Wood stove in a tractor barn?

[RobA]

I'm having a tractor barn built. It's about 98% done. Pine board and batten, metal roof, concrete floor. I have no electricity on the property and probably won't for about 4-5 years when I build a house there. I was thinking of putting in a wood stove to warm it up while I there. Has anyone done this himself? Anything I need to know? I would probably want to have the chimney pipe exit out of the back wall rather than cut through the metal roof.

 

[dmccarty]

Rob,

We put a wood stove to heat our new house. I almost did the installation myself but the HVAC installer did the job. I should have done it myself since the chimney is not straight. What we should have done was get a chimney sweep to do it or at least asked. But for some reason we did not think to do this. The sweep we use gave us a qoute to straighten the chimney and when we have the cash we will get it done.

But right now it works so leave it alone.

I wanted someone else to do the installation for liability reasons. The insurance company asked alot of questions about that wood stove. They wanted to know who installed it as well as licenses, permits, and inspections. They did not like the stove. Too many fires I guess.

But we have a finished concrete floor. A spark or even a log falling out of the stove is not going to do a thing except smoke up the house.

On the installation, we used double wall stove pipes and went straight up into the attic. We had to do some 45 degree bends to get around the roof ridge. You want to be as straight as possible for good draw. I think the rule is to not have more than 180 degrees of turns in the pipe.

The stove needs to be certain distances from combustables per the stove manual. That differs from stove to stove and how they are configured.

I assume the barn would leak enough air to not have to worry about combustion air. We put in a six inch PVC pipe under the slab to get combustion air to the stove. Some say you don't need to do this. Others say you do. It easy to put it at the start, all but impossible to retrofit. So it went in and works great. My FIL did this with his fireplace.

Later,
Dan

 

[firefighter9208]

Rob,

I love the Ashley wood heater I have in my shop. I have a 40x60 with 10' ceiling and it'll bring the temperature from 40* to 75* in about an hour. You can buy a kit to install the stove/heater. I used triple wall pipe ($80.00 for 3') through the attic and roof. You can use cheaper single wall pipe between the stove and attic. I bought a through the roof kit that came with the flashing, collar for the attic to convert from single wall to triple wall, etc... for about $100.00.

Chris

 

[JBX]

Hi RobA,
A wood stove sounds like a perfect fit for your shop. Is seasoned wood available in your area?

My suggestion would be to install a wood stove where the firebox can be totally sealed. Open fireplaces and flames are to be avoided.

In other words, a wood stove that can be totally sealed off if needed.
They make wood stoves with windows if you want to see the fire, but they are still sealed. Get one with a flat top so you can heat food and water or coffee up there. The steam will also help you breathe easier in dry air.

Follow all guidelines or building codes in your area for fire and wood stove safety and have a couple of 10# fire extinguishers handy.

Note- consider keeping ALL your flammable/combustible fluids, fuels, solvents, in a place OUTSIDE of your shop. Might consider getting a small enclosed trailer or small garden supply metal building that you can store paints, fuels, greasy rags, etc in- away from the shop.
It sounds like you are in the boonies away from fire departments and rescue services.
Don't take chances on getting burned or burned out.
Keep it Orange.
JBX

 

[cmhyland]

If this is a new building I would seriously consider a masonry block chimney.

These are precast flue sections with tile pipe linigs and an ash cleanout at the bottom.

Pay once and it’s done. Metal prefab chimneys will need to be replaced.

Regards,
Chris

 

[Onthesauk]

RobA,

I did exactly what you're talking about. Had a small pole barn built about 4 years before the house went in. Installed a wood stove so I at least had somewhere to get warm and dry when I was up on weekends. Even slept there a few nights.

Installation in a steel roofed building is pretty easy, simply framed out a square in the roof big enough to keep the single wall pipe away from the framing. If you go through a wood wall you're probably going to want double wall pipe for that portion.

Good luck!

 

[john_bud]

I'm having a tractor barn built. It's about 98% done. Pine board and batten, metal roof, concrete floor. I have no electricity on the property and probably won't for about 4-5 years when I build a house there. I was thinking of putting in a wood stove to warm it up while I there. Has anyone done this himself? Anything I need to know? I would probably want to have the chimney pipe exit out of the back wall rather than cut through the metal roof.

Rob,

Make the insurance guy happy, and put the firebox outside and just run in a vent for hot air. Or better yet, get a wood furnace that heats water and have an in floor set up. Then you can seal the barn up tight.

It's also a lot cleaner that way, no mess. The outside units can take larger, longer and green wood. (dry is still better, but if you don't have any and your cold...).

I didn't do that and wish I had.

No matter what you do, spend the extra $$ and have the floor insulated where you may have a shop. Even 1" of insulation under gravel helps. 4" of the pink stuff, then 4" of gravel then plastic works well.

jb

 

[roermo]

I am in the works of building a 26x34 garage just next to my house. Called the insurance agent and he would not insure it if it had a wood stove of any kind in a garage with cars, gas, paint thinner, so on and so on. Check with your insureance guy first. But a pole barn might be diffrent than my garage, good luck.

 

[RobA]

Thanks for all of your input. While I like the idea of small woodstove I'm not sure I will go that route. I have plenty of firewood but don't feel like dealing with the cost of the stove, pipe and installation not to mention the insurance implications.

I may just get a kerosene heater instead.

 

[450EXC]

I saw kerosene and propane heaters were 50 % off at lowes.