Wood stove for a fifth wheel?

[Mountaineer]

I am burning a lot of electricity/propane staying warm over winter, while my wood pile keeps growing and growing.
There's an ad for a $150 woodstove for tents in the new Cabella's catalogue which got me thinking-is it possible for a woodtove in here?
Anyone try anything like this? I DO want it to be safe of course. And I don't want to spend a fortune since I'm saving to build an actual home.
Thanks for any ideas or tips.

[james dilley]

I can't say yes ,But have you looked into building A small add on. And thinking about putting A stove in it?? that way you could cut heating costs. Also talk to some of the trailer dealers, What about ventilation???

[Mountaineer]

Actually I can't put on an addition because of zoning issues. They don't want anybody getting too compfortable in an RV.
That would be ideal though.

[clovis]

This might sound dumb, and maybe it is:

What about building a small shed, and putting a wood stove in the shed. Add a squirrel cage blower and duct the heat into the RV. It surely would work if engineered correctly, and couldn't cost all that much, if you scrounged around for the material.

You would in essence be building an outdoor wood furnace.
clove

[MorrisonCorner]

I'm thinking there is a high potential here for Farmer Flambe... if you can't vent that puppy properly you've got a problem, but more to the point, how would you locate, in the very small confines of an RV, the stove so it would not be too close to combustable materials? An RV is ALL combustable materials.

And I speak from experience here. It takes an astonishly short period of time for a poorly located stove to heat a wood surface to the point of spontaneous combustion. Do not ask how I know this. Let's just say it wasn't pretty.

[HermitJohn]

I planted trees with a guy one spring who had a VW camper van. He built a tiny spherical wood that kept the van nice and toasty, though he did have creasote running down drivers side of his van. When I say tiny, I mean basketball size or just slightly bigger.

Also remember an old article in TMEN about some guy who removed passenger seat in his VW Bug and installed a small woodstove.

So its doable but I'd be awfully careful about combustable surfaces and clearances, etc. Maybe surround it with cement board and/or tile.

[Westwood]

We use a small boxwood heater in our 8x40 park model. Don't see why you couldn't use one in your 5th wheel with one of those small steel airtights. Make heat deflectors out of three layers of sheet metal separated by 1 1/2 inch collars. Stand off from the walls another 1 1/2 inch. Start them a couple of inches off the floor for air circulation to keep them cool and continue the heat deflectors up about 8 inches above the stove. Spray paint them with heat resistant paint if you wish. The walls should barely feel warm behind the deflectors. Also be sure to use an insulated thimble or tripple wall thimble through the wall or roof. Use an insulated stove board under the stove.

Trailers are built tight, so either put an air inlet vent in the floor to the outside under the heater or keep a window cracked. Don't build a large fire, I guarantee just a small one will cause you to open a window or two! Above all, be careful! Let the fire die down before you go to bed at night and heat with propane or electric through the night when you're not paying attention to the stove.

I doubt this application is UL or insurance approved. You're taking your own risk. But its worked find for us for 3 winters.

[Mountaineer]

Thanks all of you. I will keep researching them. If I took out the table and cushions from the kitchen nook I think that'd be a large uncluttered and central area.
I think you are very right Westwood suggesting it be awake hours only. Thanks for the barrier ideas.

[punkrockpilot]

This site has info on how to install a wood stove in a boat - might have some good info for you could use. - click on the manual link.

http://www.marinestove.com/sproducthistory.htm

[bgood]

Check out the pictures here...http://marinestove.com/installation_views.htm
There are a few trailers with small stoves installed, I really like the Airstream.

[vicker]

Be very careful about your air in the camper. Mamals need oxygen to live
I would guess that your camper is nice and air tight. Make sure you have a way to get fresh air inside. Crack a window or something.

[Spinner]

I have a friend who has a wood stove in his bus camper. It's a large school bus with lots of room. I think you should be able to do the same thing on a smaller scale.

[Cyngbaeld]

I installed a small wood stove in a small airstream and went thru 2 colorado winters with it. I lined the area with sheetrock first, then covered that with foil, shiny side out. Before I put the foil on, the wall was getting hot and made me uncomfortable. But with the foil the wall stayed cool to touch.