Friday, April 20, 2018

Tiny homes, tiny wood stoves: photos, ideas and designs

Updated: Nov. 2020 - With the advent of the tiny home movement, there is a rise in interest in tiny stoves to heat them.  Tiny stoves have always been around, mainly driven by the sailboat industry, but also for yurts and small homes.  Small stoves are often thought of as stoves with a firebox of less than one cubic foot.  But some are much smaller than that and may put out no more than 10,000 BTUs.  There will also likely be a growing market for very small pellet stoves, like the Thelin Gnome, as living spaces get smaller and tighter. 

The paradox of heating a small space is that it may not be hard to heat up, but it also gets cold quickly after the stove goes out.  The fireboxes are so small that they cannot hold much fuel.  Often, tiny stoves need to be reloaded every 20 - 60 minutes, depending on the size of the fuel and whether the stove is just getting going or has a decent coal bed.

A few of these stoves are EPA certified, including the Kimberly and Katydid and the Gnome pellet stove.  (But the Kimberly and Katydid will not be certified after May 15, 2020 when EPA standards get stricter.) And the EPA has slowly begun to add firebox size their searchable database, and 69 out of 207 stoves that are 2020 certified have firebox sizes.  The smallest, at half a cubic foot is made by the Danish manufacturer Moreso. If they are designed for boats, vans, trailers or for camping or other non-residential spaces, they should fall outside the EPA's regulations, which only pertain to residential heating. But it is unclear whether they should be certified if they are used as a residential heater.    See our other photo essays on wood stoves styles around the world, wood fired hot tubs and firewood gathering around the world.


To minimize space, tiny stoves can be mounted on the wall. Using wood stoves in boats, vans and tiny homes can pose a great risk of carbon monoxide build up than in larger spaces. Be sure to install a CO detector, store your ashes outside and ensure the draft doesn't reverse back down the chimney.


Tiny stoves are often installed on counters or shelves so that operating and cooking on them is easier.


Yurts are traditionally heated with larger, inefficient stoves, not small, sleek ones like this.  




























The Gnome pellet stove is the smallest pellet stove on the market and claims to run for more than 24 hours on one hopper load of pellets at low heat.


The Viking 30 cookstove is part of a retro line of wood stoves from Sweden.


A small stove in a classic Airstream trailer.



Thanks for reading!  Check out our photo essay on wood stoves from around the world and sign up for our free monthly newsletter here for more ideas on how to heat with wood, pellets, etc.

5 comments:

  1. I'll admit that some of them look great and I am sure they do a pretty good job at heating small spaces. However, I am doubtful that it wouldn't get too hot too quickly and I wouldn't fancy installing one within a tiny wood build. The third image with no Hearth or floor protection also gets me worried!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks John. ��
    Marvelous photos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It's not bad idea at all. However, I really don't want to buy a house like that. It's not convenient at all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A good read... Thanks for sharing...I am currently searching for a well built vintage stove for my project. I have found several that I really like. What is your opinion on using older tiny stoves in a van build? While I think it will be fine, I am just curious about your thoughts.

    ReplyDelete