# Ideas for heating a mobile home when SHTF?



## KeepingItAtHome (Jun 17, 2013)

We'll be moving from our city house with a huge fireplace (that I love dearly) to a mobile home before we can build. I'm looking for ideas to heat a mobile home with 8 children (hmmm maybe body heat will do it lol) in the winter. It doesn't get deathly cold here, in fact I'm sure we could actually survive without any heat since we only just get to freezing or a couple degrees below, but for the sake of comfort a little heat would be nice.


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## lonestarbugout (Jan 25, 2013)

Have you considered a rocket mass heater? I helped build one once. If you follow the formula it is easy and efficient.
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp


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## RebelDigger (Aug 5, 2010)

You can get wood stoves esp. made for mobile homes at Lowe's for about $600.00.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

RebelDigger said:


> You can get wood stoves esp. made for mobile homes at Lowe's for about $600.00.


I've seen those. The only tricky thing would be cutting through the layers at the roof point in such a way that it doesn't leak afterwards.

It's Oklahoma, so you're not likely to freeze to death. At worst, make sure you have good rugged clothes and plenty of blankets. With 8 people you just pile all in one big bed under the blankets and wait out the cold. 

Our first winter here we had to do that for a week or so. It was getting down to just below freezing and we didn't have a trustworthy source of heat yet. It's SHTF, so you don't have to go to work.  Stay in bed all day under thick blankets and cuddle with the wife and kids.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

You don't have to cut through the roof to vent a woodstove. Set the stove closer to a wall, vent the flu through the wall, then go up.
Just make sure you use a proper boot, or sleeve to take the flu pipe through the wall, and I would line the walls near the stove with cement board or at least 5/8 drywall.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> You don't have to cut through the roof to vent a woodstove. Set the stove closer to a wall, vent the flu through the wall, then go up.
> Just make sure you use a proper boot, or sleeve to take the flu pipe through the wall, and I would line the walls near the stove with cement board or at least 5/8 drywall.


Won't you have the exact same problem going through the wall as you do with the roof? It's still multiple layers with insulation. 

I always prefer going straight up through the roof with a stovepipe. I don't like bends. We burn a lot of mesquite and creosote builds up in the bends. They're harder to clean and more prone to fire. Straight pipes are safe pipes.


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

Remove a window, fill the space with sheet metal and/or cement board, cut a hole for the horizontal flue. Later, you can remove the flue/etc, and reinstall the window with no sign there ever was a stove there.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

Ernie said:


> Won't you have the exact same problem going through the wall as you do with the roof? It's still multiple layers with insulation.
> 
> I always prefer going straight up through the roof with a stovepipe. I don't like bends. We burn a lot of mesquite and creosote builds up in the bends. They're harder to clean and more prone to fire. Straight pipes are safe pipes.



Well yes, you will have a few layers of material to cut through, but it isn't all that hard to do. But my suggestion had nothing to do with cutting through layers, it was suggested baded on your concerns of roof leaks.

I have done both ways, last install I did was by far the easiest. In that case (obviously not a mobile home). I was putting a wood furnace in the basement of a house I had. The cinder block basement wall extended 3-4 blocks above ground, so I cut a hole in the block wall, just above ground, extended the ss triple wall pipe out the wall, put a clean out/90* in, and went straight up, about 8 inches off the exterior wall of the house.

Then mixed up some mortar, and filled any gaps between the block and the pipe.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

I know someone who built a small room off of their backdoor in their trailer and put a woodstove in that room.
Heats that trailer amazingly well!
The good thing about trailers is the insulation.
They barely have to have a fire and the whole place is short sleeve toasty.

No cutting a hole in the walls or the roof. The shed room was built for a woodstove. Brilliant solution.


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Get a ventless propane heater and a hundred pound propane tank.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

chickenista said:


> I know someone who built a small room off of their backdoor in their trailer and put a woodstove in that room.
> Heats that trailer amazingly well!
> The good thing about trailers is the insulation.
> They barely have to have a fire and the whole place is short sleeve toasty.
> ...


