Three Ways to Heat Your Tiny House

The phrase “great minds think alike and fools seldom differ” has new meaning to me now. 🙂 I just started my own blog relating to small houses, today. I’ve also noted that many of the homes and items (e.g. Jotul stove) featured also figure in my favorites listings on my own computer. This is extremely validating. Rather than repeat what you’ve already done, I’d like to include a link to your blog on my own. If you’re open to this, leave me a reply here on your blog or on mine smallhousemusings.blogspot.com Cheers!

Hi Ketdryn,

Yes, please include a link from your site. I will also add one from mine to yours. Good luck in your new blog and in spreading the word on small homes.

Kent

Most of the sources you’ve listed are radiant heat sources — which is good, because radiant heat is the most pleasant kind, but also somewhat different than the forced air heat that most Americans are used to, in that areas that are “out of sight” of the heater (e.g. the inside of the bathroom, which is behind walls) will be noticeably cooler.

Of course radiant heat does heat the air too, but it takes a while to do so and even in a very very well insulated space there can be inequities. We anticipated this effect a bit in the bathroom of my tiny house project, and put in a motel-style heat lamp for occasional use, but it’s just barely enough (especially considering the concrete floor).

If I was doing a new house of any kind I’d consider radiant electric heat in the floor. It might not be the most efficient, but it really would be nice.

Hi Bottleman,

Sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I really appreciate your input as you are actually living the tiny house lifestyle.

Radiant heat sounds like a great idea, even if it takes longer. I’ll do some research on it and see how it would apply to small spaces.

P.S. – I would like to do a article on you and your home in the near future if you would be interested.

Kent

Hi Kent- sorry it took me a while to notice your comment above. Sure you can do a piece if you want. Cheers!

[…] because radiant heat is the most pleasant kind, but also somewhat different than the forced air …http://tinyhouseblog.com/heaters/tinyhouseheat/Seize the Day, Help Save the PlanetARA – We’ve all heard the saying, &quotWhat a difference a day […]

Several companies produce a “toe-kick heater” which can fit in the toe-kick area of a kitchen cabinet. They are compact and effective. A toe-kick heater can be placed above or below a cabinet, inside walls, etc.

Happy heating.

Hi. I am most interested to follow your blog. Why? I am nearly 60 years old and own a beautiful small forested lot in northwest Arkansas, near the university. It is my plan to build a “jewel of green architecture” cottage, as my retirement home, of approx 800 sq ft, on my lot. It will be, as much as possible, passive solar, built with as many recycled materials as I can lay my hands on. There is only myself and my little dog, as I am very unlucky in love, so I am sure that the 800 sq ft will be more than adequate. All doorways will be 42 inches wide and other senior citizen considerations will be included. Thank U for your blog… U have an admirer in Arkansas. Kind regards, SD

I imagine tiny house living is similar in some ways to living on a small boat. I have cruised on my 26-foot sailboat in winters in North and South Carolina where temps go down to the 20’s and 30’s.

My primary source of heat has been anthracite coat burned in a “Tiny Tot” stove by Fatsco (http://www.fatscostoves.com/). It takes some doing to get hard coal to start and stay burning, but I think it’s well worth it.

I have been researching the tiny house idea for a couple of years now and about to set out on an adventure of designing and building my own. The source of heat will be a low voltage radiant floor heat….price wise it will be just under $500 dollors and that will be paid back in time due to the efficent use of energy. As we all age our own body plumbing goes through changes….the blood just may not flow to our lower body parts as well…i.e. our feet. Radiant heat provides a low cost to install for dyi guy, lower energy cost to operate, because heat rises, you stay warm while sitting….so your feet and body stay warm without having to jack up the heat on really cold days or nights…..I wish radiant floor heat was the heat of choice for builders…when building for lets say anyone over 50.
Stay warm and happy building

P.S. check out Z-mesh

hi, i am interested in feedback anyone may have on heating a 600sq ft cabin. I have a separate basement (same size ) that has to be heated as well. There are no walls in either floor. My objective is to prevent the pipes from freezing during the winter. I was told about a couple of options. 1 ) A company called Alpine has the following…..wall furnace, console room heater and baseboard elect hearter. 2nd option is a product called Mr. Slim. Mitsubishi is the manufacture. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thank you

I have a 700 sq ft house on the side of a little mtn here in the Berkshires. I have radiant heat with propane. It’s been great, but it fails sometimes. I think maybe the temp here drops so fast that it can’t keep up and once the temp falls below 45 in the house, the thermostat fails. I have an alarm set up to call me when this happens, but any suggestions on how to keep this from happening. I also am interested in how I could NOT heat the cabin in winter but possible put in a pellet stove and just heat and turn on water when we do get there. We can only go 2 weekends a month at this point.

Any creative tiny building thoughts???
Maggie in Mass

[…] found an article over on the Tiny House Blog about tiny heaters, exactly the kind that I need for my hut! I think one of the cute, tiny wood stoves would be […]

I love to heat with wood. It just feels warmer for some reason. Must be the whole guy with fire thing lol!

