How to heat my back garden meditation hut

This past week I made a skate ramp out my back garden from some chipboard, 2 x 4, sheet metal and about 60 screws and nails.

I wanted to make a skate ramp anyway but really it was just practice for making my one-person meditation hut.

The floor inside my hut will measure 2½ ft x 2½ ft. The ceiling will be 4½ feet high.

Originally I had intended on making the interior floor exactly 1 metre x 1 metre because I can get cheap electric underfloor heating for about $75 per square metre. After thinking about this for a while though, 1 m x 1 m is excessive. So I've decided to go with 2½ ft x 2½ ft.

I've ditched the idea of using electric underfloor heating; I want my my meditation hut to be movable and portable, and so I would like to use a fuel heater (kerosene or propane). The volume of space inside my hut will be about 28 cubic feet and so I would need to figure out a way to heat it but to have the heater situated outside the hut so that the hut does not fill with toxic fumes.

I've been searching the internet looking for ideas on how to heat a dog's kennel without electricity but I have yet to find a way to have a propane heater outside a kennel that will provide heat inside the kennel (and therefore will not release toxic fumes into the kennel).

Anyone got any ideas on how to situate a heater outside the space it is heating? Or perhaps does somebody have an idea for effectively extracting the fumes while retaining most of the heat inside?

Or does anyone have a different idea altogether for heating my hut without electricity?

How about an extension cord and electric blankets? I know my car seat heater really eliminates the need for cranking up the car heater. But of course, I’m talking temperatures in the 30s at the coldest out here. Just a weird idea.

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Originally Posted by Proximal

How about an extension cord and electric blankets? I know my car seat heater really eliminates the need for cranking up the car heater. But of course, I’m talking temperatures in the 30s at the coldest out here. Just a weird idea.

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Nah I don't want any cables running out my back garden. I want a neat little kerosene or propane burner that can heat an enclosed space but release fumes out into the open air. I wonder if I could situate a propane burner outside the hut and get it to heat a pipe containing water that runs into the hut. I might not even need a pump to move the water around because the water by itself might be conductive enough to heat a space as small as 28 cubic metres.

Something like this would be cool if it didn't also require an electricity supply:

Compact 7 boiler | Kabola Heating Systems

I’d just be concerned about ventilation in such a small space and the risk for fire, but am so out of my league on this one, sorry buddy I can’t be of more help.

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Originally Posted by Proximal

I’d just be concerned about ventilation in such a small space and the risk for fire, but am so out of my league on this one, sorry buddy I can’t be of more help.

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If the burning takes place outside the hut then I don't need to worry about fumes. But even if the burner were situated inside the hut with adequate ventilation, all the modern burners have a safety feature whereby they will cut out if fumes are detected. Ideally though I would like the burning to happen outside the hut.

Or something similar to this diesel heater

https://www.mysudoo.co.uk/5000w-12v-...-uk-black.html

I'm also considering using fiberglass for soundproofing. So I would make the walls about an inch thick with fiberglass. I'm not really too fussed about insulating it for heat because I'm only going to spend about an hour in it at a time anyway.

Sit on hot water bottles.

...or go high tech.

Solar Heating Options|Underfloor Radiant Heating

Just now in the supermarket I met my friend who is a yoga teacher and also a plumber. He said that he would bend some pipe for me into the shape of a heating element to put in the floor of my hut. So then I would have something like a minature diesel burner outside the hut which would heat the water and push it through the pipe. As the burner is outside the hut I don't need to worry about fumes.

I believe you’re attempting “radiant floor heating”. Certainly an option. Could also just use a primitive method like heating rocks, if you’re not in there for more than 6 hours at a time, just use a propane source to heat rocks (some sort of basalt rock would work best) wrap them in wool and transfer them under the are in which you’re sitting. It’s been done for 1000’s of years and is still utilized to this day in primitive camping scenarios. Easy and effective

Here's what I want:

From the time I decide that I want to meditate in my hut for an hour, I want to flick a switch or light a flame and have my hut warm enough within about 15mins. I live in Ireland so the coldest we get in Winter is about 23 F. Occassionally once in 15 years it might get as cold as 5 F but that is totally freakish weather for us.

I'm liking the idea of laying down a pipe in the floor and somehow pushing hot water through it, maybe with some sort of diesel/kerosene/propane/butane burner. If the burner needs an electrical supply then hopefully a small battery will work.

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Originally Posted by Fluidic Cameron

Here's what I want:

From the time I decide that I want to meditate in my hut for an hour, I want to flick a switch or light a flame and have my hut warm enough within about 15mins. I live in Ireland so the coldest we get in Winter is about 23 F. Occassionally once in 15 years it might get as cold as 5 F but that is totally freakish weather for us.

I'm liking the idea of laying down a pipe in the floor and somehow pushing hot water through it, maybe with some sort of diesel/kerosene/propane/butane burner. If the burner needs an electrical supply then hopefully a small battery will work.

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So run the cooling water for the diesel through your floor heating element.

Personally, I like S&D's idea better, but I would transfer the rocks to a small fire pit like people use outdoors sitting on their deck and put it in your hut.

I met my friend at the supermarket yeseterday, he's a yoga teach and also a plumber.... so anyway he said he would bend some pipe for me to lay underfloor.... like this:

Attachment 178823

So now I need to figure out what kind of burner I'll have, and how I'll get it to pump water through the pipe

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fluidic Cameron

I met my friend at the supermarket yeseterday, he's a yoga teach and also a plumber.... so anyway he said he would bend some pipe for me to lay underfloor.... like this:

Attachment 178823

So now I need to figure out what kind of burner I'll have, and how I'll get it to pump water through the pipe

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If the diesel engine you're referring to is water-cooled, you already have a water pump.

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Originally Posted by almostgone

If the diesel engine you're referring to is water-cooled, you already have a water pump.

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I understand what you're saying: If I get a miniature single-cylinder diesel engine that is water-cooled and has a radiator, then I can simply remove the radiator and replace it with the pipe that will go under the floor of my hut.

I don't need any kind of motor or engine though so ideally I would just want a burner instead of an engine.

I'm trying to find a minature burner that has an "in pipe" and an "out pipe" so that it can pump water through my underfloor piping. A burner would also be a lot quieter and a lot cheaper!

I wonder if this propane shower would work?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Camplux-AY1...=fsclp_pl_dp_2

I wonder if I could feed the output into my piping, and then back into the input. I wonder if that would work.

I think I might be onto a winner, I emailed these guys just now to ask what would be their best product for my needs. They seem to specialise in exactly what I'm trying to do:

https://www.radiantcompany.com/heatsources/oil/

At first I was thinking to use a plastic pipe for the wintertime. But a copper pipe will be fine in a closed system with antifreeze. I think a copper pipe will conduct heat a lot better.