Furnace idea.

[oakinteriors1]

Tiny Woodstove in a Tiny Camper...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5KPRGK_xqo

Tiny Tot wood stoves...
http://www.fatscostoves.com/

[mikeschn]

The forced air furnace can be had new for just under $500. that's a lot of money to put into a sleeping pod.

But if I built a little bit larger vardo, maybe large enough for 2, and drop in a $139 propane stove, that's affordable.

Mike...

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Some great ideas here! But I still like Bob Henry's window unit attachment and his mini pot-belly stove. Its there when you need it, but it doesn't take up space in the summer when you don't.

Yes, you may have to feed wood into it, but its better than nothing and your fuel source is virtually unlimited.

Instead of a mini potbelly stove, I'm planning on trying to come up with a slower burning, DIY wood stove variant of a rocket stove that will accept wood pellets too. It will have a vent pipe, a fresh air intake, and also a shutter on the intake end of things to control the oxygen input and flame intensity, and also prevent flame backdraft.

I like this as a starting point....



The sand and rocks work as an insulator, but they will also retain some heat after the flame goes out.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Oh, and for fire-resistance, forget heavy cement board. Look into using ceramic fiber blanket. Lighter weight and flame resistant to 1200 degree Celsius.

Ebay linky - 24" wide, 1" thick, by the foot.... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ceramic-Fiber-I ... 1166851971

[MtnDon]

Propex. Smaller output than the typical American RV furnace. $700 and up. 93% efficient, quiet, 1.4 amps (needs 12 VDC)

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/ ... ?id=684786

http://www.rockymountainwesty.com/category_s/41.htm

http://westyventures.com/propex.html

[RandyG]

Yall are getting too expensive now. I like the simple ideas, or maybe I just like the fire. Makes camping in a trailer a little more primitive. Ha, I'm one to talk, I'm still thinking about surround sound.

[oakinteriors1]

Be nice to have the superinsulated fire box outside and somehow run a portion of the flue pipe inside to pull the heat of it....
Or could build a thermosiphone system with a mini radiator inside and outside have a water jacket around the firebox....

[Socal Tom]

Personally, I'd suggest that the next pod have 3 x 3/4 holes in the lower door, and the upper rear wall, but with small rotatable discs over them that can be twisted to adjust the size of the air gaps.


If these people are homeless, then providing a place like this, even without heat is a huge improvement. When you start adding fire to the equation, then a someone will end up burned. If you add a sleeping bag, and some warm clothes, then the pod will be warm, safe and dry. Just playing Devil's advocate here, and the devil's says K.I.S.S. ( Keep it simple silly). These folks are living rough lives, malnourished and often suffering from mental health disorders. None of which keeps someone at peak cognitive ability. Making them responsible for tending to fires and ensuring they have enough airflow might be asking too much of some of them.

I applaud what has been done, and the intent of the group,
Tom

[mikeschn]

Personally, I'd suggest that the next pod have 3 x 3/4 holes in the lower door, and the upper rear wall, but with small rotatable discs over them that can be twisted to adjust the size of the air gaps.


If these people are homeless, then providing a place like this, even without heat is a huge improvement. When you start adding fire to the equation, then a someone will end up burned. If you add a sleeping bag, and some warm clothes, then the pod will be warm, safe and dry. Just playing Devil's advocate here, and the devil's says K.I.S.S. ( Keep it simple silly). These folks are living rough lives, malnourished and often suffering from mental health disorders. None of which keeps someone at peak cognitive ability. Making them responsible for tending to fires and ensuring they have enough airflow might be asking too much of some of them.

I applaud what has been done, and the intent of the group,
Tom

Thanks Tom...

The original intent, as I understood it, was to get the folks out of the tents and into individual sleeping pods. So I came up with some insulated sleeping pods. Perhaps I errored. I should have put 3 holes in the bottom of the door, instead of the 1/4" gap across the bottom. Maybe the pods wouldn't have been so cold. And I do know that at least one of the guys is sleeping on a cold air mattress, and I don't know if he has a good warm sleeping bag or not.

The campground was hit with some extreme cold last weekend, and they put all the campers into a tiny camper that was available. Their heat source was a propane stove in the camper. They said it got so hot they had to open a window. That's probably a good thing. They probably exhausted the carbon monoxide, and brought in some fresh oxygen!

