Red Dragon 7x16 conversion

[Mud Farm]

Got the power inlet put on last night. Starting to work on exhaust for the heater now and finishing wiring. Got an opportunity to go to a plant outside of Boston for work next week so progress will slow to a halt.

I will try to upload some pics again soon.

[Mud Farm]

Wiring mess


12V and 120V outlets


We have light!!!


Porch lights

[Mud Farm]

Taking it to a friend who can weld aluminum this week to add some bracing.

[Mud Farm]

[Mud Farm]

Tested it out in Colorado. Worked great!

[Rainier70]

Looks good!

I would love to see more pictures on how you set up your Nuway stove. Just wondering if I should or need to change anything on mine. Thanks!

[Gonefishin]

I really like your front counter. Looks like a perfect fit, with no wasted space, and a very functional counter top. This one's another winner.

[Mud Farm]

Rainier I used a lot of your recommendations on the stove. I have the same type of sealed port hole on the outside. I had a friend roll a piece of aluminum which I threaded with thumb screws to hold the double wall pipe which runs through the wall. The rolled aluminum runs right up to the exit port. I didn't get time to make the outside vent cap like you did yet so we just put a piece going straight up for this trip. Ran the stove on low most nights although it was warmer in Colorado this October than normal. Worked very well. It was all kind of rigged as we ran out of time before leaving but this spring I will run a permanent line to the edge of the lower counter that I can hookup the stove or remove and everything will be out of the way.

I plan on adding a small upper cabinet in the front also. The counter in the V nose really worked great. We had a lot of supplies and our deep cycle battery all tucked away nicely in there.

[Rainier70]

Your counter and cabinets came out nice. Stove looks good too. Mostly I was curious how others set them up. I like your full length heat shield.

A couple of things that I would suggest is a 3 inch cast iron damper about 18 inches up from the stove. Otherwise a lot of heat goes up the pipe. Even with the damper fully closed there is enough venting around and through the damper that you can't close the stove off with it. Mine is usually in the closed position. I got mine from ebay. There are lots of them on there. The other thing is tape your pipe joints with aluminum or stove tape especially the elbow. It is an area that is prone to carbon monoxide leaks. In an enclosed space like a ct a little leakage could be a problem.

(My damper is as high as it is because I boo booed and was holding the pipe upside down when I poked it through. ) It still works okay though.

[Mud Farm]

I think that was just a mock up picture when we were building. I did put in a damper but it almost seems like I put it too high up as I went almost up to the exit elbow. I'm going to trial with another piece of pipe this spring. It has been below 0 degrees here all week so not much work can be done

[Rainier70]

My damper is about 2.5-3 ft above the stove and it seems to work well, so even though it was initially a mistake, I don't mind that it is up that high.

I am not sure what optimum level is anyway. I couldn't find any real installation instructions on damper placement etc. They only mention that it should be higher than 12 inches above the stove. If you find it works better down low, let me know so I can change mine too.

[hankaye]

Rainier70, Howdy;

I'm thinking that the minimum distance for the damper is so that the stove (wood or gas),
doesn't gag itself like stuffing a potato in an exhaust pipe. and the greater distance also
allows for more pipe to have more heat to radiate for your warmth. Just thinkin' with my fingers...

hank

[Rainier70]

Hank, that is pretty much what I think too, and is why I left mine where it is. But I am always open for improvement if something works better.

[Mud Farm]

I might just install a 12vdc fan to blow across the pipe to spread the heat a little better. Got colder by the rear door sleeping on the floor since we didn't finish bunks before the trip. Glad I had a nice 0 degree sleeping bag. Next trip will have some type of fold up bunks and I think that will help a lot.

[Rainier70]

My floor was a major heat drain until I insulated it. The kicker for me was when the water from my waders that had dripped into my shower pan was frozen as well as a water bottle I left on the floor. Both of those where within 3 ft of the stove. That was with the stove burning all night and the air inside was a 65 degrees 3 ft above the floor.

Yes, using a fan to stir the air around will help, but 2 inches of pink foam board on the underside made the biggest difference for me. Now I seldom have to run the heater all night, and nothing on the floor freezes.