Need advice on a stove for a shop

[tcb2]

Hello,
I just came across this forum the other day while searching for wood stove answers. I have used the search function but have not found an answer, so here goes. I am currently building a shop, 30x40 with 14 foot eves and a 4/12 pitch roof and I would like to install wood stove for heat. The shop will be insulated fully. Due to insurance regulations it looks like I will need an EPA/CAT stove. I have zero experience with those types of stoves.

Can anyone suggest some stove options for me to look at?
How many BTU's should the stove be rated for? (I'm in the Pacific Northwest/high desert, 3500 elevation with temps from 20 below and up in the winter)
Any foreseeable issues in drafting for the stove with a extended pipe run with the height of the shop?

Currently I have an older Fisher insert, that heats the house and a older Blaze king sitting in storage from a previous residence that I had been saving. They load North to south, which I prefer. Most of the stoves I have seen all have a glass door, which I do not need. I just need basic, durable heat from a stove.

Any additional thoughts and comments are welcome. and thank you in advance.

 

[bholler]

Hello,
I just came across this forum the other day while searching for wood stove answers. I have used the search function but have not found an answer, so here goes. I am currently building a shop, 30x40 with 14 foot eves and a 4/12 pitch roof and I would like to install wood stove for heat. The shop will be insulated fully. Due to insurance regulations it looks like I will need an EPA/CAT stove. I have zero experience with those types of stoves.

Can anyone suggest some stove options for me to look at?
How many BTU's should the stove be rated for? (I'm in the Pacific Northwest/high desert, 3500 elevation with temps from 20 below and up in the winter)
Any foreseeable issues in drafting for the stove with a extended pipe run with the height of the shop?

Currently I have an older Fisher insert, that heats the house and a older Blaze king sitting in storage from a previous residence that I had been saving. They load North to south, which I prefer. Most of the stoves I have seen all have a glass door, which I do not need. I just need basic, durable heat from a stove.

Any additional thoughts and comments are welcome. and thank you in advance.

What is the shop used for?

 

[begreen]

An EPA certified stove and a cat stove are not the same thing. For a shop, a non-cat would do better at quickly raising the temperature. A wood furnace would be even better if permitted in the state. Regardless of choice, you will want something with at least a 3 cu ft firebox. A good choice might be a big Drolet. Some of them currently qualify for the 26% tax credit on the entire installation.
(broken link removed to https://www.drolet.ca/file/Drolet_Tax_Certificate.pdf)
EPA certified wood furnace

Wood Furnaces | Simplified Installation

The most comfortable and powerful heating source. Get your Drolet wood furnace: Heatpack, Tundra II, HeatMax II, HeatPro, Heat Commander. Shop online! Can.

www.drolet.ca

 

[Highbeam]

I use a modern epa certified non cat stove of 3.5 cubic feet to heat my 30x60 with 14’ ceilings and insulation in western Washington. You really can’t have too big of a stove for these big spaces. Especially if you plan to let it cool between uses. I really enjoy having a stove in my shop.

 

[tcb2]

Thanks for the reply's. Shop will be used for a little of everything, wood work to metal work an everything in between. I'll check out Drolet, I need to educate myself on differences between EPA/Cat, for some reason I was thinking they were the same. Obviously I was wrong

 

[Poindexter]

Agree with @bholler , "what is the shop used for?"

My wife is agitating for my wood shop to move out of the garage into a separate building, but I do hand tool stuff with planes and chisels and vintage handsaws. NO way do I want the temperature in the shop swing up and down back and forth over the dewpoint. I can barely keep up with sharpening now, but one shop wide condensation event would have me thinking about taking up golf.

One of my kids is a welder/ fabricator and rust removal is just something that happens to stock while waiting its turn to be made into something. Likewise, driveline work would be a possibility. If most of your tools are chrome plated anyway with a protective coat of oil on them, you won't care so much about dewpoint.

If I do get kicked out of the house I will put the shop as close to the house as I can and run another loop for hotwater baseboard off the existing boiler in the house.

M2c

 

[bholler]

Thanks for the reply's. Shop will be used for a little of everything, wood work to metal work an everything in between. I'll check out Drolet, I need to educate myself on differences between EPA/Cat, for some reason I was thinking they were the same. Obviously I was wrong

The reason I asked what it will be used for is in the US it's against code to have a solid fuel appliance in any garage or space containing gasoline or other flammable vapors.

Some municipalities have rules about wood shops as well

 

[tcb2]

bholler,
Thanks for that information, I will not be storing anything flammable in the shop

 

[bholler]

bholler,
Thanks for that information, I will not be storing anything flammable in the shop

Just check with local code office and insurance to be sure. Some will have a problem if there is a door big enough to pull a vehicle in.

 

[Poindexter]

Just FWIW, EPA certification is about stack emissions.

An EPA certified non catalytic stove will most likely have a reburn or secondary burn chamber in the top of the firebox. An EPA certified catalytic stove will have a catalytic combustor in it somewhere, a brick sized item, honey combed, with a coating of noble metals like platinum or etc.

 

[Highbeam]

Just check with local code office and insurance to be sure. Some will have a problem if there is a door big enough to pull a vehicle in.

Some insurance companies will cancel the policy if a stove is installed in an “outbuilding” period. Even with a permit.

That’s why I fired State Farm.