outdoor wood heater

[curdog]

I am thinking about a outside wood heater for my mobile home. I belive there is a man inArk. that builds one that doesn't cost that much. I was hopeing someone might know the site. Thanks Dave.

[MadTripper]

Would you have to have one specific for a mobile home? Is it a trailer home or camper style? I'm making the assumption that since you are thinking about this type of heat, you don't plan on moving it a bunch.

So, as far as I know, these systems are only hydronic based. It wouldn't make much sense to try and directly push air with one. Most mobile homes I know of are forced air or one sort or another. So, I would think you would want to either install hydronic radiators or use a heat exchanger that pumps air through your existing duct work. I don't think it would take a bunch to set something up. Perhaps look for a small unit and see what you can do from there.

Hope this helps and keep us posted.


Tripper

[dudley_doorag]

Hey there
I use a forced air out side stove at my 6000 sq ft factory
and at my old farm house. There would be perfect for a mobile home, mine are similar to this one.
dd
http://www.outsidewoodheater.com/

[MadTripper]

That is an interesting unit. I wouldn't think forced air would be an option coming from the heat box however he definately has it working.

[Gibbonboy]

Those forced-air outside units are a good idea, but don't work for several reasons. I saw one locally, they are very shoddily made. The main reason is that in most installs, the cold-air return is right next to the hot air duct. This does not get the air circulating through the house, which is the key to heating with wood. I'm all for alternatives, but they can keep these. Also, with that uninsulated outside chimney, I'm sure creosote will be a problem, even though it's an "outside" chimney, it's still attached to the house. Wood heat CAN be cheaper, but not this cheap. Also, ask them (or any OWB salesmen) how much wood they really use a season, it's a scary amount and they won't ever admit it. I have my woodstove in the basement, which is the worst possible place for a stove, but mine is hooked up to my ductwork and has a real furnace blower on it, so it only heats the air in the living space, instead of the hundreds of tons of masonry and dirt surrounding it. I did a heat-loss calc on my cellar, I lose around 80,000 BTU's/hr at 10F! My furnace only puts out 140,000 max, so you can see how little heat actually would be available for the living space.

Best of luck in your search. You can get a heat exchanger to put in your house with an air handler, allowing use of a hydronic system outside and forced air inside.

[WRTN]

We have a Clayton wood furnace installed in our place. It is pretty economical with wood and keeps our house toasty warm. We heat about 2800 sq. ft. and typically burn 2 to 3 cords of wood per season but our winters have been fairly mild the past few years. U.S. Stove bought out Clayton several years ago but still makes the exact same stove only the motorized natural draft kit is no longer available due to EPA restrictions. Ours has this kit and it is the only way to go in my opinion. When heat is called for by the thermostat, a damper servo opens up a damper in the draft intake to stoke the fire until the thermostat says to stop. Then the damp servo closes the draft intake and the fire slowly burns. The newer stoves have a forced air draft kit that has a blower on the draft air intake and there is NO draft damper so the wood is always burning at a faster rate. You can retro fit the newer furnaces with the motorized draft kit that you will have to put together on your own but it can be done.

The US Stove version of the furnace is the 1600G. and it sells for $2199 but you can buy the same stove in the manual draft version called the 1600M from Tractor Supply Center for $1599. US Stove sells the forced air draft kit for $157 or you can put together your own motorized draft kit.

This furnace is designed to plumb right into the duct work of your exhisting heat pump or gas heating system.

The furnace we are using now was installed in 1981 and is still running but is getting kinda tired. We bought a 1600M from TSC as a spare for when this one craps out. I think the cost of these furnaces will go up tremendously in the near future.

http://www.usstove.com/proddetail.php?prod=1600G

[Gibbonboy]

I have the Clayton 1600M, and I love it. Got it from TSC, provides 100% of our heat.

[SPIKE]

My Lil' house heater works real well. I live in a 16x80 mobile home set on 10 1/2 acres and wanted to make use of the wood that i had availible, but would not want a wood heater inside a mobile home. The heat supply is through a window in the center of the house and I tied the return into my trailer duct work. The floor registers are closed except fo the ones at both ends of the trailer, so I get good air circulation.
Regulating the heat is a challange mainly because some wood just burns hotter than other and the only control you have is the amount of wood in the stove and the draft setting. Sometime I do over do it and have to open a door or window.
Like someone mentioned, there is a bit of a creosote problem because you are burning a slow fire. Since the stove pipe is about 4 ft from the house, on days when the ground is damp a good hot paper fire will help keep the creosote burned out of the stove pipe. Just be careful doing this!
My trailer is all electric and I originally was looking for a means of backup heat, but with wood readily availible it is NICE taking my cost of heating needs away from the power company.

SPIKE