I am building a 12’ Yurt for meditation and will use it year round. I live in the mountains and need to heat it in winter. Temps in winter can range anywhere from 0 degrees to 30 degrees. Because the space is so small I don’t need a building permit as long as I don’t install a heating system (e.g. mini split, wall heaters, etc). So I need something portable and also with the ability to set a schedule and timer to keep the temps low (45-50), and then automatically heat to 65-70 an hour or so before I use it. Does anyone know of a heating solution that will work under these circumstances?
Heating a yurt
- Thread starter Kgilmer
- Start date
Bob Rowlands
New member
I'd put a portable propane heater in there, like the type used on construction sites. Nothing more than a common propane tank and a heater with valve that attaches to the tank. Fire that sucker up, go wide open on the valve and it will go from 0 to 70 in a minute. Then throttle down to low or turn off while contemplating your navel. lol Completely portable, affordable and no 'smart stat' required.
Bob Rowlands
New member
Have a friend that used that in his huge 14x16 wall tent in elk camp, in addition to use on site. Works extremely well. His sons still use that on site if heat isn't hooked up yet.
Bob Rowlands
New member
One of the new houses my son and I carpentered on a few months ago didn't have the gas line in yet. Gas CO dragging its feet they march to their own drummer due to no competieion. Anyway one of the boys I mentioned above had his dads old propane heater in there on the basement slab. Remember this is in a large house not a 12' yurt. I get in there early and fire that dude wide open. Heat coming off that heater rivals Apollo 11 main stage. lol That's why I said wide open and a minute later it be hot. I kid you not prolly thirty seconds or less. MAJOR btus. Glad you go with it. It's not at all stinky like a kerosene salamander. Have fun.
You have different options, you could use a diesel stove. Deluxe wall tents have them in their website. They aren't programmable but are CSA approved. You could go propane, but there will be humidity issues but a lot less set up involved. You could also use a wood stove, you'll have to find material to burn of course. It depends on what fits your criteria. Is the yurt insulated?
Bob Rowlands
New member
The issue with wood stove is getting the yurt warmed up quickly. My current yurt is 12'6" in diameter and the little Sierra Cricket wood stove I have in there takes awhile to warm it up. I'd say about fifteen minutes from get going to decent warm when it is below freezing outside. A propane system as I mentiomed above is like 'right now' fast. Farting around getting the wood stove going is a good way to unwind though. Plus dry wood heat is GREAT for drying out any moisture in the yurt.
trihartsfield
New member
A non-vented propane heater will cause significant moisture, especially as the temperature drops.
I know of no way to regulate temp without a thermostat and none would meet your criteria.
I know of no way to regulate temp without a thermostat and none would meet your criteria.
Bob Rowlands
New member
Note about my comments regarding propane heat. Make sure that your yurt is vented. I just read online that the fumes can kill you. I never considered that when I made my posts. So -those that actually listen to what I have to say, don't die from propane fumes and sue me. haha
Moisture is your #1 concern when it comes to heating. Over insulate at your peril. There is a reason why the word moisture is automatically hyperlinked when you post it here.
The biggest mistake I see people make with yurts is that they try to insulate them like they would a traditional home. A traditional home has vents in the eaves and ridge vents, not to mention in bathrooms and kitchens. Do you see any vents in a yurt? Generally no.
Your yurt MUST breath. That means generally, oversizing your heating unit, whatever it may be. It means that to a degree, less is more when it comes to insulation.
The biggest mistake I see people make with yurts is that they try to insulate them like they would a traditional home. A traditional home has vents in the eaves and ridge vents, not to mention in bathrooms and kitchens. Do you see any vents in a yurt? Generally no.
Your yurt MUST breath. That means generally, oversizing your heating unit, whatever it may be. It means that to a degree, less is more when it comes to insulation.
Bob Rowlands
New member
Wise comments about moisture in yurt.
Wetness is a key factor in decay and degradation of organic materials. In my view mold and mildew are some of the very first agents in the natural cycle of everything ultimately 'returning to the earth'.
Wetness is a key factor in decay and degradation of organic materials. In my view mold and mildew are some of the very first agents in the natural cycle of everything ultimately 'returning to the earth'.
Good to know. I assume a dome lifter would be considered a good vent, when you open it?
Also, for those that use wood stoves, do people generally just let the supply side air "leak" into the yurt interior? Or do you do an outside air intake?
UKadventurer
New member
I'm very late to this parade but this might be useful to some folks coming along later.
We live on a ger camp in the mountains of Mongolia at quite high altitude about 1700m (5500') and have an extremely cold winter. Just a deep freeze though. This week it's been in the -40's (C or F doesn't make a difference). So heating is about survival not just being cozy.
I have 2 x 7m (23' dia) 'gers' (Mongolian word for yurts) of a modern design and one 6m traditional 'ger' which we lived in while the modern ones were being built. We live in the modern ones now and keep the traditional one for summer guests. The modern ones are not your traditional Mongolian gers by any means but they are our main residence because they are practically houses.
