2014 Chevy Express 2500 Van Build: Luisafernandes

[highdesertranger]

yes there was a discussion about wood burners in a van. I was one of the post discouraging it. however I wanted to point out other options for that heater that luis posted. in the boating world they are highly regarded. highdesertranger

 

[Luisafernandes]

Wood burning stove would be awesome, but I thought there was a thread on this forum a while ago about the feasibility of a wood stove in a van (as opposed to a larger rv/trailer) and the consensus was that it is too small of a space to get the proper clearances needed around the sides of it...causing a fire hazard.

Anybody remember this?

Also, smoke from a wood fire wouldn't be much stealth if you plan on urban camping...

The smoke would be a definite problem but as you can see in the video, the guy starts the fire with no noticeable smoke inside and the fire runs very hot, and has a second combustion chamber. Running that efficient I doubt there's any smoke coming out.
I had a pellet boiler and you couldn't see any visible smoke.

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Also you can see in the video how close the back of the unit is to the wall and how very little heat it gets.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

A few posts back Bob wrote "I've never been able to keep the floor warm, I gave up trying. I no longer recommend insulating the floor, it's a waste of time-money."

Has anyone real world experience of applying insulation on the underside of the floor? Seems that to separate the floor from the cold would go a long way to keeping the inside floor warmer.


I insulated the floor on my kurbmaster from the underside, I used two inch blue foam insulations because that is what fit in between the alluminium cross members under the floor. I used expansion foam to hold it in and fill in the gaps, I am not sure it has helped as my floor is still cold at times but maybe if I didn't have it it would be even colder. I think because the floor is connected to the walls and my van is alluminium that the cold is transferred inside. I have clip together fake wood floor with an thin sheet of insulation under it but I still use a couple of throw rugs to keep my feet on as the floor still feels cold when the temperatures drops.

 

[Luisafernandes]

A few posts back Bob wrote "I've never been able to keep the floor warm, I gave up trying. I no longer recommend insulating the floor, it's a waste of time-money."

Has anyone real world experience of applying insulation on the underside of the floor? Seems that to separate the floor from the cold would go a long way to keeping the inside floor warmer.


I insulated the floor on my kurbmaster from the underside, I used two inch blue foam insulations because that is what fit in between the alluminium cross members under the floor. I used expansion foam to hold it in and fill in the gaps, I am not sure it has helped as my floor is still cold at times but maybe if I didn't have it it would be even colder. I think because the floor is connected to the walls and my van is alluminium that the cold is transferred inside. I have clip together fake wood floor with an thin sheet of insulation under it but I still use a couple of throw rugs to keep my feet on as the floor still feels cold when the temperatures drops.

I only have one and a quarter inches of insulation under my floor. I didn't fill between the gaps for two reasons; one- it leaves an air gap and two- if any moisture or liquid gets under there I only have to park uphill for it to drain out [emoji299]️
My floor is still cold though, so I bought a nice thick rug. It helps, a lot [emoji106]

 

[Luisafernandes]

Ok. So last night I removed the plywood and the foam pad from under the mattresses and just used the slots for support. Very little to no noticeable moisture under the mattress.[emoji299]️
Today I used a 2 1/2 inch hole saw to[emoji418]️cut holes in the plywood.
The reason I need the plywood and don't just use the slots is that they weren't designed to hold the foam mattress by themselves, like you can see here;

Of course I could always add more. But what I did "should" work just the same.
Before;

And after one hour;

Please, don't ask me how many holes I drilled[emoji724]. I was going to go buy sandpaper to clean everything nice but with so many holes I gave up and just wiped it with moist paper towel. Good enough for now [emoji56]

 

[Oberneldon]

And now you have a corn hole game too

 

[Luisafernandes]

And now you have a corn hole game too

Now that's funny[emoji1][emoji535]

 

[Luisafernandes]

Woke up this morning, checked under the mattress and...[emoji724][emoji705]no moisture! Let's hope my new Swiss plywood works.

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Still pondering what type of heat system in going to use, and I should ponder faster before winter's over. [emoji475]

 

[AimlessWanderLust]

A couple days ago, when it was -7 degrees overnight, we caved and bought a Mr. Buddy heater. We used it that night. In my opinion, it didn't help very much. Even with the roof vent open a crack and the front windows open a crack (like we always have them, even without a heater) there was so much moisture added to the air that we had a solid sheet of ice on all the windows on the inside in the morning. We had to let the van idle and warm up for half an hour to melt it off. The cherry on top is that it's advertised to burn for 5-6 hours on low on 1 pound bottles... we got 2 hours on low. I'm guessing that's probably because of the extreme cold? The bottle was covered in frost during use. I've used many fuel bottles (propane and butane) and they would get cold, but I've never seen so much frost build up on one.

As a side now, having now used both a Wave catalytic heater and a Mr. Buddy catalytic heater, I now fully understand and completely agree with Bob that the Mr. Buddy is NOT A TRUE catalytic heater. The Wave we had in our pop-up camper was far and away more better than the Mr. Buddy.

Long story short: We returned the Mr. Buddy to Walmart yesterday after a single use. It didn't help and put too much moisture in the air, even with vents open.

We're just going to tough it out this winter and not put a heater in. Too much hassle, and we really don't want to have propane.

With 15 degree down sleeping bags and a couple blankets, we're plenty warm over night, it's the getting out of bed that's hard...

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As a final note: Last night we didn't have a heater and it was again 0 degrees or below. There was no condensation or ice on the windows. It was just a big struggle to get out of bed!

