Heating Your Tiny House
March 6, 2009 · Print This Article
Four Ways to Heat Your Tiny House
When you build your own Tumbleweed, heat is one issue you need to think about. The type of heating you choose will depend upon where the final destination of your tiny house will be.
Normal central heat or large wood stoves, etc., just produce too much heat for your small space. So what are some of your options? In this article we will look at some ideas for using four types of heat. Wood, gas, propane and electric heat.
Wood
The original Very Small Woodstove is the Jotul 602, from Norway. This model is a mere 12 inches wide, 19 inches deep. They are found most often in cottages and cabins in the woods, where the 602’s good looks are a highlight. It’s been around almost forever. Although very small it can heat amazingly well.
Jotul 602
12 x 19
$700
Available from Jotul
The tiniest very small woodstoves are those built for boats. These are designed for very tight quarters, and often have a railing on the top to keep pots from rolling off. Here is a typical one from the Canadian coast measuring all of 12 inches by 12 inches. They are made of cast iron and porcelain and are so cute and enchanting, folks have thought of getting a sailboat just so they need one. You can use one in your tiny house just as easily.
Sardine
12 x 12
$650
Available from Marine Stove
Propane
Propane is also popular in tiny houses and Jay uses the Newport Propane Fireplace in his Epu. This lovely little heater/fireplace. Ideal for boats or houses up to 32 ft. The combustion process is completely isolated from the inside of the structure by the unique, direct vent design. A built-in blower provides good heat circulation. Heater is sold with all accessories including a stainless steel backing plate and 28″ of flexible, double stainless chimney. Safe, easy to use and extremely economical.
Newport Propane Fireplace (P9000)
17 x 9
$1044
Available from Dickson Marine
Gas
Gas is also an option and Woodstock Soapstone Company has the perfect little stove for tiny spaces called the Cottage Mini Soapstone Gas Stove.
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It’s 8,000 BTU heat output is perfect for a cozy, intimate area.
It takes up little space (it can be installed on a stand or wall- mounted shelf).
It’s a handsome design.
The Mini Franklin(tm) will bring warmth, grace, and style to any room setting. Its small fire will add ambiance and though it is just 17″ tall, it will produce almost 8,000 BTU/hr!
Cottage Mini
17 x 14
$1049
Available from Woodstock Soapstone Company
Electric
There are many small electric heaters that will work extremely well in your tiny house. Following are a couple examples available at your local Walmart. Electric heaters cost much less than the above wood stoves and propane or gas stoves. If electricity is easily available this might be your most affordable option.\
Oil-Filled Radiator
De’Longhi EW0715W Safeheat Oil-Filled Radiator features Patented Easy Snap Wheels, Adjustable Thermostat and Three Heat Settings
$39.87
Available from Walmart
Titan Ceramic Heater with Thermostat #TCM16W-U
Compact yet powerful, this ceramic heater sports a thermostat that lets you choose how much heat you want.
$18.44
Available from Walmart
Toe Kick Heater
Qmark QTS1500T Electric Kickspace Heater (120 Volts)
$156
A toe-space heater will fit where no other heater will. It can be recessed into toe space areas under kitchen or utility room cabinets or into the soffit area above them.
It can also be recessed into the risers of a stairway or under the vanity in the bathroom. It is convenient for checkout counters, ticket or toll booths and many other places where no other heater seems to fit.
Hopefully this will give you some ideas and a starting point to figure out what type of heat is best for your tiny home.
Thanks for the very useful article. I’m also looking into radiant underfloor tubing. Fluid running through it can be heated by a propane heater and/or a solar collector panel. Also, the large, passive, solar windows used in the Z-Glass should work great. The key is starting with these well insulated, small spaces and enegy consumption can be minimal.
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Thanks for writing this Kent! I think those wood stoves are very cute but I’d love to find some more info about how to easily manage the mess of wood stoves. Dangerous too…
Unfortunately I still think propane is the best option… next to passive solar and good insulation.
