heating a travel trailer

[Rowdy]

Hey,

I live in a 30 ft travel trailer on six acres of thick oak in West Central Texas. The propane heater does not work, and with the rising cost of propane, I'm not sure I want to use it to heat anyway. I have cords and cords of seasoned wood lying in piles...

Of course being a travel trailer, there is not much room, and the the small deep freezer I have in the living room does not help either. I want to heat with wood, but I do not want to burn the place down, and cannot afford much of anything.

I do have access to a wood stove like this one: (sorry for the screen shot, my right hand mouse button is kaput)




What I am thinking is building a small insulated lean-to on the back of the trailer, covering the rear windows. Two of the windows open, and the middle one comes out pretty easy. I could put a small fan in the middle window to push the hot air through the house.

Any ideas/comments on this?

Rowdy

PS Buying the stuff to underpin it this month.

[tobo6]

Why not build a little room off the front door? I can tell you what we did when we lived in our motorhome....We used plywood sheets and boxed in a little room, it might have been 12 x12, with plywood on the top as a roof. The walls were connected with hinges so that when it was time to move the motorhome you took the roof off, and then the walls just folded back and forth for easy storage, so you didn't have to rebuild all the time.

In this little room, we had a wood stove with the pipe going out the wall. We left our front door open to let in the heat. I can tell you that we have a 36 ft motorhome and it about heated us out even when there was snow on the ground! We didn't insulate the little room it was just plywood, but we did block underneath the motorhome so that the heat wouldn't escape. Oh yeah, we kept the back window cracked open and that really sucked the heat through out the motorhome.

On the little room, we also cut out a little door to exit from. This room was more then just a heating room, it was used to place our wet clothes, boots, and to sit in for extra room. (there was 6 of us in the motorhome) while we got our place now going.

Ohhhh, please check to see where your propane tank for the motorhome is located. Ours was to the right side of our front door, so dh had to put it on the backside of the motorhome and reroute everything, because it would have been too close to the heat.

[Gary in ohio]

The vasalznag stoves are cheap low end stoves, they are not a good option for a small building. I am sure you DONT have enough room to meet all the clearance requirements for ANY wood stove in a 30ft trailer. I have used those low end stoves in my shop and they are nothing more than a foot warmer. They are leaky low end china made stoves.

[Cyngbaeld]

Wood heat is much better than propane in a travel trailer because the propane will put out so much water it will be running down the walls. I've heated with a small wood stove while living in a travel trailer. The lean to is a good idea. Line the walls nearest to the stove with aluminum foil (shiny side out) and that will keep the walls from overheating.

[Rowdy]

Originally Posted by mljjranch

Why not build a little room off the front door? .

That is where I first wanted to put the room, but where/how I have the trailer sitting makes it an less attractive option. I may be cutting down a tree that is in the way though, so it might be an option soon.

The vasalznag stoves are cheap low end stoves, they are not a good option for a small building. I am sure you DONT have enough room to meet all the clearance requirements for ANY wood stove in a 30ft trailer. I have used those low end stoves in my shop and they are nothing more than a foot warmer. They are leaky low end china made stoves.

The actual stove is very old, American made I believe. The above was just a pic I snagged online. The stove I have access to has heated a 12x 20 something building fairly nicely in the past.

I'd really like one of those nifty wood boxes that sit outside that duct the hot air in, but I cannot afford that this winter.