Want to heat shop with wood next year + hand split

[challenger]

I have a 23'X32' shop in S.E. NC. I used a butt load of off road diesel this last winter to heat it and I can get free fire wood. I have an old Jotul small wood stove that I can use but I am wondering if it is too small. I do a lot of metal work and was thinking of stacking a bunch of steel on top to give it more radiant capacity?? Also I will have to go out of the top of the stove up about 15' before I exit the roof. Can I just use unlined stove pipe? Does the diameter have any effect? The stove has a 4" fitting. Once out of the roof I need to go 2' above the ridge yes?
I'm also wanting to split the wood by hand as I did many years ago when I lived on LI and heated a very small house with this stove. I'd like to know if there is anything new on the market as far as manual splitting tools. I used a maul back then and wedges once in a while. I can get wood that splits easily and can avoid gum, sycamore, hickory and other woods that won't hand split.
Thanks for any replies.
Howard

 

[chuckwood]

shop wood heater

I have a 23'X32' shop in S.E. NC. I used a butt load of off road diesel this last winter to heat it and I can get free fire wood. Can I just use unlined stove pipe? Does the diameter have any effect? The stove has a 4" fitting. Once out of the roof I need to go 2' above the ridge yes?
I'm also wanting to split the wood by hand as I did many years ago when I lived on LI and heated a very small house with this stove.

I heat a shop somewhat larger than yours with a wood heater I built out of a recycled water heater tank. The thing burns a lot of wood, but it also puts out a tremendous amount of heat. It's only practical because this shop is basically an all metal building. Single wall stovepipe gives more heat than double wall, and is less expensive to purchase. I'm surprised about a 4 inch fitting, that seems too small, 6 inch is the standard size to use, even for small heaters. You'll need two foot minimum above the ridge. With such uncertainty in the future regarding oil prices, my guess is that you'll be burning wood soon anyhow out of necessity unless you've got money to burn!

 

[Circle B MN]

Would need more information about the stove, but I would not expect it to take too much to heat that size of a shop in NC. Is it insulated at all...? I heat a 32x40 with 16' sidewalls here in MN to a comfy 50 degrees on the coldest winter day here in MN. Steel building, with just the lower 8' insulated. I started to insulate then realized it stayed plenty warm without, and have since put that project a bit lower on my list.

I run 20' of black pipe straight up through the roof. Depending on the material you building is made of, be sure to watch your clearances, etc. All my pipe sections are screwed together. I sweep it twice a year, with minimal buildup, usually just some fine dust.

As for splitting by hand, the Fiskars splitting axe is THE tool to have. Regardless of the tool you use, try splitting slabs off the outside of the round rather than muscling right through the center. This technique will help you bust up some big ones, for all others...noodle it..

 

[jhoff310]

I am not an expert except in my own opinion. I heat a 20X30 shop with an old cast iron potbelly. I have single wall going to the roof and double wall thru the roof and up past the peak.
If you have to go up 15' before you punch through the roof I would put up some sort of ceiling so all of your heat isnt going up to the peak. I too am a little surprise about the 4".
As far as manual splitters, Fiskars super split is pretty good. There are some manual "slide style" splitters with mixed reviews. If it were me I would just use a maul and a few good wedges, throw a few neighbor kids in the mix pay them a quarter a log

Jeff

 

[banjobart]

I think the best that stove would do is to heat your shop to typical shop temperature, it could keep the shop half warm. I like my shop at 60-62 degrees, what you might call half warm. Your little Jotul would heat my shop which is only about 800 square feet, 24' x 36'. My shop has a foot of fiberglass insulation in the attic though.

PS: Hand splitting will work fine. Get an good 8 pound maul and use the Fiskars for kinding. I have been hand spiltting all my wood for 40 years.

 

[Henry and Wanda]

Hello,
My last workshop was 22'x32', 9' ceilings with a 12'x20' man cave on the second floor. I had the medium size free-standing Regency stove. The shop was well insulated and I usually sealed off the second floor to keep more heat downstairs in the shop area. The stove would heat it well above 70 degrees, but it took a while to get it comfortable in there when it was low 30's or high 20's in the shop when you started. It sure wasn't like cranking the thermostat up on an oil furnace. If you keep it heated continously, that's a different story. I didn't go out and work everyday so I had to keep starting fires each time. It was fun though when the workshop was nice and warm and the snow was flying outside the windows !!!!! I would get a bigger stove than you think you need !!!!

