Fire Tent Stove

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
We needed to get a wood stove installed in the house. I HAVE a Vermont Castings Aspen (the smallest stove they make) sitting down in the barn, but it's so heavy that when it was sitting in the back of my pickup, I couldn't even slide it over, let alone lift it to bring it up to the house. So, I got a tent stove, and it's way better than I expected. It's not installed yet -- I messed up and only ordered one stove pipe with a bend, and I need two, so I've got to get that. But it's here, it's well made, sturdy, well-fitted, and the firebox is bigger than I realized -- bigger than the firebox on an old wood cookstove. This is what I got: https://www.amazon.com/Winnerwell-W...SVW,B08VD8KRBK,B0792SFPDS&srpt=PORTABLE_STOVE

I debated getting a much less expensive stove (this one was about $400), but this thing should last the rest of my life and then some. And, if we ever move, it will be easy to uninstall it and take it with us.

You aren't 'supposed' to use a tent stove in a house, but this house is better ventilated than most tents (holes through the walls and gaps around windows and doors that you can see daylight through, and the back door won't quite close all the way, so there's a half-inch gap up the whole latch side of the door, and that's not even including the holes in the floor where the plumbing goes through -- one of those is big enough for cats to go through it). So I'm not even remotely worried about ventilation. We've got plenty of that. I'll stack bricks around and under the stove, except for the front and the top, so I can reduce the clearances a bit. And we already have a stove pad to put under it. The only thing I wish was different is that there isn't room to install a few firebricks on the bottom of the thing, but I may cake some clay in there and see how long that will last (need something to help protect the bottom from burning out eventually). My dad used to put a few inches of sand in the bottom of our barrel stoves (and dump it out when we weren't using the stoves in the summer, because it would get moist and cause the stove to rust). But I don't think sand will work in this -- it would get pulled out with the ashes. Anyway, I think it will work for us, hopefully for a long time to come.

Kathleen
 

Shooter

Veteran Member
i sorry but NO, you have any kind of fire in your house and your insurance will not pay for any damage, and if they see it they will make you pull it out, its not fire rated for inside a house,
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
It looks like a fire hazard, unless it's better secured so as not to get knocked over. I agree with Shooter, if you have home insurance, they will make you take it out, or they will drop your insurance.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
i sorry but NO, you have any kind of fire in your house and your insurance will not pay for any damage, and if they see it they will make you pull it out, its not fire rated for inside a house,

Not too worried. I don't have homeowners insurance on this place, and have lived with wood stoves almost my entire life, so I'm pretty comfortable that I know how to use them safely.

Kathleen
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Also, these stoves are safely used in canvas tents all the time. Properly installed (which I do know how to do), it shouldn't be any more dangerous in my house than it is in a tent. I'm a worry-wart about stuff like that, so I will do it right.

Kathleen
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Freeholder, I would call my insurance company just to be sure. My insurance company required someone to come out, and do an inspection when our wood burning stove and heater were installed. I don't have a home owner's policy, either.

It is a very nice stove, and I hope it does exactly what you need it to do.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Freeholder, I would call my insurance company just to be sure. My insurance company required someone to come out, and do an inspection when our wood burning stove and heater were installed. I don't have a home owner's policy, either.

It is a very nice stove, and I hope it does exactly what you need it to do.

I would do that, if I had insurance. Since I don't, it's a moot point. (Yes, I probably should, but...no mortgage, low income....)

Kathleen
 

oops

Veteran Member
We have an old box stove that gran used in her house for heating the lodge tent...we make sure there's a fire bucket close at hand when it's roarin during thxgvg camp...n usually just leave a bed of ash to protect the bottom during winter campin... then clean it out good before storing it for the season...
 

Hfcomms

EN66iq
Only thing for a tent stove though is it isn't going to hold the heat very well. It gets hot quick, burns up the fuel and burns out quick as well. Good old cast iron radiates stored heat for hours. If you are going to go with a thin wall stove you have to be very careful with the flue and dampers so you don't overheat the stove and warp the baffles. And you might want to consider adding some firebrick at least to the bottom of the stove. Will make it heavier to keep it in place and will prevent any burn throughs with the thin sheet metal.
 

West

Senior
Only thing for a tent stove though is it isn't going to hold the heat very well. It gets hot quick, burns up the fuel and burns out quick as well. Good old cast iron radiates stored heat for hours. If you are going to go with a thin wall stove you have to be very careful with the flue and dampers so you don't overheat the stove and warp the baffles. And you might want to consider adding some firebrick at least to the bottom of the stove. Will make it heavier to keep it in place and will prevent any burn throughs with the thin sheet metal.

