shack. I like it for a variety of reasons. Wood fire is nicer (aesthetically), you can cook with it, it cost me 50$ as opposed to 600$ for the vented propane heaters

The drawbacks can be significant however. Yes, it gets chips and bark on your floor but my house wasnt nice to begin with. The main one is sleeping! My camper isnt that well insulated to begin with and with the smaller size of the stove the fire will only last 2 hours or so max. When you wake up, you wake up cold. The only reason i can tolerate it is because i have a sleeping bag that is rated to -15. I have a reasonable solution for this, when i wake up and its cold i have a sunflower heater next to me. I turn that on and it warms the whole house in 10 minutes. Enough to go back to sleep anyway.

[BLACKJACK]

I had a small wood stove in my first fish house, 6x8, I liked it. As long as you have lots of wood, go for it. If you have lots of wood, you can 'cherry pick', select out the smaller pieces of hard wood for the stove. Also have another bucket of kindling, pieces of pine or cedar board that you can use when you start the fire. Top that off with some of those fire starter blocks so you can get a fire going in a hurry. I'd buy the ones at Menards that were 1 inch x 6 inch and chop them up into smaller pieces, a 1"x1" piece is all you need if you have the right kindling.

Vent out the top!!! A side vent in the wrong wind is not going to vent properly!!

When you put your pipes together, starting from the top, make sure they go inside the next pipe down, so any creosote runs down the inside of the stove pipe.

Put a piece of tin against the wall closest to the stove so it doesn't get too hot. I actually installed mine with a one inch gap between the wall and tin.

Make sure you have flat plate on top of your stove so you can do some cooking.

Good luck!!

[Tom7227]

The two things you need to deal with are the threat of a flue fire and a fire from the back of the rig if a wall gets too hot. The writer above mentioned placing a piece of tin with a 1 inch gap. You can also use a piece of cement board like used as an underlayment. Get a thermometer that is magnetic and place it on the flue. Watch the temp and keep it where it belongs. A good fire is regulated by the amount of air you let get in and the position of the damper. It takes a bit of time to get the right combination and know when to damp it down and let the coals produce the heat. Finally give some thought to having a bucket/coffee can available to douse any fires. Trick there is having a way to get the water out of an 8 inch hole.

[Lucky Dogg]

WOW, can't believe all the negatives about a wood burner. It's all i've ever used in any of my many shaks over the years. Never once had a fire, do use cement board on the two walls by the stove. Built a wood box that the stove sits on to store wood. Do only vent out the roof. I wouldn't burn wood with bark on it. And at nite use a buddy heater to keep it warm for when you wake up. My wood burner is only 15"x12"x7" and keeps my 8'x12' very warm and quickly too, all you need is a good set of boots. We cook bacon and eggs every morning we are there and who doesn't like the smell of a smoke house. Just makes it hard to lie to the wife that "No I wasn't at the shak".

[Ryan_V]

Thanks for the info so far! I looked at my wood burner and I think it might be a little big. we would still like a wood burner to supplement the gas heater. we will have to look for something! great information, thanks again

[Area Lake]

Nothing better than wood. You'll get some ribbing from the uninformed or those who dislike "stoking" the fire, but small wood stove is the cats meow. Venting through the roof is a must, elbows make bad draft. If you keep the heat up, and the flu warm, its not likely to get back draft even on the windiest days, but does require you to add wood regularly. I was in the house this past Saturday with 50 mph gusts - no problems. Around me, the cabinet shops throw oak, walnut, aster, cherry, and other hardwood scrap into trailers or bins for the public to pick out - many use this for craft wood. I burn it. Walnut especially hot and long burning. My Nuway Model 965 features a 10" firebox, with nice flat cooking surface and easy clean ash area. Been using wood since 1991 - great compliment for the hardy fishermen. I used ceramic electric fence insulators (white) to fasten galvanized sheet metal from wall - do something like that or you'll have fire in more than just the stove. Ace Hardware carries everything you need for a 3" pipe including damper. Also - elevate your stove, and then wire a computer fan somewhere near the bottom - great circulation and easy on battery.

[dougger222]

Ran a wood burner in my wheeled house for a Winter. It worked ok but it seemed easier to drop a grand and convert to propane lights, oven, and furnace.

I put a 4x4ft heat shield under the wood burner and on the wall next to it. My brother used to stoke the fire and one time she got pretty hot. When I took the shield off the wall found the paneling and insulation warped pretty good!

The new fish house is really slick, just turn on the thermostat and it's auto ignite.