Henry and Wanda

 

[TN_WOOD]

I'd like to know if there is anything new on the market as far as manual splitting tools. I used a maul back then and wedges once in a while. I can get wood that splits easily and can avoid gum, sycamore, hickory and other woods that won't hand split.
Thanks for any replies.
Howard

Sorta.

The Fiskars splitters x25 and x27 (and the older version 7854 Super Splitter) get good reviews. They are somewhat "new" regarding their design compared to mauls n wedges.

Also, there is a splitter called the Chopper 1 and the Leveraxe that are a bit different.

You can find plenty of info on the Fiskars axes on some other threads.

[video=youtube;3ZXmLIgnvRE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZXmLIgnvRE[/video]

 

[challenger]

My stove is a small one for sure. I am hoping that the extra iron I pile on top of it will increase the output.
The ceiling in my shop is a scissor type truss system with a 10-12 roof pitch and a 6-12 pitch for the bottom course of the web trusses on 24" centers. I would like to insulate the roof with spray foam but that is way beyond my budget. I also don't want to lay batts in the webbing of the trusses because I seem to have a need to access this area for running wiring or installing small hoists using 4 pulleys. I keep a fair amount of light (-100 lbs) items suspended in the air and take them down when needed ex: honey extractor, large floor fan, rack for storing drawn bee hive frames etc. so any insulation will need to go to the inside of the roof sheathing with styrafoam air baffles. This is problematic because there is only a 2X4 as "roof rafters". I can see insulating as being a large PIA and expensive. I will try without insulation first. I am on a super tight budget as of late otherwise I would go for a real nice spray foam job AND a larger stove although I really am attached to the old Jotul.
Thanks
Howard

 

[Highbeam]

The extra steel will not increase output, it will increase thermal mass which means that the stove will take a long time to make any heat and then it will take a long time to cool off. The additional surface area will be colder than the original stove area. Your firebox can only make a fixed amount of heat.

Your stove is too small. You would be better off with a barrel stove if money is an issue, or a big steel plate stove, or even a wood furnace. That little jotul is not made for heating a big area.

For heavens sake, don't stack steel on the thing. You'll crush it.

 

[pook]

I have a 23'X32' shop in S.E. NC. I used a butt load of off road diesel this last winter to heat it and I can get free fire wood. I have an old Jotul small wood stove that I can use but I am wondering if it is too small. I do a lot of metal work and was thinking of stacking a bunch of steel on top to give it more radiant capacity?? Also I will have to go out of the top of the stove up about 15' before I exit the roof. Can I just use unlined stove pipe? Does the diameter have any effect? The stove has a 4" fitting. Once out of the roof I need to go 2' above the ridge yes?
I'm also wanting to split the wood by hand as I did many years ago when I lived on LI and heated a very small house with this stove. I'd like to know if there is anything new on the market as far as manual splitting tools. I used a maul back then and wedges once in a while. I can get wood that splits easily and can avoid gum, sycamore, hickory and other woods that won't hand split.
Thanks for any replies.
Howard

best play= burn hhot & extract heat from the fluegas with a UL approved heat reclaimer

 

[challenger]

Yea - I think I will look for some plans online so I can fabricate a larger stove. I have a fair amount of steel plate laying around so it shouldn't be much $. I will also look into heat reclaiming flue pipe. This is not something I thought about.
Any ideas on where to purchase this type of pipe. Of course I will be going online to look as well.
Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Wife'nHubby]

Yea - I think I will look for some plans online so I can fabricate a larger stove. I have a fair amount of steel plate laying around so it shouldn't be much $. I will also look into heat reclaiming flue pipe. This is not something I thought about.
Any ideas on where to purchase this type of pipe. Of course I will be going online to look as well.
Thanks for all the advice.

You would do yourself a favor by reading this thread regarding heat reclaimers: http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/154244.htm

Also - to quote the owner of arborist.com:

"TO ALL: After reading much of the information provided by Pook above, it seems to be misinformed and even dangerous in some cases. Please disregard any posts made by him before this post. I have informed him and will inform you all, if you are giving out bad information knowingly you will be banned from this site and if somebody gets hurt by your poor information, you could be personally liable. This could include jail time or be at the very least financially liable. You are personally liable for anything you say on here or any other website!!! Since there seems to be so many posts with poor/dangerous information, I feel it has to be on purpose as nobody can believe many of the things that have been said, which includes the poster.
Thanks!!! Have a Happy, warm Holiday to everyone!! Also, Thanks to all that try to help others on here and have a genuine interest in making this a site full of good/useful information.
__________________
Darin Johnson
www.arboristsite.com
Our business is growing"

