Tiny homes, tiny wood stoves: photos, ideas and designs

Updated: Nov. 2020 - With the advent of the tiny home movement, there is a rise in interest in tiny stoves to heat them.  Tiny stoves have always been around, mainly driven by the sailboat industry, but also for yurts and small homes.  Small stoves are often thought of as stoves with a firebox of less than one cubic foot.  But some are much smaller than that and may put out no more than 10,000 BTUs.  There will also likely be a growing market for very small pellet stoves, like the Thelin Gnome, as living spaces get smaller and tighter. 

The paradox of heating a small space is that it may not be hard to heat up, but it also gets cold quickly after the stove goes out.  The fireboxes are so small that they cannot hold much fuel.  Often, tiny stoves need to be reloaded every 20 - 60 minutes, depending on the size of the fuel and whether the stove is just getting going or has a decent coal bed.

A few of these stoves are EPA certified, including the Kimberly and Katydid and the Gnome pellet stove.  (But the Kimberly and Katydid will not be certified after May 15, 2020 when EPA standards get stricter.) And the EPA has slowly begun to add firebox size their searchable database, and 69 out of 207 stoves that are 2020 certified have firebox sizes.  The smallest, at half a cubic foot is made by the Danish manufacturer Moreso. If they are designed for boats, vans, trailers or for camping or other non-residential spaces, they should fall outside the EPA's regulations, which only pertain to residential heating. But it is unclear whether they should be certified if they are used as a residential heater.    See our other photo essays on wood stoves styles around the world, wood fired hot tubs and firewood gathering around the world.

To minimize space, tiny stoves can be mounted on the wall. Using wood stoves in boats, vans and tiny homes can pose a great risk of carbon monoxide build up than in larger spaces. Be sure to install a CO detector, store your ashes outside and ensure the draft doesn't reverse back down the chimney.

Tiny stoves are often installed on counters or shelves so that operating and cooking on them is easier.

Yurts are traditionally heated with larger, inefficient stoves, not small, sleek ones like this.  

The 1991 Cape George 36,  "Privateer", is outfitted with the "Little Cod" marine wood stove

112 square foot mobile tiny home, heated by tiny wood stove

Minimalist living inside Mt. Brown Hut, New Zealand

Antique Refurbished Box Stoves

Inside a traditional style "Sheep Wagon" in Idaho

Stove featured in a custom "tiny" house 

This Van found on Vancouver Island, BC spotlights a small stove and split wood

Living low-key in Anchorage, Alaska, this mobile home is outfitted with The Kimberly Stove

"Halibut" by Navigator Stove Works

The "Sardine" wood-burning stove measuring in at 12"x12" doubles as a cook stove 

Swiss man with a wood stove in his 1990 Volvo

The "Sardine" by Navigator Stove Works, seen aboard W. Atkin "Ingrid" in Washington State

The Gnome pellet stove is the smallest pellet stove on the market and claims to run for more than 24 hours on one hopper load of pellets at low heat.

The Viking 30 cookstove is part of a retro line of wood stoves from Sweden.

A small stove in a classic Airstream trailer.

Thanks for reading!  Check out our photo essay on wood stoves from around the world and sign up for our free monthly newsletter here for more ideas on how to heat with wood, pellets, etc.