Tiny House Blog

by Case Turner

A while back I wrote to you about the Stovetec stove. I purchased one of the two door models and thought you might like to include a brief write up on its performance. Granted, this is an outdoor stove, but it works great for cooking and would be a fantastic alternative for those who don’t want to put a traditional kitchen into their small abode. This camp season it will be our number one cooker. In preparation for camping season we have been using it weekly in the backyard burning up every little stick we can scrounge up.

First, and foremost I would like to mention that I have no connection with this company. Admittedly. I do have a fetish for outdoor cooking equipment. I peruse garage sale, surplus stores, thrift shops looking for outdoor stoves and cooking gear. I have been lusting over the Stovetec stoves for a while. At our annual sportsman show this spring, Stovetec had a booth and I couldn’t resist. I purchased the two door model and headed straight home. I hurriedly unpacked my new toy and immediately scrounged up every limb, stick, and a pile of pine needles I could get my hands on. I grabbed the tea kettle from the camper and 10 or so sticks later I had boiling water. I spent the next several hours in the backyard burning sticks and boiling water. At the end of the session I dampened everything down and simmered water for a good half hour!

The wood that I have been primarily burning is lodge pole pine. I split these from our wood pile. The sticks end up being about 1 in x 1 in x 18 inches . Lodge pole burns good and hot, but a bit fast. If one was to use hardwood you would have a better fire for simmering. The sides and the bottom of the stove do get warm, so be careful. After a hour or two of burning they are not, however, excessively hot to the touch. As you can see in the pictures I have my stove set on OSB. I wouldn’t advise this setup, just because embers and such could jump out create a fire hazard. Aside from that I would have no problem setting this on a stump or picnic table and using it. I have since replaced the OSB with Metal. This stove is not a good candidate as a heat source. Obviously the open chimney wouldn’t work in a confined space. It also holds its heat and doesn’t like to give any of it away. Continue Reading »

Our power was out all day yesterday and into the night because of a power pole going down. It got me thinking of having a backup source for cooking and power. Though  a little off topic I think this little stove is worth a look.

I enjoy backpacking, although I admit I haven’t been doing it as often these days. When backpacking there is nothing like a hot drink in the morning and evening or a hot meal at the end of the day. A good backpacking stove is a must if you wish to enjoy this.

I have been frustrated with the high cost of fuel for these types of stoves, the hassle of hauling it in and out, and so when I saw this little stove it caught my attention for several reasons.

1. Lightweight. The BioLite CampStove is designed as a lightweight backpackers stove but does not require you to haul in fuel. You can gather it where ever you are.
2. Charge your phone or LED lights. This you won’t find on most backpacking stoves. If you need to be contacted and need a charged phone or camera you can do it with the charger built into this little stove.
3. Have a backup system. Where we live the power tends to go out fairly frequently and you can be without power to cook, etc. This little stove could work as a backup system during an emergency or when the power is out. You could still enjoy a hot meal, charge your phone, LED lights, etc.

While you would not want to use this in your tiny home, how about out on your porch? This little stove will soon be available and while it is not cheap at $129 it is very comparable to other stoves of its size. I personally am seriously thinking of purchasing one for myself. If you are interested you can reserve yours at the BioLite website. Continue Reading »

Here is a new invention that may help Tiny Home owners achieve independence from propane or electricity for cooking their meals, The Natura Lite stove by Lodge-tech, it uses 100% vegetable oil.

It operates similar to a water cooler by keeping the fluid level the same, the yellow flame of the stove burns at a much slower rate and lower temperature than the blue flame of propane or other gases, so the saving are as much as 30-50% or more, even if it seems a gallon gas or pound of propane is less expensive.

It does not boil large amounts of water very quickly, but it is wonderful for cast iron skillets or small dutch ovens and fantastic for steaming any meal piping hot in 30-45 min.

It is very safe to operate and will usually will self extinguish if knocked over, the oil bottle has strong magnets at the base to keep it firmly in place, and storing the oil is vastly safer than propane or other fuels.

The stove is available at www.lodge-tech.net.  Lodge-tech also makes yurts, domes, greenhouses and a low cost earth toilet.

Matt came across this on youtube the other day. A type of rocket stove I think. It would be very cheap to make and operate.

A sawdust burning stove which burns smokeless, unattended for over 8 hours per charge. Perfect for a woodworking shop or other small space.

I did a little more research and found a great article on Mother Earth News on building sawdust stoves. Here is the link to the article.

Alice found this one. These are designed and made by Kisangani Smith Group in Tanzania. They have a sustainable forestry and teach youth blacksmithing skills.

Here is another craigslist ad for a marine stove. One of my goals with the Tiny House Meets conversation is to figure out the best place to put all the great craigslist ads without them being posts. Right now I am leaning towards either creating a specific page or only highlighting them on the Tiny House Facebook page. I feel they are important as they let you know what is out there but I don’t have time to make posts out of each and every one of them.

This one is important though, as Olivia is trying to raise funds as quickly as possible so that they can do a medical treatment for her grandfather. Plus it is a real bargain at $875 and I think someone in the Tiny House community may find good use for it. Here it is in Olivia’s words and you can view the craigslist ad here.

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Guest Post by Kerri Fivecoat-Campbell

The temperatures are dipping and the weather forecasters are predicting frosts – if you haven’t see them already – and it’s time to start cranking up the heat again.

For those of us who live in smaller sized homes and have access to wood to feed the wood burning stoves, though, it’s time to breathe a sigh of relief, as we won’t be paying the high electricity bills for the air conditioning of summer.

When we built our Little House, we intended on using it primarily in the summer, so we didn’t go to the expense of installing a central air system, as we figured we could use a window air unit and a wood-burning stove in the winter – along with space heaters. I did want a beautiful rock fireplace, but given we ended up living in The Little House full time, I’m glad we went for efficiency, rather than beauty.

For four years of using The Little House as a weekend retreat and mainly over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, we never used the wood-burning stove. Even during the first year we lived here full time, we only used a space heater, as the place is so well insulated, it used relatively little energy. As well, having just moved and the transferring of jobs didn’t allow my husband the time to cut wood.
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