Bought a mountain shelter lt off here and wanna get a jack installed. What stove would be appropriate for this shelter? There is 16" Ed t in classifieds now is that too big?
I have used an Ed T for 2 years now....I wouldn't want to go smaller just cause its a PITA as it is to break stuff down small enough to fit in the 16" let alone smaller.
For solo use, I prefer the smallest, lightest stoves available, as in the Tigoat 12" cylinder stove and the newer Wifi stove which I now have. I carry a small saw (Bahco Laplander) to process wood. These stoves burn so little fuel that I don't really find it too much of a chore to process wood. Both these stoves put out more than enough heat, but I give the edge to the Wifi because it has a flat top which transfers heat faster to my kettle. My saw is a little heavyish so I am planning to buy a lighter one from Goldgear. (8' modified Nokogiri)
I also agree that it can be pain to size wood for a smaller stove. With that said, I have a 12" DIY stove but I also carried a Sawvivor which I could cut wood down to the right size fairly easily. If I didn't have the saw or an ax, it would be a real pain. In reality you pretty much have to get it down to 10" or so and that is hard to do just breaking sticks on your knee or a rock.
I recently got a 12 in TiGoat cylinder for my shelter. It came in even lighter than the factory specs. Minus the fireproof rug (not sure if that was included in the factory weight of 1 lbs 10 oz), mine came in at 21.5 oz (4.5 foot chimney). I did a couple of backyard burns to get a feel for how often wood would need to be added and how much heat it will put out. Based on the heat output, it seems like I could easily turn my shelter into a sauna so I would see no need to go any bigger for a one man shelter.