 

[challenger]

10-4 on the reclaimer advice. A house (or shop that is attached to the house) is one of my biggest fears so I will NOT be using a reclaimer. I'm not phobic about my home catching fire but I do try and be very aware of potentially increasing any risk of it in the things I do. This may make some question my desire to heat with wood but believe me I will be doing so as carefully as I know how. One of the major drawbacks to the whole idea is the amount of room I am going to have to sacrifice all around the stove. Another is that I will have to be there any time the stove is stoked. I will have to have a plan to quickly shut down the stove when it is hot in case I am called out on an emergency.
Thanks for the advice. It is well received.
Howard

 

[Finland]

I have a 23'X32' shop in S.E. NC. I used a butt load of off road diesel this last winter to heat it and I can get free fire wood. I have an old Jotul small wood stove that I can use but I am wondering if it is too small. I do a lot of metal work and was thinking of stacking a bunch of steel on top to give it more radiant capacity?? Also I will have to go out of the top of the stove up about 15' before I exit the roof. Can I just use unlined stove pipe? Does the diameter have any effect? The stove has a 4" fitting. Once out of the roof I need to go 2' above the ridge yes?
I'm also wanting to split the wood by hand as I did many years ago when I lived on LI and heated a very small house with this stove. I'd like to know if there is anything new on the market as far as manual splitting tools. I used a maul back then and wedges once in a while. I can get wood that splits easily and can avoid gum, sycamore, hickory and other woods that won't hand split.
Thanks for any replies.
Howard

Finally something really new.
KIRVES: Heikki Vipukirves

 

[alleyyooper]

At one time you couldn't drive down a back road with out finding a 250 gallon fuel oil tank setting out beside the road. With the price of scrap steel being so high today you rarely see them any more.

With a barrel stove kit they made a dandy shop stove. My shop is 24 x52 with 10 foot ceiling. I have 12 inches of insulation batts in the ceiling and 6 inches in the walls. there are 2 8x8 doors and one 10x9 door on the south side and a 8x8 door on the north side plus the normal service doors one on the south side and one on the west side.

Any how I could build a fire in that oil tank go back in the house for another cup of coffee return to work in a tee shirt with short sleeves. Place a can of soda above any of the 8x8 doors and it would be froze in 20 minutes.

Now a friend had a shop, a small stove wouldn't heat enough to remove a coat to work in. He soon got tired of that and being short on funds got some black pipe made up a nest of them which he fastened to the top of his small stove Plumbed it up to a car radiator hanging from the ceiling with a fan behind it. that warmed his shop up a lot but he added a second raditor added fans behind them run off button therostats and he was able to work in a t shirt on cold winter days too.

Majic heat outfits fit in the stove pipe to reclaim heat. they were selling them in the 1970's when we installed our first air tight stove in the house and they still sell them today. Check Northern Hrydrlics web site.

Al

 

[challenger]

Alleyupper-I see you are a beek as well. I'm in my 3rd year as a bee keeper. I have a NC not for profit corp and I sell my honey for Chordomafoundation.org.
It is a rare form of brain cancer a friend of mine died from at the age of 45.
I have 11 hives and am getting ready for what should be a good nectar flow. I went into winter with 13 and only lost one hive. Last year I lost nearly half my hives! I had another hive with a failing queen that I combined thus the number is 11 now. I'll be doing some splits and raising queens soon I hope.
Good luck this year with your bees and thanks for the input about the stove.

Howard
Howar

 

[alleyyooper]

I've been keeping bees for some time now. We sell our honey on the net, to resturants and word of mouth.
We went into winter with 98 colonies and the hives not looking so well due to the hot dry summer. It was looking so awful in September I fed all the honey back to them. In Febuary we had a week of warm dry weather so we made our rounds to the yards and placed pollen patties. We were right at a 37% loss, My fault because I didn't keep close enough tabs on how they were fairing in the heat and dryness till they were is sad shape. Any way a lesson learned.
Lots of bee keepers here too. Only seems we post on the one thread about them. It is 18 pages long.
http://www.arboristsite.com/off-topic-forum/66379-13.htm#post1682482

A 55 gallon barrel stove does a bang up job heating a work shop you can even do the two barrel kit. I think I've seen the single kit for less than $35.00.

