help heating small bathroom in a cabin

[Shortthiing_Jenn]

Hi i am new not sure where to post this. I have a cabin that my husband and i vacation to. well our woodstove works great except our bathroom is sooo cold its the farthest end of the house. we wanted to find something that would heat the small room for cheap. I thought since we always have ashes and coals they radiate heat. is there maybe something the amish or primitive types would use to store them to let heat out? I know they have foot warmer boxes for their carriages but they get pretty pricey and I would need something a bit bigger. I dont want space heaters I like our cabin to stay old fashioned we only visit it 2 times a year and its peaceful. I thought of carrying my bucket in there but not sure how ashes would do or how i would set it down on wood floors :/

 

[flyingcow]

As someone that has been around wood stoves and now have a wood boiler, I would never store hot ashes inside a building. Plus I don't think you're going to get much heat from a pail of wood coals, unless it catches the cabin on fire. And i have done some pretty risky stuff, but not that. The Amish might use something in their carriages, no big problem if you kick it over or the box spills ashes.

Electric space heater? They make some nice electric radiant heaters. Electric towel warmer might work well. Or even a wall mount propane heater maybe. Propane vent-less heaters have been around a while and don't need power if you're off grid.

 

[jebatty]

A free-standing electric heater, radiant with or without a small fan, would be the least expensive and do the job as needed. We heat our house with wood, bathroom stays pretty cool (-17F outside right now), bathroom is 8' x 9', and we put in a kick space 240v-1500w heater which heats the space very fast. It is on a timer switch so that we can set it for 15 min and it then shuts off automatically, just so we don't forget to turn it off and waste electricity.

 

[firefighterjake]

Echoing . . . small electric heater. I use one occasionally in my bathroom on the very cold days. Heats up the small area very quickly. It's small -- smaller than a toaster. Cheap to heat a small area for a limited time.

Skip the ashes idea . . . unless you really don't like the cabin and want to use the insurance money to buy something new.

As for the Amish and their outhouses . . . I have no idea. I suspect they do what folks like my father and mother did back in the 1950s and 1960s here in Maine when they used the outhouse -- they didn't do a whole lot of reading and didn't hang out in the outhouse for long.

There are soapstone heating blocks that some folks used to (and some folks still) use to heat up their beds after warming them up on the woodstove . . . but I don't think this would work to heat up a bathroom.

 

[Ehouse]

Since you are into primitive (which doesn't rhyme with obsolete in my book), Look in flea markets and antique shops for soapstone bed warmers. They can usually be had for $5 to10. They'll have a wire handle for carrying. Try to find a couple with wood or wound wire around the bale. Set them atop or adjacent to your stove, and carry them to the bathroom to place under your feet when needed.

Posted same time jake!

 

[semipro]

An electric heated floor pad could be placed under a bath rug.
http://cozywinters.com/shop/rug-hea...map=rug-heat&gclid=CIvCoeTBqLwCFcY7OgodmSwA2g

I'm not sure if these things are rated for protection of wet bodies though.

You could also go with one of the infrared bulbs in an overhead fixture like those used in hotels. Hiding it may be a challenge though.

 

[mustash29]

I saw on the local news the other day, someone in CT burnt their house to the ground, left a pail of fireplace ashes sitting on the wooden porch.

 

[woodgeek]

and then there is the CO to worry about! Less of a problem in an Amish barn than a sealed cabin or house.

Think portable propane heater like the 'lil Buddy. Has an O2 depletion sensor and is rated for indoor spaces.

 

[midwestcoast]

Well, a cold bathroom would definitely be the most old fashioned. Other than that I agree with those suggesting an electric heater.
The oil filled ones are very safe and silent. They do take longer to warm a room so you'd be leaving it in there with the thermostat set or on a timer, or both. There are narrow profile & wall-mounted options (like the towel driers).
If you'd rather only run a heater while you're in there then look at a radiant heater of some sort that will heat-up fast & allow you to feel warmer even though the room is still cool. If it doesn't use a fan it'll still be silent.
Most electric heaters of all kinds can pull 1500 watts on high. If the wiring in your cabin is old & dodgey you don't want 1500 watts running through it continuously, so get something with a medium or low setting below 1000 watts.
Stay away from the cheapo's with a resistance coil that heats up & glows like a toaster. They are a much bigger fire hazard.

 

[midwestcoast]

Yes people did leave ash buckets inside to heat rooms. Those people didn't have access to safer heat sources.
I like old fashioned, but I do not like CO poisoning or my cabin burning-down.

 

[bassJAM]

What about a typical bathroom ceiling vent/heater?

Or something like this, might be easier to hide:

http://www.amazon.com/Econo-Heat-06...F8&qid=1391203703&sr=8-1&keywords=wall+heater

 

[midwestcoast]

What about a typical bathroom ceiling vent/heater?

Or something like this, might be easier to hide:

http://www.amazon.com/Econo-Heat-0603-E-Heater-White/dp/B005DKN20W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391203703&sr=8-1&keywords=wall heater

It looks nice, but I don't think 400 watts will cut it. I have a similar 400 watt radiant unit under my desk in a job site trailer. It just takes the edge off

 

[Ehouse]

Get an insulated toilet seat to go along with your soapstone foot warmers. Warm feets, warm tushy yaaaaaaaaaah....!

 

[Dave A.]

Ditto on the idea of the soapstone or you could get by with a couple bricks heated up in the stove. Can't see where it would warm you that much unless you have contact like putting your feet on the bricks or stone. But be careful to let them cool down on the hearth enough first that they aren't going to start anything on fire.

 

[valley ranch]

Greetings, I haven't read all the posts, but I must admit, I did just that, in the early days before there was any heat in the house but the wood stove and that only when I was here. I filled a large can about 5gal, with red coals and put the LID on. I set the can in the bath room on a square piece of corrugated Metal roofing, this kept the can about an inch off the floor, the floor became warm but not hot. The coals do not turn to ash but cool into charcoal that I use for BBQs or put back into the stove. I still use this, corrugated metal, when putting the ashes out on the deck still hot from the stove, but without a lid. Keep warm.

Richard

Dave's brick idea sounds good also, and they could be set on the metal roofing.

 

[xman23]

Just saying, watch those coals. I appreciate your quest to maintain the traditional heat that may have been used back in the day. But it seams like it time consuming to do. I have a under the cabinet electric heater in the kitchen. It fits in that 3 inch space below cabinets. It uses a inline thermostat

 

[woodgeek]

Have fun but be safe....every cabin needs a CO detector.

 

[GENECOP]

I have from my grandfathers house a heavy Cast Iron container, it almost looks like a turtle, the lid lifts, it sits up off the ground on four feet. I use it in my side shed to off load a few scoops of ash or hot coal....I would have no problem bringing it in my living space and it gives off a nice amount of heat...

 

[G-rott]

Electric mat floor heaters are a sweet solution if you have want a tile floor, set up on a thermostat with a timer 110 or 220 volt, not a primary heat source but an excellent way to bump up the room temp, and have toasty feet. Once it's installed the only thing you see is the thermostat and you can mount that any where even in a cabinet or closet because it reads the temperature of the floor with a probe, hot the air temp.

Good luck and be safe,
G