Den, I assume you’re talking about the underfloor tubing in a permanently affixed house?
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Den reply on March 22nd, 2009 6:49 am:
Nope, looking at running tubing in the sub-flooring of a Tarlton, on a trailer.
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This Tiny House reply on March 30th, 2009 11:32 pm:
Wow, that’s cool. I’d love more info on how that would actually work.
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Den reply on April 5th, 2009 11:48 pm:
Will update on the radiant. It’s just a supplimental heat idea that makes sense to spend the $100 on tubing and build it into the sub-floor. I’ll figure the rest out later. Have ordered the Woodstock, mini- Franklin as my primary heat source. I ran across the company some 15yrs ago and the “slow heat release” of soapstone makes sense. It also has a remote/thermostat. Have used propane for heating in the northern rockies and it just works. Think about 90% of it comes from North America, too.
Great and informative article! It’s good to know there are so many heating options for tiny homes.
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This Tiny House – Wood stoves in a tiny space should be well thought out and you should be educated in there use. These are designed to be used in boats. I have contact information with the builder and will get in touch with him and his recommendations for use of wood stoves in tiny spaces. When I learn more I will do a followup article on wood stoves.
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Mom-kat reply on April 9th, 2009 6:05 pm:
Very important to provide combustion air from exterior to your tiny house wood burning stove or wood burning fire place. Otherwise, you may snuffit. And that would be a real shame after you built one of these tiny houses. Tiny wood stoves take lots of tending. Won’t keep the house too warm if you have to leave to go to work outside the house. I’ve almost 60 years with wood burning heat, designing houses, homesteading, green living. I am intrigued and want to build one of the tiny houses. If you had to buy wood, then propane is probably cheaper and more easily controlled.
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Good article, good read.
Maybe an idea for another article is cooling a Tumbleweed, with my immigration papers going through for a move to Australia as we speak I think cooling it will be of more concern than heating the thing!
Thanks Again.
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Wayne reply on May 24th, 2009 10:28 pm:
Looks like there will soon be another Tumbleweed fan in Australia. Building one of these homes is high on my list of ‘things to do once my kids go to school’ (4 years to go).
As I live in the sub-tropics, cooling has been my #1 concern. Choosing a design with a high loft ceiling and installing a roof mounted extraction fan and plenty of under ceiling insulation would work a treat. The biggest issue would be the amount of solar gain through the walls. Again using reflective wool batts in the walls should help here.
I am sure that there will be a whole lot of loopholes to leap through to get it to meet all of the housing and trailer standards here. It may be easier to treat it as a ‘caravan’. We will wait and see when the time comes.
Nick, If you make to Brisbane, Queensland be sure to pop in for a ‘cuppa.
Wayne, Brisbane.
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Morso also makes a small woodstove called the Squirrel. BTU output is about the same as the Jotul, but if I remember correctly it is slightly more efficient.
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[...] Heating Your Tiny House, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company [...]
Hi Mike – thanks for the Morso information. I want to read up on it a little more, than I will update this post to include the information. Anyone else with good heating ideas, please let us know.
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there is a gel heater priced between 200 and 300 dollars that is a plug-in baseboard. i know b/c i used a friend’s while they remodeled their ‘antique’ home before a move. the heater has gel inside and even curtains can land on the heater w/o fear of immediate ignition. now i have looked online for this heater but cannot find it. i do remember they did not have a website so that may be why. they are in the carolinas and require the room measurements so they know if they are sending the right size heater for the right space. this heater used so little electric i wish they made a/c units that economical! any ideas?
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Kent,
What about radiant floor (or ceiling) warming units like that put out by Calorique Inc. (http://www.calorique.com/Products.html)? In the small spaces these should work great, be efficient and produce no waste. Since heat rises, heating a house, even a larger house from the floor up, seems much more efficient to me and would eliminate cold areas. And don’t you just hate cold floors on bare feet!!
