I have a 350 sq ft camp in upstate ny and am looking at the drolet atlas for heating and cooking. Can a wood cook stove be used as the only heat source and get any kind of reasonable overnight burn times? The drolet atlas, specifically?
drolet atlas
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When I searched for this model I found this disclaimer
The Atlas gives off heat, but its design makes it primarily a cooking appliance. So when the stove is on, you will heat the room, but you will not benefit from slow combustion heat like a high efficiency wood stove.
Therefore IMO not much good for overnight heat. Cookstoves are designed to heat up quick and concentrate the heat into the oven or the cook top.
The Atlas gives off heat, but its design makes it primarily a cooking appliance. So when the stove is on, you will heat the room, but you will not benefit from slow combustion heat like a high efficiency wood stove.
Therefore IMO not much good for overnight heat. Cookstoves are designed to heat up quick and concentrate the heat into the oven or the cook top.
Yes absolutely 350sq ft is different than 1800. But honestly buying a stove as a sole heat source that the manufacturer clearly says is designed to be a cooking appliance not a heater doesn't seem like the best choice.
I hope someone does turn up that has this stove. But I believe it is very new so I would be surprised.
I hope someone does turn up that has this stove. But I believe it is very new so I would be surprised.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
I have a modern cookstove, as mentioned earlier. It is "efficient" the same way a Formula 1 engine is "efficient" in making a lot of power with a little displacement. It burns hot and fast. This is not to say you can't sneak some longer lower burns, but it's not really made for that. It's hard to make an oven hot enough to broil something, so the stove is designed to dump as much heat into the cooktop and oven as possible.
In this "mild for Maine" weather I have been heating primarily with our wood cookstove, but we also have a ducted portable AC unit that can run in heat mode that helps the house carry the heat until I reload the stove in the morning. If I load the cookstove absolutely packed full of hard maple there might be a few embers and a warm flue in the morning, but I feel like that's a real waste of that hardwood, even though my cookstove also has a domestic hot water coil as well.
All that being said, you are talking about a small space. Our home is 1200 sqft two story saltbox with great insulation and pretty tight construction, and we haven't lit the Morso yet this winter and had lows in the high teens. I think a cookstove will heat the place, just expect a lot of "warm" reloads rather than a hot bed of coals if you have to be away for a while.
Do you need hot water in the structure? There are some options out there if you want to integrate domestic hot water. I wish my coil had another loop for a bit more surface area.
When it gets really cold, like highs in the low 20's, I'll be lighting the Morso morning and night, but using the cookstove as well. While I don't really "need" to burn both, my wife likes the house HOT, too hot for me, so I end up doing a lot of outdoor activities in the winter.
In this "mild for Maine" weather I have been heating primarily with our wood cookstove, but we also have a ducted portable AC unit that can run in heat mode that helps the house carry the heat until I reload the stove in the morning. If I load the cookstove absolutely packed full of hard maple there might be a few embers and a warm flue in the morning, but I feel like that's a real waste of that hardwood, even though my cookstove also has a domestic hot water coil as well.
All that being said, you are talking about a small space. Our home is 1200 sqft two story saltbox with great insulation and pretty tight construction, and we haven't lit the Morso yet this winter and had lows in the high teens. I think a cookstove will heat the place, just expect a lot of "warm" reloads rather than a hot bed of coals if you have to be away for a while.
Do you need hot water in the structure? There are some options out there if you want to integrate domestic hot water. I wish my coil had another loop for a bit more surface area.
When it gets really cold, like highs in the low 20's, I'll be lighting the Morso morning and night, but using the cookstove as well. While I don't really "need" to burn both, my wife likes the house HOT, too hot for me, so I end up doing a lot of outdoor activities in the winter.
The generic answer is yes a cookstove can be a sole source of heat. A big cast iron stove is better at heating because once the mass of all that cast iron has been heated up, it will release for hours after the fire is out.
OK, but that has less bearing in a small cabin with a thinner metal stove. It will cool down faster. If the heat loss in the cabin is great then so will the temperature swings be. My guess is that once the cabin is warmed up, an overnight burn may be hard to achieve without roasting oneself out. So maybe getting up once in the night with smaller loads of fuel will be how it works out. That said, if the cabin is stone cold at the beginning of a weekend visit, then lots of extra heat will be welcome. Upstate NY can get chilly.
Outside of that, I think this is the first time someone has asked about this stove so our knowledge is limited. If you get it, keep us posted on its performance.
