New Woodstove For The Yurt

[Jafo]

Today I ordered an Idea Steel wood stove from the Woodstock Soapstone Company out of New Hampshire. I am going to use this to replace my old stove in the yurt.



The old one was fine as it could heat the entire yurt even at -20F. However, you had to load it every 2-3 hours and that really cramped my sleeping style. I thought this would be a good opportunity to not only improve the yurt, but to review the stove for permanent yurt dwellers looking for better heating solutions. The stove boasts 12-14 hours burn times, with the a record 82% EPA tested efficiency.

I got "the works" package which includes:

• Ash pan and grate
• Soapstone liner
• Soapstone side panels
• Custom sides (white tail deer design) andirons and cooktop

I also added an outdoor air kit and rear heat shield. I chose charcoal colors.


If this stove delivers on its promises, it could be a real game changer for heating yurts, especially due to its affordability and green features.

It is estimated to arrive by the end of next week or maybe early the following week. Will keep you all posted!

 

[Bob Rowlands]

Sounds to me like you are getting the 'holy grail' of stoves. I'll be looking forward to your comments about the stove down the road. Thanks for giving us the info.

 

[mama23]

I can't wait to hear about it once it is all up & running. we are starting our search in earnest soon.

 

[Jafo]

It arrived at my friends warehouse today, will take it up to the yurt tomorrow. I stopped by to look it over. It is all crated up and the manifest says it weighs in at 740lbs all together.. Oof.. I better pick up a spare spine for this project.

 

[Bob Rowlands]

Mass is good in wood stoves. The lightweight little 'builder grade' wood stove so commonly installed in homes over the last three decades is essentially worthless. There's one in our condo. It's total junk.

Old school masonry fireplaces may not be as efficient as a good well designed modern wood stove, but the thermal mass of all that masonry around the firebox really holds a fire. My parents built a house in 1964 that had a full one storey masonry fireplace. $500 option on a $13,000 rancher. lol Of course non union labor wages back then were ~$1 an hour.

 

[hierony]

I'll be curious how this stove turns out. It seems like a lot of wood stoves you basically burn out the volatiles until charcoal remains then restrict the airflow so the charcoal burns slowly, getting you something like 6-10 hrs 'burn'.

Unforunately, most metals (unless you're using refractory metals like tungsten, molybdenum, or titanium) can't take the temp of a hot, clean burning fire--you need good ceramic. A lot of stoves seem to use fire bricks in the main chamber, but you'd probably need the entire fire box made out of mortared bricks before getting truely effective. And then, like Bob said, you have the issue of little thermal mass. It seems a few wood stoves use a veneer layer of soapstone to help a little there, but I don't know how effective it actually is. Have you ever looked at wood stoves/heaters like this? Little more expensive though...

Bob, were you talking about an open fireplace built out of masonry? Or more of a closed masonry heater that takes a short, hot fire once or twice a day and radiates the heat? $500 sounds nice for such a beast until inflation says it'd be ~$3.8k today

 

[Bob Rowlands]

I was describing a common old school masonry fireplace. Many houses that predate about 1970 had that type of fireplace.

I know of the masonry fireplace you are refering to. A butt load of mass heated with a fast hot fire. Then the masonry radiates the heat for some time without needing additional fire. Dinners here gotta go.

 

[Jafo]

Well this stove is lined with soap stone and it was a bear to get in here. I took as much off of it as I could and it still weighed about 600 pounds. We got it inside and it is still sitting here, strapped to the hand-truck. I just finished laying the tile for the new hearth and have to grout tomorrow. When I get back home I will add pics.

My main excitement about this stove is the 12-14 hour burn time. If this is even remotely true, it will be a life saver for many a yurt owner. Not to mention the 1.04 gram emissions makes it a VERY green stove, in fact, the greenest wood stove going.

Anyway, more later when I get home.

 

[Jafo]

Ok, well here are some pics. This is my truck after I had the stove put on it with a fork lift. It was a small one so couldn't get the stove all the way to the front of the bed.





Decided to box it in the truck so I could take parts off and make it lighter. 700+ pounds up some planks is risky.

 

[Jafo]

Here are all the pieces and parts I took off. It had to lighten the load by over 100 pounds, but not sure exactly. Anything I could do to make it lighter, was done with the exception of taking out the soapstone. The manufacturer said it might be hard to get them out and back in in the right order.

 

[Jafo]

Now it is time to wheel it in there. First, we laid the hand truck on its wheels, and we tied it off to a stud in side, just in case it should come flying back for any reason. My one son pulled with the rope, my other son pulled the hand truck, and I pushed it up.

 

[Jafo]

Well, so much for the soapstone being hard to get out lol. Some fell out when we tipped it sideways, and I left two small fire bricks in there by accident. The one small brick actually broke. No big deal, but should have been more careful.





I had other camp duties to attend to (first day I have been able to drive in since Fall). I did all of that and took the rest of the day off!

 

[Jafo]

On the second day, I took the old wood stove out and began working on the hearth. This meant I would be "roughing it" that night because the temps were to get down to 28F. I still had other camp duties to do, plus an unscheduled stop to the local hardware store as I brought the wrong thinset with me. However, I did get everything done.









Good thing I remeasured here. I had a brain cramp and for some reason thought I needed to make the hearth 13 inches longer than necessary. That's why they say to measure twice.









Okay, break time. Cook some chicken and enjoy a fire!

 

[Jafo]

Today I trimmed off the excess cement board and then grout the tiles. My shop vac bit the dust, but otherwise, everything went pretty smooth. I think almond was the right choice on the grout.







Next weekend, we will actually get the new stove installed.

 

[Bob Rowlands]

Good job. Thanks for the photos.

 

[Zelig]

How appropriate that the photo immediately following the beer photo is blurry.

 

[Jafo]

My brother and my sons went up to the yurt last night just to get the stove on the pad. My brother and I are going to get it installed and fired today.

 

[Bob Rowlands]

I'll bet it's good to see that mo in place, huh? lol Looking forward to burn reports next heating season. Thanks for the thread.

 

[Jafo]

Okay, I just got back from our weekend. The install went well. We had temps of 20 degrees F and 30 degrees F each night. The first night I set the damper rather high (50%) and I had to reload it about 7 hours later. The next night I set it near 25% and 10 hours later it was still pretty comfortable in the yurt when I woke up (68 degrees) but the fire was down to coals.

That is a lot of variation on just a small change. I am thinking that after I use this stove a while, I should be able to get it to 12 hours @ 20f outside. I just have to get better at using a catalytic stove. I am learning a lot.

Here are some more pics:























This was my daughters first time overnight at camp, she had a long day and passed right out lol!



The trim is now done, as is the project.

 

[Bob Rowlands]

Good job Jafo. That stove is a real piece of work. I like the supply air to it. BIG improvement over drawing air from inside the yurt. Sweet. Thanks for the thread and the details.