Did you see the New Shipmate stoves on ebay? they are for boats but a perfict fit for tiny houses!
They look really nice!
whm

Those Shipmate Stoves are beautiful!!! I like the black porcelain one. They seem reasonably priced as well. T

A roommate urged me to check out this site, brill post, fascinating read… keep up the cool work!

I’m renovating/upgrading an ’80s era 14 x 60 mobile home in the Pacific NW, and am loving all the info on your web site. In my retirement, I downsized from a 2400 square foot house. Rather than building a house, I built a 16 x 22 violin shop (yes, I make violins), and am planning to put in one of those tiny wood-burning boat stoves to burn my wood scraps and make it cozy when I’m working on instruments. (Currently I use one of those electric oil/radiator type heaters to keep continuous heat/humidity when I’m not working out there.) Eventually I will convert the shop to my living space. My ultimate goal is to be off grid and totally self-sufficient on my 1.5 acres.
Thanks for this great web site and all the information, links, etc. I’m getting loads of ideas for both the mobile home and the shop!

[…] know this, but reading the “heating a tinyhouse” thread on the tinyhouse forum, and the post mentioned there on the Tinyhousedesign blog, it seems like people are assuming that they need far […]

[…] know this, but reading the “heating a tinyhouse” thread on the tinyhouse forum, and the post mentioned there on the Tinyhousedesign blog, it seems like people are assuming that they need more […]

I am building a tiny house of 200 sq ft (10’x20′) with a story and a half. I want to go electric heat on both levels, just wondering what the best idea would be ?

I built a 12X20 “shed” in my back yard and am considering the options. I heat my main house with wood, it’s about 800 square feet of old post and beam, possibly an old barn converted into a house which I’ve been fixing up over the years. The Shed replaces the bedroom I tore off the house because it was rotted and poorly built. The backup heat source is a miller kero furnace which I hate and rarely use. I will probably go with a woodstove but also am thinking about a direct vent propane unit and would seriously love to have radiant floor heat. There is an insulated crawl space which I can get under but will be a pain. I’ve also considered building a heat grabber. I’d like to spend as little as possible but still stay warm in the Beautiful blistery cold northeast, upstate NY.

I’m looking for tiny, tiny woodstove. It’s autumn 2011… and those prices have skyrocketed. Base price Sardine stove, no extras, is now $1090 plus tax & shipping. Oy.

I have a Dickinson Alaskan version of the diesel stoves for sale on craigslist. Check it out instead of wood. Less dust and maintenance

[…] helpful links for heating a small outbuilding: Three Ways to Heat Your Tiny Househttp://tinyhouseblog.com/heaters/tinyhouseheat/Your in the process of designing your tiny house and […]

Also, there are small electric heaters now that have real looking flame effects such as this infrared electric fireplace. Having a warm room with a real looking fireplace still feel more realistic.

Helpful list though!

For electric radiant heat, check out Stokehole Stone Stoves. http://www.thestokehole.com/site43/index.php/products/18-electric-soapstone-heaters

Gas and electric heating is quite expensive. It is better to keep warm by wood burning fireplace- inexpensive, warm and beautiful.

Save a bundle ! http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200394664_200394664?cm_mmc=Google-pla-_-Heaters%2C%20Stoves%20%2B%20Fireplaces-_-Wood%20Stoves-_-172921&ci_src=17588969&ci_sku=172921&gclid=CP-K-er-q7oCFclDMgodLlMAYQ

Is anyone else using Dickenson Marine’s Newport Propane P 12000? I just put one in our small off the grid cabin but even hooked up to a deep cycle battery to run the fan it is not putting out anywhere near 9700 BTU’s on high. If anyone one else has one I’d love to know how it’s working out for you and what size space you heat with it. thanks!

Randy, my neighbors here at the marina in MN have a Dickenson on their houseboat, and are unimpressed with it. It does not put out near the heat claimed, and the burn times on their website are wildly optimistic. I was considering one for my boat, but I am much happier with my Mr Heater Portable Buddy than they are with their Dickenson, at 7 times the price.

This is a great article. There are a lot of ways to heat your home. I think a great way is using propane because you also save energy. I decided to do this last winter and it really helped my electricity bills. I decided to research Propane Suppliers in PA to find some great options before using propane as my main heat provider.

We have the Jotul 602 for our 510 square feet cabin. We live in it full time and the Jotul is amazing. It takes about 1.5 hrs to heat the house from 40 up to 85. It is fairly efficient too. yesterday it was around 15F for most of the day and when heating it for about 11 hrs total we used about 10 small pieces of pine. We let our house stay unheated during the day as there is no real risk of freezing. If we are going to be gone for the weekend, we just drain all the water out the house and leave it be.

We also have the Jotul 602 in our 700 sq ft cabin in the woods of western NC. We get snows and temps near zero in the winter, and this little thing heats us very nicely. I usually get a “truckload” of hardwood every year and can get through most winters with it and my Jotul. It is very efficient, easy to use and takes up almost no space.