Lowest BTU output stove with reasonable burn time on the market for 240 sq foot well insulated tiny home (Climate zone 7)?

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NBABUCKS1

Member
May 9, 2013
52
Wasatch Front, UT
I'm planning on building a 240 square foot tiny home this summer that will be well insulated in climate zone 7. I have a TON of wood and love burning.

I feel as if this will be an impossible task given that I will probably roast myself out. I also plan on putting in a mini split heat pump that will be rated to at least 5 degree F. Ideally I'd find a wood stove with a low BTU output but will probably have to settle for a propane vented heater. Unfortunately all softwood which doesn't help.

In my research, I believe catalytic is the only way to go here and the lowest BTU output I have found so far is the BK Boxer 24 coming in @ 9589 BTU/Hour on low. I'd love to have a firebox that could sustain an 8 hour burn or at least leave some embers to start it again.

Any other LOW BTU contenders I should look at?

EDIT in looking at the EPA website I have found these:
- Woodstock 202 Palladin/204 Keystone - 7606
- Blaze King Ashford/chinook/sirocco - 8900
- Regency CI2700/HI500 - 8292

NON CAT
- Morso Jernstoberi 2b Standard - 6959
- Woodstock - ideal steel - 9324
 
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Of these, the Morso 2B is more practical. But do you want to take up all the space needed for a wood stove in this small area?
 
I've been in a few tiny homes and have a friend building one. Space is at a premium. He is heating his with a mini-split.
 
That’s a pretty large space. It’s a 30 foot long RV and oftentimes these tiny homes have a loft space.

Look in the marine world. Your house will be bigger than most boats that use them. I don’t think catalytic stoves are really an option since all of these tiny stoves seem to be very simple.
 
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Highbeam said:
That’s a pretty large space. It’s a 30 foot long RV and oftentimes these tiny homes have a loft space.

Look in the marine world. Your house will be bigger than most boats that use them. I don’t think catalytic stoves are really an option since all of these tiny stoves seem to be very simple.
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Same size as our greenhouse, 12x20. I have the Jotul in there and it works, but I am not living in the space. Things like bathroom, kitchen, loft stairs, sitting space, storage all take up room.
 
You might not have a lot of luck finding anything with a long burn time that won't heat you out of that place. Take a look at the Dwarf or the Cubic Mini. Neither is catalytic but they both take up very little room. The issue I would have with either is the tiny size wood that you have to cut for them. Otherwise, they're pretty cool and take up little space. You could also look at one of the marine stoves like the Sardine or Little Cod.

We have a log cabin cottage that's a little under 400 sq ft and has a loft. We heat that with a Jotul 602 cb and that's about perfect for the space. It might work for you if you just do small fires. I think to heat a tiny place like your cabin, you may find that short small fires is the way to go and give up the idea of long slow burns.
 
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In this case thermal mass would really be your friend. Either a bunch of masonry or concrete around the stove could work wonders to moderate the output.

The other thought I had would be a wood cookstove with a water jacket, and somehow use the hot water to heat the place once the fire is out. This system becomes much more complex and uses more space however, and requires a means of hotwater storage.
 
I have a friend who wall-mounted a cubic mini in her tiny house. She loves it. You do need tiny wood for a tiny stove.
 
The cubic mini Girzzly BTU is :
Heat Output :8000 BTU - 18, 000 BTU


Thanks for the suggestion but the Morso above looks like it would provide a much longer burn with lower BTU.

I wish they made a tiny tiny house cat stove, ti'd
 
I would be looking at the Halibut wood/coal cookstove made for boats.

Edit: I also lived in a 36' Class A gasser for two years while saving up for our current house. I would suggest against even the Morso 2b and focus on stoves made for boats. We have a 2b in a 600-ish sqft dine in kitchen/livingroom (farm house arrangement) and it can easily get the house above 80 even on cold days. If your tiny house is not very well insulated it might work just fine. Also look for a used Jotul 404, a tiny wood cookstove with UL listing. It's a bit bigger than the stove I listed, but it also has legs that bring it to a working height while on the floor.
 