Al

 

[pook]

rennovated a house 10 yrs ago in a maine winter. Only heat was a small box stove burning wood with heat reclaimer. The fire was kept cranking & the reclaimer provided most of the heat circulation, made a BIG DIFF WHEN THE THING DIDNT RUN DUE TO THE FIRE BEING TURNED DOWN. The chimney [6' singlewall + 6' metalbestos] stayed clean!
The heat reclaimer is a secondary heat exchanger which cools the fluegas when it gets hot enough. Secondary heat reclamation is used by many modern burners & the trick is to burn hot & hard or clean enough so that the smoke is not blue.Cant beat an easy to clean chimney too.
Heat reclaimer also helps keep the stove from overfiring & it is doing such for my sawdust furnace. Been playing with them many years & know them + love them. In the case of comments from the inexperienced critics= A FOOL WITH A TOOL IS STILL A FOOL moreso when they've never used the tool

 

[Wife'nHubby]

rennovated a house 10 yrs ago in a maine winter. Only heat was a small box stove burning wood with heat reclaimer. The fire was kept cranking & the reclaimer provided most of the heat circulation, made a BIG DIFF WHEN THE THING DIDNT RUN DUE TO THE FIRE BEING TURNED DOWN. The chimney [6' singlewall + 6' metalbestos] stayed clean!
The heat reclaimer is a secondary heat exchanger which cools the fluegas when it gets hot enough. Secondary heat reclamation is used by many modern burners & the trick is to burn hot & hard or clean enough so that the smoke is not blue.Cant beat an easy to clean chimney too.
Heat reclaimer also helps keep the stove from overfiring & it is doing such for my sawdust furnace. Been playing with them many years & know them + love them. In the case of comments from the inexperienced critics= A FOOL WITH A TOOL IS STILL A FOOL moreso when they've never used the tool

Modern EPA woodstoves are NOT rated to be run with heat reclaimers as the modern stoves already run with cooler flue temps.

Adding a heat reclaimer to modern wood burners simply further reduces flue temps and therefore the chimney becomes a harbor for creosote retention. Adding a heat reclaimer to your wood burner will probably also void your warranty.

Pook seems to be suffering from lack of 'retention' - as previously stated in this same thread:

You would do yourself a favor by reading this thread regarding heat reclaimers: http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/154244.htm

Also - to quote the owner of arborist.com:

"TO ALL: After reading much of the information provided by Pook above, it seems to be misinformed and even dangerous in some cases. Please disregard any posts made by him before this post. I have informed him and will inform you all, if you are giving out bad information knowingly you will be banned from this site and if somebody gets hurt by your poor information, you could be personally liable. This could include jail time or be at the very least financially liable. You are personally liable for anything you say on here or any other website!!! Since there seems to be so many posts with poor/dangerous information, I feel it has to be on purpose as nobody can believe many of the things that have been said, which includes the poster.
Thanks!!! Have a Happy, warm Holiday to everyone!! Also, Thanks to all that try to help others on here and have a genuine interest in making this a site full of good/useful information.
__________________
Darin Johnson
www.arboristsite.com
Our business is growing"

Too bad Pook can't seem to 'retain' this information.

Shari

 

[pook]

Modern EPA woodstoves are NOT rated to be run with heat reclaimers as the modern stoves already run with cooler flue temps.

Adding a heat reclaimer to modern wood burners simply further reduces flue temps and therefore the chimney becomes a harbor for creosote retention. Adding a heat reclaimer to your wood burner will probably also void your warranty.

Pook seems to be suffering from lack of 'retention' - as previously stated in this same thread:

You would do yourself a favor by reading this thread regarding heat reclaimers: http://www.arboristsite.com/firewood-heating-wood-burning-equipment/154244.htm

Also - to quote the owner of arborist.com:

"TO ALL: After reading much of the information provided by Pook above, it seems to be misinformed and even dangerous in some cases. Please disregard any posts made by him before this post. I have informed him and will inform you all, if you are giving out bad information knowingly you will be banned from this site and if somebody gets hurt by your poor information, you could be personally liable. This could include jail time or be at the very least financially liable. You are personally liable for anything you say on here or any other website!!! Since there seems to be so many posts with poor/dangerous information, I feel it has to be on purpose as nobody can believe many of the things that have been said, which includes the poster.
Thanks!!! Have a Happy, warm Holiday to everyone!! Also, Thanks to all that try to help others on here and have a genuine interest in making this a site full of good/useful information.
__________________
Darin Johnson
www.arboristsite.com
Our business is growing"

Too bad Pook can't seem to 'retain' this information.

Shari

LOL! & EPA stoves never overfire? I see fluedampers recommended but theyre not automatic as a barometric damper or a heat reclaimer & why is it that the the barodamper is taboo for woodstoves where theyre commonly used with wood furnaces?