 

[Luisafernandes]

A couple days ago, when it was -7 degrees overnight, we caved and bought a Mr. Buddy heater. We used it that night. In my opinion, it didn't help very much. Even with the roof vent open a crack and the front windows open a crack (like we always have them, even without a heater) there was so much moisture added to the air that we had a solid sheet of ice on all the windows on the inside in the morning. We had to let the van idle and warm up for half an hour to melt it off. The cherry on top is that it's advertised to burn for 5-6 hours on low on 1 pound bottles... we got 2 hours on low. I'm guessing that's probably because of the extreme cold? The bottle was covered in frost during use. I've used many fuel bottles (propane and butane) and they would get cold, but I've never seen so much frost build up on one.

As a side now, having now used both a Wave catalytic heater and a Mr. Buddy catalytic heater, I now fully understand and completely agree with Bob that the Mr. Buddy is NOT A TRUE catalytic heater. The Wave we had in our pop-up camper was far and away more better than the Mr. Buddy.

Long story short: We returned the Mr. Buddy to Walmart yesterday after a single use. It didn't help and put too much moisture in the air, even with vents open.

We're just going to tough it out this winter and not put a heater in. Too much hassle, and we really don't want to have propane.

With 15 degree down sleeping bags and a couple blankets, we're plenty warm over night, it's the getting out of bed that's hard...

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As a final note: Last night we didn't have a heater and it was again 0 degrees or below. There was no condensation or ice on the windows. It was just a big struggle to get out of bed!

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Nice info, thanks. At the moment I only use the buddy heater in the morning for about an hour. I did use it one time at the house and got about 6 hours out of one pound tank.

 

[Luisafernandes]

The Kimberly wood stove crossed my mind for being so compact and usable in a van. It used wood, charcoal wood etc.
today I had a change to look them up online and I was shocked [emoji33]
https://www.kimberlyepawoodstoves.com/mobile/
That's why, almost $4000 [emoji31]

 

[AimlessWanderLust]

Even ignoring the price tag, to me it just looks like it is too huge for a van...

10 inch diameter, 25 inches tall, requiring 30 inches open space above, 6 inches clearance all around the sides, and a whopping 12 inches clearance behind it... And then there's the minimum 60 inch tall flue pipe!

 

[Luisafernandes]

It would be doable but for the price tag[emoji107]

 

[masterplumber]

If you weld, or know someone who does, I've seen some nice wood stoves in vans made out of discarded 20 lb LP tanks. They look sort of like a miniature barrel stove. Personally I think the Dickensen sailboat heater is the best bet if you can afford it. That is what I'm saving for for my cargo trailer conversion. A couple guys over on the tntt forum have used them with good success in 6 x 12 trailers, which are roughly the same size as a van and they weren't insulated any better - 1'' foam on the walls and ceiling and foam tiles on the floor.

 

[pseudo_mccoy]

Long story short: We returned the Mr. Buddy to Walmart yesterday after a single use. It didn't help and put too much moisture in the air, even with vents open.

Sorry to hear Mr. Heater let you down.

Did you check out the Big Buddy? I've got one hooked up to a 20# cylinder and haven't ever had to take it off low (@4000btu, same as the base model's low setting). The thing is a beast and goes up to 18000btu if you're in the market for more heat. Also, it accepts the 1 pound tanks, but I think those can be a rip-off (seem to remember reading something about false measurements on the bottles). Maybe your short burn time wasn't the heater's fault. Idk.

Never heard about or felt the heater putting off moisture. I might be late to the conversation, but why would it do that? I see you mentioned having propane was a downside. However, as cold as it's been recently, I can't really imagine not having it.

Hope you stay warm however you can.

 

[AimlessWanderLust]

Never heard about or felt the heater putting off moisture. I might be late to the conversation, but why would it do that?

Propane, as well as any hydrocarbon fuel, is just a long chain of carbon and hydrogen (the length of the chain, ie the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms in the molecule, determines what fuel it is: propane/butane/etc). Combustion breaks up this molecular chain, and in our atmosphere (consisting of nitrogen, oxygen, and other stuff), the carbon and hydrogen form new bonds/molecules with what's nearby: carbon dioxide = one carbon atom + two oxygen atoms, carbon monoxide = one carbon atom + one oxygen atom, dihydrogen oxide (aka H2O or water) = two hydrogen atoms + one oxygen atom... There are others too, but those are the big ones.

Anyway, that's where the water comes from.

Forced air furnaces vent the combusted fuel to the outside. Catalytic heaters vent the combusted fuel to the inside, like the mr buddy.

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Also, this explains why you have to be careful about oxygen depletion... Oxygen is highly reactive (bonds with lots of things)... Leaves less free oxygen for us to breathe (I'll skip the biology/biochemistry explanation of breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide ).

 

[pseudo_mccoy]

Woah, great answer! I even sort of followed that because I vaguely understand that heat energy happens when fuel molecules breakdown like you described. I never thought about what happens to stuff afterwards.

I'll be honest with you... I would have accepted "because science" as well : D

BTW, this morning I had to scrape ice off the inside of my windshield, so yeah, I get what you're saying now.

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Sorry for the detour, Luis. I guess we're even now ; )

 

[Luisafernandes]

Sorry for the detour, Luis. I guess we're even now ; )

Did I do the same to you[emoji780][emoji56]

 

[highdesertranger]

excellent and true explanation aimless. highdesertranger

 

[Luisafernandes]

I haven't done much cooking in the van and don't plan on doing it anytime soon. I rather not have food smells inside but, somethings I'm ok with, like oatmeal[emoji502]

Yep, that's my primitive set up. I have the removable cooler lid on top of the bed, with my rocket stove positioned right under the roof vent for easy water vapor escape[emoji297]️
I'll eventually figure out a more permanent set up. For now it works[emoji375][emoji373][emoji106]