Advice on a Woodburning Stove?

[dannyg2325]

Hello everyone,

new to the forum, and was wondering if anyone has any info on installing a wood burning stove in a static?? we live all year round in it.

thanks in advance!
danny

[dannyg2325]

can anyone tell me if it is safe to install one, i think thats more the question im wanting ask!
thanks
danny

[Darren]

Sorry Danny I've never come across this in a caravan, hopefully somebody will be able to help you.

[dannyg2325]

thanks darren, fingers crossed someone has! lol

[MoorlandMystic]

Hi Danny

I had a discussion with member Buttonmoon not so long ago about installing a woodburning stove.
Probably easiest to search under the topic Wood burning stoves? in September

[Darren]

this one- http://www.gostatic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=543&highlight=Wood+burning+stoves

[Dan]

Would be interested to know how you get on if you go down this route. Don't see that it would be very hard to install a stove, finding one small enough so that you don't cook yourself might be more of an issue. I did have a look at a stove called a Squirrel that is meant to be very good with clean burn and glass wash and all that gubbins.

[dannyg2325]

will definatly going down this route, we think we will be living in our static for the next 5 years min! will dig deeper and see how it goes, i will post up the results if anyone is interested.
thanks for the replies!

[Dan]

Very interested, be great to know how you get on.

[woolley]

A friend of mine did the same but took longer to build his house :rolleyes:12 years,

He had 2 cheap statics joined with a porch which contained a wood burner so it can be done

[trailertrash]

Yes! Put a wood burner in. Its the best thing you can do for a static.

They are relatively easy to install.

The heat they kick out is great. Lots of good heat hardly any condensation, no 'damp' feeling as the real heat you get from a burner is so different from electric or gas.

you can pick up a small burner but statics are big so medium is best.

second hand from around £100 or spend loads on a fancy one and have it as a centre piece!

Insualtion in statics are notoriously rubbish and a burner is the best way to stay warm.

of course be safe and have a smoke alarm and a seperate carbon monoxide detector too.

I've had my burner in for years, so have many other people i know.
Its also good energy efficiency!:)

[dannyg2325]

hi trailertrash, thanks for that reply. still havnt done anything with it yet. i toyed wit the idea of installing a open front gas fire instead. we have oil fired central heating running as well. but i had the idea of the woodburner as we own a moss so we have thousands of peats to burn every year.
do you have any pictures of yours at all?
thanks
danny

[ransoman]

Any news on this? I have decided that a log burner is the right route to go as i am currently paying £100 every 2 months for gas and £300+ a quarter for electricity just to heat the van. A log burner would heat most of the van and wipe out most of my bills instantly.

My only concern is that the heat of the stove might damage/Ignite the surrounding walls. what precautions should i take to prevent this?

Cheers.

[indianwells]

I would ask a caravan engineer, I would also be concerned about the safety aspect. Also, you may need to inform the park owner and your insurance company if you go ahead with this. Just a thought.

[MoorlandMystic]

my neighbour is a chimney sweep and installs woodburners. He seemed to think it would be easy to install a woodburner. BUT he didn't mention that the floor would need to be reinforced and insulation added to protect flammable structures. The chimney would get extremely hot so plenty of room would need to be left around the unit as a whole. Not practical for me with two small children.

Incidentally, I spent £2.63 average per day thru Oct/Nov then £4.59 until now, which works out as £128 per month Sep-Jan inclusive. Strangely enough, that is actually LESS than over last winter in my house!!! which was around £60 per month more running electricity for heating, cooking etc (the winter prior to that was only £80 per month for the house using a woodburner but used the tumbledrier a fair bit, so you can see the difference)

I have also had propane cylinders for cooking and hot water, altho the latter froze when it was coldest so I made a saving there haha not. Plus I had double glazing installed which has made a HUGE difference (thanks caravanwindowman) but obviously the cost for that was more than heating, but our living environment is less humid and more comfortable with few drafts.

If I were planning to live another winter in a static (and I may yet) then I would definitely install a small woodburner along with hot water immersion with rads.

[trailertrash]

Loads of people put wood burners in statics, caravans, trucks etc.
Dont get put off by people who haven't done it or dont know about it.

There are certain heights and distances from floor and wall etc you need to take into consideration when fitting, you can find these guidelines on the web.

When you cut through the ceiling make sure you have adequate space around the flue pipe and put baton up to seal the ceiling again. Condesation will happen on inside of roof near flue pipe and by sealing the ceiling it stops the drips running across and collecting onto the roof insulation and causing damp spots on the ceiling material!

When cutting through the roof cut to the size of the flue pipe or a couple of mm less. When you push the flue pipe up through hole the edge of hole should push up tight around the flue pipe thus making a sloping edge/seal.

get some sealant cant remember name. (think you can get from screwfix) that is flexible and resistant to high temps. Its a black tarry like mastick and it works great as it can seal around the flue pipe onto roof stopping any leaks and it has a little give in it too.