From the looks of it at a distance-my neighbor built a cement,rock stove next to his MH and pipes the heat in. :hand:


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

7thswan said:


> From the looks of it at a distance-my neighbor built a cement,rock stove next to his MH and pipes the heat in. :hand:


My dad did that when I was a kid, sorta. He built a 6foot square cement block building about 3 feet from our house trailer. He sixteen the heat from that into the trunk line that took heat to the entire home. His reason for doing that was insurance. The insurance company would not insure us with a wood burner in the trailer, but in this case, it was a separate building.


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## Belfrybat (Feb 21, 2003)

Ditto on the propane heaters if you don't have a fireplace. You don't mention how large your mobile home is (doubt it's a "trailer" with 8 kids). I live in a doublewide 28 x 60. The fireplace is basically decorative, but with a bit of assistance from a heat reflector and fans, it heats the main area well. I also have two window solar heaters that do a phenomenal job of moving the heat into the house. If you decide to install a wood-burning stove, I've heard of people erecting a tent inside the house with the opening facing the heater, but a safe distance away. Apparently that arrangement kept everyone toasty warm at night.


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## AuntKitty (Oct 25, 2004)

I live in a doublewide and it came with a large fireplace. You could put an insert into it if you wanted to make it more efficient, but I live in FL so its just for ambience and emergencies.

Kitty


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## Explorer (Dec 2, 2003)

Render down all those fat zombies you shoot and burn the fat.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

yes the little block house outside the trailor or the added room with a wood stove nither is terribly expencive and all the dust and ashes are out of the living area .


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I have a 1950 mobile home. It's 10X50 with a 2X4 roof and 2X2 walls. I put 2' thick styrafoam outside around the bottom and on the north side. It gets a wee bit colder here than where you are. The main source of heat is one of the air tight wood burning stoves. It is not rated for a mobile home but it works anyway. I have thousands of acres of woods around me so I will have an endless supply of wood if TSHTF. 

I do get cold feet when I am sitting at my desk in the end bedroom. Cured that with a heating pad.

They do make parts to safely run the pipe through the roof. I would be concerned about leaks if you want to run it through a flat part of the roof. Mine goes through a sloped piece of roof.

You should worry about frozen pipes. Make sure they are located so they stay warm enough or put some heat tape on them. I do have to leave the cabinet doors open on the cabinet under the sink when it gets really really cold outside so it doesn't get too cold there. 

Insurance? We don't need no stinking insurance.


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## KIT.S (Oct 8, 2008)

We have an 1800 sq ft manufactured home with a wood stove opposite the front door. I put in a tile entry way so it's easy to clean, and Mom doesn't do stairs, so we have a ramp and I use a kid's wagon to bring in cord wood and stack in a wood rack.
I got the wood stove we have now second hand, but it's rated for a manufactured home and we got it inspected when we installed it so that the insurance company couldn't complain. It does a good job of heating the entire house, even for my always-cold Mom.
Our pipe runs directly up through the roof near the peak but not through it, and it hasn't leaked in 3 years. It was messy to cut through the ceiling, pull the insulation, and cut through the roof, but once the bits were cleaned up, no harder than any other method.
Kit


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## pamda (Oct 14, 2004)

I had a double wide with a small wood stove in it. It did not leak at any point and it kept the place warmer than gas heat did.


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## backwoods (Sep 12, 2004)

Around here, the preferred method by far is to build a small attached room just outside of one of the trailer doors, usually the "back" door, and install a woodstove in it. Then simply open the door when you want to run the woodstove and let the heat inside. Of course, the little add on will need to have a door to the outside of its own, in order to not have to carry wood through the trailer and make such a mess. If it's built on a concrete slab, all the better, for clean up and safety.


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## mamakatinmd (Aug 21, 2005)

If you go with the small attached room method, you can put windows or heavy plastic in it to make a greenhouse. With the stove going on cold days it would be perfect for growing cold weather veg like spinach, lettuce, etc to eat in winter. You could start your summer veg starters in there to get a jump on the growing season. With 8 kids your going to need all the food and space you can get!


