I don't have a stove currently but was wandering about the possibility of putting one in my insulated shop and somehow ducting the heat to the furnace that is above the shop to heat my house. The shop is connected to my garage and I could easily access my attic from the shop and that is where the furnaces are located. I am obviously a novice when it comes to stoves and hvac and have no idea if something like this is possible. The shop is 12x30 so I would have plenty of room for a stove and wood storage if this was possible. Let me know y'all thoughts!
Using a stove in shop to heat house?
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I don't think it would work well. Several here have tried to used ducting to simply move heat around their house, and most have been disappointed with the results. Going from one building to other, even if they were connected, seems even more difficult.
Dangerous as well. You have a malfunction with your stove and you'll pump CO and smoke all into your house. Most codes don't allow for this type of installation
electrathon
Minister of Fire
As to danger, how is it more dangerous to have to stove remote to another building? If the stove was inside his house and had the same malfunction wouldn't be far more unsafe? Code may be a big issue, depending on location and enforcement.
My Grandfather had a house that had a shed about ten ft away. There was a duct overhead to the house and one underground. You built a fire in the shed wood stove and turned on the fan. Air circulated, the house was nice and warm. Old house with no insulation, no real heating system other than wood heat. When it was really cold there was another stove in the house.
There are wood burning furnaces made for this type of application. Depending on the length of run it could work.
The shop is directly connected to the garage. It's a third garage if you will. We live in the country so there are not many codes to abide by. Obviously I would want to do what is safe but I want to be practical as well.
Your county may not have code but the state usually default to national code. There may be no one that inspects or cares other than the insurance company and the folks living there. Safe and practical is using the right tool for the job.
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I was just looking at these. Good prices and they don't look all that hard to operate. Also.... most have a 24 inch plus log length. That's awesome!
I wish I saw these before I bought my Madison although , the Madison does bring a bit of the rustic home decor and looks amazing
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Your set up with the Madison is definitely nice! I have been doing quite a bit of research on the Englander and it does seem to have pretty good reviews other than it can consume a bunch of wood. I live on over 100 acres of wood so I am not to worried about wood consumption. If I could set it up in my second garage/shop and duct it to the attic that would be ideal. Would be nice to have a couple of cords in the shop and not have to worry about the elements!
I think that Englander furnace would work well for the situation you describe. The second floor of my old farmhouse is heated from attic ducting and it works fine. You sound like you might have a longer run of duct work in your situation, however if you go overboard insulating the duct it should work.
I started a thread in the boiler forum to see suggestions for a add on stove in the second garage but haven't had a lot of responses. I thought if I brought it back up over here some of the more savvy wood burners could help me out!
because if done incorrectly you could have a serious risk of pulling negaitve pressure in the area with the sove which could easily pull co out of the stove and distribute it through the house. If you are using a furnace that is designed to be hooked to an hvac system there should not be a safety issue but you will still have quite a bit of heat loss in the ducts.
Code should always be followed even if there is no enforcement. It is there to protect you.
Not sure how the new Englander furnaces compare to the old ones but a friend heats his 3000 sqft house with an older Englander furnace and it works pretty well. The ducting (not the flues) is shared with a propane furnace. He gets 5hr burns out of it.
My current neighbor has a dual set up with an oil and a wood boiler and radiant heat. Not sure on the brand but he says he gets up every 3 hours to reload. He is heating 5000+ sqft though. 10-12 cord a year.
My current neighbor has a dual set up with an oil and a wood boiler and radiant heat. Not sure on the brand but he says he gets up every 3 hours to reload. He is heating 5000+ sqft though. 10-12 cord a year.
I'm looking at an add on furnace. We obviously don't get the extended bitter cold down here but we do see teens and single digits usually several times a year. If an add on could supply enough heat to keep us comfortable that would definitely save on the propane bill! It's probably too late in the year to add one but I have been cutting and splitting quite a bit of dead standing oak to prepare for next year. I currently have around 4 cords stacked with anothe1.5 waiting to be split. I just figured I could tie into my existing ductwork for my LP furnaces.
electrathon
Minister of Fire
If anything is done incorrectly it can be dangerous, yes. Maybe this is the difference between correct, safe and code.
In thoery I would agree with this statement. There is a "BUT" though. If code was only to keep people safe it would not be different from city to city, to state, to county. Moving across the street can change jurisdictions, changing code. What is safe in one area is not allowed in another, sometimes for no reason than the whims of interpretations of the inspector. I have witnessed one inspector failing work and when a different inspector comes out to certify the alterations he said that he didn't care about the previous issues, but reinspected and failed for different issues.
So code is not always to protect us, it is sometimes to provide income for the building department. If it was to protect us it would be consistent, not arbitrary.
Excellent post . . . but I must disagree with you in some ways. Codes -- at least most fire codes -- were created to protect lives . . . and most often these codes have come about after a loss of life which was what prompted the change in code.
The code is black and white . . . in that it is printed . . . but the problem is real life is full of color . . . so often the code allows lee-way with specified alternatives or the catch-all phrase "whatever the inspector deems appropriate." Add in some states or cities that choose to not actively enforce specific aspects of code or only adopt certain parts of a fire code . . . and then toss in a variety of fire inspectors with varying education, experience, levels of caring, attention to detail, etc. and you end up with codes that are consistent . . . but not always enforced consistently.
P.S. I also agree with you . . . some departments do use permits as an income source . . . although at least in the City where I work this does not truly pay for the salaries, budget, etc. of the inspectors . . . but it does help reduce the tax burden.
