Smallish stoves with long burn and cook top

[jdraw]

I am looking for recommendations for smallish stoves that are good for cooking and can also sustain a burn overnight.

I am looking to upgrade my stove situation. Normally, my stoves come from various uncle's sheds, but I am curious if there are newer stoves out that will serve me better and burn cleaner.
I have a bit of an odd situation though and have been overwhelmed trying to sort through all the options...
I have lived (and continue to do so) in a 16 ft. yurt for the past 4 years in New England. I have vinyl walls with foil-faced bubblewrap in between layers. There is almost no heat retention over time; if the stove is not going it cools to the outside temp in a couple of hours. I have an old Morso 2B which heats it up and I can get maybe 6 or 7 hours burn out of it with good wood. It does not burn any kind of clean when it is this shut down though. It has very long legs which means that the floor is always quite cold. It also has trouble heating the space behind it, I think because it is so deep and it burns more efficiently towards the front.
I am also cooking more with wood and the top is slow to heat and while it is great for water heating it is not ideal for cooking meals. I have used a Jotul 602 for cooking and been quite happy, but haven't gotten quite so long a burn and it is also not burning cleanly at all to get long burn times.

So I am interested in:

1. Small stoves with long burn time
2. Close to the ground
3. Radiate heat from the back
4. Are cleaner burning when shut down
5. Ideally have a cooking top
6. Dream stove (also has a side or back boiler for hot water)

I do not know if such a stove exists, but perhaps there are some that get closer than my current stove. Any suggestions are much appreciated. If your experience also says stick with the old Scandinavian stoves, I am open to hearing it!
Thanks in advance!

 

[begreen]

Look at a modern Morso 2B, it's a clean burner. The floor may always be cold because the stove is pulling in combustion air through leaks at doorways or through the floorboards. Shorter legs are not going to solve that problem.

 

[stoveliker]

On the other hand, a small wood stove with more than 7 hrs burn will be increasingly tough; burn time is fuel in divided by the burn rate (which is
first approximation of heat output). Small stove means less fuel in, which means a shorter burn time. Or even less heat output at the same burn time.

Think of a cubic foot candle. Will burn and put out heat longer than any stove. But it'll not be enough heat per hour.

Adding functionality (cook, water) will likely also decrease either the efficiency or the burn time (or both) because more compromise will need to be made.

 

[begreen]

Reading the list I saw an emphasis on "dream" stove. The Woodstock Survival Hybrid might come close.

 

[jdraw]

Look at a modern Morso 2B, it's a clean burner. The floor may always be cold because the stove is pulling in combustion air through leaks at doorways or through the floorboards. Shorter legs are not going to solve that problem.

Thanks. I don't know why I hadn't thought to look at new versions of the stoves I already use. How is the new Jotul 602?
I know the floor will always be cold with it being a yurt. It's just such a small space that the heat tends to stay on the level of the stove so it is cold for at least a foot off the ground. The Morso 1410B looks to be a bit shorter, but also smaller firebox.

 

[jdraw]

On the other hand, a small wood stove with more than 7 hrs burn will be increasingly tough; burn time is fuel in divided by the burn rate (which is
first approximation of heat output). Small stove means less fuel in, which means a shorter burn time. Or even less heat output at the same burn time.

Think of a cubic foot candle. Will burn and put out heat longer than any stove. But it'll not be enough heat per hour.

Adding functionality (cook, water) will likely also decrease either the efficiency or the burn time (or both) because more compromise will need to be made.

This is the challenge of being in a small space with pretty much no insulation. I know I need a larger stove than a comparably sized cabin with even minimal insulation, but it is also a very small space so I can't go too big simply from how much space the stove takes up. I know my ideal stove is unrealistic, but if I can get a bit closer that is great.
My priority is definitely burn time over cooking or water, as either setting alarms at night or waking up at 24*F is getting tiring.

 

[EbS-P]

Cooking is easy to solve with other solutions so it would be last on my list of priorities. I see hot water storage as one of the best ways to store heat for the times when the stove isn’t burning. Long burns and small stoves just don’t work. If I was going to make it work I would figure out how to add a an external water heating loop to a stove and to a storage tank.

Or insulation
Or a Blaze king (too big most of the time even on low???)
Here’s the thing. I don’t see how any single wood burning heating appliance could keep you comfortable year round. So I would be thinking how can i supplement my stove when it’s really cold. Like the coldest 4 weeks a year. I have gotten up and reloaded the stove in the middle of the night and gone back to bed after it is cruising.

Wood cook stoves keep catching my eye but while they can be heaters they have made compromises.

The solution for all your wants is probably 4000$ or more. That buys a lot of electricity if your on the grid. And or a lot of insulation.

 

[jdraw]

Reading the list I saw an emphasis on "dream" stove. The Woodstock Survival Hybrid might come close.

Thanks I shall check it out.

 

[stoveliker]

This is the challenge of being in a small space with pretty much no insulation. I know I need a larger stove than a comparably sized cabin with even minimal insulation, but it is also a very small space so I can't go too big simply from how much space the stove takes up. I know my ideal stove is unrealistic, but if I can get a bit closer that is great.
My priority is definitely burn time over cooking or water, as either setting alarms at night or waking up at 24*F is getting tiring.

