Garage heating / barrel stove

[char5]

I'm considering making a single barrel stove to heat my 450sf uninsulated/unfinished garage.


I'm REALLY reluctant primarily because of fire risk from the flue pipe going thru the wall (and two elbows).

I've had such bad luck with water leaking, I have HUGE reservations of going thru the roof.
Roof is It's 1x4's spaced a 1/4" apart, then typical tar paper and tar gravel shingles.
Not saying I won't, but VERY LAST consideration. If you have insight on roof leaks, please share.


What kind of BTU's can I expect from a barrel stove?
Lows are in the 20's F.


I have limited clearances, what are "safe" clearances for a barrel stove?


What are people using for flue pipe on a barrel stove?
Single? double? triple wall?


What are "SAFE" clearance from combustibles for the flue pipe either thru wall or roof?

 

[bholler]

I have limited clearances, what are "safe" clearances for a barrel stove?

To me safe clearances from a barrel stove is about 20 feet from any structure. but if you insist on a barrel as an unlisted stove legally it needs 3' but because of the thin metal that was never meant for that heat id give it at least 4'. Also as far as legality goes you cant install a wood stove in a garage in most areas and in California I am pretty sure you cant install a non epa approved stove at all.

What are people using for flue pipe on a barrel stove?
Single? double? triple wall?

You need to use a chimney system the best is double wall insulated there are also some cheaper triple wall systems that will work but not as well.

What are "SAFE" clearance from combustibles for the flue pipe either thru wall or roof?

What ever the chimney manufacturer calls for it is usually 2" for class a chimney. For the single wall connector pipe it is 18"

 

[jetsam]

A $300 stove is a lot cheaper than a new garage.

 

[jetsam]

Doing a little reading on the topic..

Found this photo on hearth.com



As you can see, with the right install, your barrel stove can be a life threatening fire hazard from day one, without all the tedious waiting around for the barrel to rot out.

The More You Know.™

 

[skinanbones]

As for roof leaks, when a flashing is installed correctly it will never leak. You want the shingles to cover the top 1/2 or 2/3 of the flashing. Before sliding the flashing in place i run a bead of silicone under the shingle as far back as possible, than slid in the flashing and run another bead of silicone on top. Once everything is installed and straight another two beads of silicone are run under the bottem half of the flashing, than screw it done and silicone the tops of the screws. Then silicone the flashing to the chimney set the storm collar and silicone it down.
It should take about 2/3's a tube of silicone to make that roof water tight. In the very few call backs we have had about leaks, most were the flashing itself wasn't sealed perfectly at the factory. Or a overly cautious homeowner thinking they had a leak because they could see light coming though the clear silicone.

 

[Highbeam]

Yikes, I would add plywood before trying to shingle a roof over 1x4s. As you walk on that roof each 1x4 will flex independent of the next and compromise your roofing.

 

[electrathon]

Speaking as a person that grew up in house in Alaska that had a barrel stove as a main source of heat. You may be getting too much heat out of a barrel stove in that small of a room. 36" is the generic proper wall clearance but that can be reduced to 18" with a proper heat shield on the wall (bholler, is that correct?). Exit through the roof, stovepipe in the building, double wall chimney and a proper chimney flange on the outside. Properly installed the chimney is not going to leak, read up a little on this. Silicone is never a proper product to use to seal roofing, use a roofing product. Likely not a legal installation due to it being an unapproved stove. Be ready for the massive amount of smoke on first start up, the paint will burn off and will be icky smelling (worse than China downtown).

 

[bholler]

36" is the generic proper wall clearance but that can be reduced to 18" with a proper heat shield on the wall

Well no it can be reduced to 12" but those clearances are for stoves not barrels. I would give it more than the minimum due to the very thin metal being used.

 

[electrathon]

Well no it can be reduced to 12" but those clearances are for stoves not barrels. I would give it more than the minimum due to the very thin metal being used.

What about the wall to single wall stovepipe? With a wall mounted heat shield. The stovepipe is thinner than the barrel wall. At the chimney base it will have a very similar temperature, cooling as it rises.

 

[bholler]

What about the wall to single wall stovepipe? With a wall mounted heat shield. The stovepipe is thinner than the barrel wall. At the chimney base it will have a very similar temperature, cooling as it rises.

The stove pipe is not containing fire and no it is not similar temps sorry. Barrels are not made to contain a fire in your house plain and simple. There are much safer options available for not much money.

