Retrofitting a wood stove

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Joe.Brown

New Member
Nov 27, 2022
1
Elko, Nevada
Is it possible to retrofit a regular wood stove for a mobile home? My father has an old wood stove he's giving me but I don't know if I can retrofit it with an external fresh air intake to install it in my mobile home. Is it possible to add this outside air intake onto a wood stove or should I pass on the free stove and buy one that already has the intake I need?
 
If the stove wasn't tested and approved for use in mobile homes your insurance may not want to insure you with that stove.

I'd pass. Maybe you can sell the free stove and put it toward an approved stove.
 
I have a DW mobile home and an older stove with no outside air intake. What makes you think you need an outside air intake?
 
I have a DW mobile home and an older stove with no outside air intake. What makes you think you need an outside air intake?
Insurance requirements for the installation of a wood burner in a mobile home.

"The stove model must have been tested by a HUD-approved laboratory and listed for use in mobile homes. A metal tag permanently fastened to the rear of the appliance indicates the name of the testing facility and the stove’s compliance with HUD Standard UM-84."

(Note that the hearth building portion of this article is in error and has mistakes)
 
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I've got a MH a woodstove and insurance, what can I say, I don't have Foremost or a MH specific insurance company and my home has been looked at by insurance company.
 
Sounds like the OP is trying to do this the right way, thus the inquiry.
 
Generally speaking mobile homes are built very tight, although thinner, they are sealed better, hence the outside air requirement. They also need to be anchored to the floor and bonded to the trailer chassis incase there is a bad neutral / ground then your at a increase of electrical potential, the anchoring is required because mobile homes can be flipped in high wind events, 500 lb stove would be a wrecking ball in that situation.
 
Back in the day, the old times, country folk would build an entire room add-on to the mobile home and put the wood stove out there.... And this is probably not the place to confess all of my other pre EPA wood stove modifications LOL
 
I've got a MH a woodstove and insurance, what can I say, I don't have Foremost or a MH specific insurance company and my home has been looked at by insurance company.
I do wonder if some insurance companies don't sweat these details when it's time to take your money, and only dig into them when it's time to pay on a claim. I certainly hear some insurance companies requiring inspection/approval of wood stoves, things mine never worried about, when signing me up and taking my payment.
 
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That ^^.
The person who looked at your home is not going to be the person who makes the decision on paying out. At that time (after sh*t has hit the fan), they'll look for and find any and all issues that they can use to avoid paying out.

If you want to do what you do, I'd get approval of the specific situation in writing. ..

To the OP: the same. You are asking the right questions. Insurance may say "yeah" now, but when things go South, they might renege on that promise. I would suggest to do things the right way as kenny and begreen noted.