I've been lurking around but I had to make an account to reply to this. I have a skoolie that is nearing completion called The Albatross. It is 37' and we looked into putting in a woodstove or a rocket stove and there are a lot of issues to keep in mind.
A woodstove uses a huge quantity of oxygen, so you have to sacrifice some insulating properties in order to keep it going. We opted to insulate and seal all of our floors and walls with 2" foam insulation and caulking. We plan to be in some cold places and this makes sense, but now there's very little airflow.
With any fire there is also the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. In a house this risk is acceptable but in a bus, in such a small space, the risk is much higher. We only have 350 square feet and three kids and this is a concern for us.
A rocket stove is much more efficient than a woodstove in the amount of fuel it uses, but usually in a house for heating purposes you would want to build a
rocket mass heater. Small rocket stoves were originally designed for cooking, and the
rocket mass heater adapted that design in order to radiate heat. However, in a bus where space is at a premium, do you want to build a massive glob of mud or brick? Weight is also a factor. Our bus gets 5mpg and the heavier it is the worse that gets. Going uphill or down a mountain you really don't want any extra weight that you don't need.
After lots of deliberation, we opted for a propane furnace. It's safer to use, takes up very little space, and we can still boondock if we want to. When I build my
cob or strawbale house then I'll build my
rocket mass heater but for a bus it's better to go with propane.
Here are some videos of construction if you want to see our bus:
http://youtube.com/steampunkbus Good luck to you!
.png)
1
