We've recently bought a 5m bell tent, and the outbacker firebox wood burning stove, we've installed it with the flashing kit, following the instructions provided.
I've read up a lot on how to use them in the tent safely, and everywhere mentions keeping the tent ventilated, but im non the wiser about what people actually mean by 'well ventilated'
What do others do when using a wood burner?
For example Would having one of the ventilation flaps partially open with the netting still closed be enough, it completely open with the netting closed, or fill on, both flaps completely open?
I thought i best ask people who have used them before, and what they did to ensure the tent was 'wel ventilated'
Hi i have just read your post and as a seasoned bell tenter with experiance of using a wood burning stove,( we also had the very same set up), but ours was called the frontier stove, i would like to advise you on a few things, firstly the ventilation is fine with the flaps open as there is always plenty of air thru the mesh openings but more importantly i would recomend the use of a spark arrestor on the top of the flue which MUST be cleaned out after every use with a wire brush this prevents the holes getting coked up with soot which can then cause the fire to take an alternative route thru the door opening. Also please use the heat mat which can be purchased seperatly to go underneath the wood burner and have a pair of heat resistant gauntlet gloves to hand and a fire set of pokers and shovel ect, also required is an ash bucket for the disposal of the ash remains also i would recommend not using kiln dried hardwood but instead use the eco fire logs as it's much easier to control the fire.also have an extinguisher as a precaution, i dont want to alarm you we have had some amazing times with ours and it does keep the tent extremely warm but you must be very carefull. hope this helps
Don't forget a CO2 alarm. If you have any doubts give Bell Tent Boutique, Newark a call....They are very helpful and lovely people....I don't know if they are on sale yet but when I went there they had a woodburner prototype which incorporated an oven.
------------- Getting old isn't fun but the alternative is much worse.
We have the same (5M bell with the outbacker firebox).
Couple of tips and things we did (apologies if some of these are teaching to suck eggs but it's probably better to mention them).
-Burn clean seasoned (or preferably kiln dried) wood - or even better, eco heat logs like these. They both burn much better than unseasoned wood in that they give more heat for the equivalent amount of fuel, give off little to no sparks, and leave you with much less ash at the end. I haven't yet tried the coffee logs made from compressed discarded coffee grounds from the likes of costa, or the Wine logs made from grape seeds, but I'll be adding both to my next wood order and seeing how they perform...
-The flue comes with a spark arrestor already. Make sure you use it! We did also buy a couple of extra sections of flue to give the end of the flue a little extra height away from the tent. You can fit one extra in the stove when packed up.
-For high winds - get three mini-carabiners to attach some guys to the spark arrestor through the holes. (this was suggested to us by the guys at outbacker when we were looking to buy the frontier spark arrestor with guying attachments as a replacement. it was a great tip, and he willingly did himself out of a sale with it! Can't beat good, honest service)
-Keep a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm in the tent!
-Get a stove pipe thermometer to give you a bit of extra security that you're not burning the stove too hot. It won't stick to the pipe 2" up like it should though as the pipe is aluminium and not magnetic... as a rule of thumb though, if the first section of the flue is glowing then it's time to close the air inlet on the stove a bit.
-Make sure you put the flue on the right way up. The section that is wider at both ends should go at the bottom, so that then each section above slides into the one below it. Doing it the other way round could result in creosote dribbling down the outside of your flue and onto your tent.
-Outbacker stoves can be greatly improved by making a couple of small adjustments. Make sure that the air vent on the front of the stove is nice and tight so you can close it off if you need to damp down the fire. Also, the seal around the door can be greatly improved by the application of stove rope around the inside of the door. This makes the burn much more controllable and retains more heat in the stove.
-In terms of tent ventilation, we generally just leave the window nearest the stove open a few inches at the top. That is usually enough for us as the stove is clearly drawing air without the tent being too draughty and we have never had the CO alarm go off.
For info - Bell Tent Boutique and Outbacker are the same people, and are excellent for help and advice.
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Topic: Ventilation in bell tent with stove