OK, but that has less bearing in a small cabin with a thinner metal stove. It will cool down faster. If the heat loss in the cabin is great then so will the temperature swings be. My guess is that once the cabin is warmed up, an overnight burn may be hard to achieve without roasting oneself out. So maybe getting up once in the night with smaller loads of fuel will be how it works out. That said, if the cabin is stone cold at the beginning of a weekend visit, then lots of extra heat will be welcome. Upstate NY can get chilly.
Outside of that, I think this is the first time someone has asked about this stove so our knowledge is limited. If you get it, keep us posted on its performance.
I have a 16x29ft cabin in Upstate NY. That works out to 464sq ft. Northern Warren county. I have a 2 cubic ft woodstove in it. I can not run the stove easily before it gets below 30F. I'll end up opening windows to get rid of heat. I'd have chosen a smaller stove, but that wouldn't give me an overnight burn, or heat the place up from 10F or 0F or whatever it is in a reasonable amount of time. I have closed off the back rooms in the past so my effective heating area is 12x16 (192sq ft). I lose a lot of heat through an uninsured floor. The cabin is on piers and has plenty of wind going under it.
If you are planning to heat it all the time you will choose a different stove than if you walk into a cold cabin on the weekends.
If you are planning to heat it all the time you will choose a different stove than if you walk into a cold cabin on the weekends.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
My cookstove is very slow to heat the house from cold, that is worth mentioning. The Morso is much faster in this regard. The cookstove also has to be tolerable to stand near, so the heat is much less radiant. On my stove all the radiant heat is through the firebox window and the cooktop.
For me it makes allot more sense to just get a woodstove for heat and a propane range for cooking. If there is no power get an older range that will work without electricity
I have my cabin set up to cook on propane. A 100lb tank will last a long time. I've used the stove to help heat the cabin when coming into a cold cabin. Itll dump a lot of moisture into the room, so its not my favorite way to preheat the cabin, lol. Propane ranges can be lit by pilot lights or electronic ignitor. I don't like pilots burning all the time and dont want to plug it as my grandgather did, so chose electronic ignition. If there isn't any electricity, a match works just fine to light the stove.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Many have a piezoelectric button on each burner knob, at least the one in my RV did. Oftentimes piezo didn't work so I just used a match or long lighter. I don't like the moisture or other emissions from burning propane, but I suppose in a hunting cabin it's not so bad. I'm a bit biased, but I'm voting wood cookstove for a 350 sqft cabin. The OP might have to load it when they get up to pee in the night, I'm just assuming everyone does this, but that's a small price to pay for the soft heat output offered by such a stove in a small space.
There's definitely downsides to heating with unvented propane. That's why I mentioned the most obvious, the moisture. When I was growing up there was a potbelly stove in the cabin. When my father took over the place he decided vent free wall heating was the way to go. The main room walls were uninsulated at that time. There was ice caked on them! When I took the place over I went back to wood. Suddenly there were dry walls.
The OP will find his way. He'll either be happy with the cookstove or not. He will either decide in February or July if its going to work. Lol
The OP will find his way. He'll either be happy with the cookstove or not. He will either decide in February or July if its going to work. Lol
I just looked at the owners manual. Where do you put the pot to boil water? Most cook stoves I've seen can be cooked on.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
I have no real experience with cook stoves. I’m leaning towards it could, once up to temp, keep the cabin warm enough with sufficient insulation. It (and most stoves 1.5 cu ft and smaller) won’t ever get overnight burns.
Now let’s approach this from the other side is there a stove that you can cook on? How often do you want to bake? How about getting good with a Dutch oven.
From a convenience perspective I’d really like to have both a cooking appliance and a heating appliance. If I could only have one… that get tougher. Probably a cook stove and good insulation.
Somewhere at the cabin I have an oven made to fit over a Coleman white gas cook stove. The green one. I've always wondered how it would do set on a woodstove.
I've reheated all the Thanksgiving side dishes on the T5. I haven't had to do much cooking on it. There's a local restaurant that uses Aluminum doggie bag containers that reheat well too.
Stew would be stupid easy in a Dutch oven.
I've reheated all the Thanksgiving side dishes on the T5. I haven't had to do much cooking on it. There's a local restaurant that uses Aluminum doggie bag containers that reheat well too.
Stew would be stupid easy in a Dutch oven.
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Wood ovens are so different from whatever other oven you have used. Mine is a joy to use and makes the best pie I've ever eaten. If you don't like baking or cooking, then a wood cookstove doesn't make any sense. Just get a plate steel stove and put your can of beanie weanies right on top.
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