Can I have a Stove Outside in a Shed and pipe the warm air into my Workshop?

[Alt]

Hello there,

I really need help with heating my shop. I have 120 volts through an extension cord, to my 19' x 7' foot trailer with a 7' foot ceiling. I really don't want to go through the effort/expense of laying a new cable 130' from the house. So I was wondering if anyone has any advice or opinions about my idea to use a woodstove for this.

I am terrified of having a stove in the shop, but it would be such a great way to heat it. I wondered about maybe having the wood stove outside in an enclosed shed and pipe the warm air in with a fan. I read a long time ago about someone wanting to try this, and I recall they were told it wouldn't work because it was radiant heat, and I never understood that. I heat my house with wood, and the air is warmed, so why wouldn't I be able to pump the warm air in?

Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Alt

 

[begreen]

A small wood furnace would be more practical, but 19'x7' is a small space to heat with wood.

 

[Chris Aven]

Hello there,

I really need help with heating my shop. I have 120 volts through an extension cord, to my 19' x 7' foot trailer with a 7' foot ceiling. I really don't want to go through the effort/expense of laying a new cable 130' from the house. So I was wondering if anyone has any advice or opinions about my idea to use a woodstove for this.

I am terrified of having a stove in the shop, but it would be such a great way to heat it. I wondered about maybe having the wood stove outside in an enclosed shed and pipe the warm air in with a fan. I read a long time ago about someone wanting to try this, and I recall they were told it wouldn't work because it was radiant heat, and I never understood that. I heat my house with wood, and the air is warmed, so why wouldn't I be able to pump the warm air in?

Any thoughts would be appreciated,
Alt

Not sure what the advice was about not working because it would be radiant heat? How far do you have to pipe the heat from shed to your trailer? I was thinking about doing the same thing burning wood in my detached garage that is about 30 feet from my house. I was going to use an old squirrel cage blower from old furnace with a line voltage thermostat, insulate 8.0 heat duct from my garage to the house porch. I can easily get my garage up to 80-85 degrees. If my porch gets to warm, I'll open a window to the house and let the heat from the porch radiant into the house.

 

[Alt]

A small wood furnace would be more practical, but 19'x7' is a small space to heat with wood.

I know, but any space heater I've tried isn't up to the task. Last one started to melt the plug.

 

[Alt]

Not sure what the advice was about not working because it would be radiant heat? How far do you have to pipe the heat from shed to your trailer? I was thinking about doing the same thing burning wood in my detached garage that is about 30 feet from my house. I was going to use an old squirrel cage blower from old furnace with a line voltage thermostat, insulate 8.0 heat duct from my garage to the house porch. I can easily get my garage up to 80-85 degrees. If my porch gets to warm, I'll open a window to the house and let the heat from the porch radiant into the house.

I can't remember details about the discussion I read, I'm afraid. I couldn't find it again. I could put it as close as I wanted to the trailer, I think. It's an open space around it. That sounds just like I'm going for. I don't see why it wouldn't work... Certainly not as effective as having it in the building, but much less fire risk!

 

[begreen]

I know, but any space heater I've tried isn't up to the task. Last one started to melt the plug.

That's not surprising considering the length of the extension cord. I had the same dilemma for our greenhouse and ended up burying a 10/2 UF cable to it. Problem solved. Another alternative would be a propane space heater, but they put a lot of moisture into the air unless vented.

 

[Alt]

That's not surprising considering the length of the extension cord. I had the same dilemma for our greenhouse and ended up burying a 10/2 UF cable to it. Problem solved. Another alternative would be a propane space heater, but they put a lot of moisture into the air unless vented.

Propane terrifies me, but it's probably much safer then having a wood stove, isn't it? Maybe I should just go for burying a cable.

 

[Dave_in_ABQ]

I read a thread on another site about someone who was using a tiny wood stove to heat his trailer. So it is doable, just requires some specific implementations for a trailer. Propane, kerosene, electric heaters are viable options too. Just do it right so it is safe.

Cubic Mini Grizzly Wood Stove

Temp is heading down to 40• tonight here in northwest Virginia, and I’m out of propane for my 30’ RV trailer furnace. In fact, the furnace hasn’t...

firewoodhoardersclub.com

 

[peakbagger]

Vented Kerosene heaters are pretty slick devices for this type of use
(broken link removed)

They also burn home heating oil.

 

[Rob_Red]

How much time do you spend in there?

 

[Bad LP]

I know, but any space heater I've tried isn't up to the task. Last one started to melt the plug.

That tells me you used the wrong size cord.

 

[NorMi]

There's a guy on youtube that put an indoor furnace in a little shed and piped the air in, it's part of what gave me the idea for the shed thing I'm building now.

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Hmm also I just thought of this, I've used my little woodlander in a similar way, sort of, to heat our hot tub in winter, although it was in the same room/sauna shed. I put a stock pot on the top of it used silicone tubing to pump water from one of the jets on the tub into the pot, and i put a drain bung on the side to drain the hot back into the tub. You could make a goofy hydronic setup like that too to get the heat inside the trailer with a small 12v pump and a heater core.

 

[vbu]

I'd look into getting a small chinese (ebay) diesel heater, all you need to do is run a small exhaust pipe outside and that's it. The biggest versions are 8kw, which should be enough for you. If you google/youtube it you'll find plenty of examples of guys who heat their shop/garage with these diesel heaters. They hardly use any diesel

 

[Alt]

I read a thread on another site about someone who was using a tiny wood stove to heat his trailer. So it is doable, just requires some specific implementations for a trailer. Propane, kerosene, electric heaters are viable options too. Just do it right so it is safe.

Cubic Mini Grizzly Wood Stove

Temp is heading down to 40• tonight here in northwest Virginia, and I’m out of propane for my 30’ RV trailer furnace. In fact, the furnace hasn’t...

firewoodhoardersclub.com

Interesting article! Thank you.

 

[Alt]

How much time do you spend in there?

That's a little hard to answer. Sporadically for a couple hours a day. I would spend a lot more time in there if it was warmer!

 

[brenndatomu]

Propane terrifies me, but it's probably much safer then having a wood stove, isn't it?

Boy, I dunno about that...most of the time when you are watching the evening news and there is a house blown all over the block (and half the neighbors homes too) LP or NG leak was responsible...

 

[Alt]

Boy, I dunno about that...most of the time when you are watching the evening news and there is a house blown all over the block (and half the neighbors homes too) LP or NG leak was responsible...

I guess specifically for a wood shop propane is probably safer. But yeah, we have propane now as a back up, and I find it very unsettling.

 

[blades]

there were a couple of mfg offering hot air units that were outside the intended envelope to be heated. like an outdoor boiler but just air. so you had a hot duct in and a return duct out