I think I need a bigger stove... but I am poor. Suggestions?

[Ducky is King]

Ok, this is my stove:

The alminum piece has been replaced with a short piece of stove pipe. this is an old pic, but is basically my set up...

heres a shot of the stove:

Im on my second year of burning hardwood seasoned 18 months. I am heating a 2000sq ft open garage, no interior walls. If I crank that stove, like, make keep the pipe at about 500F (2ft above the stove) from 9am to 6pm i can get the garage up to about 65F.... But just running it with an average pipe temp of 300 or so, i keep it at a baseline of about 50F in the garage all winter.

Problem is, I keep thinking the stove is too small for my garage. I have done a fair amount of experimentation with fans, heat sinks on top, pans of water, fans blowing at the stove, fans blowing down onto the stove, run the ceiling fan, dont run the cieling fan, nothing seems to make that much difference.

I have done some moderate research into that Magic heat unit but everyone I talk to says I shouldnt use one and that its not worth the risk... I have also seen these things:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wood-Stove-Fan-...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

seems promissing but again, not sure if it would be worth the added cost.

I should probably mention that I got the stove for free from my cousin. its a Vermont Castings stove from the 70's.

The door handle locking part broke off last year, so I use a metal bar and a brick to hold the door closed... this actually does work... Though I have thought about drilling a hole in the floor to use a bolt to hold the rod... i dunno... thing is, I keep thinking this little stove is too small for my application and am wondering if it would be worth me investing into a larger stove.

Right now, I am going thru a face cord a week.... and im half way thruogh my wood stock, and its only January... ugh... mind you I had 16 cords on hand in October... so... what do you think I could/should do to get more heat out of the stove?

 

[garmar]

I'm pretty certain that stove isn't meant for shop heating.

You may look into making a barrel stove. Northern Tools sells a kit with the door and legs, etc.

If you scrounge for the barrels, (the best barrel stove has a 35 gallon barrel inside a 55 gallon drum with granite sand in-between.) and have some firebrick to line the bottom--they are inexpensive even if you have to buy new--then you should be able to put one together for cheap.

Don't forget to buy a fire grate. These can be picked up cheap. They will help with cleaning ash and you will get a complete burn.

gar

Edit: also, don't forget a damper! I notice in the pic above this you have none, or I just can't see it. Much heat is lost up the chimney without one.

 

[Techstuf]

What garmar said......the granite sand and smaller firebox is likely more appropriate for smaller garages like yours.


http://www.metacafe.com/watch/922131/barrel_stove/



TS

 

[Ducky is King]

Ya I actually looked into those, but I am also sort of limited on space.. which is why I was looking at stoves... I could scrounge up about a grand if i need to to get a larger stove, but I am wondering if it would be worth it.

 

[BrotherBart]

Your local Home Depot shows online that it sells the Englander 30-NC in the Buffalo store. Word is that the season close-outs are underway so you might get one hell of a big ole heater for a good price.

Even ordering it online and having it shipped to you they are $1,169 freight included right now from HD. They could be considerably less if they have one in stock locally.

 

[Techstuf]

I could scrounge up about a grand if i need to to get a larger stove, but I am wondering if it would be worth it.

'worth it' is a highly relative term.



Have you considered a forced air propane heater? Should do the trick for less than 200 bucks and the cost of propane, and it's smaller than what you've got, giving you even more room for......whatever.



TS

 

[kenny chaos]

Is Ducky your dog?

 

[Highbeam]

I would be doing a barrel stove there. A single barrel, sand and internal barrel, using one of the kits with a cast iron door and flue collar.

It's not like anything else is to code. If you want to find the safest and cheapest appliance then that big englander is a great deal and will be much easier on your wood supply. If you were clever, you could likely get some waste oil to burn in it too.

 

[semipro]

Ducky, you don't look poor to me; good dog, nice shop, comfortable chair next to a wood stove....

 

[savageactor7]

Ducky I'm thinking that stove should heat the garage...so I'm wondering if the garage has insulated walls and ceiling. If not a newer stove won't improve things much.

Also stoves like that require a damper...the picture is kind of busy so it's hard to see if you have one.

 

[Techstuf]

I wish I were so 'poor' as to be able to drop a thousand bucks on a stove. Oh the stove I could build for a thousand dollars!


It could feed itself, no doubt!



TS

 

[kenny chaos]

Line one side with firebrick and shoot veggie oil at it from the other side.

 

[semipro]

How about this one. http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/hsh/1004162841.html

At that price you could probably afford to have it shipped to NY.

 

[kenny chaos]

How about this one. http://lynchburg.craigslist.org/hsh/1004162841.html

At that price you could probably afford to have it shipped to NY.

If you're going that route, I'm right next door and have a Riteway 2000 but it'll cost ya a little more.

 

[gyrfalcon]

Ok, this is my stove:

The alminum piece has been replaced with a short piece of stove pipe. this is an old pic, but is basically my set up...

heres a shot of the stove:

Im on my second year of burning hardwood seasoned 18 months. I am heating a 2000sq ft open garage, no interior walls. If I crank that stove, like, make keep the pipe at about 500F (2ft above the stove) from 9am to 6pm i can get the garage up to about 65F.... But just running it with an average pipe temp of 300 or so, i keep it at a baseline of about 50F in the garage all winter.

