How many sf in my rig?

[hozerdude]

I have a 341 RLQS 37 foot 5'er was wondering how many square feet inside I have in this 5'er

[Camping Couple]

Just measure the spaces and total the square footage.

[Skaling]

My guess would be 250-300 sq ft

[Bearles]

Ditto what Camping Couple suggested.
Then again does the real number matter if the space works for your needs.

[hozerdude]

Originally Posted by Bearles

Ditto what Camping Couple suggested.
Then again does the real number matter if the space works for your needs.

Well the reason I am asking is that I am going to put a Wood Stove In My RV.
I live in my 5'er full time here is Colorado.

There are two stoves I'm looking at:

#1 Kimberly wood Stove has approx 40,000 BTU. Cost $4,000
( IMHO Way to expensive )

Video Linky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri6SY9zqiao

#2 Cubic wood Stove 14,000 BTU cost less than $1,000

Video Linky:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoK7lDhV_J4

I just want to make sure that what ever stove I buy I want it to warm up the
whole RV!

[jal0710]

Either one of those will warm up the RV very well. You might consider a pellet stove rather than a wood stove, but I'm not sure about the price differential, but the pellets would seem to me to be a bit easier to manage than a bunch of cut-up trees.

[hozerdude]

Originally Posted by jal0710

Either one of those will warm up the RV very well. You might consider a pellet stove rather than a wood stove, but I'm not sure about the price differential, but the pellets would seem to me to be a bit easier to manage than a bunch of cut-up trees.

You can burn Pellets, Coal, Wood, Duraflame type logs. Ok I just did what Camping Couple told me to do and measured my 37 footer and it came out to approx. 288 square feet. We will round it off to 300 square feet. Now to figure out the BTU that will work in my rv.

Now in colder Climates Like here is Colorado you have to multiply 50 BTU's per square foot. So 300 square feet X 50 btu's = 15,000 BTU's per hour. So I think the 14,000 BTU stove will work for me.

[AKGperson]

May I suggest you install an Ultra-Sensitive Carbon Monoxide Monitor if you are planning to burn wood. Buy a monitor (instead of an alarm) that reports ppm instead of just alarming when the level finally hits 25ppm. Long-term low level exposure can cause serious health issues.
______________________________
2007 GMC 4x4 Crewcab
2015 Jayco White Hawk 25BHS

[Camping Couple]

Originally Posted by hozerdude

You can burn Pellets, Coal, Wood, Duraflame type logs. Ok I just did what Camping Couple told me to do and measured my 37 footer and it came out to approx. 288 square feet. We will round it off to 300 square feet. Now to figure out the BTU that will work in my rv.

Now in colder Climates Like here is Colorado you have to multiply 50 BTU's per square foot. So 300 square feet X 50 btu's = 15,000 BTU's per hour. So I think the 14,000 BTU stove will work for me.

That sounds like a plan. You will also have the furnace as supplemental heat for those extreme cold times. Good luck!

[ctbailey]

this is a cool... umm... hot idea!

I've never thought of a wood burner in a trailer.

No worries about that infernal moisture that comes with the LP furnace.
A log burner will run without power
As long as it's properly shielded on the walls and floor, this could be good.

Would you stack it out the roof or the wall?

But... log burners are a lot of work and they can bring in little buggies that are hitch hiking under the bark. Pellets are a great thing, but they need a dry place to be stored, once those pellets take on rain/snow melt, its all over.

My grand father always said: "A wood stove warms you about six times: cutting the wood, splitting the wood, stacking the wood, carrying the wood, and finally burning the wood!"

[firestorm128d]

Very "Hot Idea indeed" - Just my two cents though it was not asked for. RVs are very air tight. You should NOT use a wood stove in a Mobile Home, Travel Trailer or RV.. In most areas its not even legal! Now that being said, either make sure you have open ventilation coming into your cabin all times that the stove is lit, or get a wood burner with an Outside Combustion Air supply vent. Otherwise you can seriously suffocate yourself. Especially wen ice and snow freeze all over your trailer and seals it up better than duct tape. This is the primary reason it's not legal in most states. It's not as much CO poisoning but CO2 Poisoning as the fire consumes all of your breathing air. It also wont burn efficiently in that state then risking CO and other inefficiency problems.

Best of wishes for your project! Please post pics when you are dun!

The Kimberly is Awesome! But you are limited to pretty small uniform wood chunks. I would suspect you would have to tend it several times a night. The larger square box takes more room but you can burn about anything you want. And the additional steel will enhance the through of radiant heat. - I heat a very small work shop with a very small cast iron stove, it eats all my wood scraps. It works better than the small tin one i had in it before. I could never get it hot enough because it would glow red. The cast can take it all day so i can run it hotter and more efficiently. I crack the door for fresh air. And you can feel how much it pulls through the intake. I learned the hard way after i got so dizzy i almost passed out.

[norty1]

Not a great idea for the masses. To have proper draw and combustion air a vent or window will hAve to be open which may negate a lot of your heat.
Caution is the word of the day.

[firestorm128d]

Originally Posted by norty1

Not a great idea for the masses. To have proper draw and combustion air a vent or window will hAve to be open which may negate a lot of your heat.
Caution is the word of the day.

For the "Masses" agree - basic cave man smarts have long been lost. But keep in mind that forced air and indirect vent heating appliances have only been around maybe 75 years? But no doubt more than one cave man died in his sleep from asphyxiation because his cave was too sealed up! LOL...

All pellet stoves to my knowledge use an air intake around the exhaust pipe. This helps with efficiency as the waste heat warms the cold intake air. There are a few wood stoves that also use this, some of which require electricity to operate, but not all of them. I have my garage door open 1" with it -10 outside and its 75 inside with the unsealed old cast iron wood stove just puttering away. Sure it could be more efficient, but the woods all but free and it works. My shop is 350 Sqft and the ceiling is not insulated. Keep a window open near the fireplace. It wont be dragging cold air into a bedroom or something, And you will be fine. Or get an indirect air intake stove with outside intake... I might be using the wrong terminology but a good stove shop knows..

one more alternative you could look at is a Wood Furnace - its and outside unit that pipes the heat inside your house. Might be WAY overkill for your little trailer but they are extremely efficient and safer from a fire and gas standpoint.

[Cosmik Debris]

Make sure whatever you get draws its combustion air from outside, otherwise it'll either deplete your air or suck cold air from around door and windows, more likely the first one. My pellet stove at home draws from outside, so we get no influx of cold Montana air when trying to warm up.