wood stove pellet hopper

Bear Heart · January 27, 2014, 03:09:00 PM

After a day spent hunting elk in the rain it is good to have a warm and dry place to hang you bow and gear. So a wood stove comes to mind.
But firewood may be wet or unavailable in the area you are hunting. Transporting wood from another area can be a no-no. Also waking up to stoke the fire is not conducive to good sleep.

Anybody add one of those pellet burners to their wood stove? Went to the sportsman show here and saw them on the utah made cylinder stove. Give you the ability to burn regular wood when you are awake and hanging out and to go to pellets for worry free heat all night.

Pete McMiller · January 27, 2014, 03:52:00 PM

Not a bad idea except you have to haul pellets into camp. We got rid of our camp's wood stove 15 years ago after a bunch of years of fire bans (including wood stoves if I'm not mistaken). We use propane heaters now. Not nearly as warm as our old wood stove but it is convenient.

January 27, 2014, 04:48:00 PM

I went to an elevated grid for my tent stove. It keeps the ash from somthering the fire, we use wood to get a good ember bed going and then add charcoal bricketts for the sleeping time. To be perfectly honest, charcoal bricketts work as good as wood anytime, as long as they are on a grid an inch or two above the floor of the stove. I heat my house with a corn burner, it needs electricity, I hear the intermittent tinkling of tumbling corn 24/7 lately. How do these pellet feeders run?

Bear Heart · January 27, 2014, 05:16:00 PM

http://www.walltentshop.com/pellet-burner-kit.html

Bear Heart · January 27, 2014, 05:32:00 PM

Gravity fed.

Longbowz · January 27, 2014, 06:39:00 PM

Ya, Tim I saw that too. It would sure make it nice when you wanted to keep the fire going while you slept.

Bear Heart · January 28, 2014, 01:10:00 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mejC-UTZSDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Longbowz · January 28, 2014, 10:41:00 AM

After looking at the video I'm impressed. Bringing a bag or two of pellots would be a lot easier then hauling firewood or hoping there's some around the campsite to cut.

Thanks for the link.

Bear Heart · January 28, 2014, 04:59:00 PM

They have other units that only burn pellets and are more compact. Torn between getting the four dog which is a superior stove or getting the cylinder stove with pellet attachment.

Ringneck · January 28, 2014, 05:26:00 PM

I have heard that some of the pellet burners don't do well at higher altitudes.

Bear Heart · January 28, 2014, 05:32:00 PM

I have heard 8000 feet. That said, I have used a big buddy heater way above where they say it works.

jcar315 · January 28, 2014, 06:06:00 PM

Thanks

KSdan · January 30, 2014, 09:31:00 PM

I see pavan mentioned using Charcoal- you guys check it out for yourself but it is my understanding that the Carbon Monoxide from Charcoal is HIGHLY DEADLY! It is ABSOLUTELY NEVER to be used in a tent as the monoxide is bad enough, but it will accumulate at the floor of any enclosed shelter. You will die in your sleep!

Dan in KS

Bear Heart · January 30, 2014, 10:53:00 PM

Anybody use coal in a tent stove? Benefits?

58WINTERS · January 31, 2014, 07:32:00 PM

You might contact Steve @ Surewood Shafts he has a pellet feeder for his wall tent stove. I assume he still has it, it's been a few years.
58

Bear Heart · January 31, 2014, 10:11:00 PM

I will do that.

chinook907 · January 31, 2014, 11:13:00 PM

What I've done a little bit of when I was in an area with no trees i.e. no real wood, was bring a few of the man made firelogs you buy in stores. Just cut a 1/4 or 1/2 of one and burn it in the stove to warm things up in the evening, and maybe then in the morning. Works great. But it could get expensive keeping the stove going all of the time like that.

Longbowz · February 01, 2014, 12:45:00 AM

I've burned presto logs in my stove for quite a few years. I use it to help get wet wood burning and add a piece right before I go to sleep. You do have to be a little careful, presto logs burn really hot and can get the stove red hot in no time. :eek:

Pete McMiller · February 01, 2014, 07:52:00 AM

Bear Heart,

Back in the 60's we hunted the Wisconsin gun deer season out of a wall tent. Many nights it would get down to or below zero.

The difficulty of course is keeping the stove going all night so we tried putting charcoal in the stove. Worked great and really heated up the tent but charcoal burns too fast to last all night. Then we tried regular coal and it worked pretty good also once you got it lit. Coal burns hot and can burn out a stove if you're not careful - use a layer of sand in the bottom of the stove. Coal leaves behind more than ash though and you have to remove the clinkers if you use a lot of it.

As far as the carbon monoxide, wood also produces CO and if your stove is drafting properly it all goes up the stack no matter what is burned. Shouldn't be a problem but always be vigilent.

I can see the pellet attachment being a definate plus if you are hunting where it gets really cold and you need a fire all night. Most places I hunt anymore don't get that cold during the parts of the bow season I'm hunting.

Bear Heart · February 01, 2014, 10:21:00 AM

Thanks for all the posts. I am down to two choices. A 3 Dog stove or a cylinder stove with pellet hopper. I believe the 3 Dog to be a superior wood burning stove. The cylinder stove is attractive because of the pellet option but is not as good of a wood.