I’m sitting here in my cabin in front of my expensive cast iron, propane fueled, fire place/heating unit.
It is the primary source of heat for the open floor plan and loft of this place . . . Does a good job, but what happens when propane shoots through the roof?…..that and my cooking stove will become worthless…….so I’m wondering….
A while back we were discussing baking bread/pizza in a home made clay oven. What would happen if, in a pinch, I was to replace the existing stove with a made on site clay oven? It wouldn’t be as pretty, but we’re talking survival here.
I could hook up the typical exhaust system for a wood burner, build a fire in the stove and use it for both heat, baking bread and cooking.
The thick clay walls would absorb and retain heat far better than the cast iron variety so it wouldn’t be nearly as gluttonous as a wood burner.
What do you think?
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out…….Warren Buffet
Edited 3/12/2008 2:07 pm ET by jjwalters
Replies
jjwalters,
Better learn how to work clay and realize that there are clays and there are clays not all of them capable of dealing with the sort of heat a stove can put out..
You'd be better off covering your cast iron stove with stone to absorb heat and have that radiate off over time if you can't afford one of those stone heating stoves..
These ovens are based on the same principle that has been around for thousands of years.......and I know how to build them.only difference is I was thinking of making one (in a pinch) to also heat the cabin in a similar manner as a wood burning stove would do.Think back to your survival training days.........outside the box, yes, but I can logically see no reason why I couldn't do it.Remove the propane stove.....replace with oven, wood fire it up, allow heat to radiate into the room.I have at least a thousand trees and enough dead fall to heat the cabin forever for free.Propane is doeable for me at 2.65, but if it goes to 4.00+ (like gas)......I and most of the people around here are going to be huddling around outside fires or inside hogans just like the Indians we kicked out did.
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.......Warren Buffet
We visited my sil's grandparents in France. Their house had a wood fired boiler that heated the house and cooked the food. They were proud of the fact that they were getting ready to convert to a gas-fired boiler. Now his father (who lives there now) is going back to the original.
His mother never changed. We got hooked on cheap fuel...and that party is over. I say if you know how, do it! I certainly would.
I think in Italy they actually use a clay baking oven in their homes sort of like I'm thinking about
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.......Warren Buffet
I hope you post some pictures if you decide to do it. Would love to see what you do.
john
ok will do
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.......Warren Buffet
what happens when propane shoots through the roof?.....
Isn't it through the roof already?
Mike
Yup, through the roof and heading for space. Last fill from my new supplier was $2.89 or so.
Sun hasn't come out for a while there, has it?
Unless your stove is direct vent, you're wasting $$ as the makeup air -- cold make up air -- comes in to replace the warm room air you are burning and sending up the flue pipe.
Even with direct vent you are losing a huge amount of heat out the stack. I just installed a propane fireplace in a house, it's a ~25000 BTU unit with direct vent flue. The outer walls of the pipe near the unit get scorching hot. Those are somewhat within the building envelope so it's not a total loss. The rain cap, 12 feet up and above the roof, gets scorching hot.
Propane here is expensive. We use some to heat our house, but I am quite glad not to be 100% dependent on it (electric is 75% of our heating). Our propane "woodstove" is good for ambiance, and some heat, but it ain't cheap.
that's what I have now.....a propane 'wood stove'.......expensive, but pretty......I put a lot of those inserts in fire boxes and they are fairly NG when it comes to heating a place, but the free standing ones aren't too bad.....mine heats the whole place....but then I designed the cabin so it would.the clay oven would be free standing also, (and about the same size)but of course there has to be an outlet for the smoke.....no reason I couldn't build a smoke chamber above the oven itself to retain more heat.......sorta like the double barrel stoves they use a lot in Alaska...........
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out.......Warren Buffet
Everything is too expensive. This is getting scary.