 

[char5]

I appreciate the warnings, but barrel stoves have been around a long time.
It's not easy to dismiss them just because "oh noes, barrel bad bad bad".
It's all about context, and one-liners don't provide enough of that.
As well as common sense and less "Hold my beer..."

I can easily replace the barrel every year or two.
So burnout is not a huge issue, plus I can install a liner of sorts.


It's not going to be running 24/7, and not installed in a residential dwelling.
But in a garage as needed, with smoke/CO alarms, a 20ft door, and 50lbs of sand.


I cleared an area in one corner of the garage:
It's 70" wide and 72" deep, and will be reduced by a few inches for heat shields on the walls.
It's 7ft from the concrete floor to the ceiling joists, then another 2ft or so to the roof.


I'm looking at HardieBacker for the heat shields as it's fire rated
http://www.homedepot.com/p/James-Ha...-x-1-4-in-Cement-Backerboard-220022/100183556


If YOU have/use a barrel stove with a simlilar setup, I would love your feedback in how's it's worked for you, and what did NOT work for you even more so.

 

[bholler]

I appreciate the warnings, but barrel stoves have been around a long time.

Yes I know that I have seen them for years and I have seen many with barrels distorted from heat seams popped and burn troughs. Just because they have been around a long time does not make them safe. But if you are going to do it make sure you have atleast 36" to any combustibles. And a proper ventilated heat sheild is still a good idea even at 36"

 

[char5]

a proper ventilated heat sheild

Do you mean like the hardiebaker 2" off the wall and 2" off the floor?

 

[bholler]

Do you mean like the hardiebaker 2" off the wall and 2" off the floor?

it only needs to be 1" but yes

 

[electrathon]

The stove pipe is not containing fire and no it is not similar temps sorry. Barrels are not made to contain a fire in your house plain and simple. There are much safer options available for not much money.

I realize that the original intended use of a barrel was not fire containment but many things in life are discovered to work well for things other than the original intended use. A barrel stove seems to me to be similar in design to a tin stove. They were not the best stove in the world, but heated a lot of houses. If I remember correctly you said a while back that you used one. The sidewalls on tin stoves were similar (thinner?) than barrels are and some of them didn't even have cast doors, just folded sheet metal doors.

 

[bholler]

If I remember correctly you said a while back that you used one.

No I would never start a fire in anything made of that thin of metal in my house. My other stove was a cawley lemay 600. very far from a tin stove. I may have used one as an outside patio heater at some point I have used many different stove we have taken out for that purpose. But most of them were either to far gone or not worth rebuilding. I have used quite a few vc stoves that had destroyed internals.

The sidewalls on tin stoves were similar (thinner?) than barrels are and some of them didn't even have cast doors, just folded sheet metal doors.

And I would tell someone not to use one of them either.

 

[electrathon]

If YOU have/use a barrel stove with a similar setup, I would love your feedback in how's it's worked for you, and what did NOT work for you even more so.

As a youth I lived in Alaska. We lived in a poorly insulated house and the furnace could not get the house over about 60 degrees (it was very cold out). There was a metal fireplace that with a raging fire made a little bit of heat. My grandpa showed up with a barrel stove in his truck. My dad and grandpa pulled out the fireplace and installed the barrel. It was cut about 10" shorter and had a flat plate installed to cook on. The carpet on the floor was covered with a metal sign (a big sign, old Cadillac building sign about 5' in diameter). A fire was lit and in less than an hour we had to crack the front door open because the house was getting to warm. The only issue with the set up was that the heat did not go down the stairs to the basement where the kitchen was.

We moved about 5 years later and took the barrel with us. There was a huge stone fireplace in the new house. It didn't make heat. Sat the stove in the opening, added one piece of stovepipe and made a block off plate out of sheet metal to close in the chimney. Heated the top third of the house with it for many winters (it was not the primary heat source, but got a lot of supplemental house heat from it). It always kept the house going during power outages too.

Years after we put the stove in the first house my grandpa moved out to the middle of nowhere, had to take a boat to get to his house. He had friends that lived a few miles away (by boat) in a lodge that had a stunning, massive fireplace in it. The first winter they were there they were freezing, literally. Grandpa helped them install a barrel stove in the fireplace, short stovepipe and a block off plate. They heated the lodge easily with it.