Old woodburners never die

[sapratt]

Last year was my first year burning. My neighbor who hasn't heated with wood for many years was just as excited as I was
Even to the point that he tried talking his wife into taking out the NG fireplace and putting an insert in. They took out the insert and put in the NG fireplace. She said no.
Well now he's looking for a wood stove to put in his garage. I guess he figures if I can't have one in the house the I'll burn wood
in the garage. Oh yeah he heats his garage now with a propane heater so its not like he's out there in the cold.

 

[LLigetfa]

Aren't wood stoves in garages outlawed? I wouldn't tempt fate by saying "Old woodburners never die" with a stove in the garage.

 

[sapratt]

True I shouldn't say that. I'm not sure if stoves are outlawed in garages. I just thought it was funny that last year he was wanting to put
one in his house. Now he wants to put a stove in the garage. I've known the guy for 8yrs now we moved into the house next to him and he
never once said anything about wanting to use a wood stove until after we put ours in. I just figured he misses it.

 

[LLigetfa]

Ja, kind of like the old saying "you can take the boy out of the country but you cannot take the country out of the boy". My bad for hijacking the topic.

 

[fyrwoodguy]

can you compare wood cutting/burning to a teater-totter ?

 

[sapratt]

Never really crossed my mind when in the summer he would come over just to look at the wood pile.
And when he comes over in the winter he goes straight for the stove to stand next to it.
I'm going to tell him it may be illegal to put stoves in garages.

 

[firefighterjake]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

They may not meet code or are illegal, but there are a bunch of folks who do it anyway.

 

[pen]

Like anything, when it's in your blood, it's just always going to be there.

My grandma has been burning wood her whole life. She doesn't burn much anymore, maybe about 3 full weeks in the winter during January when things are really cold. But to her, even while getting up there in years pretty good, seeing wood in her basement is like money in the bank to her.

About 2 years ago her furnace broke 1 week before Christmas. The part had to come from across country and with the holiday rush and people taking time off from the parts house, the part never made it till just after new years. Needless to say, grandma was awful proud of keeping the house heated w/ or w/out that oil burning furnace!

I for one am not going to tell her that it's time to stop! I'll just keep splitting the pieces a little smaller and cutting them a little shorter and hope that she doesn't notice me doing so

pen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Like anything, when it's in your blood, it's just always going to be there.

My grandma has been burning wood her whole life. She doesn't burn much anymore, maybe about 3 full weeks in the winter during January when things are really cold. But to her, even while getting up there in years pretty good, seeing wood in her basement is like money in the bank to her.

About 2 years ago her furnace broke 1 week before Christmas. The part had to come from across country and with the holiday rush and people taking time off from the parts house, the part never made it till just after new years. Needless to say, grandma was awful proud of keeping the house heated w/ or w/out that oil burning furnace!

I for one am not going to tell her that it's time to stop! I'll just keep splitting the pieces a little smaller and cutting them a little shorter and hope that she doesn't notice me doing so

pen

Hats off to your grandmother Pen.

I've had lots of folks ask me when I am going to quit cutting all that wood and having to handle it all winter to stay warm when I could just set a dial and forget it. Ha! When is Hell going to freeze over?!

I may be in retirement but that doesn't mean I have to stop. Sure, I can no longer work as hard as I once could and I take lots of breaks, but I still do what I can and enjoy the wood heat. It is hard to imagine living in the north without wood heat.

 

[Wallyworld]

They may not meet code or are illegal, but there are a bunch of folks who do it anyway.

Like me, although I don't have any flammable stuff stored in there and its not a garage per say but a woorkshop

 

[Mr Chips]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

I considered this when I installed the wood stove in my garage so I moved all the flammables to the front of the garage by the big rollup door and I do understand that gasoline fumes are heavier than air so they will settle on the floor and kinda roll across the floor. So I have to be very careful about that.
I've been in commercial auto repair shops where they use heaters which burn used motor oil and the heater is located on the floor. And others which have the NG or propane heater mounted from the ceiling. I would think that not all vapors are heavier than air and that some of them would move toward the ceiling...is this correct?
So my question is ...what about those type heaters? What does the NFPA say about those in a commercial shop?

 

[greythorn3]

i used a barrel stove for years in a drafty old dirt floored 2 car garage with a greese pit in minnesota and never had a problem with it, but in todays tight garages it might pose a problem, i wouldnt store gas cans in any garage anyhow.

