Hey Guys I'm new here and have a few questions. I have owned a few wood stoves over the years mostly Craft and I'm trying to decide on a stove for the garage I'm building. I really want a Fisher and I found a Grandpa bear for $450 but I also found a similar size Glacier Bay on Craigslist for $300 OBO. I also was recently given a Buck stove insert but Ive read that the triple wall on this stove is better suited for a insert and not freestanding. Also I will have to buy the stack to convert it to freestanding which looks to be around $200 alone. I just can't make up my mind any advise on one vs the other would be appreciated.
Stove Choices
- Thread starter Blind Squirrel
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Well first off a wood stove in a garage is against code. So if there ever was an issue insurance most likely would not cover it. As far as the stoves listed any basic steel stove will work fine. I agree the buck probably isn't right
Yes still against code in the US. I am not telling you not to do it. Just giving you the information so you can understand the liability risks of it to decide if you want to risk it.
IMHO, I would suggest a wood fired add on "furnace" rather than a wood stove. This is essentially a wood stove with a sheetmetal box around it with blower fan out back and a duct up top and a snap switch. They are typically used by someone with forced air heat. Generally conventional wood stoves do not work that well in a shop as they are radiant heaters and the equipment and vehicles in the shop tend to block the radiant heat . It generally means a very hot zone near the stove and lot of cold spots in the corners. Using a hot air furnace means that the radiant heat is converted to hot air which can be ducted along the ceiling. I have an ancient version in a 24 x28 garage with 9' ceilings and have never ducted it. The heated air just goes up straight out of the furnace and towards the ceiling and works its way out to the walls of the building. The heat is lot more even and even when workng under a vehicle I am warm. The furnace can be located in a separate room. I started out with a regular wood stove for a few years and the wood furnace works a lot better.
When I want to heat my garage in cold weather, I light off the fire and then run a kerosene jet heater for about 20 minutes. By the time the fire gets going and the furnace starts to throw off heat through the blower the garage is warm and I turn off the jet heater. I could skip the jet heater but it just speeds things up. I am usually down to a t-shirt in about 45 minutes. The down side with my ancient unit is its a bottom grate with a primitive air system that is basically on off, I have to be careful to feed it with small loads so the place does not overheat. The other issue which folks do not account for is the stack draft out of garage is usually poor when doing the initial light off of the stove as the chimney is usually cold to begin with. All it means is a bit of extra time possibly sticking a burning newspaper up the stove outlet to get the draft going.
If I was using the garage often I would probably revise the air damper on the stove and pull fresh air in from the outside. This would reduce pulling in flammable gases into the unit. The actual firebox inside the sheetmetal box does not seem to have hot spots with the air flow going past it.
When I want to heat my garage in cold weather, I light off the fire and then run a kerosene jet heater for about 20 minutes. By the time the fire gets going and the furnace starts to throw off heat through the blower the garage is warm and I turn off the jet heater. I could skip the jet heater but it just speeds things up. I am usually down to a t-shirt in about 45 minutes. The down side with my ancient unit is its a bottom grate with a primitive air system that is basically on off, I have to be careful to feed it with small loads so the place does not overheat. The other issue which folks do not account for is the stack draft out of garage is usually poor when doing the initial light off of the stove as the chimney is usually cold to begin with. All it means is a bit of extra time possibly sticking a burning newspaper up the stove outlet to get the draft going.
If I was using the garage often I would probably revise the air damper on the stove and pull fresh air in from the outside. This would reduce pulling in flammable gases into the unit. The actual firebox inside the sheetmetal box does not seem to have hot spots with the air flow going past it.
First, how large is the heated area? You need a stove capable of heating that.
Second, you need a stove to match any existing chimney. If the chimney is not installed, you have more options.
A Grandpa has an 8 inch outlet, as well as most other brands you're considering. If you were to install an 8 inch chimney for one of those stoves, the efficiency of the stove goes right up the chimney.
A Papa Bear heats the same square footage as the Grandpa with only a 6 inch flue. That is much more efficient and burns longer wood with less cutting. That equates to a longer burn with more wood in the stove with more time between loading. A long narrow firebox is the shape of logs, the wider double door stoves are built with a larger door for fire viewing. That makes them a "Fireplace" type stove. Along with that comes the inefficiency of a fireplace! With doors closed they become a radiant heater, but less efficient than a stove built for 6 inch. The idea of building a steel box to radiate heat was based on cutting a 6 inch hole in the back, extracting as much heat as possible, instead of letting it go up the larger chimney.
