Heating and cooking / small cabin

[Ozarkguy]

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"Hay" all! Anybody ever use the "Outfitter" portable camp stoves? Any good or bad about them I should know?

I'm wondering if one would supply enough heat and cooking area in a small cabin while we build the permanent home next year. Note- I'm talking year round- would one of these get us through a Missouri winter in comfort?

Any input appreciated and thanks.

gotta love those hills.....

Ozarkguy

They would--if your cabin is super well insulated and weather tight. They are not meant to hold fire overnight, so there would be some chilly times even with a super insulated cabin. You should have some form of back up heat in case you have to be gone for awhile. You wouldn't want all of your stored goods to freeze.

[big rockpile]

Ozarkguy I'm not sure about them.But you might look into a Barrel Stove kit about $60 for a stove that will heat and if you could fix up a flat surface cook on it.Or I noticed in MFA in Lebanon the other day they had a Cast Iron heater in there for around I thinking $200 not real sure.

big rockpile

[FolioMark]

The farm store in Lebanon also carries the Hasty Baker cook stove made by us stove works. Here is a link: http://www.usstove.com This is a nifty little half size cookstove like the ones you saw on Little House. Its got 4 burners and a nice little oven. I've been meaning to buy one but my neighbor once had one and she said it was a little gem. Easy to cook on and heated their little cabin without too much work. It might be just the thing for you. As I remember they were selling them for under 300 dollars. Not a bad price to combine heating and cooking and an oven.

[Jolly]

Some things to consider:

1. Footprint. If the cabin is small, a small footprint is desirable.

2. Heat produced, and the ability to "carry" a fire. You want to be able to regulate the heat as best as possible, and I dearly hate getting up in a house, and finding last night's coffee froze in the pot.

3. Ease of cooking when you want to. Sometimes you just want a quick meal, without a lot of muss and fuss. Unless you've got a hot stove already going, cooking with wood takes time.

My .02 cents: A small airtight stove. Don't know about your part of the woods, but there is a chain store down here by the name of Sutherland's. At the end of the season, they clear out all their heating stock. I've seen small, simple airtight units go for as little as $300, brand new.

Cooking? Propane. Scrounge a small apartment sized stove, or maybe even the RV version. Even if you have to keep a couple of 5 gallon bottles around, if you are just cooking with it, alittle propane goes a long way.

I've done it hard, and I've done it easy. As I get older, I get lazier, and easy is the way to go...

I have found that the "hasty baker" type stoves are great for cooking, very poor for heating. The fire box is very small. You would do much better with a box stove. Vogelzang is a very good company, well made stoves, good prices. You can cook on top and I put aluminum foil wrapped packages of vegetables in the stove to cook....yummy! I think you will find the heat to be more important then the big cook top and oven. I keep a fire pit outside and bake on decent days. Good luck.

[HermitJohn]

Unless totally uninsulated, you dont need a 55gallon barrel stove. Assuming its airtight (most foreign kits arent unless thats changed recently) you would be running it choked down for long periods of time.

I heat two rooms, 12x14 each with an old Sotz airtight barrel kit mounted to a 15 gallon barrel. This doesnt take much room and more than enough firebox to do the job, assuming you have dry wood. Will hold coals overnight. The door is round and it was designed for 30 gallon barrel, but it will fit anything from 5 gallon metal can to old water tank upto a 55 gallon barrel. You find a sq door Sotz it is just for 55gallon barrel or big tank. Sotz is long out of buisiness, but you can find the kits occasionally on ebay or local auctions or such. See one at local auction with rusty barrel and it will probably go for $1 or so. Just put door, legs and pipe flange over onto another barrel/tank. Sotz's are stamped steel, not cast iron, but they hold up well. I bought mine around 1982 and still in good shape although its on its 3rd barrel. You can put flat shelf on top of barrel, but really I only heat water on it. Get a two burner propane hotplate. A 20# tank of propane lasts long time and lot easier than trying to cook on top of a heating stove.

[Esteban29304]

These little stove/heaters may fit the bill. Used in many cabins around the world.Usually can buy for around $70.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=16036

[Ozarkguy]

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Hello:

I've been watching and reading and checking out all your sites and ideas!

But I wanted to drop in and say "thank you" folks. I really appreciate your help.

You've given me many great ideas which I am still checking up on. And the biggest concern you've solved for me too. Any of them will fit into my budget!

Thanks so much for all your help.

gotta love those hills.....

Ozarkguy

Esteban29304 the heater link you provided shows and interesting and good looking heater.
It is an infrared heater though, which means that your face and front side may be toasty while your backside freezes.

I still live in town, and kerosene is not permitted sold within the city limits. They adopted the ordinance years and years ago as an attempt to keep carbon monoxide poisonings/fires, etc. down. The stores advertise and sell the heaters all of the time, but you also find a lot of them at garage sales since the fuel isn't readily available.

If it were me, I'd super insulate the walls, ceilings, floors, and windows, and then heat with something like propane. At the very least have something like propane as a back up to keep heat on when you have to be gone for a long time period. Who wants to come home to a frozen jars of pickled beets with their red liquid all over and staining everything?

Insulate super well first, then heat.

Has any one used the the Logwood stove #2421 ? It was at the same site as the hasty baker.