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Danno77

Danno77

Minister of Fire
Hearth Supporter
Oct 27, 2008
5,008
Hamilton, IL
but I'd rather have it burning a down a building for me. Has anybody ever made a barrel stove out of the VZ kit, BUT modified the barrel by making it shorter? I think it would be fun to have the barrel be about half of the length so it was smaller.

This will, of course, be my primary source of heat in my baby's bedroom and I'll only use kiln dried pine lumber for fuel.

seriously, though, the new shed will need a source of heat, right? It's 12x20 and will be divided into two parts. one 12x12 and the other 12x8. I'm pretty sure I could cook meat from across the room if I installed a full barrel stove in the 8x12 room, so I'm just kicking around ideas for now.
 
I have a 12x20 shed/barn thing and I don't need heat unless I am doing something in there for a long time and then I have one of those buddy heaters screwed to a propane tank. The last deer I butchered, we used that heater to keep our hands from freezing.

What do you do in a shed like that that you need so much heat for so long?

It is simple to cut a section off of the barrel and reweld it together. I would use a band of steel around the butt joint to be sure that the weld is solid. Have you considered using a smaller 30 gallon barrel?
 
Insulate the shed and use an electric heater? of course this goes back to the question of how much time do you plan to spend in there and what will you be doing. If you plan to spend all night in there writing the next great american novel (on paper) then you may need something better... of course if you do that novel on a high end gaming PC that alone could warm up the space if the shed is insulated :)
 
I thought about a writing shed--and found cheap, wall mounted, vented propane heaters with built in thermostats.
 
The barrel stove kit will fit a smaller barrel than 55 gallon. Use the small barrel. Those suckers are great shed heaters. In fact one was a great heater in my basement shop for years.

Of course a small steel wood stove makes a lot more sense. The barrels burn virtually out of control and very, very hot.
 
A warped cast iron stove would work well too.
 
If you're talking about cutting down a barrel, I guess you've got access to a welder. I suggest you head to you nearest scrap metal dealer. Find a junk metal pressure tank of some sort in the 30 gal range. An old air compressor, hot water heater, well pump, etc will all have much thicker walls than a 55 gal drum. The barrel stove kits are great for the hard to build parts like the door, flange, etc but you'll be happier with a thicker walled tank. The only downside to the pressure tank is the ends are domed. You'll need to either cut one end of and weld in some flat plate or cut a hole the size of the vogelzang door and box it out to mount it.

I've got a similar stove in my shop made from an old steel semi truck saddle tank. It's OLD, but really throws the heat. If I'm only going to be out there for an hr or so just fill her up with some scrap cardboard and paper to take the chill off.

The tank was probably junked because of a pinhole leak. Just weld a piece of plate over the area or if it's small just fill it with weld bead.
 
LOL, holy crap, did I just sign onto a vegan forum and say "I'm hungry, got any ideas" and a bunch of birkenstock wearing hippies just told me that a whopper tastes pretty good. WTF?!?

All joking aside, it'd be for novelty only. I have a 100# propane tank and am planning on grabbing a cheap wall mounted LP heater. But i'd love to be able to heat with wood since i have access to it.

I need to post a picture, but i already have a 70% done 20# propane tank designed wood stove. I think it will look ok, but I figured a 30gallon barrel cut and welded to about 50-75% of it's length would be way nicer looking. I have pics on my cell phone I suppose I'll try to do that tomorrow. - That reminds me, I have some rounds vs splits data & pics to post.....
 
Saw this post while browsing around. Had this in my bookmarks, and thought you might be interested. I imagine it would work as well horizontal with a kit if you could get this style barrel.

Link

Kiah
 
Danno77 said:
LOL, holy crap, did I just sign onto a vegan forum and say "I'm hungry, got any ideas" and a bunch of birkenstock wearing hippies just told me that a whopper tastes pretty good. WTF?!?

All joking aside, it'd be for novelty only. I have a 100# propane tank and am planning on grabbing a cheap wall mounted LP heater. But i'd love to be able to heat with wood since i have access to it.

I need to post a picture, but i already have a 70% done 20# propane tank designed wood stove. I think it will look ok, but I figured a 30gallon barrel cut and welded to about 50-75% of it's length would be way nicer looking. I have pics on my cell phone I suppose I'll try to do that tomorrow. - That reminds me, I have some rounds vs splits data & pics to post.....
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Get the barrel. You are either a wood burner or you aren't. :coolgrin:
 
Whatever sort of contraption like you're talking about is going to require (if safely installed), a pretty damned big footprint of your limited space available. If you're not looking to do anything in there other than sit and stay warm, I s'pose that's OK. Rick
 
fossil said:
Whatever sort of contraption like you're talking about is going to require (if safely installed), a pretty damned big footprint of your limited space available. If you're not looking to do anything in there other than sit and stay warm, I s'pose that's OK. Rick
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True. I was heating a thousand sq. ft. basement with it and most of the rest of the house too. But that was on a concrete floor with concrete walls.

