How do you heat your shack?

[kfcandtanq]

Backstory:
I bought a little 4'X7' fold-down style shack a couple of years ago off a guy on Kijiji for $25
It folds down fairly flat for transport, & only takes 2 or 3 minutes to setup/teardown.
It's got a plywood base & the 2 arch-shaped plywood end walls that are hinged.
There's 2 wooden "struts" to hold up each each end wall & 3 wood "joists" that slip in at the top to hold the walls out tight.
The main part of the shack is a simple black outside/grey inside tarp from Princess Auto.
It works great, keeps your feet dry, & even though it's not insulated.... the black tarp warms up nicely if the sun is out.

I've been using a Buddy Heater in it, but I find it's hard to keep it at a comfortable temperature.
Plus, it's dripping wet inside after 2-3 hrs.

I picked up a little battery-powered fan/light combo @ Cabela's, which helps move the air around better.

My question is... what do you guys use? Or, better yet, what would you guys suggest using for my style of shack?

I've been thinking about building a nice little wood stove & pop the chimney out the end wall.
I love the smell of the wood smoke & the nice dry heat.

Thoughts?
 

[Whytie]

Anything propane will make your walls and roof wet, unless you get an insulated cover. A fire stove will work but you lose some space and its difficult to keep a constant temperature if you don't have a damper. ive fished in one of those shacks before and you can fit 2 guy comfortably in there, 3 guys its tight with a heater.

[kfcandtanq]

Thanks for the input.
Yeah, it's a little tight for 3 people. It works perfect for me & the kids, or me & a buddy.
I'm leaning towards wood, & thinking of making a tank-style (Propane or Freon) upright wood stove. Not too much square footage taken up that way.
Maybe a little flat top on it, just big enough for a small frying pan?
I think with a damper in the chimney & a intake flap on the door I should be able to tweak it.

[Pollock fish]

Put a wood stove in it... I did that to my Eskimo pop up and I love it, cook a warm meal, and like you said wood smells nice.  You can order a stove jack and sew it into the fabric.

[Pollock fish]

Princess auto sells a little tiny wood stove kit with chimney pipe and all too.  Cheap. Just kinda gotta plan taking it down. I got big heavy welders mits and slip off chiminey real quick and toss it in snow, after I let the fire die out to pack up.  And u always have your buddy heater for back up.

[kfcandtanq]

It's all finished.
I took an old refrigerant (Freon) tank & made a little upright stove yesterday.
I'll post some pics later.
Pretty simple process, now I just need to burn it off a time or 2 before I try it out on the ice this weekend.
 

[zforste1]

Cant go wrong with wood heat.

However, in my shack, which is a converted camper, i had it spray foamed and i left the stove in it since it was still in working order. (plus i can bake french fries and pizza in the oven while i fish!) I use my big buddy heater as the primary source of heat and i can supplement it with one or more burners on the stove if i need too. Moisture isn't an issue for me since the whole thing is spray foamed, and i really like the amount of temperature control i have when using the buddy heater. I wired in 4 PC fans to help keep air moving around and to keep the heat down low to the holes and floor. This setup works well for me.

[kfcandtanq]

I tried out the new stove in the shack out on the driveway yesterday.
Everything worked pretty good. Nice & toasty.
I may be out fishing in my t-shirt & shorts this weekend!

I made the chimney, heat shield, etc all in pieces, so it all fits along with the stove into a milk crate.
Once it's set up, the milk crate then acts as a base for the stove to sit on.
The only issue is that it got really smoky when the fire died down & I opened the door to refill.

I have about 3 feet of 3 inch chimney off the top of the stove, then an elbow, & about 12 inches of pipe straight out the back wall (with a wind screen on it).

Question:

How do I increase the "draft" of the chimney?
If I add another elbow outside, & add another 16" of vertical pipe, do you think that'll help?

 

[whitepoplar]

Probably go higher with your chimney will help a lot also open the draft on stove before refueling

[kfcandtanq]

I added another elbow outside & extended the vent another 2' vertically.
Much better! I was fishing yesterday on Broderick in a t-shirt!
Also, I bought some compressed sawdust logs from a guy on Kijiji to try.
They were $5 for 3 logs, & each log is 5lbs.
They work awesome.
I broke 1 log in half, & it burned hot with very little smoke for 45 minutes at a time, with pretty much zero ash left over.
The fishing was slow... but the day was awesome.

[WYOBEAR]

Good gravy! I have never seen a wood stove in a pop-up before but it looks and sounds cool.  My Mr Heater will about run you out of my Fatfish so I can imagine what that will do.  Just watch if the wind comes up it will collapse that side and push will push everything agents the stove/pipe.  That material melts super easy.....

[kfcandtanq]

It was crazy windy yesterday, but I found that once all of the braces & supports are installed... my shack stays solid.
I angled the shack to have the door face into the wind.
Not the best for drafts around the door, but it made the stove work great.

[farmboy]

Is the elbow a 90 or a 45 degree elbow?

[kfcandtanq]

I used 1 - 90 degree elbow inside & 1 - 90 degree elbow outside

[farmboy]

What works really well for us is using 45 elbows everywhere, replacing the 90's. We got way better air flow, it significantly cut down the back draft and no smoke after using the 45's.
I replaced all the elbows on our stove pipes for wall tents, shacks, etc to 45's and noticed a big difference.
Also make sure you are using galvanized pipe. For long term use the galvanized will hold up a lot better and won't burn out near as fast on you.
You may already know all of this but I thought I'd share it in case it might save you a few headaches out there 

[kfcandtanq]

Thanks farmboy… I may try those 45 degree elbows out & see how it goes.
This whole homemade wood stove idea is kind of a work in progress.