[AT] An untapped market?

[Robinson]

	I was looking at our pellet stove (which we still love) one 
day and was thinking about some other things when I sort of 
fell into a thought... The process is a little like the old 
Reece's commercial where the chocolate bar accidentally 
falls into the open jar of peanut butter...  :-)
	Any who, it occurred to me that if someone were to make a 
much smaller version of a pellet stove that it could be very 
useful for heating campers, motor homes etc. It could also 
be a great size for smaller workshops and greenhouses, both 
of which are usually heated to lower temperaturs than where 
you sleep.
	Our old 24' travel trailer has a small LP gas furnace in it 
that we have never used since I am not positive whether it 
is safe or not and have not had time to check it out. It is 
a bear to get to. A smaller sized pellet stove would have 
several advantages. For one thing it could never explode... 
Fuel would be easier to deal with in a bag than filling and 
connecting tanks (which do not last very long). A failure to 
get a tank connected properly or a valve that starts leaking 
can leak out a tank of gas in no time (and can be 
dangerous). Small tanks of LP have become very costly and it 
seems like every whip-stitch lately they have changed specs 
causing frequent tank replacements or valve updates. Is 
there any fuel that you could haul any safer than pellets? 
They are like a big old bean bag. You could haul them in 
your tow vehicle or in the trailer, even under your bed in 
complete safety. You could sit and look at the dancing fire 
through the glass door. I love that about the stove we have. 
The pellet stove has a fairly cool exhaust ( I can 
momentarily lay my hand on the flue anytime) and gets its 
combustion air from the outside. Even the full sized stove 
as it is made only requires 3" of back clearance and 6" of 
side clearance. With double wall construction and some 
fireproof insulation zero clearance would be no problem. Our 
full sized stove which heats over 1500 sq. ft. is basically 
a 2'x2'x2' cube. The existing gas furnace is that big. Of 
course it would require planning  to fit in properly but so 
does everything else in a camping vehicle.
	Just some thoughts.
-- 



"farmer"

Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.


Francis Robinson
Central Indiana USA
robinson at svs.net