Heating a Treehouse

[Hogwildz]

Those maine stove are great looking! Built in America also (Elk)!
For the tree house why not get the "halibut" and then you can cook yerself some dinner in the treehouse also

 

[luludahl]

a very handsome stove indeed but i already have a propane fed cast iron stove that i use for cooking. and this little house has already cleaned me out! can't imagine spending another 3k on it.

 

[tutu_sue]

Maybe this squirrel stove is appropriate for a tree house? (broken link removed to http://www.morsoe.com/us/Products/Stoves/1400/Model_1410/Morsoe_1410.htm)

 

[keyman512us]

luludahl, absolutely unique and very cool! You took my childhood playspace and grew it up! How do you use it? Is it a vacation spot? Hunting, fishing? I get the impression you don't reside there. And I must say that "little cod" is really cool too. I was gonna recommend Woodstock Stove's "mini franklin" but its a gas stove and the little cod looks like a really good option.

I was gonna say about the same as JP so I'll qoute his words.

That is definately a fullfilment on every kids' childhood dream. Take some more pics and post them by all means.

What is your 'long term' plan lulu??? Are you going to make it "habitable for long stays" or is it just a "weekend getaway" spot??

Do you have...or are you planning to put in "running water" (perhaps a rainwater system)??? Got a few ideas for rainwater use (VERY similiar interests in VT)... So if you do put a thread or two either in the 'Green Room' or the 'Diy/Non Hearth Advice' right here on the forum.

At any rate, keep us posted with pics' and "progress reports"...cool concept.

As far as "stoves"??? I think something along the lines of maybe a Fisher 'baby bear' would be a "good starting point for consideration". I saw one "the other day" so that is what got me thinking of it.

..."Long term" I would consider BB idea of the "small outdoor boiler". Perhaps a somewhat "modified system". I'm sure somewhat of a "Gravity system" could be incorporated into the picture. If you are going to install "running water" you could use it for "hot water" as well.

Maybe 2 woodburners then??? A "boiler" and a small "room heater" like the 'baby bear'???

As far as a "boiler"??? (Maybe other folks can help out on this one) They make a small "boiler" designed for heating swimming pools the size of a regular wood stove...I'll see if I can find the link.


Ohh Yeah...I almost forgot to mention...Welcome to the Forum lulu!

 

[keyman512us]

Okay..Found it:
(broken link removed)

Given the small sized area you have to heat...I would lean towards a boiler/hydronic heat. Might sound like overkill but with "hydronic" you can bank the heat and keep it pretty even. Trying to heat the tree house with a conventional stove is probably gonna produce some "wild fluctuations in temperature" to say the least.

 

[Hogwildz]

Just a thought, have you checked out the lil house heater: http://www.outsidewoodheater.com/page2.html
Could be kept outside on the ground, no room taken up inside, and a supply & return to the tree house.
No lifting wood, no taking up space. Oh crap, you would have to run electric to it.

 

[stoveguy2esw]

Hey Mike, wouldn't it be neat if we made one of those? It would have to run on a 4 inch chimney though, but still a little one room heater would be pretty nifty.

yeah , it looks like a cool little heater.

 

[Czech]

Alright you guys, quit flirting with Lulu and her tree house. Jeez, a boy's dream. Hi Lu, how YOU doing? Seriously as I can be right now, that little boat stove is sweet. Might need to get one of those, I'd never come off the river. I vote for more pictures too, very cool shack Lu.

 

[fbelec]

that is the finest tree house i have ever seen and maybe ever see. that is a real piece of art. i'm surprised it has not made any magazines. i don't know just how small a stove might be out there but how about using coal. coal is suppose to have a lot cooler chimney temps and some stoves that i have seen say that you can turn them down to as low as 5000 btu. a stove that would go down to that low would probably burn for the whole weekend on one load.

 

[luludahl]

glad you all think my little house is cool. i love it personally but most people cock an eyebrow when you say you've got yourself a treehouse. if you guys really want to see more pix i have an entire blog dedicated to the building of it:

http://luluiswho.blogspot.com/2007_09_01_archive.html

if you click through the archives starting with june 2006 you can see us building it from day one. and it is fully sustainable, rain barrell system already in the works.

talked to the nice man at marinestove.com today and he has me fully sold on the sardine (or the little cod if i can scrape up the $$) and i couldn't me more stoked. now if only i could decide on routing through roof or wall? hhhhm....

(p.s. august 2006 in the archive has some esp good shots)

 

[luludahl]

oh and the stove i'm getting can also burn coal, i just wanted something that burns wood too cause i have more burnable bramble on my land than i know what to do with. easy access.

 

[tutu_sue]

Those marine stoves are adorable. The Morso squirrel also burns coal. Not sure how much it costs. You may want to get a bigger stove if you are unisulated and have a high ceiling in there.

Your tree house is awesome. My uncle and aunt in CA are architects and they designed a tree house out there. Here's a pic.

 

[KP Matt]

I had an exchange with the owner of Marine Stoves some time ago about EPA certification and efficiency:

http://pub38.bravenet.com/forum/3213140293/show/567621

not as nice as those Marine Stoves, and who knows about UL or EPA certification, but considerably cheaper, even if shipped from the UK are these stoves:

(broken link removed to http://www.windysmithy.co.uk/html/woodburners.htm)

some of them with ovens... Whatever you choose you should look into building a heavy hearth pad/ wall shield set up with as much heat retention as possible - some sort of stone - to counteract the small firebox which all of these little stoves have.