 

[Wallyworld]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

I considered this when I installed the wood stove in my garage so I moved all the flammables to the front of the garage by the big rollup door and I do understand that gasoline fumes are heavier than air so they will settle on the floor and kinda roll across the floor. So I have to be very careful about that.
I've been in commercial auto repair shops where they use heaters which burn used motor oil and the heater is located on the floor. And others which have the NG or propane heater mounted from the ceiling. I would think that not all vapors are heavier than air and that some of them would move toward the ceiling...is this correct?
So my question is ...what about those type heaters? What does the NFPA say about those in a commercial shop?

I've been in many shops that use waste oil heaters, never seen one on the floor, generally they have a tank on the floor and the heater is on stands above the tank, probably 8 to 10 feet off the floor. I have seen what happens when a vehicle with a leaky gas tank was left inside overnight at a shop. The furnace kicked on by TStat in the morning, the air intake for the furnace was on the floor(against code) and it blew the roof up off the walls. This happened on Main St in Bangor Maine 20 years ago or so. I was at the sight minutes after it happened, very scary, no one died but several folks got burned.

 

[bmwloco]

Since living in Vermont for two years, I have wood stoves-itis. Love 'em. Trouble me. Cut, split, stack in the summer, enjoy in the winter.

As for the garage, my domain. Yes, I have a wee VC Intrepid in there. On cold mornings, I crank it up so I can work in the garage and enjoy not seeing my breath or frost on my tools.

I am nearly certain law enforcement has something better to do. And, if it does go "poof" one day, guess what? I will have no one to blame but myself, and I will take full responsibility.

Call me silly, but I think taking responsibility for choices is important.

 

[Lanningjw]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

The mechanic down the street burns wood from a smoke dragon stove in a free standing garage. He has cars in the garage all the time and works out as a home business. Maybe I should tell him to stop burning wood because its a fire hazard in the garage with gasoline cars.
If I did he would tell me to get off his property and never bring a car to him for fixing? How would you handle this?

 

[Martin Strand III]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

I considered this when I installed the wood stove in my garage so I moved all the flammables to the front of the garage by the big rollup door and I do understand that gasoline fumes are heavier than air so they will settle on the floor and kinda roll across the floor. So I have to be very careful about that.
I've been in commercial auto repair shops where they use heaters which burn used motor oil and the heater is located on the floor. And others which have the NG or propane heater mounted from the ceiling. I would think that not all vapors are heavier than air and that some of them would move toward the ceiling...is this correct?
So my question is ...what about those type heaters? What does the NFPA say about those in a commercial shop?

I've been in many shops that use waste oil heaters, never seen one on the floor, generally they have a tank on the floor and the heater is on stands above the tank, probably 8 to 10 feet off the floor. I have seen what happens when a vehicle with a leaky gas tank was left inside overnight at a shop. The furnace kicked on by TStat in the morning, the air intake for the furnace was on the floor(against code) and it blew the roof up off the walls. This happened on Main St in Bangor Maine 20 years ago or so. I was at the sight minutes after it happened, very scary, no one died but several folks got burned.

In my spare life, I volunteer at my local fire dept (FF/EMT).

Just last week we had a structure fire - an unattached garage - which was totally engulfed in flames on my arrival and burned to the ground in less than 1/2 hour. I spoke to the owner who told me he had been working in the garage all day being comforted by his wood stove he installed there. He said he kept the place clean and thought he was doing everything safely. When he took a break to fix dinner, he looked out the window to see it start and there was nothing to do except dial 911 and thank the Lord the garage was not attached to his house and his boat was not in it.

All true and recent here in NW MI.

Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say, "Play with fire and you'll get burned."

 

[pen]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

The mechanic down the street burns wood from a smoke dragon stove in a free standing garage. He has cars in the garage all the time and works out as a home business. Maybe I should tell him to stop burning wood because its a fire hazard in the garage with gasoline cars.
If I did he would tell me to get off his property and never bring a car to him for fixing? How would you handle this?

It all depends on how you approach it. Remember, nobody wants to be preached at (including those who attend church).

My buddy heats his garage w/ a blaze king and does body work. I let him know it was not code compliant, not by calling him out on it but by saying:


Now how the heck did you get to be able to heat your garage with wood? I tried to put one in mine and the codes officer (or you could say insurance company) shut me down. Who did you talk to?

If you bring it up in conversation putting the ball back in his court you at least shared the knowledge of it not being right w/ him. He's a grown and intelligent man, what he does w/ that information from there is up to him.

pen

 

[Martin Strand III]

NFPA 211 specifically says woodstoves are verboten in garages . . . and places where flammable vapors may be present.

