Joel and Sara are living in their Tiny House in Portland with the Dwarf 3kw as their only heat source. Their goal was to find a community living setup, while having their own fridge, and they found it in Portland.
Who are you? Tell us something about you!
We're Joel and Sara, and we live in our self-built tiny house in Portland, Oregon. Joel works as a designer specializing in 3D modeling and runs a nonprofit called Portland Repair Finder to advocate for repair businesses and DIY repair resources. Sara is a documentary filmmaker, mostly working on films about social and environmental justice.
Where did you install your stove? Do you stay in cold climates much?
Our wood stove is in our 26' tiny house. Portland doesn't get too cold, but we did have a week of 20s this winter and our little stove kept us very toasty.
How did your tiny living journey begin and what were your reasons?
We started building our tiny house in summer 2018, and it took us about two years to finish. We did every step of the build ourselves and it was definitely an overwhelming project, but incredibly satisfying to have completed (well, we're never TRULY done). We moved in Jan 1, 2020. We had both managed to have pretty cheap living situations in our 20s - living in housing co-ops and sharing houses with friends - and were wanting to find somewhere to live that offered us more privacy (and our own fridge), but still enabling us to have community around us. It seemed like building a tiny house could offer that. And so far it has! We're living in a little community in Portland with 1 main house and 3 other tiny houses, and it's delightful.
How did you decide on a Dwarf stove?
We came up with the plan to build our tiny house while weathering a big winter storm in Northern Idaho at a friends property. Their wood stove convinced us that we needed one. Sara is from Northern Idaho, so it felt especially right to get one from y'all.
How difficult was the installation process? Did you need any assistance of any kind?
Overall it was pretty simple and straightforward. We created a floating shelf for our wood stove, and that was a bit complicated. Joel welded brackets that we inset into the walls, and we built a platform on top of those brackets. We modified an existing heat shield for behind the stove. We did the installation ourselves.
How has your experience been using the Dwarf? Have you been enjoying having a tiny wood stove in your space?
We've loved having a wood stove. Moisture problems are so common in small spaces, and the combination of the wood stove plus our ceiling fan has really helped to reduce any issues. We have some hooks by the stove for drying wet clothes, and that's been really nice. It's so cozy to light a fire in the morning, and the stove puts off an impressive amount of heat. We use it as our only heat source, and it's always more than enough to heat the house. It was a bit of a learning curve to figure out what type and size of wood would give us the desired burn time, but we're pretty happy with where we're at now. We both like sleeping with the house cold, so it doesn't bother us that we can't keep a fire burning all night.
Would you recommend a tiny wood stove to others? Why?
Yes! It burns really efficiently, it's enjoyable to use, and it gets lots of compliments. In a tiny house that gets easily cluttered and messy, it's nice to have a really simple, beautiful stove. We don't have a microwave, so it's especially nice to be able to melt butter when baking.
Interested in a small stove for your tiny space? Contact us on the form below and we can help you sort through all the details in getting the perfect stove and installation configuration for your unique space!
Hello! Do you ship to Canada ?
Is the cost of shipping practical?
Thx!
Hi Colin, we do! If you send us your area code and the items you’ll need we can provide you with a shipping estimate. Stay warm!🔥 – Julia
Sweet place! If I am not mistaken they used the heat shields produced by Cubic wood stoves. While those shields look super classy, that section of flue pipe shielding (designed for the cubic 3″ pipe) seems much too narrow to me. It looks like the pipe has at least 6″ to the wall behind the shield, but it doesn’t seem like there is 18″ to the unshielded surface on either side. I am currently figuring out my heat shield set-up , and even with my 4″ single wall pipe about 14″ from the wall, the 18″ clearance “footprint” which requires shielding is about 24″ wide on the wall. This footprint would only expand the closer the pipe gets to the wall. For this reason, I plan to make a shield to attach to the flue itself. I am curious to hear if I am off base here. If I am in fact correct, showcases like this should maybe mention such safety issues.