Diesel stove for ice shanty

[BLD]

I'm planning on building a 12x6 shack as soon as the weather gets warmer. I just ordered a Pioneer Trekker diesel stove to heat the unit. Apparently its extremely efficient, adjustable from 4000 - 12000 btus. Anybody have any experience with one of these or something similar. I have been using one of the neighbors shacks this season and found that a wood stove is a pain.

[the harvester]

i have an 8x8 and would not go any other way than a wood stove way way cheaper than propane

[mk_bovee]

yeah, there are a few benefits of deisel heat over wood heat, higher heat content, no ashes to take care of, and the ease of use.   but i believe that wood is the way to go if ya really want a stove for heat.

yeah, ya gotta carry wood out to the shack for using it, but ya gotta carry deisel out too for the other stove if ya go that route, so its a trade off either way.

wood wont stink up your hands like deisel does, so that a definate plus if ya plan on fishing anytime soon after reaching the shanty.

personally i would use a ventless propane heater of atleast 30K btu's and never look back...........hooked up to a 100# tank it will last ya longer than either of your other choices before ya gotta get more fuel for it.

[mricefish]

just my opinion, we used big buddy heater in our shack and have not spent as much on propane as i thought i would.  spent about 20 days/nights too and kept track of how many pounds of propane we used and averaged it out for the days/hours we were out.  from that it only took about $4.00 a day, our shack 6x14 nights temp from -15 to +10 days seldom above 25 (f) during the day. kept the shack 65-70 (f) what i liked about the propane heat, very easy to turn up or down.  when cooking on the stove temp in the shack shoots up fast, when both are on, a turn of the dial and the heater is off/on which ever you want.  nice day when sun comes out same thing turn to pilot and leave off if it gets too hot.  we also have thermometer in shack so i can  keep it about where you want.  Would really be nice to have a  heater with thermostat built in, set it and forget it.  wood heater i think would have a larger area to burn lines off if they touch the heater.  But i still think a wood burner would be cool to have in a shack someday too just to try it.  my opinion propane was not too bad this year. did not spend as much as i thought i would.  once shack gets warmed up most of the time even on cold nights we just had to run it on low.  no one going in and out the door, that makes a big difference too.

[FISHFORPIKE]

Never experienced a diesel heater - kerosene (probably pretty close).  It worked well.  We did a wood stove for a week once (never again) - free heat but what an inconvenience - hard to regulate, smoky, etc.  We then put in a propane space heater along with a propane table-top cook stove.  That was/is the best combination of all, considering regulated heat and convenience.  JMO

[the harvester]

i put the woodstove in because thats what i had i tried my buddy heater but that would not do the job and it is not to much trouble to throw some wood in the truck when i go out. the only otherproblem i had wiyh propane is fogging up the windows

[BLD]

Thanks for the replies, I picked it up today, sweet little unit, very small footprint, uses a 3" stove pipe to vent outside(no fumes), according to the specs it burns less than 1/2 liter(.12 US gal) per hour of use on the highest setting(12,000 btu) and 1/4 liter(.06 US gal) per hour on the lowest setting(4,000 btu). The unit preheats the diesel and burns the fumes, only burns raw diesel at start up, supposed to have a nice blue flame after initial heat up. The square footage of the shack will be only be about 72' square or about 504' cubed, will probably not be much above the lowest setting(depending on my insulation).

As far as wood goes, I live in southern Alberta (got a small acreage with about 300' for Bow River frontage) and I can almost count the number of trees on one hand between my place and Calgary, this means I would have to purchase the wood, not a big concern, but if I have to purchase fuel, just as soon put it into a small container and carry that around as opposed to stacks of wood.

Now to think about the shack plans, already have a good idea in my head, just a matter of putting it on paper and calculating my material requirements.