Damn thing burned so hot that the flue tiles looked like the day they were made afterward. I wouldn't ever have one in the house again but in a barn...
 
BrotherBart said:
True. I was heating a thousand sq. ft. basement with it and most of the rest of the house too. But that was on a concrete floor with concrete walls.

Damn thing burned so hot that the flue tiles looked like the day they were made afterward. I wouldn't ever have one in the house again but in a barn...
Click to expand...

So... for one of those types of stove you don't talk about clearance distances, rather the width of the firebreak you need around the structure? :)
 
Slow1 said:
BrotherBart said:
True. I was heating a thousand sq. ft. basement with it and most of the rest of the house too. But that was on a concrete floor with concrete walls.

Damn thing burned so hot that the flue tiles looked like the day they were made afterward. I wouldn't ever have one in the house again but in a barn...
Click to expand...

So... for one of those types of stove you don't talk about clearance distances, rather the width of the firebreak you need around the structure? :)
Click to expand...

Pretty much. :lol: But truth be told the damned things are pretty good heaters. I chuckle every once in a while when I see people on this site attack anything that isn't fresh from a stove dealer. A lot of people are out there doing what they gotta do to stay warm. That wasn't the case here, there was a megabucks insert upstairs, but the barrel did a hell of a job in the basement shop.
 
i had one of these barrel kits installed on a heavy duty 30 gallon hot water tank wit h a 1/4 inch thick steel plate for the face , sure once up and running they put out a good deal of heat for the size but they are hard to get air into correctly (especially startups)and will eat cords of wood like candy ,another drawback I often see is they rot out in just a few seasons ,i would think of a better approach
 
buy a wood stove from the classified for a hundred. some people are giving away the oldie but moldies. be cheaper.
 
I'm constantly on CL looking for woodstoves. Everyone around here thinks that a VZ box stove is an antique and is worth 150 bucks. Other than that I don't have much luck. I'm not giving up a search for a nice woodstove, but I like to build stuff and this could keep me busy for a little while. Besides, it's always more fun whenyou make stuff and then while you use it you can think about how clever and talented you are, lol.
 
Danno77 said:
I'm constantly on CL looking for woodstoves. Everyone around here thinks that a VZ box stove is an antique and is worth 150 bucks. Other than that I don't have much luck. I'm not giving up a search for a nice woodstove, but I like to build stuff and this could keep me busy for a little while. Besides, it's always more fun whenyou make stuff and then while you use it you can think about how clever and talented you are, lol.
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looking at it that way, amen
 
build a rocket stove for it!
 
My neighbor heats his house with one (from the basement).

Do it up and take pics
 
I made one a few years back out of a ready made door and an Electric water heater core. that thing is still in the shop I put it in in MT heating the shop.
just an idea for ya get a small water heater the walls are thicker and easier to weld plus they hold up better.
 
I remember at scout winter camp in SD there was a large cabin (building) that had a double barrel stove. We could turn that place into a sweat lodge... oh the good old days :) Of course having a bunch of kids out running around trying to find any downed wood to burn to feed the thing was a good activity too I suppose... it sure ate a lot of wood but we never had to worry about being cold in there.
 
In this unabomber shed, maybe you call it your lab, maybe your mancave, if it is not part of your house then I would be all for one of the simple and relatively unsafe wood burning appliances. Weighing risks and benefits, a properly vented metal "stove" of somewhat short term construction would be fine. Worst case, you burn down the shed.
 
This will, of course, be my primary source of heat in my baby's bedroom and I'll only use kiln dried pine lumber for fuel.

Father of the year! :coolsmirk:
 
ohhhh, check out this CL and tell me if either of these are worth bothering with. I'm pretty sure I can make myself sweat with the smaller one in that small space, but I'm digging being able to cook on this thing. Maybe put it smack in the middle of the room.

the other one looks like it may be wayyy oversized, but is it a good stove? (for this application)..... I have to know kinda quick because these things are in the indianapolis area and I'm leaving tonight to run a half-marathon there and will have to act tomorrow on these. I've got emails out to both, but I always like to run stuff past y'all first.....

(broken link removed to http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/for/1447251243.html)
(broken link removed to http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/for/1453805207.html)

maybe I should buy them both.
 
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