Check the structure underneath where you are fitting burner, if you are going across a brace excellent, otherwise you might want to put in an extra baton for reinforcement, burners are heavy.

On the wall behind burner and flue pipe use either tiles or aluminium sheet with air gap behind.

Under burner use tiles or slate or paving stone, whatever you like the look of and which will not crack under the weight and heat.

you can get all kinds of flue pipe make sure you get the right size for your burner, you can get double wall flue pipe but its pricey.

:eek:I do not accept any responsibility if you follow my information. I am speaking from tried and tested experience but your safety is down to you.Go on the web and research fitting or ask a specialist but is easy to do it yourself. Dont forget the smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector too.:eek:

Good luck.

[cinimod]

We did buy ourselves a woodburner - now we are having a challenge getting someone to fit it - can anyone recommend someone near Peasemarsh / Rye? - thanks

[parkandleisure]

As a static caravan engineer with over 26 years experience, before even thinking about the idea of a wood-burning stove first check with site owner that he is agreeable to the idea, second check your insurance company and see what they have to say.
Remember a caravan is a tinder box waiting to go up in smoke and the heat that they generate could distorte and buckle the aluminum cladding , also the advice about putting black stuff from screwfix i think it was described as, any bitumen based product on caravans can and will react with the specialist sealants used by caravan manufacturers and will when in contact with each other turn to a black runny liquid.

[caravanwindowman]

Barry, i once fitted some windows to a caravan in leeds that had a wood burner , it even looked scary, it was spitting bits out and everything, i couldnt wait to get out of there , it was scary, the fort of the caravan going up. he had it on a paving slade to so the legs woodnt burn the floor.....

i bit like having a bbq on decking ...... not a wise idea:confused:

[parkandleisure]

I agree Darren , a scary scene indeed.

[lynda]

Hi, yes a woodburner can be fitted and used well. We have a gas fire, but are considering a burner, but friends have burners installed.
Just make sure you use a good flue for safety sake, get fire resitant cenemt to join and a fire resitant base for it and fire resistant backing.
You also need to ensure you only burn suitable stuff in it, no plastic etc as the flue can get stuffed up with muck and cause fires - not good.
You can also get dual purpose burners, ones that burn wood and or coal, which may be better. You may want one that has a flue at the back so you can pop your kettle/suacepan on the top of the burner. You can also add a backburner to it and get central heating from it if you have a plumber friend!
Also make sure you get your wood from someone reputable, you dont want green wood or wood like pine that goes up quiclky but burns quickly too, or wood that spits because its wet.
Lastly, the reason i dont have one yet, it cos it does take time cleaning it, lighting it and looking after it and i quite like turning the gas on for an instant heat! But will see how this winter goes and may well put one in for next winter - we live in a static all year round too!
Good luck.

[cinimod]

Some interesting comments - seem to either love or hate them.
Having lived in a narrowboat with a woodburner with back boiler for the rads, I can say it was brilliant, and we are looking to put an aga with back boiler in our house (when we build it). At the moment we have found a lovely little stove (Nordpies Orion) with top/side/back flue options and a hotplate - and this stove is a tiny 4kw one! (Wood only)

Just need to work out how to fit it - The solid fuel association as very helpful...

[lynda]

Well, re putting a woodburner in, we decided to go for it and have just finished putting one in. Its a smallish one, 4-6kj, and the stack is set at the back so we can heat water/cook on the top. Its perfect. A much better heat, drier and seems to permeate through the static more than the gas fire did.
It took a bit of fiddling with to take the fire surround out [how many staples did they use?] and to dismantle it all so that we could cap the gas feed off safely [dont use the the water heater, only gas goes to the cooker now]. Once the gas fire was out, we put down a sheet of thick ply, then laid floor tiles on it to take the weight of the burner. We put ply on batten at the back of the bruner, with ceramic tiles on that, from bottom to top and on the exposed side of the the kitchen units, so its all snugged in and retained by ceramic tiles. The fluestack goes out the back and through the roof, we just need to add some tin around the hole and extend the flue itself by another couple of feet [underestimated] as a longer stack reduces the amount of blowback of smoke it seems. Its on and burning and keeping us warm a treat - best thing we have done. We live in a static all year round, not on a site so didnt need to ask permission of site owners, so somewhat luckier than others maybe.

[dannyg2325]

Its good hear of more people installing these.
the only thing that concerns me is the flu, a few ones have said to me that i need to use a double walled flu so that the heat doesnt build up to much behind the fire place, but this works out quite costly to do.

does anyone have any pictures of there wood burners install, would be great to see some!!

