A Simple Woodstove DFM

[TrainChaser]

If you say, it must be so. Although the anal problem must be a real nuisance.

[MN C Van]

Well, it is in the forties here and it is very warm inside the van with the stove burning. I need to finish a flap for the door opening because every time you open the door a little bit of smoke comes out. I also need to open up the holes in the air control. They still are not large enough.

I'm glad I used the window weights for legs. Otherwise, it would just be too easy for the stove to shift positions when you are opening the door or putting in a piece of wood. This would not be good on something that gets several hundred degrees.
Stoves need to be built very very well, because you simply cannot have a failure inside of a van , like the stove tipping over or the chimney coming off. I also need to tack the couplers on the chimney for the same reason

My initial impression is that the stove is too big. Perhaps the firebrick would work, if it is only an inch and a quarter thick.

The other issue is that it is always smoking for some reason. If you open the door without that flap in it a little smoke comes out. Of course once it started getting hot oils or the black started to smoke. And now creosote is dripping through the joints in the chimney and falling down on the stove so I don't know what I'm going to do about that.

It is one thing to have a few Puffs smoke inside the workshop, and as you might imagine quite another to have a few Puffs and smoke inside a caravan.

[rvpopeye]

More draft aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrg ?

[MN C Van]

Yes, it works fine if you keep a hot fire going. If you shut it down for the night, that's when the creosote leaks out the seams.

Finally worked on it a little more- I was pretty upset about the creosote smell in the van, and
Tested the thing outdoors.
   
As you can see, section where chimney meets the stove still leaks.
The other two sections are cured!

I'll need to install something the chimney fits into, instead of fits over, so it can't leak out.

Also installed a flap in the door, but it really didn't seem to do much- Smoke came out,  just the same.

[Blacktank]

looks like green wood to me

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D0ORSAW/ref...43b7b890b1

[MN C Van]

Yes, that's on purpose.

Think of where I'll be parked, next to a woodpile, or out in the woods.
Train as you fight.

Door seals just fine- I did spend a lot of time getting it flat.

[MN C Van]

Since last post, I fixed the leak by taking a solid chunk of steel and boring it to 2 1/2 inches, then welding it on the stove.
I didn't black it, so it's rusty in the pic.

Next, I ordered another 90° SS elbow for outside, a couple more SS couplers, some SS welding rod, and some SS scrap to make a cap.

I welded couplers on the straight pipe and outer elbow, and welded the H cap together.

I then re-blacked the stove, and opened up the intake holes.

   
   

This has been lots harder and lots more expensive than originally thought.
The joint from the straight pipe to the stove elbow could still leak a bit- So I'm probably not done, either.

[TrainChaser]

I had to have the heat on yesterday, and it made me think of you and your stove. It sounds like you're progressing!

I'm assuming that the horizontal chimney pipe is to help warm the van as the heat passes through it. I faintly remember something from somewhere long ago that said you have to be careful about horizontal chimney pipes because soot tends to collect in there more than in the vertical parts. Do you think that is true? Have you built it so you're able to separate it and run a brush through it?

[MN C Van]

Thanks for thinking of me!
Hopefully it's progress!
Remember, this is a Caravan it's going in!!!! It has to break down.
And, unlike a S&B chimney, you can just 'open it up' and burn the creosote out, because it's so short.
The one at the farmhouse in N WI was probably 50' ft long- wood stove to chimney and up three stories.


You must design around things- If you notice previous pics, the stove sits behind front seats, but exhausts out front window.
I do not like that there's horizontal pipe.


The H cap is all outside- What they still use out west. It's made to function in wind.

Chimney H Cap Google

[Roadtripp]

Old thread but doesn’t matter. Lots of people read old threads. And once in a while a old thread rekindles. Interesting stove build and thanks for sharing it. Unfortunately there’s major drawbacks to wood stoves but I have one for emergency heating. If my custom vented hydronic propane heater goes down or if it gets unusually cold.
I’m always trying to figure out how to make a woodstove efficient. Burning hot and capturing the heat. Right now I’m daydreaming of a waterbed that’s heated by a well designed heat exchanger in a fast clean and hot burn. This way there is no worry about trying to keep a fire burning or having a damped down dirty burn that might attract attention.
But I miss the days of a open fireplace and not even thinking about efficiency. But I also enjoy trying to build “better” stoves. And then there’s the old cliche; “don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good”.
Hey I like the dual exhaust he built. Hope it’s working good.