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Den reply on March 20th, 2009 6:33 am:
I’m looking at radiant underfloor to augment passive solar windows and soapstone, propane-fired mini-stove. The tubing can be laid when building the foundation and then an active or passive circulating system added later. If you place the solar collector lower than the house, you get free thermosyphon, circulation. Currently planning on at least 3 to 5 ways to heat.
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Lydia – that is a great suggestion for heat, a little more complicated to install initially maybe, but sure would be nice once it is up and working. And yes, I do not like cold floors with bare feet
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How about pellet stoves? Has anyone looked into those?
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Paul Guyon reply on March 13th, 2009 1:02 pm:
I think they’d work for the “small houses”, but maybe a little too big for the “tiny houses”. Most of the people who make wood stoves also have pellet models.
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Penny reply on April 5th, 2009 11:28 am:
What I didn’t like about pellet stoves is the fact that you must have electricity to operate the hopper (also the pellets themselves are not inexpensive), so if you want to live off the grid, pellet stove arent’t a good choice. A wood stove which can also be used to cook in an emergency was my choice. They aren’t all that messy and considerably less expensive. I love mine.
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I’m looking into this forced air solar convection system.
http://www.cansolair.com/
My main heating concern is making sure the house doesn’t freeze (or burn down) if I’m not around all day long to look after a fire. I think this panel would keep the house pretty warm even in the dead of a Canadian winter… Using the solar convection system in tandem with propane (when in need of a heat boost) is probably the way I will go.
It is even made in part by recycled aluminum pop cans.
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I heated my 40 foot sailboat with two of those small, ceramic heaters. When I was in Alabama in January, the temperatures went down to 20 deg at night. Those two heaters kept that 40 by 12 foot space very comfortably warm, and I was able to run both of them on a 12 volt 2000 watt generator.
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Great info. on heating small spaces! However, I currently use two of the Jotul wood stoves, one in my 1100 sq. ft. house and one in our detached sewing studio which is 450sq. ft with 9′ ceilings. These stoves will literally cook us out of these spaces if we are not careful to monitor the fire! I think that these stoves would be WAYYYYYY overkill for a small home. I agree that propane would be the best solution, although when we go camping and have hook ups, we are very comfortable with just a small electric heater.
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Jay Shafer reply on March 31st, 2009 11:32 am:
Yes. Wood is much harder to control.
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Dear: Jay Shafer
I am Korean.
My name is Sung Heui Moon
I living in South Korea.
I don’t English very well.
I like Tiny house.
I wish construct my House. becouse a poor man.
But I allways smile.I have a hope and family.
My wife is a pregnancy period… 6 month.
My one’s first daughter 22 month. very…very lovely.
I take a resolution. Tiny house construct for my family.
I’m out of work. Now a job finding.
Korean is concerned about natural life.
Increased demand eco friendly.
Korean say well-being.
I experienced a building engineer.
So, I need your help.
1. I want buy your company Portfolio book.
I not credit card. 5 years ago fall a cropper.
Could you tell me the your a bank account number.
If you do that send to money.
2. I want know, How to construct of Tiny house or data, manual etc…
3. How to made a Trailer…
Frame, sash, break system, Thickness of material, length, size, etc…
becouse, I have a hard think about Big tiny house under the small trailer. It is important to traction load and all load.
Please Help me.
Don’t Find for Tiny house data in Korea.
I need your help now.
I hope your reply.
Thank you.
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Jay Shafer reply on March 31st, 2009 11:43 am:
Send $14 to…
Tumbleweed Tiny House Co.
P.O. Box 941, Sebastopol, California 95473
U.S.A.
I’ll be sure that you get a portfolio.
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My bedroom (a rather large and drafty converted attic) is currently heated with a candle heater, which traps and reradiates the heat from a beeswax candle. With some space blankets on the walls around my bed, it keeps me reasonably warm. It is not, however, clean burning: Although most of the particulate is trapped, I still feel it in my lungs after three or four cold nights.