[lynda]

hiya, we have used a single flue pipe, still expensive, but less so than a double. would advice a double flue if you are not putting something sound behind the flue.
we have put ceramic tiles under and behind the burner-flue and they dont get over hot at all, just a bit warm.
dont know how to add a pic, but i may be able to add some later.

[dannyg2325]

hi lynda

our fire is in the corner of the living room, theres good space behind it .
but like u i would have tile the fireplace to take the heat.
but it is more the heat behind the fireplace where the flue would run up and through the roof.

re. posting pictures.
when you post a reply, look at the top of the box to the right and you'll see what looks like a postcard with a stamp on it.
you will have to upload your pics to photobucket or imageshack.
hope this helps

[cinimod]

You can see pics of the installation here; LINKY (http://www.cinimod.co.uk/flatropers/Technology/index.htm)

We opted for everything new from this website; LINKY (http://www.fluesystems.com/)

They were very good - and we got everything we needed.
We did get a professional installer in to fit, but could have done it ourselves - it would have just taken a lot longer.

As you can see a BIG paving slab on the floor - do NOT have any cracks in the slab or the heat will be able to go through. We also went for heat board up the back - there is a sheet on the wall, an air gap (about 1cm) then another sheet of board. It may not be the pretiest, but for us it is only temporary anyway whilst we build our house :)

You can try contacting local salvage yards and see if they have any twin wall second hand - it will be very affordable. If we had the time to do that, we would have done - good luck.

[Tescogran]

The first static caravan my parent had around 1960 was a Pemberton which had a solid fuel stove so your question is not a mad as it seems. Have a look at narrowboats for sale.....most of them will have a small stove.

[dannyg2325]

Yes have looked into this with some depth now, if you create a suitable backing for it and use a doublewalled flue and of course choose the correct size stove ie 5ish KW then it is all possible.

i found a cracking little stove on ebay:-
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Coseyfire-View-Multi-fuel-woodburning-stove-stoves-/250752321062?pt=UK_HG_FireplacesMantelpieces_RL&hash=item3a6200c626

great price too, just trying to round up the pennies :D

[canveysteve]

hi danny did you ever fit a natral fire ? im also living in my van all year an gets dam cold lol the elec from the site is to expencive as is the gass:)

[cinimod]

Totally agree that heating the van using gas or electric is way to expensive - we are lucky enough to have central heating, but we only use it for an hour in the morning to take the chill off - the rest of the day / eve we use the wood stove to keep the place warm.

When we were using the central heating all the time, last year just before the snow, we were getting through 1 47KG bottle in a week - VERY expensive! Since we have had the wood burner we have used 3 in a year! - so much better.... a very worthwhile investment - just make sure you get it installed properly - fireproofed and the chimney properly weathered.

The only thing I would do differently is to install an air extractor fan, to move the hot air from the lounge down to the bedroom at the far end of the van, as you get a big temperature difference from one end to the other!

[Angela B]

Totally agree that heating the van using gas or electric is way to expensive - we are lucky enough to have central heating, but we only use it for an hour in the morning to take the chill off - the rest of the day / eve we use the wood stove to keep the place warm.

When we were using the central heating all the time, last year just before the snow, we were getting through 1 47KG bottle in a week - VERY expensive! Since we have had the wood burner we have used 3 in a year! - so much better.... a very worthwhile investment - just make sure you get it installed properly - fireproofed and the chimney properly weathered.

The only thing I would do differently is to install an air extractor fan, to move the hot air from the lounge down to the bedroom at the far end of the van, as you get a big temperature difference from one end to the other!

Hi, there was chat about one of these the other day, incase you didn't see it here's the link guys ;)
http://www.gostatic.co.uk/showthread.php?t=3130

Hope this helps :)

[MoorlandMystic]

we finally installed a small burner in our static recently. its a cheap Chinese made stove approx 4.5kw bought 2nd hand from eBay for £100 and we bought the stove enamelled flue pipe from a German based eBay seller for £50 delivered.

it was self installed. hardest part was making a spacer through the roof and chimney cowl for the top, which was eventually and rather inventively created from a pie dish!

because it's small it heats up really quickly. knocks out loads of heat which filters through to an adjoining second static.

only problem we've encountered is slight backflow puff of smoke when opening the doors too fast, but that's fairly normal (our house woodburner did that) and nasty fumes from burning secondhand treated wood which we no longer use (obviously)

thoroughly recommend installing. I'm now looking at under carpet electric heating because, after almost 3yrs living in a static, the no.1 priority was installing double glazing. However now, what would seem to be luxury upgrade soon becomes to be appreciated as a necessity, especially with two pre-schoolers to consider.

[dannyg2325]

Yeah installed my a couple of months ago, I have thread on it, and pics in my signature