Off-grid cabin heating options comparison

@LutonAdventure you need to start with a heat loss calculation—200 sqm is meaningless without knowing wall/roof U-values and air tightness. I ran one through my shepherd's hut before sizing anything, used an online SAP calculator. Once you know actual demand, hybrid approach makes sense: wood burner for baseload (cheap fuel, reliable), air source heat pump for shoulder seasons when battery drain becomes acceptable.

@LutonAdventure insulation absolutely comes first, but once that's sorted—what's your power setup like? If you've got decent battery capacity, a heat pump becomes viable. I ran one through winter in my garden office and it was far more efficient than resistive heating, though you'll need 3-4kW available. What fuel options are actually available to you?

@LutonAdventure - Everyone's right about insulation first, but for actual winter experience: I've run a shepherds hut on 48V lithium through -5°C using a 2kW immersion heater plus woodburner backup. The immersion works brilliantly when solar's decent, but you'll need serious battery capacity. What's your battery budget looking like? That'll determine whether you're looking at resistive heating or a heat pump setup.