The Papa Bear also gives you a much larger stove top for cooking or heating water. The heating capacity of a stove is calculated by the temperature of the square inch area of heating surface. The higher temperature top being larger = more heat output. Measuring the square inch area of surface area of each stove gives you heat output. The temperature of this surface area then becomes important as sell.
In a work area, where you don't want to take time to start fires, the long narrow firebox starts much quicker than a cross loaded wider stove. Air goes down between the logs, roaring like an oil burner compared to a double door stove that air comes across the logs and rises out the exhaust. The single door stoves simply burn better when it comes to intense heat. I learned that firing steam locomotives. A boiler designed for wood burning has a long narrow firebox, the shape of logs. Like 2 feet wide, 6 feet long and 3 feet deep. Air enters the back, goes down the logs, and out the flues in the front. A coal burning locomotive has a more square firebox. Like the bed of a pickup truck. Burning wood in one is possible, but the air isn't channeled down the logs making it burn as good. The shape of a single door stove is a scaled down version of a wood burning firebox.
The object with any stove is to keep the chimney flue above 250* to the top. This prevents water vapor from combustion from condensing, allowing smoke particles to stick. The larger the diameter, the more heat you need to leave up. Equating to less useable heat inside. A 6 to 8 inch diameter requires almost twice the amount of heat. 2 inches doesn't seem like much, but the square inch area almost doubles in size. You only need 8 inch for more capacity of flow. Once up to temp, at cruise, any stove doesn't need the increased capacity.
The insulation of the flue and chimney sizing is more important than the stove you choose.
A double wall insulated chimney (called "pack" type) Is more efficient than a triple wall. They stay hotter inside easier, which makes any stove better. The cost of the chimney is going to be more than what you can buy most older stoves for as well. In the off season (early summer) you can usually find stoves for $100 or $200. Put your money into a good chimney, they are not easy to change. You can always switch stoves easily.
Second, you need a stove to match any existing chimney. If the chimney is not installed, you have more options.
A Grandpa has an 8 inch outlet, as well as most other brands you're considering. If you were to install an 8 inch chimney for one of those stoves, the efficiency of the stove goes right up the chimney.
A Papa Bear heats the same square footage as the Grandpa with only a 6 inch flue. That is much more efficient and burns longer wood with less cutting. That equates to a longer burn with more wood in the stove with more time between loading. A long narrow firebox is the shape of logs, the wider double door stoves are built with a larger door for fire viewing. That makes them a "Fireplace" type stove. Along with that comes the inefficiency of a fireplace! With doors closed they become a radiant heater, but less efficient than a stove built for 6 inch. The idea of building a steel box to radiate heat was based on cutting a 6 inch hole in the back, extracting as much heat as possible, instead of letting it go up the larger chimney.
The Papa Bear also gives you a much larger stove top for cooking or heating water. The heating capacity of a stove is calculated by the temperature of the square inch area of heating surface. The higher temperature top being larger = more heat output. Measuring the square inch area of surface area of each stove gives you heat output. The temperature of this surface area then becomes important as sell.
In a work area, where you don't want to take time to start fires, the long narrow firebox starts much quicker than a cross loaded wider stove. Air goes down between the logs, roaring like an oil burner compared to a double door stove that air comes across the logs and rises out the exhaust. The single door stoves simply burn better when it comes to intense heat. I learned that firing steam locomotives. A boiler designed for wood burning has a long narrow firebox, the shape of logs. Like 2 feet wide, 6 feet long and 3 feet deep. Air enters the back, goes down the logs, and out the flues in the front. A coal burning locomotive has a more square firebox. Like the bed of a pickup truck. Burning wood in one is possible, but the air isn't channeled down the logs making it burn as good. The shape of a single door stove is a scaled down version of a wood burning firebox.
The object with any stove is to keep the chimney flue above 250* to the top. This prevents water vapor from combustion from condensing, allowing smoke particles to stick. The larger the diameter, the more heat you need to leave up. Equating to less useable heat inside. A 6 to 8 inch diameter requires almost twice the amount of heat. 2 inches doesn't seem like much, but the square inch area almost doubles in size. You only need 8 inch for more capacity of flow. Once up to temp, at cruise, any stove doesn't need the increased capacity.
The insulation of the flue and chimney sizing is more important than the stove you choose.
A double wall insulated chimney (called "pack" type) Is more efficient than a triple wall. They stay hotter inside easier, which makes any stove better. The cost of the chimney is going to be more than what you can buy most older stoves for as well. In the off season (early summer) you can usually find stoves for $100 or $200. Put your money into a good chimney, they are not easy to change. You can always switch stoves easily.
And I bet you will be pissed if you have an insurance claim denied because you ignored those codes.
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