Summer view:
Autumn view:
Winter view:
We have a combination heating strategy with backups. The primary heat is electric underfloor heating. Each one is 40m/2 internally (about 430 sq ft) and there's 27m/2 of heating mats in each. This works well but slowly and it costs quite a lot to run even with cheap electricity rates here in Mongolia. There's not much to see because it's all hidden, unless you go to Infra Red:
The secondary heating is German wood stoves. They are claimed to be efficient dual-burners or something better than standard. They offer a heat top-up on cold evenings or whenever we need quicker heat. They vent through the roof, add a lot of ambience and can raise the temperature relatively quickly. Too much sometimes so you have to control the burn with double vents. The downside is they need a lot of attention so we can't run them at night when it gets really cold.
Then to the backups. We have a propane room heater. This is fierce but it needs to be vented carefully. Leave the crown open and put the heater under the crown or if it's primary, get a vented version. It heats up almost instantly and runs more conveniently than the other sources. It has 3 bars (3=furnace, 2=roaring fire, 1=a hot day in Saigon).
I also have a diesel burner which is pretty good but you need to vent in and out. My wife complained of the fumes because they were blowing back towards the ger (this time a traditional one) and gers are porous. So we keep it for emergency use for the out buildings. The theory is good and it has a thermostat.
The exhaust:
So, we have a mix and match approach. If your nights aren't too cold, I'd go with a wood burner. Mongolians use this to heat and cook. For eons this has been wood or dung burning. More recently they've moved to coal which can burn all night, if done right, but it's rather nasty to handle. It requires a different stove. We've got the traditional wood burner in the traditional ger.
Finally, in our gers we get loads of passive solar heat through our glass windows, doors and crown. We can turn the heating off completely when the sun comes up. Luckily, despite being a very cold country, Mongolia's winter is very sunny.
We live on a ger camp in the mountains of Mongolia at quite high altitude about 1700m (5500') and have an extremely cold winter. Just a deep freeze though. This week it's been in the -40's (C or F doesn't make a difference). So heating is about survival not just being cozy.
I have 2 x 7m (23' dia) 'gers' (Mongolian word for yurts) of a modern design and one 6m traditional 'ger' which we lived in while the modern ones were being built. We live in the modern ones now and keep the traditional one for summer guests. The modern ones are not your traditional Mongolian gers by any means but they are our main residence because they are practically houses.
Summer view:
Autumn view:
Winter view:
We have a combination heating strategy with backups. The primary heat is electric underfloor heating. Each one is 40m/2 internally (about 430 sq ft) and there's 27m/2 of heating mats in each. This works well but slowly and it costs quite a lot to run even with cheap electricity rates here in Mongolia. There's not much to see because it's all hidden, unless you go to Infra Red:
The secondary heating is German wood stoves. They are claimed to be efficient dual-burners or something better than standard. They offer a heat top-up on cold evenings or whenever we need quicker heat. They vent through the roof, add a lot of ambience and can raise the temperature relatively quickly. Too much sometimes so you have to control the burn with double vents. The downside is they need a lot of attention so we can't run them at night when it gets really cold.
Then to the backups. We have a propane room heater. This is fierce but it needs to be vented carefully. Leave the crown open and put the heater under the crown or if it's primary, get a vented version. It heats up almost instantly and runs more conveniently than the other sources. It has 3 bars (3=furnace, 2=roaring fire, 1=a hot day in Saigon).
I also have a diesel burner which is pretty good but you need to vent in and out. My wife complained of the fumes because they were blowing back towards the ger (this time a traditional one) and gers are porous. So we keep it for emergency use for the out buildings. The theory is good and it has a thermostat.
The exhaust:
So, we have a mix and match approach. If your nights aren't too cold, I'd go with a wood burner. Mongolians use this to heat and cook. For eons this has been wood or dung burning. More recently they've moved to coal which can burn all night, if done right, but it's rather nasty to handle. It requires a different stove. We've got the traditional wood burner in the traditional ger.
Finally, in our gers we get loads of passive solar heat through our glass windows, doors and crown. We can turn the heating off completely when the sun comes up. Luckily, despite being a very cold country, Mongolia's winter is very sunny.
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It looks like, that the absence of your Lady brings a lot of free time for you.
But you´re doing well in sharing details & insights of you experiences.
Keep on doing....
UKadventurer
New member
It looks like, that the absence of your Lady brings a lot of free time for you.
But you´re doing well in sharing details & insights of you experiences.
Keep on doing....
Hahaha, you're totally right. I've got endless free time.
I'm retired + it's deep winter + my lady's absent = lots of free time to post online.
If you´re willing to extend your mind in an unbelievable dimension you should use the time for having a closer look on AI (e.g. ChatGPT)....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QywYTaiemD8