Wood Burning Stoves

[Nyboy]

I am building a garage that I want to be able to heat. Not sure if heat will be propane or electric yet. Since I own hundreds of trees I would like to supplement heat with wood. I know a member here said they loved their wood stove but wished it held more wood. How large of a stove to burn all night ? Any stove I should stay away from ? What is a blower ?

 

[seedcorn]

1). Talk to insurance agent first. A lot of companies will not cover wood burners.
2). Blower is a motor that blows air through tubes (in stove) to move the heat away from the stove.
3). Make sure it is an air tight stove. The old pot bellies while they look cool as all get out, will burn through wood.
4). Chimney-do you have one? Has it been inspected. Do you plan on cleaning it or hiring it done? Check prices.
5). Any air tight you buy will probably hold enough wood for all night.

 

[Nyboy]

LOL seed you know me well, in back of my mind was a cool pot belly No chimney new garage I thought stoves had a flue pipe instead of chimney.

 

[aftermidnight]

Whatever you decide, have the fire marshal inspect it and sign off on it before you ever light it. Give a copy of the inspection to your insurance company. This is what we did, even took a picture of the airtight insert we have in our fireplace for them. Once inspected he gave us an inspection tag which we stuck on the side of our fireplace.

Another thing, only burn really dry wood and have your chimney cleaned regularly. We buy wood one year to burn the next, so if you are going to burn your own, cut and stack it, if outside after air drying all summer cover it to stop it from getting wet that is if it isn't already under shelter.
Our woodshed has a clear fiberglas roof with good ventilation, it gets pretty warm in there come summer.

Annette

 

[thistlebloom]

Wood stoves do use sheet metal pipes instead of chimneys. Although if you have a masonry chimney you could vent your woodstove through it. With your new construction you would just use the pipe flues.

Seed has a good point about your insurance company refusing coverage if you have a wood burner. I know that around here insurance companies won't cover an outbuilding that has a wood stove installed. The difference between an outbuilding and a house I assume is because they
expect you to be in attendance of your wood fire in a dwelling, as opposed to having a fire going in a shop and not being there to tend it.

That being so, you won't find many shops and outbuildings here that don't have a woodstove.

There are a lot of very cool looking new stoves that are airtight and efficient that have an antique look.
Ours is an Efel, made in Belgium. Got it on CL for a steal. It was virtually new, though it was 20 years old. It had never held a fire, the folks we got it from moved it with them from house to house, always intending to install it, but in the end they got a bigger unit.
I do love it, but it has a small firebox, and depending on the wood, will not hold a fire all night. If we had access to hardwoods I think it wouldn't be as much of a problem.

 

[journey11]

I ran into that problem when I tried to switch to a new homeowners insurance. My current insurer (that I've had all along) never said anything about it when they did their site inspection. But the lady for the other, when she came out to inspect, said we would either have to take it out or they wouldn't cover us. She said we could, however, have a heater that was thermostatically controlled out there (gas, electric). She said garages tend to contain more flammables and you need to be able to shut off the heater quickly if you should spill gas or whatever. DH won't part with the woodstove, even though he rarely uses it, so we kept our current insurer.

 

[seedcorn]

If you are going to use metal piping, check into double walled, stainless for between the walls and outside-be sitting down when you price it. Inside looks fine, outside-looks like a hillbilly lives there vs chimney.

Are you going to cut wood? Easy (?) way to lose fat and gain muscle. If you buy it, be sitting down. Pick up load here is ~$50-$60. Can’t even guess what it would be there. If it isn’t dry, won’t burn well and expect creosote and possible chimney fire. If it isn’t seasoned hard wood, expect to feed the fire....

 

[thistlebloom]

Double wall insulated is code for going through ceilings/roofs.
I wouldn't use double walled from stove to ceiling as single wall gives off a lot more heat, which is the whole point.

I have to disagree with Seeds assessment of a stovepipe coming out of the roof versus chimney. If it's done in a workmanlike manner, which it should be what's the problem?

Getting your own firewood in is a lot of hard work, and takes time to season, so you're working about 2 years out from when you plan on using it, if it's green when cut. It takes up a lot of space to store, bringing it in is dirty, dealing with ash is dirty, the whole package is work!

But I cannot imagine not using wood for heat. We've done it for over 40+ years. I love it and don't mind the work. There is nothing like a lively fire on a wet gloomy day, and nothing can compare to the type of warmth it gives.

 

[valley ranch]

Greetings~ Talk to the insurance agent after the stove is installed properly```Is what we've done```

If you've room~ a large stove~ in which you can put dampish wood against the walls inside the stove~ with a fire in the center```

For a stove to have long burn it must be close to air tight~ so you can control the air intake~ that type of stove put more soot or creososte into the chimney pipe ( just more cleaning) a good hearth
is needed which ether type stove```

I have a very large stove at the mountain place~ and a wee one in the high desert~

Older stoves~ like the Buck & many others are great and can be had for a song~ they are talked against be most guys who sell or install stoves~ but most

work great```
I bought this giant over 40 years back and put a glass in the door~ that you want~ the firebox is over 29" OD~excuse the mess```

It is as good as the one I made that it replaced``` On craigslist you can find great stoves for a song~ Run it past us/me if you find one and I'll tell you if~ if I think it a good one```

Installed with triple wall pipe going through the roof with a ceiling box and single wall above the stove you can get some wonderful heat```

A fan that is built on or in is great or an self standing fan blowing across the stove will work about double good```

If you've wood~ by all means~ a wood stove```

 

[bobm]

I am building a garage that I want to be able to heat. Not sure if heat will be propane or electric yet. Since I own hundreds of trees I would like to supplement heat with wood. I know a member here said they loved their wood stove but wished it held more wood. How large of a stove to burn all night ? Any stove I should stay away from ? What is a blower ?

I just posted in random ramblings my NEW experience with home owner's insurance and our fireplace. I never had any issues with this type issue ever , but it seams to be a new issue with the inusrance companies as well as EPA. I talked with the insurance adjuster this morning and he said that if you do NOT have your chimney cleaned professionally EVERY YEAR and have written proof that you did, your claim for a fire will be denied. I think that I will be installing an electric insert as wood as well as gas burning inserts will require an annual professional chimney cleaning which will need a new refinacing of the house every year to pay for the annual chimney cleaning expence.