CK5
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Heating a shop
- Thread starter Blue85
- Start date
That's a good idea. I did get it running tonight and it moved that little room from about 45 degrees to 60 degrees in like 5 minutes. What I don't like about it is the pilot light - I would rather have an electric ignition to save gas. Whether or not it could heat the whole shop I don't know. But I could always supplement with electric and such. Plus, adding a second heater would be great. Then I could run 1 or 2 depending on weather.
Thats what I would do luke, wood is nice don't get me wrong. I love the crackle etc, but there is something nice about just flipping the switch or installing a new wifi thermostat. Turn the heat on from your house in the morning and have a warm shop when you go out.
I have this in my garage:
Best thing I ever did. My garage is 24x24 and I can keep it at whatever temp I want. No smell, no fuss. Love it.
Picked it up used for $50.
Best thing I ever did. My garage is 24x24 and I can keep it at whatever temp I want. No smell, no fuss. Love it.
Picked it up used for $50.
Ashman watch out for flammable vapors with the open flame unit you got .
shops should have a closed burner system unit just to protect from this.
shops should have a closed burner system unit just to protect from this.
Yes,its best to have an outside air intake and exhaust if a gas heater is used in a "working" garage...guy I knew blew up his garage a few winters ago when his riding mower decided to leak a tank of gas onto the floor overnight,and the heater was set at 55 degrees,when it came on,the overhead door blew out into the street!..
...fire caused 10K in damages..
I found it rather strange that the building inspector didn't really seem to care when I told him I wanted to put a wood stove in the quonset garage back in '92 when I built it--he said "Eh,its metal,just keep it elevated up off the floor on cinder blocks,to avoid any fumes getting sucked into it--and dont use it if your going to paint things with a spray gun,and NO gasoline stored in there either"..(I didn't tell him I was going to "work" in there--it was for storage and "hobby" use only!..
)..he was not happy about me putting a 10x10 overhead door on it,he kept asking if I was planning to park an 18 wheeler in it--I said "no,but I would like to be able to back in my pickup with a slide in camper on it if I get one someday"...
He didn't even make me get a permit for the stove,he said as long as we had one for the stoves in the house,that was good enough.
.but if I wanted a propane heater hanging from the ceiling,he said it would have to be vented,and use outside air intake,and inspected..
..
...fire caused 10K in damages..I found it rather strange that the building inspector didn't really seem to care when I told him I wanted to put a wood stove in the quonset garage back in '92 when I built it--he said "Eh,its metal,just keep it elevated up off the floor on cinder blocks,to avoid any fumes getting sucked into it--and dont use it if your going to paint things with a spray gun,and NO gasoline stored in there either"..(I didn't tell him I was going to "work" in there--it was for storage and "hobby" use only!..
)..he was not happy about me putting a 10x10 overhead door on it,he kept asking if I was planning to park an 18 wheeler in it--I said "no,but I would like to be able to back in my pickup with a slide in camper on it if I get one someday"...He didn't even make me get a permit for the stove,he said as long as we had one for the stoves in the house,that was good enough.
.but if I wanted a propane heater hanging from the ceiling,he said it would have to be vented,and use outside air intake,and inspected....
I'll do that. I have to admit I hadn't really thought about it being a problem before. I bought the heater from a service garage that was being shut down so it really never occurred to me that it could be a problem but I see where it could be for sure.
I have a 12' ceiling so the air volume is fairly large, but I'll be sure not to do any real painting in there.
Since the garage has a chimney and a ceiling, the old Shenandoah wood stove was just sitting in the barn, it was cold out and I have lots of firewood, I did the obvious thing. I did everything with parts on hand. The stove is like a fire box inside a steel cabinet. It looks something like this:
.
I dismantled an old over-the-range hood thing, to steal the blower and speed control. I cut a hole in the back panel of the stove to match. It doesn't feel like a staggering heat output, but given enough time it does warm the building. The very welcome side effect is that the garage is dry for the first time in a month. Propane seems to make it worse, but with the wood heat the tools don't even sweat.
