A wood burner was something which I “ummed” and “ahhed” over for a long time during my van conversion; would it be worth the hassle of installation? Would it be practical in a van? Would the novelty wear off and become a chore? In the end I decided to go for it, and honestly, it’s the best decision I made for the whole conversion process.
The stove which caught my eye was the Micro Wood Burner which I saw advertised on Facebook. I contacted the seller, a guy called Paul Thistleton and described what I was after. Before ordering I reconstructed an approximate model from cardboard to see how it would fit in the space I had left. With my mind made up I placed my order.
At £200 (including postage) it was one of the more expensive purchases I made for the van and I was quite apprehensive about how well it would work.
I needn’t have worried.
The build quality was second to none; everything from the paint, to the welded joints, to the smooth action on the hinged front door was exactly as I’d hoped.
The model I chose to install had a front-loading door with a square window, and an adjustable air vent to help airflow into the burner itself. After an initial learning curve it was pretty easy to use this to control the burn speed and temperature, although before I’d mastered it I did turn the van into a sauna on many occasions, and then wake up cold in the night after letting it burn too quickly and go out. But after getting the knack it was simple to stay comfortably warm all night.
One thing which the burner didn’t have is an ash collecting tray. This would have made life a little easier when emptying out the old ash. However I managed to find a very handily sized mini shovel which was almost as quick to use as a tray would have been. Also the burner is so efficient that it only leaves a very fine powder of ash after use, so it didn’t need emptying very often at all.
A question which I am sure someone will ask, but which I cannot provide an accurate answer to, is; what temperature did it get to inside the van with the burner lit? I’d always intended to get a thermometer to hang up in the van and experiment with the temperature differences I could get for the inside of the van compared to the outside. Although I never got round to being quite so scientific, what I can tell you is that there were times when there was a Scottish blizzard raging outside and I was able to sit in my boxers sweating as I watched the weather howling on the other side of the window. So there’s a mental image for you!
I think a larger stove would have been too big for the size of van which I had it installed in (an LDV Convoy) however, much smaller and it would have required refilling more often, so it’s a good compromise. The only major impact of the size of the burner was the size of wood/fuel which was needed to fill it; small burner equals more chopping to create smaller wood. This was sometimes a bit of a pain to do, but it was simple enough to just measure out the ideal length of the wood I’d need, chop a load of it to size, and then fill my storage container so that there was always wood cut to size and ready to burn.
I guess having another heat source that you can just turn on at the flick of a switch could be easier to use. But once you’re organised the wood burner is unbeatable for me and provides a good dry heat (very helpful in a van) and the romantic flicker of the flames licking at the glass window provides a cosy natural lighting that you just can’t beat.
There isn’t a specific link to the wood burner I use but if you look on some self build campervan Facebook groups and use the search bar to look for Paul Thistleton you should be able to find him. Or search for wood burners in those groups and you’ll probably find him that way. And if that fails just say Micro Wood Burner 3 times whilst looking in the mirror under a full moon and he might appear as a shimmering mirage .
Edit: This review was written about my old van which I no longer have. I still have this exact burner but it’s now in my dads workshop and is still working great and I have zero complaints. In my new van I’ve installed another of Pauls burners and am just as impressed
