New wood burner

[trouba]

Can't wait for my new tiny wood burner to arrive. My marital status has changed and so has my home. I decided it was time to re-evaluate everything. Yep it's time to downsize. I tried the big fancy house and cars and so on and decided to live my life for myself and not the banks. I'm temporarily staying in a camper in my timber. I have electricity, water, septic and 75 acres of beautiful timber and not much else, luckily my ex wife hated it here and wanted no part of it. I have been full timing it since February and it's been great but and that's a big but the memory of - 30 in a camper is still fresh and has left it's mark. So I started the search for a new tiny woodstove that will start out its life in the camper and then be moved to my new tiny home as soon as I have decided on the final design. What woodstove fits the bill you ask? It's a Gray Wood Stoves Mini 12, I hope it's as good as it looks.

 

[stihly dan]

Sounds like you have a good plan, and some freedom to do as you please.

 

[TeeMan]

hang in there

 

[CWME]

With 75 acres of timber at your disposal you should never have to worry about having enough firewood! Hope your new stove works out for you.

 

[zogger]

Well, sucks about the marriage, but your new life sounds great! last place we lived, guy down the mountain lived in a fifth wheel pull behind he had made a real roof for and a porch and some sort of big closet thing. He seemed happy enough, he had some open and some treed acreage and raised goats. We were living in our champion RV at the time, I loved it! It was real cozy and we were parked next to a shed that was half filled with firewood for the mainhouse (we were caretakers), and I filled the rest with our junk. Thought about putting in a little woodstove, but that's as far as I got, thinking about it. We did have solar PV electricity though.

 

[cus_deluxe]

Good luck OP! Hope your stove does its job and you dont lose any fingers or toes this winter!

 

[UpOnTheHill]

That little booger looks like a great stove! I'd be prepared to keep it loaded throughout the night. I'm not sure what the weather is like in Iowa in the winter, but if its anything like here, you'll be feeding it. I have to get up at least once a night to feed mine and its about 3 times the size. Of course I'm heating an entire house with it.

 

[cus_deluxe]

winter in iowa sucks. spent a lot of time in iowa city in dead of winter, and its double brutal for sure.

 

[pennsywoodburnr]

Well, you lost the wife, but gained a more peaceful surrounding. Man I'd love to own all that acrage. I never even heard of that stove you were talking about, so I'll do some research on it after I post this. Good luck man.


Edit: Just checked it out on the site. That's a sweet little stove!!

 

[trouba]

Thanks all, the camper is only temporary until I get things settled up then it's a tiny house for me. I will keep you all posted on my install and the stoves performance. As far as keeping the stove stoked I'm a light sleeper and my old stove was fairly small also so I have plenty of practice (lopi answer) not this small but small non the less. I got kind of a strange look from the soon to be ex when I told her I wanted the wood pile. Seasoned oak was worth more to me than a couch. My timber is full of standing dead red elm so future heat is no problem. I work in Iowa City but my heart is at the river.

 

[ramrat]

trouba, I live in North Liberty If you every need any help cutting let me now . My saws just set collecting dust.

 

[trouba]

New wood burner is in testing my temps now as my clearances are pretty tight.

 

[flotek]

Sometimes in life you gotta do what you gotta do . Sometimes the choice is made for us and without control we just have to roll with the changes . Ive been there and for me this is where faith comes in to play . Once you go without all the stuff and junk we stock pile in life to satisfy us ...you soon learn that it never brought happiness just more debt more responsibility and more work . Looks like a nice little stove , burn clean and watch for loose embers

 

[trouba]

Update, still getting used to the new stove. It hasn't been too cold Upper 30s low 40s a couple of nights. The mini had no problems keeping it way warmer than is comfortable if I wanted and had good control. It was a pretty good week of testing as there was a couple of damp rainy nights not terribly cold low 50s but nice to have a small fire to get rid of that damp chill. My first Chimney configuration (2ft up 90, then 2ft out then 90, 6ft up was a good 2ft higher than anything on the roof). It just had a little trouble on the damp nights, a real test for any stove and yes before you ask plenty of fresh air available, I left the lower window in and it will fully open. I didn't want to fight those damp nights so I tried my spare 3ft piece of pipe, Wow what a difference. I probably won't need that extra pull once the outdoor temperature drops a little more. It was sure nice not to hear the camper furnace running all the time, ahhh the sound of silence. So far I'm loving my mini 12.

 

[UpOnTheHill]

Nothing like a wood fire to warm the body

 

[dave_dj1]

I'm sure you know but most campers are made out of mostly good kindling,. The risk of fire and it's rapid spread is too real, please be extra careful!
Good luck in your new endeavor.

 

[trouba]

No worries, super extra cautious, double wall pipe extra heat shields since I have such close clearances. I have, won't say overfired the stove but I have run it to the max for several hours checking surface temps with an ir thermometer and all looks good. The back of the stove has a built-in heat shield and the back of the surround I put in is cool to the touch. I'm going to add a similar one on the right side of the stove as the surround gets a bit warm. The combustibles on the other side of my surround are cool. I just like the temps on the back better. Also the stove is fully fire brick lined. I commend Lloyd for making such a great stove. My dad was thinking the same as you he said ur nuts. Even though I'm 46 I'm still just a kid in his eyes. After he watched the stove in operation he was convinced, I'm only half nuts. :-D!! He has installed to many stoves and fireplaces over the years to count and he actually said my side temp was acceptable. It's just to easy to add that extra shield. I figure ya have to die from something, God will take you when he wants but a camper fire ain't gonna be it for me. But I do thank you for your words of caution I'll keep you posted.

 

[longbowch]

Good luck in the camper this winter with the new stove. I work in Iowa City too. Are you on the Cedar?

 

[c5rulz]

Sorry about your troubles. Hope it works out.

This just reminded me of an old SNL skit with Chris Farley.

 

[trouba]

Yep on the Cedar just down from Sutluff, bout half way between Sutluff and Cedar Bluffs.