Stove for Mobile Home?

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bcnu

New Member
Hearth Supporter
Dec 1, 2006
495
Have been thinking used but the tax credit and all I might as well go new. It's an older single wide and I'm wondering if something like an Englander, rated at 1500 sq ft is to big. Can you keep then on a low enough setting to keep the fire going? Had a pellet stove in our house, Envirofire, I think, a few years back and it would sometimes stall on lowest feed rate. Any suggestions for a stove?
 
low end btu output for the 25-PDVC (which i currently heat with in a 1250 sq ft ranch)is rated at approx 8500 btu i expect it wouldnt run you out at that rate. it can be dialed up or down a bit also (you would want to chat with me or one of my techs first for presets that would allow this) that stove or one of similar output would probably be a good fit for your home.
 
stoveguy2esw said:
...... that stove or one of similar output would probably be a good fit for your home.

Yep, I agree w/ what he said.
 
Trailers are easy heaters. The layout may be a bit daunting due to the length to width with a hallway down the side layout but it shoudn't be a problem. With the size thing you have to consider any pellet, corn stove is a slow heater like a monitor type. You aren't going to walk in kick it up like the furnace and it will be 15 degrees warmer in a couple minutes. They just don't work that way or well like a central heating unit. When you want to warm things up you will want all of that 40 to 50K btu's or more to get it there. Conversely you can always turn it down and that low setting should be just right much of the time. A thermostat will go a very long ways towards evening out your heating needs believe me and saving you much money in the long run. A small fan on the floor of the hallway will help you get heat to the back bedrooms as long as you leave the doors open. The fan in the hallway is a bit of a pain but you should get used to stepping by it soon enough.
There is only one BIG issue with a space heating stove in a trailer though, the water pipes. You may or may not know that the piping is protected from freeze damage by heat loss from the furnace heat ducts. Depending on how cold it gets and how well insulated your skirting is and protected from the wind you may have some freeze up problems. Thats the one thing you might want to keep in mind.
 
appreciate the replies. Driz - No problem with pipes freezing as the central heating hasn't worked for years. Small old wood stove in there for years but took it out. Since size may not be a prime concern I now need to consider new vs used. In my research I found that Oregon will give u a tax credit of $10 for every ton of pellets u purchase.
 
The good old Willamette Valley - Leaving out last year - which they say was a once in a hundred year winter(and I hope so)...and this was a once every 30 year summer(again, I hope so) That leaves the norms around 28-40 degrees for most of the heating season. I am replacing the old aluminium frame windows with new double pane vinyl, which will help. Don't really want to get too fancy of a stove. We probably spent $100 every spring on maint/cleaning and replace an ignitor and a pellet pot n our 4 years of use. I'm looking for basic - but thinking that we may move it to our house at some point.
 
I dont know how things are out west, but one of the things that is listed in my Harman P38 stove manual is that the stove is approved for use in mobile homes. I dont know who does the approving or if it is a requirement everywhere though.
 
Jester said:
I dont know how things are out west, but one of the things that is listed in my Harman P38 stove manual is that the stove is approved for use in mobile homes. I dont know who does the approving or if it is a requirement everywhere though.

jester, when a stove is submitted to the testing agency for listed certification and UL compliance it can then be tested for mobile home compliance should the manufacturer request it. this certification is necessary to allow the unit to be mounted in a mobile home. not all stoves are so certified though i imagine those are mostly older models. i'd be suprised if any freestanding pellet stoves of modern design are not MH approved. there are also requirements for installation which are different than a "stick built" home install , such as mandatory OAK install , and the bolting of the unit to the floor and grounding the unit to the frame of the MH. the requirement is not a "local" code issue but a national standard (im thinking its a "HUD" standard), no stove which does not have a mobile home certification can legally be installed in a MH anywhere in the US. hope this helps ya!

BTW the ESW 25-PDVC series is mobile home certified as well.
 
I wasnt sure they were all certified or was a local requirement. It woulda been a bummer for BCNU to buy a stove, then go to pull permits and have the building inspector turn him down.
I believe mobile homes arent allowed in my town so it was never an issue daling with them here.
 
Mobile homes not allowed where u live - interesting. My understanding is pretty much like stoveguy described. Also, it is much easier to find a certified pellet stove than a wood stove for a MH. I called some dealers and am still on the fence. I do see a number of used Whitfield stoves around -from dealers and private parties, but, from things I've read here in the past, older Whitfields may not be a bargain. A local dealer has an older model for $750 with a 90 day guarantee, but i can get a variety of new stoves for around $1600 after tax credit. So which is the better deal?
 
If you can find a used Harman they can transfer the warrenty to you, and I think they have like a five year deal for a warrenty. Seems like for the price difference if you have the spare loot new might be the way for you to go.
 
criterea: bolted to floor, outside air installed, grounded to frame.
 
Les Biancat said:
how does a blocked flue or power outage differ whether in trailer or castle when installed via a proper OAK?


it probably doesnt , but the rules are the rules, want em changed call your congressman. until they are , they are. i didnt write them
 
Les Biancat said:
summit said:
criterea: bolted to floor, outside air installed, grounded to frame.
bolted to floor makes sense for earthquake or tornado or foundation failure. why the grounding to frame?& would grounding to copper pipe or groundrod suffice?

i dunno about the cooper pipe, but the house ground rod, maybe... although, depending on stove placement, i would think running a groundstrap down to the steel trailer frame which runs the length of the mobile home would be a fairly easy install (at least, thats how we have always done it when grounding a pellet unit in a mobile home)... the grounding thing is part of the code book, i think its more of a preventive measure against electrical storm, lightning strikes, etc... Bolting it to the floor is also a measure for transport of said mobile home... the last thing people tend to remove from those things when trensporting are the big appliances... without being bolted to the floor, a sudden stop could send a several hundred pound steel pellet stove crashing thru your walls...
 
No science required here, just saving your bacon. Just let the place burn down for some other reason even and watch that friendly insurance adjuster smile. Not that he would but I still bet they would deny your claim and leave you hanging out in the cold if that stove wasn't approved. Don't trust em for one single second on that and rest assured "doing the right thing" is strictly an option in their vocabulary. If there is some sort of obvious out they will likely take it so don't ever for one second trust them. Thats why that silly certification is the most important thing in this bass ackwards world of late. One other little snippet most folks don't know is that the insurance they get if they buy it with the "trailer" when its new is that it very often only covers the outstanding balance on the loan. Second it usually gets tossed into the financing so you get a 15 year note on an insurance payment so you are essentially getting fleeced twice. That is buried in the fine print so deep and small its like looking for Blackbeard's treasure.
 
Follow up to my original post - I just completed transaction for a refurbished TimberRidge. Looks like it will do the job for the place - thanks for all the posts as I've been looking for the right stove for a long time. Now it's time to head down to the local farm store to grab a ton of GoldenFire or Bear Mt pellets. Oregon gives a tax credit of $10 a ton - every little bit helps.
 
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