The mechanic down the street burns wood from a smoke dragon stove in a free standing garage. He has cars in the garage all the time and works out as a home business. Maybe I should tell him to stop burning wood because its a fire hazard in the garage with gasoline cars.
If I did he would tell me to get off his property and never bring a car to him for fixing? How would you handle this?

It all depends on how you approach it. Remember, nobody wants to be preached at (including those who attend church).

My buddy heats his garage w/ a blaze king and does body work. I let him know it was not code compliant, not by calling him out on it but by saying:


Now how the heck did you get to be able to heat your garage with wood? I tried to put one in mine and the codes officer (or you could say insurance company) shut me down. Who did you talk to?

If you bring it up in conversation putting the ball back in his court you at least shared the knowledge of it not being right w/ him. He's a grown and intelligent man, what he does w/ that information from there is up to him.

pen

There are always those (people) who find the edge and, somehow, overcome the odds (of mishap).

Gambling with your own life, I call selfish. Gambling with the lives of others, especially loved ones, I call foolish.

Aye,
Marty
Grandma used to say, "It's better to be kind than to be right."

 

[Motor7]

It's not illegal in all places.
I heat my shop/garage with wood, no veh's inside. Flamables are moved outside for the season. I think we are over-coded in most parts of the country. There are no codes here except for septic & elec, & it is one of the main reasons I moved here. Once the "code monster" is released it goes hog wild, there is no going back & it costs heavy in money and freedom. I lived where a permit was required to change an outlet, a window or door....never again.
I don't mean to stir the kettle, but there are choices that should be left to the individual, not mandated by government.....jmho.


RD

 

[billb3]

Unfortunately an awful lot of permits are disguised tax revenue.

 

[LLigetfa]

Only one of my next door neighbors burns wood and then only out of necessity. She's impoverished and had the electricty cut off.

Another neighbor has a fireplace but his wife won't let him burn wood. She's afraid it might burn the house down. We have natural gas down our country road so most people heat with gas. Only a few people on this road have wood stacks and they use the wood to heat their shops, not their homes. I seem to be the exception. I heat with wood because I enjoy it, not out of financial or other necessity.

I grew up on a farm with wood heat. As a young adult when living rural, I heated with wood if I had the opportunity. There was a couple of decades where I lived in the city and didn't have the opportunity nor the desire but when I bought a home in the country, the first thing I did was to put in wood heat. Somehow, I never equated city living with wood heat, but country living and wood heat go together naturally. I'm sure the city dwellers with their small lots, petty neighbors, local ordinances, HOAs and such will disagree, but c'est la vie!

There are two sides to the coin. Sure there's the saying "you can never take the country out of the boy", but there's also the saying "it's hard to keep the boy on the farm once he's seen Paris" ("Paris" said with a French accent). Well, the scent has worn off that rose long ago. You can have your uppety city dwellers that look down at us country wood burners as peasants.

 

[quads]

It's not illegal here to heat your garage with a woodstove. Actually, I'm the only person around that doesn't! I used to, when I had a bigger garage. I even have an old woodstove sitting in my current garage, but it's not installed. I thought about setting it up, as much as I like heating things with wood, but I don't do enough work out there in the winter for it to make much sense. Of course, the full cord of seasoned oak that I burn in the firepit during the summer doesn't make much sense either.

 

[Martin Strand III]

It's not illegal in all places.
I heat my shop/garage with wood, no veh's inside. Flamables are moved outside for the season. I think we are over-coded in most parts of the country. There are no codes here except for septic & elec, & it is one of the main reasons I moved here. Once the "code monster" is released it goes hog wild, there is no going back & it costs heavy in money and freedom. I lived where a permit was required to change an outlet, a window or door....never again.
I don't mean to stir the kettle, but there are choices that should be left to the individual, not mandated by government.....jmho.


RD

You must realize much legislation passed into law is to protect the majority from the brain dead minority.

Aye,
Marty
Grandpa used to say, "We have seen the enemy and it is us."

 

[Motor7]

You must realize much legislation passed into law is to protect the majority from the brain dead minority.

Aye,
Marty
Grandpa used to say, "We have seen the enemy and it is us."

Very true in many cases. However, it's the legislation aimed to protect that brain dead minority that I have problems with....and there are is ton of it with more on the way. I have no problems with an insurance company saying, "We want your home up to our code before insuring you." That leaves the insured a choice, either comply with the rules, or get insurance elsewhere, or don't get it at all. But a state/county code or law takes away that choice to be brain dead....& I'm thinking that Darwin would have a problem with this un-natural propagation...;>].

RD