Guide to tent stoves

Below follows our guide on how to use a tent stove. The stoves can also be used in cabins, bivouacs, camper vans, bunkers, outdoor kitchens or as standalone. We imagine that the guide below applies to most types of tent stoves/stoves, but we have focused on Winnerwell which has lots of varieties and accessories in the assortment.

Security

Man has used fire for thousands of years. Nevertheless, we manage to set fire to houses, forests and ourselves at regular intervals. Before you do anything else, you should get a handle on security. I who am writing this (Henrik) have in my youth accidentally set fire to a cabin in the forest and witnessed a forest fire on a hot summer day where 100 square meters of forest burned up. The fire spreads fast, but thankfully it has always ended well for me.

You should always keep an eye on the following points:

Ensure that there is good ventilation. The fire eats up oxygen and you can suffocate if fresh air doesn't come in. A couple of logs under the tent canvas or similar is a minimum. The flue gases must exit outside the heating space.

Have sand and stones under the stove and remove combustible material. The heat can sink into the ground and cause root fire.

Shield the stove with a fireplace restriction if you are going to sleep near it, so sleeping bags do not come into contact. A couple of upper arm-thick logs in a square around the stove is usually good.

Have something to put out sparks and small fires with. A bucket of water and some fir branches tied together work great. In the military it is called "Russian card".

Have something to put out larger fires with, e.g. a water can or fire extinguisher. A clean woolen blanket to smother the fire with is also wise.

A spruce bush on a long stick standing outside any tent or bivouac can be used to put out fire or sparks on the roof or in nearby trees. This ruska is called "ruska long".

Arrange emergency evacuation. In a tent, you should have a knife so you can cut open the tent cloth if it catches fire at the exit.

Keep an eye on your head. Some people don't seem to be able to handle a fire and then maybe it's best not to. Practice and try later.

Set up stove and flue

A stove is usually delivered with some type of legs and a tall, straight flue. This works well for larger tent poles where the flue goes up through the top. Smaller tents or cabins with sloping roofs may need a different type of passage where the smoke pipe is provided with two pieces of 45-degree angles to prevent the stove from getting too close to the tent fabric. If you only use a 45 degree angle so that the flue is inclined, there is a risk of the stove tipping over. Flue pipes should always be anchored with e.g. wire, especially if you use angles. Keep in mind that despite the spark protection, sparks can fly out of the flue, so if possible we recommend having the flue on the leeward side of the tent.

You should always bear in mind that both the stove and the pipes get very hot, especially the slightly larger stoves. Smoke pipes must never be near combustible material. The smoke pipes can also melt, char or deform normally heat-resistant materials such as aluminium, silicone and fresh twigs. It is safest to have an air gap between the flue and a layer of refractory material, these are kept separated by thick steel wire or other steel construction. You can usually buy double- or triple-wall flues, but even these can get too hot if you fire hard, especially in the larger stoves. As a rule, the flue additions must be supplemented with a silicone penetration (flashing kit), which creates additional distance to the tent fabric.

Below are a couple of pictures as examples of a tent penetration that was able to withstand heavy fire in a synthetic tent. The smoke pipe is 3.5 inches and you get a high temperature. As a rule, larger flues are hotter as the larger stoves have a higher output. Around the flue is an air gap and an outer tube. The tent fabric is held in place with a silicone sleeve (tent grommet/flashing kit) around the outer tube, which attaches to the tent fabric with a white fireproof felt. We used two bends on the pipe to be able to have the stove more in the middle of the tent so it doesn't come close to the tent canvas. Remember to fire responsibly, even silicone and flame retardant materials can start to burn/melt at too high a temperature. They do not protect if you fire incorrectly so that the entire smoke pipe glows. Usually, the maximum temperature at the penetration is a maximum of 200 degrees. There are many different varieties of insulated smoke pipes with one or more extra "walls", mesh varieties and the like.
For stoves with a slightly narrower flue, perhaps a maximum of 60mm, or if the grommet sits high up on the flue, you can in some cases use slightly simpler grommets. For example, you can have a silicone cuff directly against the smoke pipe (in any case a double-walled one and must be placed at such a distance that the surface temperature of the pipe is below approx. 200 degrees). If you use a simplified implementation, you must always check that you are safe with the implementation and make your own risk assessment.

The picture and video below show the principle of tent penetration. The products used have been replaced with further developed solutions, but the principle is the same.

Firewood and wood access

Ideally, you make sure you have wood for the night chopped and set up even before you start the fire. A classic rule of thumb is that for one night you need a woodpile that is 1 meter long, 25 cm wide and 50 cm high. Each log should be 25 cm long and roughly as thick as a wrist. If the firewood is too long, the door may not be able to be closed. Coarse wood may burn too slowly, but too thin burns too fast.

It is wise to have some kindling and fists close at hand in case the fire should go down in the middle of the night.

Cooking

Not really weird, most stoves are great for cooking and are quite reminiscent of the old cast iron stoves that were used in the past and are still found in crofts. Most of the time, the stove is hottest near the flue and slightly cooler near the door, an excellent way to regulate the heat. You can also adjust the heat with the dampers. Finally, you can use finely chopped wood, so-called coffee wood, to quickly bring water to a boil.
Winnerwell has water tanks that can be placed on the stove. This way you get access to hot water and the container also helps to store the heat.

Since the heat cannot be reduced to 0 quickly, you need to be able to move the pan away. It might be wise to find a seat before your goulash boils over and everything becomes chaos. Winnerwell's models have heavy grids on the sides where you can place pans, but otherwise a flat stone works well.

We have our own guide to cooking here.

Fire hydrant and fire during the night

If you are going to make a fire during the night, it is in theory best to have a person sitting and watching over the fire. It works if you have a large tent where you can take turns. The person who guards the fire is usually called a fire post and has a great responsibility and makes sure that the comrades do not freeze or catch fire.

Usually, however, there are few people, or alone. Then it becomes extra important to think about safety so you don't splash into the stove, which lights the sleeping bag on fire and you wake up in a wild panic when you're locked in your sleeping bag and burning to death... Have a proper fireplace limit between you and the stove, check that fireflies cannot bounce off the stove and consider having a woolen blanket, which protects against fire, over the sleeping bag.

A tent stove is usually made of sheet metal and the pipe sends the heat out as soon as it stops burning, cast iron stoves that keep the heat longer are, for understandable reasons, not suitable for forest trips. Have slightly thicker firewood that burns slowly, pull down the dampers if necessary so that no unnecessary draft is created. The basic rule is to always adjust the lower inflow damper first, then the one on the smoke pipe. Place as much as you can on or near the stove that can store the heat, a water tank, a cast iron pot or rocks (heat them slowly, they can explode in the heat!).

Extinguish a stove and clean it

Well before you pack up, you stop the fire. It is best if the stove can go out and cool down naturally. You can also shave off remaining wood or embers in a tin bucket or similar. Pouring water on the stove to cool it can deform or destroy the stove. Remember to be very careful when you pack up the tent if the stove is hot, it is best to wait with the tent until everything has cooled down.

The stove is cleaned either with a special cleaning sponge or cloth. More field-wise is to take a fir brush and scrub with it, this is especially good for getting into the flue.

Pour plenty of water where the stove was, the ground may be hot and embers may have crept into the ground which can ignite much later.

Fredrik demonstrates tent stove (Swedish)