Hiya folks. I am starting this thread to document my journey of building a diesel burner stove to supplement cooking in my school bus conversion. Why? I live in a single fuel diesel powered school bus, and as I am stubborn, would like to forego the totally practical experience of just carrying alternative fuel. Currently I cook on a Dickinson Bristol diesel stove, that due to its cast iron cooktop pumps a ton of heat into the bus. This is great for the winter, as I can leave it running overnight to keep me nice and toasty, but in warmer weather, it can be a bit much. Additionally due to the nature of the Dickinson, it's not ideal if I just want to make a pot of coffee as it has to warm up quite a bit before my percolator will percolate. I know from my last post asking about this subject that I'm going to get a lot of "don't do it" replies so I'm going to address those concerns now. 1. Just use kerosene, alcohol, or white gas. Yes, that would be the easy route, and one I will take if I fail at this attempt, but until I fail, I will always have a nagging voice in the back of my mind that says, "just do it." 2. Diesel will gum up the burner. Yes, I've heard that. That is one of the issues I will be facing, and I hope I can find a solution that will help mitigate this. Possibly a different burner that's easier to clean, maybe bulk fuel oil with fewer additives, magical pixie dust, etc... will help. Suggestions are appreciated. 3. You're going to fill your bus with smoke/kill yourself. I hope not, but that is always a possibility. Experimentation will begin outside, and I won't be moving it inside until I have more experience. I have a fire extinguisher close at hand and am not afraid to use it. The unit. I recently acquired a Kenyon Homestrand kerosene stove. I believe it to be a "Mariner" model 205k or 205-32k or something like that. It doesn't have a model number on it, but that's what I found from my research. The burner cups are not stamped, so from what I've read on this forum is that this stove does not have SVEA burners but instead has newer Kenyon ones. I'm not sure how that knowledge helps me. I would like to hear any suggestions anyone has about this project, or links to other similar projects. Also as I am a novice at these stoves with my only experience being the infrequent use of Coleman white gas stoves, any links or instructions on how to tune and clean these units is also appreciated. The manual I have found for the alcohol version of this stove just says, "stove must be serviced by trained personnel." Thank you, Damon
OK, do yourself a big favor and buy yourself a CO alarm at your local hardware store. "Smoke" is the least of your problems here. CO is invisible and odorless and quite deadly.
@djdalfaro- Smart man. Would love to see pictures of the interior of the bus. Some of these conversions can be pretty amazing.
It's still very much a work in progress, and I am an engineer not a craftsman, so even though I've got some pretty unique features, it's not really much to look at at the moment. It's a 7 window dog nose and comes in at 30' bumper to bumper.
Enjoy your "shorty" skoolie build. Had a Homestrand kerosene stove with Svea burner not long ago, has new home now. Will need to get NRV out of pump tube I am thinking.