The fire grate is probably only 12" above the floor. I have about 12" of vertical stove pipe in the system. Should I space the stove up on cinder blocks that much? I moved the gas cans, push mower, etc. into the side room, but 2 cars still park in there. This stove has a thermostatic control that opens the draft, which is within probably 6-8" of the floor (air comes in that flapper, through the ash tray area and up through the grate to the fuel).
I dismantled an old over-the-range hood thing, to steal the blower and speed control. I cut a hole in the back panel of the stove to match. It doesn't feel like a staggering heat output, but given enough time it does warm the building. The very welcome side effect is that the garage is dry for the first time in a month. Propane seems to make it worse, but with the wood heat the tools don't even sweat.
The fire grate is probably only 12" above the floor. I have about 12" of vertical stove pipe in the system. Should I space the stove up on cinder blocks that much? I moved the gas cans, push mower, etc. into the side room, but 2 cars still park in there. This stove has a thermostatic control that opens the draft, which is within probably 6-8" of the floor (air comes in that flapper, through the ash tray area and up through the grate to the fuel).
MrSchaeferPants
1/2 ton status
A little confused, take a pic?
Is the steel stove pipe exposed in the shop/garage?
Is this a regular fireplace (brick and mortar) with a stove set in the fireplace?
Is the steel stove pipe exposed in the shop/garage?
Is this a regular fireplace (brick and mortar) with a stove set in the fireplace?
No brick fireplace in the garage, just a block chimney standing in the middle of the area. Chimney has a 6" hole (for the stovepipe) maybe 4' off the floor. The wood stove has rear exit, maybe 3' off the floor, so 2 90-degree elbows in the stovepipe.
(This area would be the 3rd car stall if there was another overhead door, and no chimney.)
(This area would be the 3rd car stall if there was another overhead door, and no chimney.)
You get a lot of heat off the stove pipe too--I have a barrel stove in my garage that has only an elbow to hook it to the chimney,it does OK,but one day I decided to move it about 10 feet away from its former location,and I was amazed how much warmer it got in the garage and faster,compared to having "no" stove pipe..the pipe was run at an upward angle with a rise of about a foot,and it seemed to have better draft also..
If I find a deal on one of these I might try it. I barely have enough vertical pipe to replace with one now, but it seems like it would work horizontally as well.
A lot of shop installations have steel chimney all the way up, so you would get a lot more heat. With a masonry chimney like mine, doesn't it make more sense to put the "entry" hole higher up? Basically as high as is safe for ceiling clearance. A steel heat shield could also be installed. I know that you need heat in the chimney to prevent creosote, but it seems like that would only be an issue in the spring/fall. Unless your shop is well insulated, you'll run the stove wide open in the winter.
A lot of shop installations have steel chimney all the way up, so you would get a lot more heat. With a masonry chimney like mine, doesn't it make more sense to put the "entry" hole higher up? Basically as high as is safe for ceiling clearance. A steel heat shield could also be installed. I know that you need heat in the chimney to prevent creosote, but it seems like that would only be an issue in the spring/fall. Unless your shop is well insulated, you'll run the stove wide open in the winter.
If you have a masonary interior chimney,that will help heat the shop once it warms up too--moving the stove pipe entrance to it further up may reduce draft,you need about 10' of "stack" effect above where the pipe enters to get good draft in most cases...I wouldn't go to all that bother,it may not help and probably make it worse..
Those Magic-Heat things do work to some degree,but reduce draft and clog up eventually,and I'd guess one mounted in a pipe that's not vertical wont work as well and will plug with ashes and soot rapidly--also if you lose power,it might overheat and ruin it!..they aren't cheap either.....
You can get the same results for free using a longer stove pipe to chimney connector with a damper installed near the chimney,so you can throttle back on the draft and make the pipe heat up more..or you can make a "loop" of 4 elbows,or put a metal 5 gallon bucket in line with the stove pipe to act as a heat extractor..
A stove pipe can be run at an angle horizontally with as little as 1" of rise and still work OK if the draft is good,but more rise is always better as far as keeping creosote from building up in the bottom of the pipe and restricting the air flow..
