Bus build: the fireplace

We had been pondering whether or not to install a fireplace in the bus. We already had a diesel heater waiting to be installed, but always thought a fire would be lovely on chilly evenings. The price of new fireplaces pushed getting one way down our purchase list, pretty much to the bottom of the list, as we could get by with the diesel heater. 

A few days before we left Dunedin, a friend spotted a mini fireplace in an auction house and bid on it on our behalf. It was a mean little fireplace made from 6mm plate steel. We had to rearrange the space near the front of the bus to fit it in, moving the big pantry self unit to instead build in a bench seat in it's space, with the fireplace next to it. 

Lucky for us, we were staying with an engineer and he was able to patch it up for us and install it in the bus. The first time we lit the fire, we did it outside and sat around it for dinner that night. 

We put the chimney through a window instead of out through the roof so we didn't end up with an unreliable, leaky hole in the roof of the bus, and right next to a solar panel. 

The chimney detaches just outside the window for when we are travelling. 

It is totally perfect - heats the bus so hot we have to open the doors 😅

Heat shield: 

One night it got so hot the flue was glowing!