But for longer burn times you either have to go with a low heat output or go with a larger sized stove.
You only have a set amount of fuel ("heat-to-be") that you work with because of a set firebox size. If this firebox size is too small, you can either get "8 hr burns" at a heat output that'll be too low to be comfortable, or you are comfortable but have to reload more often.

That is why I mentioned it'll be tough; you want a small stove but also need decent output AND overnight burns. You already used small stoves (the 2B and 602), and evidently that was not big enough.
So, you have to go bigger imo.

 

[jalmondale]

I can't give you great advice about which stove, but I'd definitely increase your insulation as a first step - not just to stay warm as the stove dies down, but also to let you divert more heat for water and cooking (as other folks have pointed out, there's a theoretical limit to how much heat you can get out of a certain amount of wood). Some quick math says you could put up 3/4" 4x8 XPS boards from a big box store for around $200 including joint tape, which will get you an extra R3 - from what you describe as your current walls, that will cut your heat losses about in half without taking up too much space or breaking the bank (it's not the most attractive, but if you hang some cheap fabric over it, you'll get even more insulation - last I checked, the cheapest way to get some serious yardage for fabric was to buy cheap bedsheet sets, where you can usually get $1-$2/yd).

The added bonus of doing insulation this way is that it's also easily removed - I'm not sure if there are limits on how you're allowed to modify the yurt, but you can basically attach the whole setup with tape.

 

[begreen]

Knowing this is for a yurt makes a difference. I have spent some time in my friend's yurt and understand what it's like to heat at 32º. Heating in New England winter temps has to be a bear. I would put a lower priority on the cooktop unless you have no other option. My friend's yurt has the Morso 2110 in it and they regret not getting a different stove. I told them this when they got the stove, but that's another story. The problem is that the 2110 is highly radiant and has a small firebox (maybe 1.3 cu ft?). That leads to large temperature swings and having to get up in the middle of the night for a reload. Not fun when it's cold out.

I recommend going oversized and get something around 2 cu ft for more cold weather reserve and longer burn time. In milder weather just build a smaller fire and let it go out. A good stove would be the Woodstock Fireview. It has an excellent heat range and a decent long burn. The Woodstock Absolute Steel might also work, but at 10k BTUs, it doesn't have the low output of the Fireview. Another good stove would be the PE Alderlea T5. It has an excellent burn time, works on a shorter chimney and is nice to cook on. If that is too expensive then look at the PE Super.

 

[jdraw]

Knowing this is for a yurt makes a difference. I have spent some time in my friend's yurt and understand what it's like to heat at 32º. Heating in New England winter temps has to be a bear. I would put a lower priority on the cooktop unless you have no other option. My friend's yurt has the Morso 2110 in it and they regret not getting a different stove. I told them this when they got the stove, but that's another story. The problem is that the 2110 is highly radiant and has a small firebox (maybe 1.3 cu ft?). That leads to large temperature swings and having to get up in the middle of the night for a reload. Not fun when it's cold out.

I recommend going oversized and get something around 2 cu ft for more cold weather reserve and longer burn time. In milder weather just build a smaller fire and let it go out. A good stove would be the Woodstock Fireview. It has an excellent heat range and a decent long burn. The Woodstock Absolute Steel might also work, but at 10k BTUs, it doesn't have the low output of the Fireview. Another good stove would be the PE Alderlea T5. It has an excellent burn time, works on a shorter chimney and is nice to cook on. If that is too expensive then look at the PE Super.

Thanks again. I am mostly trying to use my propane cook stove inside less which is why the cook top, but I can also make do, or, with a larger firebox, bake inside the stove.
I really like the soapstone stove idea. Thanks for turning me on to Woodstock. I already stack soapstone blocks on the stove top as thermal mass, but more would be great. I am okay with colder temperatures than most people expect of a house and having something that can radiate even just a little heat overnight makes a surprisingly big difference.

 

[jdraw]

I can't give you great advice about which stove, but I'd definitely increase your insulation as a first step - not just to stay warm as the stove dies down, but also to let you divert more heat for water and cooking (as other folks have pointed out, there's a theoretical limit to how much heat you can get out of a certain amount of wood). Some quick math says you could put up 3/4" 4x8 XPS boards from a big box store for around $200 including joint tape, which will get you an extra R3 - from what you describe as your current walls, that will cut your heat losses about in half without taking up too much space or breaking the bank (it's not the most attractive, but if you hang some cheap fabric over it, you'll get even more insulation - last I checked, the cheapest way to get some serious yardage for fabric was to buy cheap bedsheet sets, where you can usually get $1-$2/yd).

The added bonus of doing insulation this way is that it's also easily removed - I'm not sure if there are limits on how you're allowed to modify the yurt, but you can basically attach the whole setup with tape.

I am actually in the process of doing this for my sleeping space. Insulating the whole yurt would be hard with the set up, but I figured I could turn my bed into a combo of Scandinavian alcove bed and functional canopy bed. There's a reason people in cold, drafty cottages used them for ages! Old wool blankets or army surplus blankets can also pretty economical for added wool insulation $3-$10 yard for 60" wide piece.