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The Jotul and the Morso have identical firebox sizes so the heat output should be similar. I see the Morso is actually rated a little higher for max. Don't know where you found a min. spec, but basically the stove will run on a couple of small splits. The Morso would probably be your better bet as is claims to take 18" long wood. The Jotul claim of 16" is a bit optimistic. I cut our wood to 15" max. It will be hard to heat such a small space without over heating it. To get the longer burn times that the stoves claim, you have to load them up. At least you're way up north where you need it :) I almost got a Dwarf 5 kw for our place. Glad I didn't. I found the Jotul used for cheaper. It looks way better (as does the Morso) and takes decent size wood. Since our place is log construction, it eats up the heat. Once the place is warm small shorter fires keep it that way due to the mass.
 
So I like the idea of a marine stove. Or at least a stove with water heating coil. It would be pretty simple to utilize a hot water storage tank to store the extra heat to extended the heating time. Even the diesel/bio diesel marine stove looks neat.
 
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EbS-P said:
So I like the idea of a marine stove. Or at least a stove with water heating coil. It would be pretty simple to utilize a hot water storage tank to store the extra heat to extended the heating time. Even the diesel/bio diesel marine stove looks neat.
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There are smaller boat stoves, I was just trying to help them kill two birds with one stone in a small space. Dickenson makes some that attach to the wall and also burn wood (maybe even coal too), pretty amazing.
 
ABMax24 said:
In this case thermal mass would really be your friend. Either a bunch of masonry or concrete around the stove could work wonders to moderate the output.

The other thought I had would be a wood cookstove with a water jacket, and somehow use the hot water to heat the place once the fire is out. This system becomes much more complex and uses more space however, and requires a means of hotwater storage.
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If he's building the place, he could make one of the exterior walls a masonry heater. Do an air gap and then heavy insulation on the exterior side (I'd probably make that entire wall noncombustible right down to using cement siding on the far outside, if it was me).

Wouldn't take up any floor space. Cheap to build, though the results are far from certain unless you get an experienced builder of masonry heaters involved.
 
I have been facing this same question myself for a couple of years now with our 16'x16' ( 256 sq ft) bunkhouse at the camp. I also love to burn wood , watch the fire and have plenty of free wood to burn . I have finally ruled out a wood stove . The space is just too small ( no loft) and even with a well insulated space, I want to avoid numerous reloads especially for cold winter overnight visits. The idea of a heat pump is compelling but we can easily loose power in a winter storm and being a seasonal place are typically the last on the list to get power back on . Sure , I could run a generator for those infrequent times but it's one more thing . A propane vented heater with a thermostat and a standing pilot takes care of all those issues. Woodstock stove company sells a mini Franklin stove that has an open flame that you might check out . There are other vented propane heaters such as Rinnai that are very low maintenance and dependable but don't have a flame.
https://www.woodstove.com/index.php/mini-franklin

Good luck ,
Bob
 
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Thanks Bob, while I appreciate everyone else's response here I will probably have to go the heatpump + venting propane heater route.

I could probably avoid the heat pump or install later. They are pretty cheap though these days and might be good to have both. Not to mention the added benefit of the AC
 
NBABUCKS1,
I am not aware of a flame free , vented wall heater that doesn't require power and has a thermostat but I haven't researched it enough to know . You might ask that same question over in the "It's a gas " forum which has plenty of knowledgeable people on this subject . I would be interested in what you find out and what heat source you end up using .

Bob
 
NBABUCKS1 said:
Bob do you know of any flame free vented wall heaters that don't require power that have a thermostat?
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Woodstock mini-franklin?
woodstove.com

Mini Franklin Soapstone Gas Stove

Yes, it really is only 17 inches tall and it weighs just 72 pounds! And yes, it produces a lot of radiant heat, especially for its size. People who saw the first, experimental versions of the Mini Franklin gas heater thought they were toys or a scaled-down version of bigger stoves. But when they
woodstove.com woodstove.com
 
Yes , I had suggested the mini Franklin but the poster had asked about a " flame free " vented heater towards the end of the post .
 
Yes, it may not be a realistic request. Maybe just get a Mr. Buddy for emergency heat. Or hook up an RV propane heater on a 12v battery system.
 
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An RV or boat heater would probably be ideal in this situation.
 
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