I agree with some of what you are saying but at this point most states have adopted IRC and for fire code most use nfpa211. Yes there are some areas that have exclusions and some that have additions but it is pretty consistent overall. Some of those variations are due to differences in climate ect. And some like you say are just the whims of the building dept. As far as the inspectors go yes absolutely there can be issues there some of them can be a real pita. We are pretty lucky here in that respect but I have run into some that were a real pain while working out of the area. But that is not a problem with the code that is a problem with the administration of it.
Yes I know that anything done incorrectly could be dangerous but you asked how it could be more dangerous so I told you. Now can you tell us what the difference in your mind it between safe correct and code?
One thing I continually hear is "we have no codes". Maybe theres places that dont, but everywhere that I ever lived has something. Even If it's a one-liner stating "we follow state code". Then you have to track down state code and it will say "we follow NFPA". I've yet to find places without code. Although some are a pain to interpret, I've yet to find one without reason or purpose. Anyhow, in this case it pretty clear to me. A wood stove plumbed direct to ducting has the potential to release CO and smoke directly into a vent without ever having to pass by any detectors. This could be deadly, even more so if the home has floor vents. You could get a lethal dose of CO before a detector went off. What if it vented into a babies or childs room who are much more susecptable? It's the same reason wood stoves aren't allowed in bedrooms. That's why furnaces are designed to separate the stove from the duct work with a shell. One thing that most folks don't realize is although your senses don't shutdown when you sleep your brains ability to recognize them dims. Smell is one of these. Sleep studies have shown that most people are not awakened by smell.
I think you are going over the top and believe when the OP said how can I hook a "wood stove" to my HVAC duct to heat the house, the simple answer without a doubt is use a firewood furnace. Anything short of using a furnace is not going to provide the heat needed. Besides, whats the value in taking a free standing woodstove and building your own ducting and essentially turing it into a furnace? I don't see hardly any advantage. Being as the OP is new to wood burning he might not be aware of the difference or advantages of a wood stove vs a wood furnace in this application.
OP, if your idea was to operate a free standing wood stove (not a wood furnace) in a small shed/garage and make a duct to connect the general air space in the small garage to your house ducting then you will be disappointed in the outcome and the heat delivered to the house. You really need to consider buying and installing a wood furnace in the shed/garage and ducting it to your houses existing duct work. You will also need a return from you house back to the furnace. Without that return the shed/garage will be under a negative pressure and draft in the stove will be terrible. Besides, you don't want to take cold outside air that is leaking into the shed/garage and have to heat it to be sent into your living space. It will be significantly less efficient than reheating the cooled air from your living space. Hope that helps.
OP, if your idea was to operate a free standing wood stove (not a wood furnace) in a small shed/garage and make a duct to connect the general air space in the small garage to your house ducting then you will be disappointed in the outcome and the heat delivered to the house. You really need to consider buying and installing a wood furnace in the shed/garage and ducting it to your houses existing duct work. You will also need a return from you house back to the furnace. Without that return the shed/garage will be under a negative pressure and draft in the stove will be terrible. Besides, you don't want to take cold outside air that is leaking into the shed/garage and have to heat it to be sent into your living space. It will be significantly less efficient than reheating the cooled air from your living space. Hope that helps.
I don't think it's over the top. Numerous times on this forum there have been pictures of old smoke dragons with hoods built over the top to vent directly into the ducts. I think everyone is attempting to warn against that. Even if the possibility existed that it would provide heat the associated dangers are high.
Thanks for your post Marshy! I am definitely looking at a wood furnace like a Tundra or the Englander version. I should have clarified that in my previous post. I would never rig something up that could jeopardize my family! I am just trying to see if this would be a better and more economical way to supplement heat my house verses a freestanding stove in my house. I have a ZC wood burning fireplace and from my research it would cost quite a bit put a stove on the hearth and have to run a liner up the chimney.
I assume you don't have an existing chimney pipe or flue in the garage so installing a wood furnace on the garage will have the same approximate cost (likely more, depending) as lining your chimney to install a free standing stove. It might be cheaper to do the free standing stove once you purchase the properly sized furnace and get it ducted to your existing furnace which is overhead in your garage and connect the controls. The difference between the two will be unmatched with a significant distribution advantage going to the furnace if sized properly. BTW, I saw your other post and it helped explain what you are trying to do. I'd say it seems quite reasonable what you want to achieve.
electrathon
Minister of Fire
I was referring to code in general. The item that sticks in my mind about stoves (and here I am only commenting on what I see here) is the installation of a stove into a pre-existing chimney. It is my understanding that I can install a stove into an existing tile chimney. Place stove on a pad, use a few feet of pipe, properly connect into existing chimney and it is legal by the code. A little more involved but you get the idea. Arguably not ideal, but to code and correct. But if I run a unlined stainless liner up the same chimney (wood to brick clearance issues) it is a code violation. Far safer than the tile only install, but now a code violation.
I do agree that code is there with the intent of helping. Unfortunately it is abused by inspectors. Many contractors intentionally leave very visible violations so that the inspector will fail them on low dollar repairs. Otherwise the inspector will look and look till they decide what to fail the job on and it can cost thousands or more to alter to the way the inspector decides he wants done that day.
A co-worker of mine was installing a pre-epa stove in his pole barn a few years ago. I told him a few of the things that were wrong (not allowed here to install an older stove, too close to an unprotected wall, to short of a chimney out of the roof. His wife made him get it inspected. The fire department does the inspections where he is. The marshal told him all was great, it was better than most he was seeing. Inspections are not always the answer, proper work is. He built a super hot fire (he always left the door open so it would make more heat) and his wood wall lit off.
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