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Got the Woodstock mini-Franklin stove and it is a gem. Beautifully crafted and rated to heat 400 sq.ft. I’m nixing the radiant underfloor idea, just too much trouble and not necessary. As long as I’ve got propane, this little stove should work great. Will update as I get it in and working. Actually looking forward to -25F, next winter.
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Are many people buying or building Tiny Houses in North Carolina? Wondering if the heat/humidity would be killer in them. I love the idea of downsizing into one of these.
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Katie reply on April 25th, 2009 3:26 pm:
Oops…just saw that this thread was about heating in the winter, which won’t be a problem in NC.
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Mike Moore reply on June 7th, 2009 4:37 pm:
It’s taken me a long time, but I’ve just about finished my Tumbleweed
home just north of Durham, NC. The final hurdle is the heating system. I do have a small woodstove, but I need to cover those times when I am not here. I had settled on radiant floor heat, but am now considering other options.
Footprint of the house is 16′x22′. With loft the total square footage is around 450.
Mike
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I came upon this handy cookstove/oven which is about the same output as the Jotul. http://www.fireplacesandwoodstoves.com/product-directory/bakers-oven.aspx
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Jay Shafer reply on May 8th, 2009 10:06 am:
Nice!
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Vent pipes have to be two feet above the ridge of the roof correct? So that would exceed the maximum road height allowance would it not? If this is so, then how does one install a wood stove? (I was wondering the same thing for the non-electric composting toilets since they also require a vent pipe, some 2 to 4 feet above ridge).
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Aria reply on June 18th, 2009 11:22 am:
If anyone is interested….
Okay, after spending a couple of days and numerous hours looking up chimney codes and vent stack products, it turns out, that even for these little wood stoves discussed here, codes stipulate that the chimney has to be 2 feet above roof where chimney comes out of roof, and no less than 3 feet higher than the top ridge of the roof. So again, I still don’t understand how in the world these can be installed in a Tumbleweed that will be driven down the road, not stationary. Then to top it off, codes stipulate that vertical pipe sections are not allowed to pass through ceiling, attic space or roof, but that the chimney can with a special kit.
On the upside, while looking for such venting supplies, I stumbled upon a nifty vent that can be used on RV’s and for composting toilets. It’s called the 360 Siphon made by 360 Products Inc. It appears, from what I’ve read and pictures I’ve seen, as though it can be directly bolted to the roof, there by eliminating the need to extend the vent pipe the four feet required by some commercial compost toilet manufactures.
In any case, I’m still wondering about the setup for the woodstove. So frustrating
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Jay Shafer reply on June 23rd, 2009 12:55 pm:
Thanks, Aria. Another thing to consider with wood is interior clearances. I think the way to deal with this is to simply make the nearby walls non-flamable or include delux heat shields.
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Jay Shafer reply on June 23rd, 2009 12:44 pm:
You could easily take the vents off before traveling. Just don’t forget before passing beneath the first bridge.
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My hubby and I (with our 2 yr old son) just bought a tiny house, that was previously owned by Julie Martin and built by Jay Shafer about 3 years ago. It is only electric and we were hoping to put a propane system in (for tiny gas range and maybe a Dickinson Marine heater too.)
Could someone please tell me about how much a basic propane system would cost.. and also about what it may cost to have it installed as well? In addition, where would we find out the fire regulations and codes in order to install?
Thanks so much, Gusty
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Jay Shafer reply on August 12th, 2009 6:30 pm:
The Dickinson heater is about $950 and each tank costs about $40. Labor should be about $200ish.
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Thanks for the reply.
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[...] is solar heat, which I’ve found for under $3000. We would want that to be backed up with propane. Propane would be what we start with, as the cost is included in the estimate of building the [...]
Anybody consider using an on demand propane water heater in combination with a radiant floor system? hook a thermostat to a small pump. Seems like you could save some money by using the one unit for dual purposes.
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Very nice blog post. I learned a lot about the various fireplaces on the market.
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