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Woodstoves need oxygen to make heat. Most woodstoves should have a damper to regulate intake air, and a second damper to regulate stovepipe exhaust [or how strongly it tries to draft].
If you shut both of these dampers the fire should go out immediately.
I have a two-barrel 'Vogelzang' woodstove that is rated at 200kBtu. By partly closing one or both of these dampers I can throttle the burn down to only a tiny fire when such is needed.
A woodstove rated at 100kBtu can put off that much heat when it is functioning at its greatest capacity. And when you operate its dampers you control how much heat you want it to produce. 10kBtu, 20kBtu, 50kBtu?
Biggest problem with a wood stove in a small space is it probably gives off TOO MUCH heat and you can't turn it off.
Propane would be a lot more controllable.
This is a good point but the woodstove can and should be a small one, and the owner/operator needs to get a good feel for how big a fire is needed for a given outdoor temperature.
If this shack is going to have mains power provided, and I think you should do that if you can, a window mount heat pump, looks like a regular window unit A/C but it works both for heat and for cooling, can be good. Propane is rather expensive, just not my favorite heating fuel.
The past two winters we've been using a Mr. Buddy propane heater without issue. Very rarely have it on the high setting as it would run hot enough to drive us out of the house. Have it hooked to the bbq sized propane bottles that are easily exchangeable at many places. These have a low oxygen sensor to auto shut-off with low oxygen. They take up little space compared to a wood stove. We have considered a woodstove as there's a lot of wood available on the land, but do not really have the space needed for it. Since propane has worked so well we are considering getting a wall mounted propane heater and a big outdoor propane tank. Our area is pretty arid so the extra moisture is welcome for us, not fond of dry winter itch.
I avoid vent-free (aka "unvented") burners indoors. There's risk beyond just oxygen depletion and CO emissions
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reice
We have considered a woodstove as there's a lot of wood available on the land, but do not really have the space needed for it.
Where indoor space is at a premium, and outdoor wood boiler can be a good option, especially if you have access to install underfloor heating tubes for the hot water to circulate through, no space lost to radiators!
Add valves for an extra zone and you could run a hot tub off it too
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reice
Since propane has worked so well we are considering getting a wall mounted propane heater and a big outdoor propane tank.
I like the direct vent "gravity" wall heaters, fuel-efficient, safe, and they don't take up much space. with a millivolt thermostat you even get automatic heat in a power outage or off-grid.
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I avoid vent-free (aka "unvented") burners indoors. There's risk beyond just oxygen depletion and CO emissions
