Back up heater. (Wood Stove)!!!???

[Spear guy 84]

I just bought a basically new 8x24 wheel house. For some reason I want to put a free standing wood stove in it. My family loves wood heat as we have an outdoor wood boiler and a fire place inside. We love the sound of a crackling fire. Thought it would be kinda neat in the new fish house. Do u guys think this would lower the value of the house? Would I have enough draft with a short stack? Tell me the good and the bad of this idea I have, but am not sure about yet.

[20lbSloughShark]

I have no idea as to the value impact. I have a small wood stove in my house, and love it. I would guess mine is about 10"x10"x12". I would guess you're looking at something about twice that size. It might bug you if you spend the night a lot. Mine can last 3 hours at best before it needs more wood. With a bigger stove, you might be able to push it to around 5. If you like it consistently hot, it will be even sooner. I set an alarm to wake me up after 3 hours, else I get so cold. I am a heavy sleeper as it is, and with a burning fire, I sleep like no other. First time I tried it, I slept all night, and woke up absolutely freezing. As long as I put a few logs in every few hours, It stays 60-80 degrees. During the day, its no problem. It can be a pain to figure out how to start it at first. Once you get a system that works for you, its as simple as lighting it, and walking away for a bit. Its not nearly as instant as propane though. I have found two things that really help me. One is cotton balls. They burn really well, for about 30 seconds. If you use small sticks, you can use cotton balls to get a fire going quickly. My favorite has become drain oil mix. Its just like it sounds. In a used water bottle, I fill it about 3/4 the way with used oil. The rest I fill up with gas and shake. It is hard to light by just a lighter, but once going, it burns really hot for about 5 minutes. All I do is put logs in the stove, open damper, pour about a cup or so of the mix over the logs, and light it with with some paper. Close the door, and it will be warm in 5 minutes.

[leech~~]

I would keep your other heater as well, since wood heats up fast but doesn't burn all night and it's no fun waking up all night stoking it. You may end up with one end of the house hotter then "H" and the other cool without some kind of blower in a big house to move the heat around. The other thing you may want to do is have a short ladder with you so you can put up a taller stack when in use and a cap to cap it off when going down the road so you don't end up with a bunch of ash all over everything when the wind blows down the stack at 60mph. Have fun with the snap-crackle-pop!

[20lbSloughShark]

I forgot to mention the stack. I like mine about a foot above the roof. I started with one just a few inches, but wind blew back down and put out the fire. A taller one eliminates that. I can reach my roof, but yours is probably taller. You might even want to keep your stack on permanently. Any launch big enough for a house of your size should be reasonably clear. I take the top of mine off because it hits all kinds of branches in the less cleared accesses. I recommend a damper. I feel it gives you more control over the fire than just the holes on the front of the stove. When you leave, just close it. Air can no longer come though, and your fire goes out. It also keeps wind from coming back down and blowing smoke/ash everywhere. One other thing is some wood leaks all kinds of "stuff" from the pipe onto your house. Its some kind of sap, it comes off, but it can be kind ugly. I really love having almost free fuel for fishing. I can't imagine propane costs being too much for you, but it is something. If nothing else, chopping your own wood is incredibly fun some days. Its a great way to blow off steam. But it sounds like you already know that. Leech brings up a good point though. It might be handy to keep a sunflower for over night. Just put it on low when you go to bed if you have the room. I'm not sure what you have for heating now, but you may want fans to move the heat around. Computer fans are quiet, and are cheap.

[Spear guy 84]

I do plan on leaving the stock heater in it, and using it at times, and at night. (Forced air). Its good heat but ive been stranded on red at -30 because my regulator froze up. Luckily the truck started. that was all fine when I was fishing alone, but now the wife and 2 little ones come with and a fail proof back up heater is a must.

[Hawg]

A house that big must have a generator, why not just a little electric heater and a spare regulator. I think an extra regulator is a must have for any house. A wood stove like you want would scare me away from ever buying the house, and holes in the roof are not a good thing either. I think it would be a dangerous thing to do unless it was just a daytime thing when you could watch it.Thats just a fish house opinion though because I love the feel of wood heat also.

[boXCar JiggY]

ive toyed with the idea of a pellet stove, the small kind refered to as a parlor stove. I have one in my basement, I burn about a bag every 24 hrs in the winter, average 5 dollars a bag, these stove are very safe, just one ball of flame in a burnning pot fed by a timed auger system, if the sensors regulate anything out of the norm like presure drop in the fire box it shut off, anything different it senses it shuts off, an only takes a minuet or two for the pellets to burn out verses a log that can burn an smolder for a long time, also less creosote build up in the chiminey, these things are so much more safe than yur standard woond burning box. yes you have to fun it with a generator, but hey five bucks aday, cant beat it.

[BLACKJACK]

I had a small wood stove in my first house and liked it. Downside is that it takes up more room, you need to give it space from the wall and everything else. I'd also be concerned about your young kids getting too close.

Plus side is that if you burn wood you'll have plenty of smaller scraps to use. I still have boxes full of small hardwood chunks.

For starting the fire I bought some of the regular fire starter bricks and chopped them up into 1 inch chunks, then I had a bucket of good starting wood like cedar or pine, start the firestarter, put some small cedar strips on it, open damper, shut door. By the time you got holes drilled you could start stoking it.

[MNice]

I bet your new house is pretty tight.. therefore you will need some sort of combustion air for the woodburner to operate and draft properly.

[CANOPY SAM]

Just pipe in cold air from outside. That's easy.

It wasn't so many years ago when the majority of ice/fish houses were heated by wood stoves. I wouldn't even hesitate to put one in if I were you.

I too love the sound, heat, and smell of a wood burning stove. And as for worrying about the children, well, yes they might get singed, once. Then they'll very likely never do it again. Every kid learns that lesson.

boXCar and I both remember many, many years of enjoying the wood stove in the fish house. Really great thing about the wood stove, if the house is cold, you can warm it up REALLY fast!

I can't see any reason why adding a little wood burning stove would lower the future resale value of your wheel house. Vent pipe, and cold air intake holes are easy to cover, water tight, and if the next owner doesn't want a wood stove, well then he just takes it out, or you do. Easy peasey!

[20lbSloughShark]

Just don't put a hole in your roof. Not sure why anyone would be foolish enough to do it, but I have seen it. Its not hard to get the connectors to put the pipe out the side of the house.

[CANOPY SAM]

That might be why you were having trouble figuring out how to get your stove going, slough. It's much easier to pre-heat a fireplace stove pipe that runs straight up, rather then one that bends and bends again.

Nothing wrong with running a pipe right thru the roof. They can be permanently resealed without too much trouble. Not starting an argument here big guy. Just speaking from experience.

[20lbSloughShark]

Makes sense. I'll take it though, as my experience is that any hole in a roof leaks.

[Hawg]

No holes for me either, especially with a rubber roof.