One downside of all these stoves except Marine Stoves' $2500 Halibut is the lack of glass door... Windy Smithy does iron commissions... maybe they would make a special door with a few little windows? Me, I can't wait to trade the old Jotul 118 for a 602 with the latticework door.

Marine Stoves are made in the U.S., but it's my patriotic duty to point out that the design is Canadian!

One of the

 

[keyman512us]

Alright you guys, quit flirting with Lulu and her tree house. Jeez, a boy's dream. Hi Lu, how YOU doing? Seriously as I can be right now, that little boat stove is sweet. Might need to get one of those, I'd never come off the river. I vote for more pictures too, very cool shack Lu.

A partial apology in part... I didn't even put any signifigance to gender when posting. Perhaps a bit 'selfish' to a degree...to say "a boy's dream...perhaps "any kids childhood dream" would have been more appropriate...

But it's still a kewl tree house!

 

[elkimmeg]

Can I voice a word of caution one if you plan to sleep there might I remind you you are planning a fuel combustion appliance for heat. There is definitely an issue of sharing your combustion air with breathing air. As a rule of thumb for every 1000 BTUs one needs 50 cu ft of room or inside air A 10/10 8' high room has enough combustion air to support 400 btus Not thousands but 400. All suggestions you might have received All in good intent like the Moroso squirrel measures Btus beyond 10,0000 . I got to run back to work but Safety is a definite factor to consider

 

[tutu_sue]

Yes, Elk the Morso squirrel I suggested is borderline using the combustion air rule of 50 cu ft for every 1,000 btus. I though it was less cubic feet of air for wood stoves with gaskets.

Anyhoo, with the 12 x 8 x 13 tree house, I calculated it can support 24,960 btu's, which is kind of close. Is that correct? My math isn't the greatest. The Morso squirrel is rated at 25,000 btus. I suggested a bigger stove because of the high ceilings and getting heat up to the sleeping loft. I did a quickie heat loss using the Slnt/Fin software and calculated >17,000 btu's to maintain a temperature of 70F with 100 sq ft. of windows and doors, no insulation in the walls, roof and the floor being up in the air.

I don't want lulu to have to sleep right next to the stove like my cat does.

 

[pcampbell]

Can anyone suggest a very small stove to heat a similarly sized area. The building is a small out building (i.e. a shed) I was thinking of setting up an office in. 12x14. I recall someone talking about a $99 stove Lowes or Home Depot could hardly give away The cod is cute but I'm looking budget...

 

[Gooserider]

I can't think of anything particular in a small stove beyond the suggestions you've seen in this thread - there are some tiny Jotul's but they've been mentioned and aren't exactly budget.... The only really cheap stoves that I know of the big box stores selling are the Vogelzang's which are cheap for good reason - I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one... Some of the BB stores also sell Englanders and Centuries which are great stoves for the money, but mostly aren't that small.

Trouble is there is a comfortable size range that most stoves fall into, both because of customer demand, and the way the physics of combustion work to encourage a certain minimum size, a 12 x 14 room is pushing that number towards the outside of the low end...

Gooserider

 

[savageactor7]

When we used our ice fishing tent on the lake I'd always touch off a few 12hr vigil candles and after awhile it was tee shirt time....even warmer if you were catching fish.

btw that's a wicked excellent tree house ya got there.

 

[burntime]

You could darn near get 3 hand warmers and heat the place for 8 hours with that square footage

 

[drizler]

I just noticed this and just have to ask. WHAT HAPPENED FORGET YOUR WIFES BIRTHDAY, OR DID YOU BUY HER A RIFLE OR ATV FOR HER BIRTHDAY. These are the things that inspire such great works. You probably need an electric line and sat tv though to make it habitable as well as a minifridge. Can't be drinkin warm beer in exile now can we unless its an emergency. Nice place though, I hope the tax assessor doesn't ding you for another sturcture on your property.

 

[tkirk22]

I just noticed this and just have to ask. WHAT HAPPENED FORGET YOUR WIFES BIRTHDAY, OR DID YOU BUY HER A RIFLE OR ATV FOR HER BIRTHDAY. These are the things that inspire such great works. You probably need an electric line and sat tv though to make it habitable as well as a minifridge. Can't be drinkin warm beer in exile now can we unless its an emergency. Nice place though, I hope the tax assessor doesn't ding you for another sturcture on your property.

Driz, You are a genius. I forgot my wife's birthday! Now I'll have to build a cozy little treehouse complete with beer storage and mini heater. I also forgot her birthday last year so I should make a high speed zip line to transport me...errr...ummmm... to transport HER to the cozy treehouse. Next year I may forget also and have to buy an ATV for 'her' to get home. LOL

(Yes ladies, we never really grow up ;-)

 

[drizler]

;-) They used to call that the DOG HOUSE, a piece of real estate that I have inhabited many times. Best part is we don't have a dog. Most guys don't have a hunting camp that nice. Now if you located a pile of carrots about 50 yards out back you could slide one of those windows open, poke the rifle out and............................................

 

[Woodrat]

* Cool treehouse!! When I was a kid, we built a 10 X 10 "shack " on stilts out in a swamp-- once we insulated it- the heat from one kerosine lantern was more than enough to drive us out in the dead of winter! Kept a roof hatch open to provide fresh air & bleed off some of the heat.