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Hot camping wood stove modifications

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NotSafeForWork

NotSafeForWork

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Feb 6, 2025
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Waiting to escape
shows stove and kind of things planned.

For reference it's the cheapest vevor stove

While telescopic chimney clamps go over both sections of pipe- the spark arrestor not clamped and burning tent in video- prime candidate for another clip or using clips as stops with guys- carabineer and possibly bike brake cable to move cord away from chimney (Planned for when mine arrives).

Without fail all the hot tent stoves tend to have no baffle- excessive chimney temperatures
(Planned for when mine arrives).
cheaply

Finding a bottom grill or similar

Milk of magnesia known to be an anti seize, normally use copper ease- but AGR reactor operator said high temp corrosion.

Have glass fibre rope and glue spare-may see if a better seal benefits it.

Finer spark arrestor mesh

Wonder if anyone gone same route?
Hopefully stove mid week arrival.
 
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NotSafeForWork said:
I've one I can take with me from my unit diesel heater, I wonder tent skirts etc if Co is as much of an issue - but can't hurt.
next question would be motorhome or house co meter
Click to expand...

CO is 100% an issue in a tent. I have a monitor which shows me the content in the air and in my Rock Fortress, without a ground sheet or anything, when I open the stove door to add more wood the CO level shoots up. This is even with the doors open.
 
Chris said:
CO is 100% an issue in a tent. I have a monitor which shows me the content in the air and in my Rock Fortress, without a ground sheet or anything, when I open the stove door to add more wood the CO level shoots up. This is even with the doors open.
Click to expand...
Think one in my unit has digital CO display, what brand and model is your CO meter please.
 
…….. particularly if you are going to baffle the flu. The fine gauze spark arrester will also impede flow more than the original.
 
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A lot of household CO alarms only sound when there is immediate danger to life, and don't warn you of background levels which still don't do you any good.

Worth monitoring things closely- very small diamater flues used in tent stoves are not great for gas flow, so plenty of heat does need to be lost up the chimney to create a good draught. A baffle can certainly improve combustion efficiency and cause secondary combustion to happen earlier in the gas stream, but you lose some of the draught in the process which can increase leaks and the chance of blowbacks in unfavourable winds.

Watch the meter and keep well ventilated until you've learned how the stove behaves, and even then remember variations in terrain, wind strength/direction and gusting can all make a stove behave unpredictably.

Having said that, It's all good fun!
 
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Good points and a smoke detector, I believe a 2 hour burn time.
I also have 2 French military tent heaters which are not exactly portable bought for workshop years ago
s-l1600.webp
 
I’ve got a FireAngel in the van because I run a diesel heater. The diesel heater pulls air from outside and vents the exhaust outside, but it’s sounded a couple of times when I’ve fired the heater with the sliding door open and it’s detected the blowback into the van. Worth having, and very sensitive.

Not totally sure of your plans with the flue, but the bell tent stove flashing kits stabilise the pipe and protect the tent.
 
It's arrived and I think for £64 there's little to complain about as I knew the "issues" prior to buying.
I used a man made compressed log to test it
I don't know how to attach a picture not hosted on internet ?
The box itself isn't bad quality, the chimney is thin as expected and lack of baffles means chimney glows with slightest and a camping kettle takes an age - I'm on the case for a piece of scrap stainless -to make a baffle.

Pipe swaged which is nice, has 7 clips in contents and shows 8 in picture- can buy locally a spare.

Out tonight so limited testing, I wonder if more fuel load mass and slower burn with a grate of some sort will help would help heat cooking plate.

So far it's on a patio,so no Co worries to contend with yet.
 
Not sure of how member privileges work, but at the bottom of the message box is and Attach Files button. You may not have this, in which case you’d have to use a third party hosting site like Flickr.

IMG_1926.png
 
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Stove the lack of baffle means cool air flow under cooking plate. A baffle would force heat under plate and then via chimney.
The chimney shows no ill effects from this, dull red and kettle wouldn't boil otherwise.
I found the supplied bag the packaging fitted and couple of bits of cardboard to stop it rattling and protect glass.

Planned baffle below
F4Z1FABHW8TA3BS.jpg
 
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I have some small experience with small tent stoves and the heat going up the chimney isn't "waste heat" the radiant heat from the flue is what I use to dry off my wet gear. I'm burning twigs and other small stuff in my cylinder stove and while pretty much useless for cooking on it works to melt snow. I don't think it's worth trying to fit a secondary burn baffle in tiny stoves, naturally others may have a different experience but the bigger the stove the better top baffles work IMO. I wouldn't try and bushwalk or ski tour with the big Helsport lavvu stove tho
 
Moondog55 said:
I have some small experience with small tent stoves and the heat going up the chimney isn't "waste heat" the radiant heat from the flue is what I use to dry off my wet gear. I'm burning twigs and other small stuff in my cylinder stove and while pretty much useless for cooking on it works to melt snow. I don't think it's worth trying to fit a secondary burn baffle in tiny stoves, naturally others may have a different experience but the bigger the stove the better top baffles work IMO. I wouldn't try and bushwalk or ski tour with the big Helsport lavvu stove tho
Click to expand...
I've a friend in a metal recycling yard, so pennies to try, I believe the stove 2.5 kw max in theory, I'm happy to experiment, in fact it gives me something to look forward to after work.

If it works or not, doesn't matter I feel that I would prefer to have been born in 1950 and retired or dead by now, yes I have gigabit fibre, but am I really happy maybe it's escapism.
 
A bottom grill may help. I have used a small cake rack in my little cylinder stove. The big Helsport stove did come with a perforated rack and that is a replacement item.
Happy experimenting
I was born in the 1950s, but we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift and if we can get though the next couple of decades without self destructing I think the future is going to be really exciting, especially for the grandkids
 
Moondog55 said:
A bottom grill may help. I have used a small cake rack in my little cylinder stove. The big Helsport stove did come with a perforated rack and that is a replacement item.
Happy experimenting
I was born in the 1950s, but we are on the cusp of a paradigm shift and if we can get though the next couple of decades without self destructing I think the future is going to be really exciting, especially for the grandkids
Click to expand...
My children go from adults to 1 year, I fear the competency of the people who govern and digital Id etc means faceless control. The ZEV mandate and WEF are doomed to fail currently as infrastructure- I work in, net zero is nonsense.

While I don't subscribe to preppers as such skills and memories are worth more than electronic diversions.

I'm looking at a rack, I have a plasma cutter. Also a heat spreader/secondary burn plate
I'm hopeful to be going to a living history event later this year to enjoy a weekend back in time.
 
Observations on a patio so no risk of gassing myself.

Stock air flow cools hot plate heat up chimney and kettle takes an age and lots of soot like pioneer tent stoves.

Inserting stainless heat spreader/ secondary burn plate makes stove body far hotter and less fuel used.
Drawbacks are the stove pulling air from corners and extremely sensitive to damper and air vent- on £1.50 ready log it would likely melt without care.
However soot greatly reduced and far more pleasant than before.

On this adventure I found that one of the design issues is the chimney heat losses mean the chimney top is generally sub 100degrees c.

I'm now considering some sort of heat spreader / baffle or stainless catalyst to stop soot.

I've had a discount from seller of 15% as missing clip. ( 4 for £ 6.99 on Amazon)

I also thought of stove fan convection on chimney.
Stainless steel scourers to deal with soot

Something cheap to explore and experiment with safety on patio first.
 
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