Date:         Fri, 15 Nov 2002 09:08:02 -0700
Reply-To:     Gary Shea <shea@GTSDESIGN.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Gary Shea <shea@GTSDESIGN.COM>
Subject:      Re: Winters in the van...a woodstove?!
In-Reply-To:  <OFAAF47233.4E47EF27-ON85256C72.004B5CF9@hewitt.com>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

[2002-11-15 08:50 -0500] Doug Alcock (doug.alcock@HEWITT.COM) wrote:

> >>Hans, et. al-
> >>    A woodstove?! wow...I'd like to see that! or do that! How did you
> >>manage a woodstove in there? I'm facing my first Maine winter with a
> >>vanagon and I"m just starting to ponder safe ways to keep it warm in
> there.
> >>
> >>cheers!
> >>-arthur
>
> I saw a couple of these in homebuilt campers while living on Vancouver
> Island. A buddy had a camperised Dodge van with a very small wood stove in
> the back of the van. It was bolted to a metal plate that was welded to the
> floor. The chimney went out through an insulated ring set into a hole in
> one of the back doors --- and there were brackets on the outside to keep
> the chimney stable. He was a musician who spent most of the year
> travelling from gig to gig and living in the van. Think I'll stick to a
> Plat cat --- but the woodstove was pretty cool (so to speak) and sure did
> keep the van warm.
>
> Cheers,
> Doug

And since a woodstove needs a fairly small air supply, and good ones are often
plumbed to use non-ambient air, you can have a completely sealed system
with none of the problems that the un-vented systems have.  Of course,
plumbing that chimney has got to be a giant pain!

I lived with a very small and efficient woodstove in a cabin just
outside Aspen for a year or so, the brand is eluding me (it was
something Nordic and not readily pronouncable), but it shoebox shaped,
maybe a foot square and 2 feet long, and it could keep a medium sized
room in my cabin pleasantly warm.

I guess a woodstove is a bad idea in the presence of children and
dogs...

        Gary