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## mpillow (Jan 24, 2003)

If you build an addition to encompass a door and/or a window on the trailer....put either a fan in the window or one of those small square fans in the upper door jam corner to help circulate the heat...works great!
We have a 1978 single wide modular that we added onto by pouring a slab 16 by 52 feet and stick building....woodstove went in the lower slab portion of our double living room...I use a desktop fan by the stove and a square door jam fan to send heat down to further end...we use at most 5 cord of wood to heat just under 1700 sqfeet...in Maine and we like it WARM 77 degrees most of the time.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

One of the best things we did when we lived in a mobile was to take down the 1970's panneling, put up (with staple gun) plastic sheeting - the cheap stuff from LOWE's, then staple back up the panneling. Kept the wind from whipping through the walls and taking all the heat out with it. I think we spent $30 to do it.

Also, we turned our dryer so it vented into the house. Nice moist heat. Do put panty hose or some such thing on the vent to capture the lint - and check it every day so it's doesn't buildup.

Neither were conventional, but as 2 full time students with part time jobs....money was tight.


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## ET1 SS (Oct 22, 2005)

I heat with a woodstove.

Many mobilehomes in this area heat with woodstoves.


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## Homesteader (Jul 13, 2002)

Also, consider the soda can solar heaters, here is just one you tube video link, then do a general search for many videos on the subject. I want to do this sooooo bad, but for some reason DH seems hesitant. I think I will just start building one, then he'll step in and help!

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf-9M_WVuSM[/ame]


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## KeepingItAtHome (Jun 17, 2013)

WoW! Thanks for all the great ideas guys!! Lots to mull over!
It is a single wide mobile, about 1800 sq ft. It's temporary until we can build  It's bigger than the 40' RV we lived in for a year ;')


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## SJSFarm (Jun 13, 2012)

Homesteader, I was trying to find something like that to suggest. I recalled a story about a Native American family who lived in an old mobile home. The father and son built the solar heater with soda cans, just like that. They left a window open to let the heat in. They cleared the snow off in the morning.


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## Badger (Jun 11, 2010)

I have a soapstone stove and I love it - It cut my wood consumption in half!


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## swamp man (Dec 25, 2005)

I used a kerosene heater in my old trailer (which was pretty much a run-down shell of a dump, but slightly more comfortable than my tent), and it put out lots of heat and I was able to do some cooking on it when the power went out. It either blasts an inferno of heat or is just "off", though....no middle ground or even temperature.
For when the fan truly goes brown and wafts us all with it's stinky vapor, you need a woodstove. A rocket stove is incredibly efficient, but might be a bit more of a project than y'all want to put into a temporary structure.
A woodstoves in a trailer can be as safe as a woodstoves in a stick-framed structure, but it HAS to be installed, operated, and maintained properly. Definitely, run the chimney pipe straight up through the roof. Going through a wall won't be much easier in the grand scheme. With a properly fitting pipe jack and a good install, you ain't gonna have leaks.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

KeepingItAtHome said:


> WoW! Thanks for all the great ideas guys!! Lots to mull over!
> It is a single wide mobile, about 1800 sq ft. It's temporary until we can build  It's bigger than the 40' RV we lived in for a year ;')


1800 sqft??? Single wide?
That's gotta be the largest single wide I have ever heard of.

Largest I have ever seen is 16 by 80. Thats only 1280 sqft.


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## KeepingItAtHome (Jun 17, 2013)

Dixie Bee Acres said:


> 1800 sqft??? Single wide?
> That's gotta be the largest single wide I have ever heard of.
> 
> Largest I have ever seen is 16 by 80. Thats only 1280 sqft.


hmm pretty sure it's 1800 sq ft, I could be remember wrong... it's 3bdrs, 2 full baths, kitchen/dining combo living room, laundry room.... It's a 90's model...



Has anyone done the soda can heating? We're actually talking about doing that as a main source of heat. It would mean the only propane we'd need would be for cooking.


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## Jim-mi (May 15, 2002)

That "soda can" thingy wont do you a bit of good when you need it the most . . . during stormy - cloudy - raining days.


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## Dixie Bee Acres (Jul 22, 2013)

At 16 foot wide, to my knowledge is the widest singlewide made, 1800 sqft would be 112.5 feet long.
That's one loooong trailer.
Regardless of that, the solar soda can heaters only do any good on sunny days. Never at night.
They might provide some suplimentary heat, but not primary heat.


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