Need input, Have 1840's homestead cabin, with no heat, my father who hunts with me is getting up in age and is having trouble staying warm. We have a fireplace but it just doesn't radiate heat more than afew feet. The cabin of course isn't insulated an has some breathing holes throughout. Trying to come up with a heating option that won't break the bank and allow him more years of hunting. Has anyone used a potbelly stove? Do they radiate much heat in our situation? Planning on placement between our bunk beds. What type of clearance do you need around one of those things. Any responses and input would be appreciated.

I bought the big daddy buddy heater it has a fan on it. You use small propane bottles. Worked great it is a 18000 btu cost 119 at tractor supply.

We had a homemade stove similar to a potbellied stove but with heavy walls for holding heat longer and better and with an added chamber on top of the lower chamber. The closest bunk was about 5 feet away. There was a few extremely cold nights that the sidea of it were glowin red and we never had any problems.

Get you a pot belly in there, keep it rollin, and before long you will be opening windows. The one we have in ours can't be more than a few feet from the back wall.

We have a wood stove in our cabin in Ruidoso. It easily heats up all 1000 square feet. We had 8" of snow and temps were in the teens. The heating unit only came on a few hours after we went to bed, and only then because I do not get up and add wood to the fire after we have gone to bed, call me lazy.



Just make sure you get it installed properly and clean the flues on a regular basis.

I have a pot belly, a long box wood heater and a propane Deerborn.

The Deerborn gets the most use.....disregard the frills the wife has added to my man cave.




Tbar

I would go with the Deerborn, no hauling wood, no clean up, maintenance is filling the propane bottle. In my case, my wife likes the "ambiance" of the wood stove, I prefer the thermostat on the wall.

I wont tell if you wont...I just love the rug BTW

When I was in high school My buddy had a tin shack (no insulation for a hunting cabin probably 20x20 with a pot belly. It would get so hot in there that we had to keep the door open most of the time.

My old church had the same average size pot belly. It was located in the center isle. About half way through the service I would have to get up and move to the other side of the isle because I was cooked on the side facing the stove.

good memories.

Looks like a "Doe Camp" to me!!

potbelly tent stove for under $200 it will heat a 12 x24 with just a couple small pieces of fire wood,also comes with a addon hot water heater,coffee water ready all the time

We have a dearborn in a 55' trailer house and it really does the job. Have a couple of the 60 gallon tanks outside and only fill them once a year or so. They are easy to install and fairly cheap.

Yep.......that's why we prefer the Deerborn. Here's the two wood burners.



That pot belly stove will run you out of the little cabin if you don't control the air flow.


Tbar

Love the smell of oak, but gas is easier no doubt...

There are several propane heaters that run off the smaller bottles as well.

No wood choppin', that way.

Wood burning stoves will heat well except when they run out of fuel. Since I sleep on the couch next to ours the other guys on the lease all hope that I have drunk enough beer to get up and re-fuel. Ours will lsat about 3-4 hours depending the wood. The wood burning stoves are good if you have a good cheap source of wood. If I had to pay Dallas prices for wood there is no way I would use one. The kerosene heaters are good and inexpensive but fuel is a little high. I want to put a 220v window mount in but we don't want to make too many improvements since we lease. The buddy heaters are OK for small areas but expensive to operate unless you run off a bigger tank.

we have a wood burning fire place like dog catcher , but in additon to that they make a fan that goes on the flute or stove pipe that plugs in and blows alot of heat off that thru out the room in addition to the wood burning fireplace... also can put coffie on there and torpolians....

I bought one of these radiant heaters last year. They work great. I think it cost around $70 w/o the propane tank.

The radiant heaters are good outside but not recommended for indoors.

there was something on the news recently about a whole family (large family) died in there sleep from the exhaust from one of those radiant type heaters you hook up to the bottle. Pretty sad. They all died in there sleep.

This is a very resonable investment that could really work. It will radiate heat in more directions than just the fireplace. Too much heat is wasted with a fireplace. You can put a pot belly insert into a fireplace resonably.

Love the wood burners. Rented a house in Western Massachusetts while up there for work one year and that's how we heated the whole place. Proper air control can keep that stove piping hot for more than 12 hours easy.

Yep happens to often. The Buddy heaters have a low oxygen detector and will shut off. They will also shut off if tipped. We used to use one of the radiant heaters outdoors and did not have the safety features.

If the problem is staying warm during the night you might try electric blankets if you have electricity. Our cabin is made from an old bus we don't have a heater other than when we cook and one of the radiant ones that we don't leave on at night. We have electricity and put electric blankets on our beds and turn them on a little before bedtime. They make for some good sleeping.

Do you have electricity? If so, we use a space heater that plugs in. It has different settings and a dial to adjust how hot you want it. It turns on and off throughout the night to keep it at the temp you desire. Also, it has a tip device so it shuts off if tilted beyond a certain angle.