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Janemarie
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 08:05
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Hello Cabin Souls:
In six days we close on our cabin and land and I can't wait. I was able to go out yesterday to have a technical inspection for our new wood burning stove and walked into the cabin. It has that nice cain smell, and the place was stone quiet and so peaceful. I have a few questions to ask people:
As I mentioned, the place has electric, water , and a small space heater, and a small hot water heater.
1) Have any of you used on-demand hot water in your cabins? If so, comments? My hope is to switch to that so I have one less thing to drain and worry about freezing.
2) The guy who came and did my specs for a new stove suggested I not get the Jotul F100 or the F3 CB but the F400. His argument was that even though it is bigger than is needed for the space, it will be big enough to sustain a fire overnight and this will be good for the use of the cabin.
3) Have any people used those peppermint/spearmint sachets being sold to deter mice?
Will post pictures once we get all moved in.
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FishHog
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 08:16
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you will still have to drain a on demand hot water heater if your not heating the place. make sure you get one that has a drain valve.
I agree with the larger wood stove, you can always build smaller fires, but its nice to have a long burn time.
i don't really believe anything deters mice. Got to keep them out in the first place.
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beachman
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 10:51
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We have an on-demand - Bosch 1600. Runs on propane and works great. I drain it each fall and it has a drain plug that removes easily. No electric or water other than solar. I also unhook the pipes to it just as a precaution and no problems to date - 3 years and counting. If you get one and it ever freezes, it will be toast.
You can get nice electric units but make sure you have a shut off for water at the unit. Also make sure you can drain it properly.
As for the stove (and the mice), what Fish says.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 13:51
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Jane, do you have gas or just electric? If you dont have gas, you can have a propane tank installed. An electric on demand can require huge circuits to it, in some cases, 2 or 3 sets of 220V at 40 amps. I suspect the one you want would be small, but expect 2 40A double pole circuits, which would mean probably 8 AWG or 6AWG wire. If the panel able to handle that load?
You may still have to drain in the winter. The on demand as long as its not running, water stopped, will freeze.
As for burn-time on the stove, I found just getting the most efficient one means longest burn time on a load of wood.
Mine runs low and needs to be loaded about 2-3AM or it will be out by 7AM. Probably get one going again with the small amount of coals left. But I am usually in bed kind of early anyways. (early riser)
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old243
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 17:08
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Regarding woodstoves buy a good quality stove and size it to the building. Perhaps the existing stove will be just fine , try it out before spending money on a new one. I have had 2 pacific energy stoves, they come in different capacities. So can be sized , to suit.
The most important thing is to have plenty of ,dry well seasoned hardwood. Cut it a year ahead, so your not running into chimney fires. While we are talking chimneys, it is important to make sure it is clean and safe. Don't know about on demand water heaters. If you are just there on weekends, put a big pot on the woodstove , fill it full of snow, if available, or water. you won't need a water heater. Keep it simple in the winter time. After all you are roughin it. Have fun with your new cabin. old 243
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Janemarie
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 17:51
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What great reply from everybody. Thank you all so much! It is strange to have been dreaming about something for nearly two months and now be at the stage where I am awake wondering if I missed something major.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 18:02
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We have a Bosch tankless heater in our cabin (propane). Works great, as long as there's enough water pressure to run it... it has a funky turbogenerator in it that makes electricity from the flowing water to run the electronic controls and igniter. On the plus side, it has no pilot light to waste gas and requires no external power. At home I plan to install a tankless heater as well soon, but there I'll go with one that uses AC power for the controls, since if I don't have power, I don't have water anyway (well pump). Either way, it requires draining if you expect it to see freezing temperatures. We share a community water system at the cabin which gets shut down in early October, so I drain the pipes then and carry in water for winter weekends.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 7 Dec 2018 18:51 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Peppermint does not work. I tried that.
Here is what worked for us.
First we got spray foam in the floor, roof and around the Windows.
Than I went throughout the entire interior of the cabin on a very sunny day and found so many small gaps where the mice had been getting in through the log walls.
Some gaps were there due to shrinking/settling of the logs, other gaps were small holes that the mice chewed (not many of those thank goodness). I used the pictured steel wool, 5 in 1 tool to stuff the holes with the steel wool, gloves to pull apart the correct amount of steel wool needed and a small bucket to catch errant fibers.
The largest gap I found was under the kitchen sink. It was to big to fill with steel wool. I filled that with the spray foam pictured.
Before we had spray foam in the floor every summer at night we would light up the cabin and crawl under the cabin and fill holes in the sub floor with the spray foam pictured. Not many but just enough for a mouse to get through.
Check your doors to make sure they are fitting close. We had to do a small amount around the doors too.
Most summers we would trap 15-20 mice. This was in three weeks.
Now with everything we've done, we trapped two mice in three months!
I still take precautions. The most economical way to protect bedding, pillows, shoes and clothing is in big steel garbage cans. I have a loft so they are out of sight. I also have a steel hanging closet for clothing and a steel shelving unit with doors for food.
Any food kept out is in a metal container or a glass jar with a metal lid.
We eat in the kitchen only and keep the kitchen spotless to keep rodents from being attracted to the inside of the cabin.
I use Bounce fabric sheets, original scent in all the clothing drawers. I've yet to have a mouse nest in any of my drawers. I take out the sheets every year and replace them with new sheets. I line the bottom of the drawer and than line the top of the clothing.
Hope this is helpful information.
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95XL883
Member
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2018 10:20
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I didn’t have any luck with the scent deterrents either. Baited the heck out of them for a while but there were so many and if I didn’t get any bait down every three days, then they were back in the tractor. (I don’t have a cabin yet but the plan is to start it this spring.). I suspect the only two things that will stop them is a securely sealed structure or a good cat. I’m rambling so I’m going to stop now.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2018 13:04
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The dryer sheets do work well.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 8 Dec 2018 13:13 - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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I have never had a bug or mice issue. I did do a full footing/stemwall with no outside crawlspace access. I built it bug tight, I used a HD mesh for the bird blocks which I hand built each one.
The post and pier systems tend to get critters in them. If the post are high enough, wrap them with sheetmetal, they cant crawl up it. Also a metal mesh/fabric at the bottom of the joist bays and have it tie right into the rim joist. A crown stapler, air power makes this job easier.
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gsreimers
Member
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# Posted: 9 Dec 2018 17:18
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We've had pretty good luck keeping the mice out of the cabin. Went up this weekend (northern Minnesota) and took the ATV out for a ride around the lake on the ice. It became evident as my ride heated up that there had been mice in it. Didn't find a bed or nest and fortunately did not start a fire in the engine compartment but the smell after warming up was not at all pleasant.
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