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.

I’ve been experimenting with different methods of lighting the stove. I primarily have been just using whatever tinder I can find no paper. We have lots of pine needles right now. The best result I’ve had is to place a small amount of tinder in the fire chamber, then lay 4-5 sticks in, then fill the chimney with more tinder and light at the bottom. So far this method works with one match every time. After the wood gets going you just keep pushing the sticks further into the chamber. Adding more as needed.

The stove comes with a heat ring that can be put on top. I use this whenever using a pot, kettle, or wok. It speeds up the cooking process quite a bit. I have found that stainless steel and cast iron are my favorite camp pots to use. The soot is easier to get off the stainless. The cast iron of course holds heat better. We have been stir frying in a wok, which works fantastic. Traditional camp food can be made too. After all, there’s just something about roasted hotdogs and marshmallows. One of our all time favorites though are grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in the pie iron!

The Stovetec stove is going to be my go to stove this camp season. The places we like to go are full of fantastic sticks so fuel will be free!

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.

BioLite is also developing a larger stove to be used in 3rd World countries for family cooking. Be sure and check out the HomeStove on their site.

Below is video demonstration of the BioLite CampStove.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve got a wonderful little cast iron Washington Stove Works Neptune type 2-A in great condition. It has the built in griddle, a burner, an oven, and even still has the pot rails! It was originally a wood or coal burning stove but has been converted to diesel (will need new carb), however could very easily be used for wood or coal again. This stove has been in our family for many many years and has been very well taken care of.

Perfect for a classic or new boat, tiny house, small shop, or for those unconventional types, an airstream, bus, or Tumbleweed tiny house! New stoves like this retail for close to $3000.00 plus tax and shipping and are 3-6 months out as they are manufactured in India and then shipped over (http://marinestove.com/halibutinfo.htm)

This stove is a piece of Washington history, as it was manufactured in Everett out of good ol’ American cast iron! 360-582-7893

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.

All of that changed last year during the terrible ice storm that struck Arkansas and cut its way south. We suddenly found ourselves without electricity for a full 8 days. We fired up the stove and used it for not only heat, but to cook on as well.

By this time – since my husband had been laid off from his new job after being there just a year – I was all about saving money and I was watching the electricity we used. I noticed when the electricity came back on, how fast that meter added up the units we were using when we had the electric space heater on. We decided then to use the wood-burning stove as our only source of heat.

It’s worked for us (with the exception of not yet figuring out how to regulate it so it doesn’t run us out sometimes).

Here’s some tips that have worked for us in converting from an electric space heater to the wood burning stove:

• If you’re just installing a wood burner, make sure you choose a good, quality efficient unit. My husband complained at the time we built The Little House that we could have had a whole central heating/air unit installed for what we spent on the wood burning stove and the installation. He’s glad we did that now.
• Make sure you check with codes in your area, or the manufacturer’s recommendation for installation space away from walls. We had to install so many feet of tile on the wall and floor around out unit.
• Hire a certified installer. I’m not sure our construction manager did and last year we had to secure and level the stove before we could even use it as they also didn’t bolt it to the tile properly.
• Take into consideration if you will really save money by using a wood-burning stove. I understand a cord of wood can run somewhere between $200-$300 now, depending on the area in which you live. We have access to all of the wood we need due to a few storms that have unfortunately, toppled some of our biggest trees. Our only cost comes in the form of chain saw blades and a lot of sweat.
• Wood burns dirtier than fuel, so the consideration of the effect on the environment was a concern for me. However, given we are not off of the grid, and obtain our power from the electric company, which gets it from a nuclear plant hundreds of miles to the south, we figured using a wood burning stove couldn’t be worse.
• Also take into consideration the time spent maintaining the stove. Of course, the ashes have to be taken out daily and the glass has to also be scraped and cleaned at least daily. Between working our jobs and other home projects, we have to make time to cut and split the wood and load, stoke and maintain the fire during the winter. This wasn’t a problem for us last winter when my husband was laid off, but now that I’m the one working from home, the responsibility falls on me and I’ll have to fit that into my daily routine. Also, if someone wasn’t home during the day, I doubt I would trust leaving a fire burning.
• If you’re using an existing stove, I can’t stress enough the importance of having the stovepipe (or flue in the case of a fireplace) inspected and cleaned annually by a certified specialist. We didn’t do this in the bigger home we sold and when it was inspected before being sold we were told we had a flue fire and didn’t know it. We were lucky the whole house didn’t burn due to that damage.

I would be interested to read your stories about wood burners, or wood burners in comparison to pellet burning units.

Kim alerted me to a great deal if you are in the Minneapolis, MN area. If you are looking for a tiny kitchenette unit for your home these are a bargain at $100.

Go to the craigslist listing here to get more information and purchase one.