Second the firebrick idea. Hers is stainless steel construct. Though if the whole thing only weighs 30 pounds, it's probably only 24 gage construct. And firebrick may add years of life.

She's not new to burning wood, so I bet it all works out.

Good idea on a budget. And if your handy. Also if she can add mass around the stove like a brick hearth even if it's not cemented in, that will add mass to hold heat.
 

Smoke

Veteran Member
For future thoughts look into the The Four Dog Stove company, reasonably priced, different sizes and accessories. I got the 3 dog stove with water tank for camping in my wall tent. Well pleased with this.
 

Hfcomms

EN66iq
For future thoughts look into the The Four Dog Stove company, reasonably priced, different sizes and accessories. I got the 3 dog stove with water tank for camping in my wall tent. Well pleased with this.

That is what I use in my cabin...the four dog model. I'm on my third one now and I use it as the primary heat source. Heavy duty thick steel and I line the bottom with fire brick. They last about 8 years using them constantly. Only reason I replace is not that they burn out but that over time and occasional stove overtemps is t hat the baffles start to warp. Really can't beat the price and they do a titanium stove too which is what I'd get if I did a lot of tent camping.
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
Only thing for a tent stove though is it isn't going to hold the heat very well. It gets hot quick, burns up the fuel and burns out quick as well. Good old cast iron radiates stored heat for hours. If you are going to go with a thin wall stove you have to be very careful with the flue and dampers so you don't overheat the stove and warp the baffles. And you might want to consider adding some firebrick at least to the bottom of the stove. Will make it heavier to keep it in place and will prevent any burn throughs with the thin sheet metal.

Yes -- this is why I plan to completely surround the stove with a brick mass, except for the door end and the top (so I can cook on top of it). I wish I could add firebrick to the bottom but the firebox really isn't big enough, and there are side supports for the grate that needs to go in there. I'm considering packing the bottom with firebrick mortar in a fairly thin layer -- that would help keep the bottom of the stove from burning out, at least. As far as making the stove heavier to keep it in place, though -- this stove is actually fairly heavy. I was surprised at how heavy it is. I can pick it up and carry it, but it's not going to shift easily just by getting bumped.

As for hiring someone to move the Aspen into the house, honestly, I didn't think of that, and probably should have. Not sure who I could even get, though. The guys are church are mostly my age or older, and have bad backs, too. But I'm glad to have the tent stove because later if I want to install it in a tiny house or my travel trailer, I can move it myself to do that. Or move it wherever else I want it to be, without having to find someone to move it for me. I may just sell the Aspen, because this tent stove is well-built and heavy-duty enough that I think it will last as long as I need it to.

Kathleen
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
One other thing to consider as far as my particular usage is concerned is that -- at the moment -- I'm not really planning to use this stove full-time. It's basically a back-up heater for when the power goes out. Now, eventually the power might go out permanently and the stove could end up being our every-day all winter heat source (though I still wouldn't run it at night -- we can bundle up and stay warm in our beds without heat at night). In that case, I probably would ask around and see if I could find someone to bring the Aspen up from the barn, if I haven't sold it before then. Or I might build a rocket mass heater inside the house. But for right now, the tent stove ought to do the job.

Kathleen
 

marsofold

Veteran Member
State Farm insures our house (with a wood stove) for about $51/month. Our stove weighs 620Lbs and took four guys straining their guts to get it into the house!
 

Freeholder

This too shall pass.
State Farm insures our house (with a wood stove) for about $51/month. Our stove weighs 620Lbs and took four guys straining their guts to get it into the house!

I checked when we first bought this house, and State Farm was going to charge around $150/month for homeowners insurance -- for a property that only cost $46,000 in the first place. At the time, our income was only my daughter's SSI, and we just could not afford to pay $150/month on insurance. We could afford it now, I suppose, since our income has gone up a little.

Stoves sure are heavy! We have had several old wood cook stoves, and even on dollies on a hard floor, it was really hard for two adults to move one of those. My little Aspen isn't nearly that heavy -- eventually I'll get it up here to the house. Actually, possibly sooner than I expected, as my sister says that she and her hubby are coming to visit right after Christmas and I think with his help, we could get that stove moved up from the barn. But I'm not sorry I got the tent stove.

Kathleen
 
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