Problem is, I keep thinking the stove is too small for my garage. I have done a fair amount of experimentation with fans, heat sinks on top, pans of water, fans blowing at the stove, fans blowing down onto the stove, run the ceiling fan, dont run the cieling fan, nothing seems to make that much difference.

I have done some moderate research into that Magic heat unit but everyone I talk to says I shouldnt use one and that its not worth the risk... I have also seen these things:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wood-Stove-Fan-...photoQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1742.m153.l1262

seems promissing but again, not sure if it would be worth the added cost.

I should probably mention that I got the stove for free from my cousin. its a Vermont Castings stove from the 70's.

The door handle locking part broke off last year, so I use a metal bar and a brick to hold the door closed... this actually does work... Though I have thought about drilling a hole in the floor to use a bolt to hold the rod... i dunno... thing is, I keep thinking this little stove is too small for my application and am wondering if it would be worth me investing into a larger stove.

Right now, I am going thru a face cord a week.... and im half way thruogh my wood stock, and its only January... ugh... mind you I had 16 cords on hand in October... so... what do you think I could/should do to get more heat out of the stove?

Reorganize your garage this summer so that most of the stuff you want to be able to work on in the winter is in one area. If you can't afford to put up actual walls around it, spend a hundred bucks on thick movers' blankets, hang 'em from the ceiling or close to it, around the area you're going to spend the most time in. Pans of water don't affect how hot the stove gets, and fans will only reduce the heat around the stove and slightly raise it in the direction they're blowing.

I raised the temperature in my front room by 5-7 degrees simply by hanging a movers' blanket in the open doorway to the 2nd floor stairway. Your stove isn't big enough, nor is probably any stove, to heat a huge uninsulated garage. You can either insulate the walls or reduce the space you're trying to heat, or both.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

Check Craigslist.

I gave away a huge Schrader to a guy as a shop heater and (around here anyway) there's always old Fischer/Schrader/Kodiak stoves for a couple hundred bucks.

 

[Ducky is King]

OK for clarification... all that 'stuff' i inherited... lol so, monetary wise I am poor. Though ALOT of that stuff is up for sale (locally only)

Aside from that, we used to heat the garage with a gas furnace. However the furnace has 2 problems.

1) Its leaking Carbon Monoxide and the gas company made my sign a waiver before theyd turn on the gas to the shop.
2) It costs $320 a month to keep that building at 50F.

The walls are concrete block, that the roof is a flat roof with 2x12's insulated with 1/2 inch fireproof drywall. And then, the wind side of the building has an unheated shed spanning the length and height of the back wall. The building is pretty air tight and I have done a fair amount of sealing up drafts and what not.

It also has 12 ft interior cielings. Thing is, the garage is packed so all the stuff acts like insulation. I realise that for most people, this concept of using stuff as insulation goes right over their head, but, truth be told, it actually does lol.

Now my dad, who passed away in 2007, used to keep the shop at about 70 all winter, but with his deteriorating health and the ever rising cost of natural gas, the temperature kept dropping and dropping till it was down to about 50F all winter. And while thats ok, 50F is kinda chilly to hang out and mess around. Yes I am a bit spoiled. But I cant afford $300+ per month and the garage cant freeze... Unfortunately, I do have to sort of heat the whole area. But it is pretty much all open no actual walls. More like rows of stuff. lol Ill get better pics today of the stove.

The shiny piece in the pipe is the damper... It is for a gas furnace but does the trick as all it is is a heavy piece of rolled stainless, with a manual flapper. It came with an electronic control to run the damper part but I didnt bother installing it, and instead use a piece of tie wire to set the damper setting. Surprisingly it actually works decent.

 

[mayhem]

Your stuff insulation may not be doing as good a job as you think. You've managed to seal up alot of the drafts, but I would be willing to bet that you're still soaking alot of heat right through the walls.

- Take down some of your stuff and insulate the building properly. Then you can put the stuff back where it belongs.
- Get a fan in there to circulate the air around. MAgic Heat is also a vaid suggestion, provided that you do the maintenance on it religously. If you're the kind of guy who tends to skimp on maintenance until you have an issue that maintenance might have prevented, avoid MH at all costs...chimney fire waiting to happen.
- Ceiling fan or two might help consideably...with 12' ceilings I bet you've got a 10-15 degree rise in temps between head hieght and the inside of the ceiling.
- Look into an Englander like others have suggested.

If you can pick up the new stove yourself I bet for your $1k budget you could get the stove and buy a hefty bit of insulation on the same trip to HD. Best of both worlds.

Good luck.

 

[Henz]

thats the same stove my parents have in their house..VC Vigilant 1980s version. It heats there house very well. I would suggest insulating your garage rather than buying a new stove

 

[Jags]

Frame and insulate or glue rigid insulation to the walls (cheapest way). Those block walls might not be leaking air, but a sheet of newspaper has about as much R value.

That place screams for a NC30. Less wood and more heat than what you have now.

 

[Bone1099]

how much for the old VC $$