Wood burning shop heater

[John D]

Im kinda needing some ideas for a wood burning heater. not realy trying to heat up the whole shop. just a place to warm my rearend while Im thinking about what toy to play with next. jb

 

[rswyan]

Barrel stove kit is probably your cheapest bet:

Lehman's - Products for Simple, Self-sufficient Living

One of these kits and a 55 gallon drum will get you a stove that will put out a significant amount of heat. There is also an adapter kit which allows mounting a second 55 above the first for a smoke chamber to scavenage additional heat. Due to the thin walls of the barrels they heat up very fast and put out alot of heat. By the same token you don't want to over fire them (due to the thin walls.)

I have a double barrel one up in my old shed (28' by 30' masonary block building) I lined the bottom barrel with firebrick better than 1/2 way up and made a grate out of rebar to hold the logs up off the bottom and allow me to get a shovel in the ash cleanout door at the bottom. I also hung a cheap ($15) box fan from Wally World on chains next to it to circulate the air across the stove. It puts out enough heat to run me out of the building on the coldest day.

These stove are not UL rated however and may pose a problem insurance-wise for your insurer.

 

[tcarter1]

What is the material of construction for your shop? Mine is metal with a thin blanket insulation. I had a local chimney sweeo plumb a chimney for my woodstove. I had to have the double wall pipe close to the wall & roof. Works great, and I really appreciate the warmth.

 

[John D]

Thats a good idea with the fire brick. My shop is metal with no insulation. concrete floor. I do have an old water holding tank from an old well that went dry on me and was thinking about useing it. we dont get that many cold days in a row here in Texas like some of you do so I was looking to build a bun warmer per say. got alot of dead oak trees on my place to use up some how. jb

 

[CTyler]

I bought the Vogelzang double barrel kit to heat my 50x64 shop. The barrel is lined with cut down regular bricks left over from our house. Also used welded up rebar for a grate but it doesn't last very long, just one season barely. Need bigger rebar than the 1/2 stuff to make it last but it was left over stuff as well.

 

[Deerlope]

Up north where its cold and where I live there must be at least 10 used wood stoves FS in the paper everyday. But a barrel stove is an inepensive way to go. Northern Tool also some in their catalog.

 

[schmism]

ive got a stove like this

warms the 2 car garage nicely.

ive lined mine with 1" thick fire brick to extend the life of the iron.

Youll wnat a second damper control because the cheepy stove doesnt seal well.

its a real wood chuck and will SUCK down the wood, i burn a lot of cut up pallets.

cheep heat no matter how you look at it!

 

[Farwell]

I bought the Vogelzang double barrel kit to heat my 50x64 shop. The barrel is lined with cut down regular bricks left over from our house. Also used welded up rebar for a grate but it doesn't last very long, just one season barely. Need bigger rebar than the 1/2 stuff to make it last but it was left over stuff as well.

Ctyler,
My neighbor has a Vogelzang double barrel stove and keeps his pole barn at 70 degrees all Winter long. He says he wears shorts while working in the building. It seems to be pretty efficient and does not consume near the wood that many of the other stoves do. Ace Hardware sells the kit for around $80. I bought one but prior to installing the stove I contacted my insurance company to make sure I would be covered if I used the stove and they said that the company would drop me if I used any type of indoor wood burning heater. That killed that idea.
There are many different ways to make sure the barrels last. One guy put a 35 gallon drum inside of the 55 gallon drum and lined the outside of the smaller drum with a fire clay or something similar. Some line the bottom with sand. Do a Google search.
David

 

[Onthesauk]

Might watch Craigslist. I see cheap or free woodstoves show up there every day. I got a free one a couple of years ago for my shop off there. Still faced with the cost of stove pipe but a good cast stove works better then a barrel stove.

 

[gclark94560]

ive got a stove like this

warms the 2 car garage nicely.

I have the same stove from HFT and it does a great job in my workshop. I only heat about 300 sq ft of the shop but it has a 12 foot ceiling. I put all my wood scraps aside for winter heat.

Regular price is around $180. I caught a sale and I think it was down around $125.

TSC had the same stove on the floor here for $179.

Greg

 

[montanaman]

Was at TSC the other day and man, I had to laugh. They were selling an empty steel barrel to be used for a barrel stove for around $65!! Just the empty barrel, no stove parts!

You would think that a guy who could take a kit and build a stove would know where to get a barrel for it for less than $65, wouldn't you??

There is a place near me that sells cleaned like new ones for $15.

Ken

 

[Farwell]

Was at TSC the other day and man, I had to laugh. They were selling an empty steel barrel to be used for a barrel stove for around $65!! Just the empty barrel, no stove parts!

You would think that a guy who could take a kit and build a stove would know where to get a barrel for it for less than $65, wouldn't you??

There is a place near me that sells cleaned like new ones for $15.

Ken

Ken,
I pick them up at garage sales for $5 or less. I keep several on hand just in case the garage sales I go to won't have any. Most are used glue shipping containers. The glue will burn off if used for a heater. I'd do the burn off outdoors just in case the glue has any toxins mixed in.
Before the steel price went through the ceiling I could get new, clean barrels for $8. After the steel price went up the barrels disappeared.
David

 

[Jerome]

As a safety thing all wood burning appliances should be on a platform 18 inches from the floor so that fumes do not ignite. That is not 18 inches to the bottom of the feet not the firebox. That is code here in the Great white north.

 

[Farwell]

Jerome,
Thanks for pointing out the 18 inch rule. I keep forgetting about it. Gas fumes are heavier than air so they generally do not rise above the 18 inch level. This rule applies to more than just wood burning appliances.
David B

 

[bobodu]

Old air compressor tank,gas hot water heater and a cut up acetylene tank.
Gonna add more tubes to the heat exchanger someday..Heats the 24 x24 foot shop nicely.

 

[BradSmith]

ive got a stove like this

warms the 2 car garage nicely.

I have a 1200sf (30' x 40') workshop and put this stove off to a back corner so it would be out of the way. I then added some fans to distribute the heat.

Here is a link to a video I made about distributing this wood stove heat and I wrote a more detailed description of using fans with this stove in my workshop.

 

[Rod in Forfar]

As a safety thing all wood burning appliances should be on a platform 18 inches from the floor so that fumes do not ignite. That is not 18 inches to the bottom of the feet not the firebox. That is code here in the Great white north.

I'm not quite clear on what you mean above, but the Ontario building inspector passed my garage stove with the firebox door just above the 18" mark. He wasn't too happy about the 16" steel wheel I had on its side as a foundation for the 24X24" patio slab, though, so I bricked around the edge of the slab.

 

[Kays Supply]

Another vote for checking with your insurance. Mine told me " no way". He said you could use gas or electric cheaper by the time he got done with the rider on the policy.

 

[9fingers]

I use a double barrel stove in my shop but I attached the stove pipe to the ends of the barrels, not the sides. This allows me to clean the top barrel of creosote by removing the pipes and using an old hoe ground to match the curvature of the barrel. I also fabricated 4 legs from bed rail and tack welded them to the barrel rims. Stove pipe collars were made from short sections of 6 inch well casing. No need to buy a kit. At the end of heating season be sure to remove all ashes from the lower barrel. Its still going strong after 35 years.

 

[Aussiebushman]

Old air compressor tank,gas hot water heater and a cut up acetylene tank.

I made mine from an old industrial gas cylinder, cut off the end and used it as a door hinged on a frame welded around the cut end. Added a flue, feet, flue and an air tube. Total cost about $50 - works fine. A heavy steel screen has been placed behind the back and side to prevent heat damage to the walls - done after this picture was taken

Alan