Final Big Project... Complete

I'm sure we will always have projects on the 'to do' list, but installing our woodstove was the last big project left from our original build.  We ran out of time to put the stove in before heading up to Alaska for the summer, but with winter on its way, we knew we had to get the stove in or suffer a wet, cold season.  We headed down to my brother's house in sunny San Luis Obispo and got to work.  We were initially really nervous about putting in the stove, but it ended up being much easier than we thought.  We had previously put in a pony wall, which was to be the location for the stove.  That allowed us to have plenty of space around the stove for safety reasons (the manufacturer recommends at least 8" of space between the stove and any other flammable surfaces).

Materials:

Dickinson Marine Newport Solid Fuel Heater

Stainless steel pipe (3"x24")

Long stainless steel pipe with barometric damper

Flue pipe rain lid

Stainless steel DP exhaust cap

Stainless steel deck fitting, gasket, and dress ring

1'x2' stainless steel sheet

1 sheet millboard

4 -1/2" spacers

Heat tape

Marine grade caulk

Insulation foam tape

Time:

2 hours

Steps:

1. First we had to prepare the mounting space for the stove.  Obviously, you don't want to melt your wall so this is an important step.  We used two layers of millboard and a layer of steel painted with a high heat special paint (you can skip the paint if you get stainless steel, we couldn't find any so we painted plain steel so it wouldn't rust.  Don't get galvanized steel or you can get zinc poisoning.)  We offset the steel with 1/2" spacers so there was air space between the steel and the millboard.  We also put a layer of millboard on the door behind the chimney pipe.

Millboard with stainless sheet.  We also drilled a 3" air hole as recommended.  We plan to have the door cracked while operating the stove so air can be drawn through the hole and into the stove.

2. Next, we mounted the stove to the steel.  This was pretty simple.  It came with brackets so we just bolted it on.

Stove is mounted!

3. Now for the hole!  At this point we've cut many holes into the van so it was a little less nerve wracking.  We lined up the chimney pipes and marked where they hit on the ceiling.  You need 1" of clearance around the pipe so we needed a 5" hole for our 3" chimney pipes.  We opted to use a 5" hole saw and just blast through all the layers of our ceiling, insulation, and the metal van roof.  Yeehaw!  We let my brother do this part!

4. We lined the hole with heat tape so it was dressed nicely.

Big ol' hole in the roof.

Looking in from above.

5. Next up was mounting the deck fitting on the outside of the van.   Unfortunately, the Promaster roof is really ridgy so we had to fill in the gaps with some foam tape material.  The deck fitting comes with a neoprene seal ring, which we put on top of the evened out surface.  We filled any gaps with caulk and then screwed down the deck fitting.  Then we covered it with lots of caulk and once that dried we added roofing tape around all the edges to really make sure there are no leaks.

Here is the chimney exit with the rain cap on.  This is what we will use while driving.

Here is the chimney top we will use while the stove is operating.

6. After your deck fitting is installed on the outside, you can connect all your chimney pieces inside, and install the dress ring to make the hole in the ceiling look nicer.  Then you're done!

Fancy!

So that's it!  Just a reminder, we are not professionals at anything and installing a woodstove in your van is potentially dangerous.  Be sure to do your research and provide the proper amount of ventilation.  We also installed a propane monitor and a carbon monoxide monitor in the van.  As you can see, we also have a fire extinguisher mounted next to the stove.  We will update you once we have had a chance to try it out!