I've been looking at heating solutions for days now, with the help of many folks here on the forum. And there is no easy answer. Well, okay there is an easy answer, but it's not the most cost effective solution. I like the everest 12000 btu forced air furnace. But it requires that someone keep them in propane AND that someone keeps their 12 volt battery charged. Oh, and did I mention that those now run approx. $500?

I did find a wood burning stove that seemed cost effective. But I've yet to come up with a way to put it in the pods.

A review on the internet of ice fishing shacks where these wood burning stoves are used reveals that the ice fishing shacks are significantly larger than the pods. And probably quite a bit heavier too. I'm not sure that a couple guys could lift that up and drop it on a trailer.

I think most of us participating in this thread understand the problem, and realize there is no easy solution. But we keep suggesting... maybe someone has a thought that will trigger the next innovation...

Speaking of which... what would it take to put a propane burner into one of those cookie tins?

Mike...

[oakinteriors1]

For a wood stove aplication (BobHenerys stove) this looks real save ..and detachable...because wood is free....

[mikeschn]

If only they would turn on the electric in the campground. Give everyone a mattress warmer, and we wouldn't have to worry about them burning themselves down...

Electric is still the most economical solution in this situation, and certainly the safest.

Otherwise we will have to keep reviewing the millions of ice fishing shacks out there on the internet, looking for the safest, most economical combination possible!

And with that said, I will hit my sack of hay, and mull over the myriad combinations I have seen today!

Mike...

[Socal Tom]

If only they would turn on the electric in the campground. Give everyone a mattress warmer, and we wouldn't have to worry about them burning themselves down...

Electric is still the most economical solution in this situation, and certainly the safest.

Otherwise we will have to keep reviewing the millions of ice fishing shacks out there on the internet, looking for the safest, most economical combination possible!

And with that said, I will hit my sack of hay, and mull over the myriad combinations I have seen today!

Mike...

for the $500 bucks that a furnace costs, you could buy a generator that would power electric heat in several pods.

Another option, instead of a wood stove in the pods, how about a wood stove outside that heated water that could be pumped through in the floor hoses, radient heat style? Each pod could have a small hand pump to circulate the water, I think with a gallon or two of hot water under the floor the pod would stay warm for a long while. Either way, if you get cold, turn the crank for a while and it will warm back up.
The fire stays outside, no electricity required.

With slightly higher complexity you could add 12V power and a thermostat to control it. It still requires someone to feed the fire occasionally, or if they will let you set up a hot water heater, then just route the water from there.
Tom

[Shadow Catcher]

The idea has been in the back of my mind for some years using an outside "boiler" and transferring heat in using an antifreeze mixture. My current thinking is using a, automotive heater core for the inside the pod/trailer heat exchanger and an automotive/truck oil cooler in the firebox. My reasoning is that oil coolers (at least mine does) have relatively wide spaces between the 'tubes' and are some what less likely to be clogged by junk and would be easier to clean. The other alternative is just a coil of copper tubing. If done properly you might have a convection current and not need a pump, but solar low voltage hot water pumps are available. Size the hose burst pressure properly and there is little risk of boiler explosion.
Using an RV water heater as a "boiler" has advantages, this however requires propane where a wood, coal, waste paper fired boiler would not. I particularly like being able to use re-purposed items from a junk yard is attractive. Having worked with homeless many of whom are mentally ill, (the direct result of government policies not carried out well), anything that can go wrong absolutely will and having a fire not well contained scares me no end.
Copper tubing would be the best choice but "scrapping" would mean it would likely be stolen.

[Socal Tom]

Antifreeze is a good idea. For simplicity sake, Instead of an oil cooler in the fire what about something like the a 55 gallon drum ( or a heavy pipe) divided into two sections, a firebox down below, then put the antifreeze in an upper tank, cool antifreeze would be added to the top and warm antifreeze can be drawn off from the bottom of the tank above it. I would leave the upper boiler chamber open to the atmosphere (vented) to prevent creating a pressurized system ( but with small openings so that any spill would be slow). The antifreeze would be mixed to prevent freezing, boiling would be ok, to prevent overheating of the system.

Tom
edit,
If you go with a pressurized system, then you can also add an automotive radiator cap to vent off pressure and then you can control where it "bursts"

[MtnDon]

If using some liquid heat transfer system we should be certain to use a non toxic anti freeze such as propylene glycol. Not the standard ethylene glycol auto antifreeze. That's in case of any leaks. Buildings with anti freeze in the radiant floor heat systems require that by law.