The Emergency Heating Stove

The Mad Housers stove is simply and cheaply made, yet puts out a surprising amount of heat. Properly used and maintained, a stove can last for a couple of years or more.

Safety note: Since the wood-burning stoves are meant to be used inside a wooden hut, care must be taken to keep the stove from touching or getting too near the walls and floor. The stove shield shown here both keeps the hut safe from fire and reflects heat into the hut, reducing fuel use; however, if a 55 gallon drum is unavailable, bricks can be used instead. To use bricks, make a layer of brick on the floor corner where the stove will sit, and stack bricks along the walls to the height of the stove, about 2 feet high.

Always include a fire extinguisher when providing a stove to a hut.

Materials

All quantities are for one stove and stove shield

• 1 55 gallon steel drum, closed top preferable (makes 2 shields)

• 4 5 gallon heavyweight steel shop buckets

• 1 steel shop bucket lid, "Rielke" opening

• 1 10' 2" diameter electrical metal conduit pipe

• 1/4" bolts, 8 per stove

• 3 #8 self-tapping metal screws

• Heavy-duty expanded sheet metal grating, preferably stainless steel, 1'x1'

• 3 half bricks

• 1 10' length of rebar

Tools

• Electric drill, with 1/8" and 17/32" metal-grade drill bits

• Circular saw with metal-cutting abrasive blade

• Vise grips or heavy pliers

• Metal file

• Poker, tongs, or other tool for handling things in a fire

• Heavy gloves, goggles, and earplugs

• Tape measure

• (optional) Jigsaw, with metal-cutting blade