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Small Cabin Forum / Cabin Construction / Small Cabin Heating Options
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Anonymous
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 20:49
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Hey everyone, long time lurker, first time poster. I'm seeking some helpful advice from this friendly community.

I'm renting an off grid cabin that's 8 feet wide by 16 feet long. There's a loft for sleeping- 4 by 8 feet.

Now my landlord is constructing the cabin, and my plan was a small wood burning stove for heat.

However, my landlord says the cabin is too small, and a wood burning stove would be too hot for this cabin size. He suggests a cheaper propane heater.

Not a big fan of propane, but are there any very small wood stoves available for this size of cabin? It gets below freezing during the winter, around -3 celsius. Not very cold.

Any other heating options than propane or wood or electrical? I am using propane for shower, stove, etc. I don't want to overdo it on the propane. P

Rob_O
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 21:21
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Boat stoves are available that would be perfect for your place. They are quite expensive and I doubt landlord guy will pay the bucks for one.

If you are off-grid, your only other choice is a direct vent wall heater. Don't let the landlord cheap out and install a ventless heater, they can kill you

windsofchange
Member
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 21:50
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This is tricky situation, it's only 128 square feet. Smallest stoves I've seen are rated at heating 400+sq feet.

Where can you get the boat stoves? Good idea, maybe we will split the cost or something.

Martian
Member
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 22:25
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Google "marine wood burning stoves".

They aren't cheap!

Rob_O
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 22:28
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Quoting: windsofchange
Where can you get the boat stoves? Good idea, maybe we will split the cost or something.


This is one option http://www.marinestove.com/codinfo.htm

martym
Member
# Posted: 13 Apr 2012 22:54
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I was in the market for a wood stove for my 8x18 cabin and looked for a long time for a reasonably priced tiny stove to fit my space. I looked at the navigator line and was shocked at the price for there stove. They make some very nice boat stoves over on the other side of the pond for canal boats.

Here is a few. http://www.fluesystems.com/shop/Small_Stoves.html

I bought a Hobbit of ebay I did a review here. http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/3_105_4.html

windsofchange
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 03:49
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Thanks for all the replies, those little stoves are cute....and expensive!

The heater has to be efficient as this is a permanent year round home. I was thinking maybe electrical, one of those fake woodfire looking stoves. The landlord wants to go propane, but I don't like the fume, danger, enough tanks with the shower/stove etc.

something like this maybe
http://www.electricfireplacescanada.ca/EFCA-Products-Accessories/35-inch-or-less-CA/D uraflame-DFS-550-7-Freestanding-Electric-Stove-with-Remote-Control

Martian
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 08:28 - Edited by: Martian
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It may be my personal quirk, but I am hesitant to rely on electricity as my sole source of heat. An extreme Winter event, such as an ice storm, can knock out power for an extended period. Even down in Alabama, we lost power for 4 days after an ice storm.

My advice is to have a heat source that doesn't require electricity to operate. If you are worried about running out of propane, have the propane company put in a 300gal tank. My tank, 500gal, cost $72/year rental. This past Winter, I heated with wood but cooked with propane, and the tank guage didn't even move.

Tom

ShabinNo5
Member
# Posted: 14 Apr 2012 09:34
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I have to admit a bit of confusion.. Off-grid to me means solar for electicity. Electic heaters consume quite a bit energy and would require large installation for reliability. As for wood google mini franklin stove. Still spendy but less than the marine option.

My recommendation is a direct vent propane wall heater. We have one in our Shabin. It is rated for 7500 btu. Our place is 10 x 20 with a 10 x 12 loft. This works for us to your low temp range. The unit has many saftey features, but we still have carbon monoxide detectors and shut off valves inside and out side.no electricity.. New these heaters are $350, but you can find them on sale for around $270 during spring clearance sales.

Good Luck

evrmc1
Member
# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 22:24
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I got a Mr.heater big buddy works great in my16x30. I also have a radiator electric heater once I get it warm with the propane I switch to electric at night.

sabiggs
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 07:29 - Edited by: sabiggs
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We got the "two dog" stove for our 10x12 cabin. It definitely has no trouble roasting us if we want. Check it out. Reasonably priced and we're very happy so far. I believe it was $235 and measures 11x11x18.

http://fourdog.com/two-dog-stove-dx/
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spee
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 11:23
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why not get a keronsene heater.... safer than propane... might be a little more to run though...

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/5/SportsRec/1/Hunting/Heaters/PRDOVR~0762134P/K ero-World+Convection+Kerosene+Heater.jsp?locale=en

mojo43
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2012 16:42
Reply 


Fantastic. I was planning to put electric in so I could heat but this seems to be a good solution... do you need to vent at all with this product?

Sustainusfarm
Member
# Posted: 24 Apr 2012 18:05
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I like Jotul stoves and they have some very small units! Not cheap, however my brother just got a Jotul for $800 at a store that was going out of business..its brand new and usually costs jsut uner $2000.

Anonymous
# Posted: 24 Apr 2012 20:20
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We're going with a small propane heater, the walls, floor, and roof are all well insulated it's just too small for a wood stove

(16 ft by 8 ft or 128 square feet)

but I did get a fire bowl for outdoor fire ambience

fire bowl!

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