If you can move the stove off to one side of the chimney and use a longer length of pipe ,you wont have to alter the chimney opening and can still gain the extra heat your losing to the chimney off the stove pipe...
Those Magic-Heat things do work to some degree,but reduce draft and clog up eventually,and I'd guess one mounted in a pipe that's not vertical wont work as well and will plug with ashes and soot rapidly--also if you lose power,it might overheat and ruin it!..they aren't cheap either.....
You can get the same results for free using a longer stove pipe to chimney connector with a damper installed near the chimney,so you can throttle back on the draft and make the pipe heat up more..or you can make a "loop" of 4 elbows,or put a metal 5 gallon bucket in line with the stove pipe to act as a heat extractor..
A stove pipe can be run at an angle horizontally with as little as 1" of rise and still work OK if the draft is good,but more rise is always better as far as keeping creosote from building up in the bottom of the pipe and restricting the air flow..
If you can move the stove off to one side of the chimney and use a longer length of pipe ,you wont have to alter the chimney opening and can still gain the extra heat your losing to the chimney off the stove pipe...
I have run the stove for about 5 hours and the chimney block was barely warm, so I'm not getting much heat from there. I kept the stove pipe kind of short to avoid making any more floor space unusable. I just have to run it and get more familiar, I think. Plus, this was all intended to be a "temporary" install using parts on hand.
I read the owners manual for magic heat and it does say to remove the fan and thermostat from the back if a power failure occurs. So the problem would be if I left and then the power went out while there was still fire. Still, the odds of this with an "occasional use" stove seem small. Plus, I have an automatic back-up generator on the house. They don't recommend the horizontal installation because creosote has no place to fall to.
And yeah, I can't see spending $200 on one, but I've seen them on Craigslist before. Example: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/4836656244.html
I read the owners manual for magic heat and it does say to remove the fan and thermostat from the back if a power failure occurs. So the problem would be if I left and then the power went out while there was still fire. Still, the odds of this with an "occasional use" stove seem small. Plus, I have an automatic back-up generator on the house. They don't recommend the horizontal installation because creosote has no place to fall to.
And yeah, I can't see spending $200 on one, but I've seen them on Craigslist before. Example: http://grandrapids.craigslist.org/for/4836656244.html
It was 9 degrees outside last night and the wood stove had the shop in the mid-50s after a couple of hours.
I have a few mods in mind to get more effectiveness from the blower and also have it turn on and off automatically.
I have a few mods in mind to get more effectiveness from the blower and also have it turn on and off automatically.
Thats cool...err wait thats actually quite warm 
MrSchaeferPants
1/2 ton status
50 if leaps and bounds above 9 
I think the worst part of a wood burning stove is cleaning it out. Pain in the but. Has to be done fairly regularly or you'll insulate the steel from the heat. The dirtier it is the less heat you get from it.
Then there's cleaning out the chimney. Also a dirty pain in the but and if not done, you lose some heat.
Love the smell, seems to make things more "cozy."
Wasn't to long ago we had a wood burner in the shop. It worked good but in the end, the insurance and clean up requirements screwed the deal. It took a ride to the crusher. Only thing I miss about it is our cardboard boxes pile up a lot higher now.
Then there's cleaning out the chimney. Also a dirty pain in the but and if not done, you lose some heat.
Love the smell, seems to make things more "cozy."
Wasn't to long ago we had a wood burner in the shop. It worked good but in the end, the insurance and clean up requirements screwed the deal. It took a ride to the crusher. Only thing I miss about it is our cardboard boxes pile up a lot higher now.
They make 55 gallon barrels to burn that in 
True, but I have a couple of things going for me here. First of all, it's occasional use, so maybe a couple dozen hours a month. When it's on, it's pretty much always full throttle (the windchill is like -10 right now). You get the most creosote when you run it damped down and the wood smolders. So I'm hoping to get away with cleaning it once a year. We'll see.
I was all gung ho to get set up in the pole barn, but I've decided now there's no rush. The floor out there is so smooth and clean it's almost a shame to start getting it all oily. It's working great to park the tractor and K5. The garage is already an oily mess and so much easier to heat. I may even put some insulation in it.
