Stove placement question

[jklett]

Hello all, I am new to the forum and wood stoves. I was given a small wood stove for Christmas to heat my workshop and I am trying to figure out where would be the best place to set it up. The building consists of 3 rooms, 20' x 17', 5' x 13' and 11' x 13'. They are arranged with the 2 smaller rooms to the right of the big room. There is also an alcove in the back corner of the big room of 8' x 3'6". I will try to put in a rough drawing so it makes sense.

I have read about clearances and proper chimney construction, wherever I mount the stove I will build a proper hearth. My big issue is trying to figure out the best location so that all of the space is heated. Currently I am using a kerosene heater(barrel looking one) and an oil filled electric radiator in the smallest room. I have been moving the kero unit to whatever room I am in and it works fine but I figure that won't work with a stove. I would like to put it in the alcove but I am worried that it won't heat the other rooms.

Any thoughts?

 

[pen]

A wood stove is a space heater just like your kerosese heater. If that thing throws good heat, then where it's located that gives heat to all three locations would be the same for a wood stove. The big factor would be how easily air can move from one room to another.

Also, what kind of wood stove are we talking here?

Welcome to the site!

 

[jklett]

Thanks, I will try different locations with the kerosene heater and see where it would work best and build the hearth there. I have fired the stove in the yard and it puts out a lot more heat than the kerosene heater. I was thinking of putting openings in the walls between the rooms and covering them with furnace filters(the midsized room is a semi-clean room and the smallest room is a finishing room so I don't want dust from the main shop getting in).

The stove is a cheap US stoves logwood 1261(it was a Christmas present from my wife, I didn't pick it out).

 

[rijim]

Wood dust is combustable so from a safety point you may want to consider the semi-clean room.

 

[jklett]

Thanks, that is something I hadn't considered. I'll have to see if I can get proper clearances in there without tripping over it. Worse case I could always move part of the wall for the finishing room to make that room smaller and put the stove in the new space there.

 

[coverdome]

Putting the stove in the smaller room might get it too hot to work comfortably in there. Even a small stove. It ain't like the heater that you can turn off or move around.

 

[rijim]

coverdome has a good point. If you use the alcove could you cover all surfaces with a material that has a smooth finish to allow you to easily wipe down to keep fine saw dust residue from building up? If you use the alcove, a fan on the floor blowing cool air out of each of the small rooms would help move heat into these rooms.

 

[tcassavaugh]

just wondering if you can easily run it through the ceiling anywhere of your choosing or do you have to run a wall install. how much would the installation of of the stove impede the use of the rooms? looking at the diagram, i like a positioning that would lend itself to the end of the large room near the two smaller rooms.....along a wall. that way heat would spill into the two smaller rooms while heating the bulk of the larger room. i guess another question would be where do you spend most of your time while in the workshop.....and would it really be worth it.

cass

 

[jeff_t]

Just remember that stove has huge clearance requirements, and high R-value for the hearth, R3 IIRC. No way to reduce either.

Edit- I lied. This one isn't as bad as the Vogelzang version. R2, and clearances can be reduced per NFPA 211. Still, be careful.

 

[begreen]

The smaller room is a long closet, not a real room. Put the heat in the large area.

 

[jdp1152]

Put it on the wall where the alcove is and you'll be fine ( in the larger room, not the alcove). I'm heating more sq footage with a much more awkward layout without any issue (all the rooms except the main room are behind the wall with the insert). That's with an EPA insert w/ blower though.

 

[jklett]

Thanks for all of the ideas, I have a lot to chew on now. The shop is a work in progress(it was originally insulated and drywalled but squirrels got behind the walls so it is gutted out now) so I have a lot of freedom as to where to place the stove. I will post again on this thread once I decide on placement. BTW, I will be going through the roof with the chimney and I would like to keep it(the chimney) on the back half of the roof(top half of the drawing) but even that isn't set in stone. I was also considering making the wall and floor shields(cement floor and stud walls) from tiled cement board spaced off properly.