New here!!! Help me pick a wood stove for my Hunt/Snowmobile 12X20 Bunkhouse please.

[snow4me]

My name is Daryl, I live in S/E Michigan and have a Hunt/Snowmobile camp in Grayling MI. I have a wife and two kids and have been busy gutting this little bunkhouse to get it ready for some family fun. I want to put in a wood burning stove and I was told this is the place to be to help me pick one out. We only use it for hunting and snowmobiling and only need to heat it on the weekends. I want the best quality there is and I want to be able to see the fire from the front and vent it out the wall, not the roof. The place is very small as you can see by the dimensions and is basically just an open room with some beds and a half loft for the kids to sleep up there. I plan to heat it with hard wood that I will be cutting and splitting myself. I will probably be having the inlaws turn on a couple of 240V electric baseboard heaters before we get there to warm the place up a bit until I start the fire. Any help with my idea would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SlyFerret]

I would think that an Englander 13-NC would be hard to beat from a value standpoint. I have it's big brother, the 30-NC, and I have no complaints whatsoever about the quality. Great stove.

You didn't mention what kind of budget you have for this project. How much are you looking to spend on the stove install?

-SF

 

[deadon]

I have a 32'x32' four room cabin in the mountains of west central Pa and I heat it with an fireplace insert and a ventless propane wall mounted heater. I use the propane for a couple hours after we get there and by then the insert can handle it down to about 0 to 10 degrees any lower then I use the propane a little more. With the experience of this insert I would not make that choice nobut I do not want to make a change, my insert is only 2 years old and my wife did such nice work on the stone I would be in big trouble if I took it out . The camp next door has a vermont castings cat stove and he can cook you out.

 

[Jags]

Lots of good stoves, but what you will probably find is that anything that won't require feedings every 4 hours is gonna melt your snowmobile boots. Its gonna be hard to find a stove that heats this area without overheating it. Maybe a small soapstone?? The englander 13 model is surely a good stove, but may be too much stove for the area.

Its one thing to be nice and toasty warm after a day of snowmobiling, but its another when you can warm up your hot chocolate from across the room. ;-P

 

[snow4me]

Well thanks for the replies so far I am a little concernerd that I will get the place too hot which I don't want. I do know that I want a free standing fireplace with the ability to see the fire from the front through the glass. I am planning on having (2) oil filled 240V electric heaters as backups and just to warm the place up. They will have thermostats so they will come on in the event I run out of fire during the night. I know that there are probably better ways of heating this small place but I want the family to be able to enjoy a cozy fire on the couch in the evening fired by wood we cut ourselves. Kind of a step back in time deal for us.

Thanks guys!!
Daryl

 

[Jags]

I really would consider a small soap stone stove. The heat curve is gonna be softer than a plate or cast stove. That and when using a small stove (which you are really gonna need to do), the soapstone will radiate heat after the fire is out.

 

[fossil]

In 240 square feet, you really don't want much stove, and I wouldn't think you'd want a stove with much of a footprint required for clearances & hearth. Browse through the stove manufacturers' offerings and pay particular attention to clearance requirements and heat output. Whatever stove you put in, you don't want to be building little smoldering fires in it just to keep the place from getting too hot. My workshop's bigger than that, and my little Century stove will cook me right out of there if I let it. Rick

 

[Jimbob]

This is the smallest stove I know of that still has a glass door.

(broken link removed to http://www.drolet.ca/product.aspx?CategoId=1&Id=179&Page=spec)

Takes up 18"x25"
Probably still too big, but it's the smallest I know of.

This VC aspen looks small too, but I don't know the price.
http://wiseheat.com/wood-stoves/Vermont_Castings_Aspen_1920

 

[Perdido]

Snow, please post when you make your decision. I'm trying to pick a stove for a 12 x 24 cabin, almost the same size as yours. BeGreen suggested the Jotul 602 (broken link removed to http://www.prestontradingpost.com/jotul_602cb.htm), which would be a good choice because it's small, but as someone just pointed out it would have to be refueled often.

 

[KP Matt]

How about this:

(broken link removed to http://www.morsoe.com/global/Products/Wood-burning_stoves/1400/Model_1450/Morsoe_woodburning_stove_1452.htm)

I don't imagine it would be cheap, and I'm not even sure this model is available in North America, but the other 1400s are - but much less thermal mass. Problem is, 12" logs only.

Did you mention whether the cabin was insulated?

I had looked at that Drolet Compak before - nice looking stove, but why is it EPA "exempt" and what does that mean about how cleanly it burns?

 

[Jimbob]

I had looked at that Drolet Compak before - nice looking stove, but why is it EPA "exempt" and what does that mean about how cleanly it burns?

It is EPA exempt because the air control can't be turned down as far as it can on EPA stoves.
It burns less cleanly than an epa stove, but the place the original poster was referring to is only used occasionally, so clean burning isn't as much of a priority, I imagine....

 

[snow4me]

Thanks guys!! I am now really confused!! I like the small stoves that jimbob linked but the burn time is so short, I don't know if I want to keep having to restart the fire in the morning or stoke it in the middle of the night. Do I want a catalytic or non-catalytic stove? Do I want the ash pan for cleaning? WHat do you do if the stove doesn't have one? If this helps, I want the BEST stove I can get in a small package that won't burn me out of the room. Price max is about $2500
Thanks so much, Daryl

 

[snow4me]

Boy, the Jøtul F 100 Nordic QT looks like it might just fit the bill. It doesn't look like it has an ash pan for easy cleaning but I could always scoop it out at the beginning of the weekend before I start my fire. Am I missing something important or does this look like the way to go?

Thanks!!

 

[myzamboni]

Boy, the Jøtul F 100 Nordic QT looks like it might just fit the bill. It doesn't look like it has an ash pan for easy cleaning but I could always scoop it out at the beginning of the weekend before I start my fire. Am I missing something important or does this look like the way to go?

Thanks!!

I was going to mention the F100. With the small cabin size you will have to deal with a smaller stove and more frequent looading. If there is a soapstone the size of the F100 that would be even better for a 'flatter' heat output curve.

 

[snow4me]

The Jotul F 602CB is a bit narrower isn't it? So if I have this correct, the F100 is an E-W load and can handle a 16" log and the F602 is a N-S load and can also handle a 16" log? Is the E-W load a problem? Looks like I'm getting close to picking something out!

Thanks again!

 

[snow4me]

Well, I priced the Jotul 602 and they want $958 and the Jotul F100 is $1182
Do these prices sound inline? This is at a local hardware by my house.
Leaning toward the F100 becaise of the bigger window.

Thanks, Daryl

 

[Jags]

Well, I priced the Jotul 602 and they want $958 and the Jotul F100 is $1182
Do these prices sound inline? This is at a local hardware by my house.
Leaning toward the F100 becaise of the bigger window.

Thanks, Daryl

Sounds like the right neighborhood to me. Them little Jotuls are top notch stoves.

 

[snow4me]

Gotta have the wood. Just something about being up north and a nice fire with screaming kids in the background that warms you heart. Don't ya think?