Sizing a wood stove for a 20' yurt ?

[Bob Rowlands]

No way I'd consider a yurt a 'first choice' in shelters for severe sub zero weather locales, unless I was in my early twenties and without a family.

My wife and I lived in Jackson Wyoming from 1978 to 1983. Four winters of well below zero temps, down to record -50! cold. One stretch was six weeks with temps never above freezing. We lived in standard stick frame construction apartments, with a minimum of three of the exterior walls and ceiling heated by other apts. The heater cycled constantly trying to keep the place warm during sub freezing temps.

As a carpenter I did alot of redo work on stick frame, log home, and trailers in Jackson, and in nearby Wilson and Kelly in the winter. Most were somewhat cold inside, even with the woodstoves crankin. Those places were all conventional construction, from fairly new and tight, to old and drafty. Old and drafty were guaranteed cold in bedrooms, even though the wood stoves and/or heater was on all day and night. During real cold snaps the woodsmoke pall in the valley was incredible.

Nowdays there are a good dozen yurts in Kelly Wyoming, 20 miles north of Jackson, some of which have year round residents. I'll bet most are very young folks. I've read a couple interviews on YT where people living in the yurt said it was crazy to do so in the winter.

heh heh no thanks, I'll pass. Don't let 'yurt romance' get the best of common sense thinking. JMO. Good luck.