Wood Heat from a barrel

[gruff4531]

I am looking into an alternative to heating my garage.

I currently heat it using a gas furnace, and I am wondering about setting up and using the 2 - 55 gal drum setups you can purchase from Northern tool.

I already have the barrels, and probably could make to kit, but I think in the event of saving time I will just buy the kit.

Any thoughts or concerns?

 

[habanero]

Dad had one that worked very well also. The problem he ran into though is that it was way too much heat for his shop. He ended up having to keep it choked down too much all the time, and it built up a lot of creosote. He said if he had it to do over again he'd have only went with a single barrel setup instead.

 

[yooperman]

I used to have one in my old garage. It heated OK (I didn't have the 2nd barrel on top). It does make for a cheap stove. I put a good layer of sand in the bottom of the barrel and burned wood scrap and slab from my mill. It will suck up alot of wood. The walls of my garage were insulated but I had to put plastic on the bottom side of the trusses to keep some heat in. Got to be cheaper than gas anyway.

 

[wdchuck]

Just be prepared for the insurance company to snubb you if that setup ever causes a problem.

I have the kit, and the barrels, then I looked at how much space would be lost to the setup and the clearance because of the heat given off, the added insurance cost and the chimney costs for a two story garage. Snice I don't spend enough time in the garage to justify all that, my torpedo heater covers my needs for now.

When I start heating the garage on a more regular basis it'll probably be a Daka forced air wood furnace, similar to what's in the house.

Maybe a little more thought on how to retain more of the heat form your current system will stretch your gas dollars further. It's certainly a convenient/consistent heat source.

 

[mt.stalker]

barrel stoves

I remember these were popular in the late 70's. They crank the heat out.
be warned though, they can and will eventually burn/rot through.
One popular idea was putting a smaller 25-35 gal barrel inside of the 55 gal barrel, for the firebox. Some I remember had a 55 gal barrel on top of the bottom barrel connected w/stovepipe. Then the chimney went from the top barrel out. Some guys even put a loop of waterpipe in there somewhere
for baseboard hot water heat.

 

[mryb]

I have a buddy that has a double barrel stove & he had a sheet metal guy come over & make a box around it & hooked it into the existing duct work. He said it would melt the kids plastic toys when they would leave them laying on the registers....Rick

 

[gruff4531]

Thanx

Prefect, I think I will order the set tomorrow

Thank you

 

[ChuckinOhio]

I'll go ya one better, my friend made his barrels out of semi rims.

Top and bottom barrels are both made from 6 rims welded together to form the tube.

Burn through? I think not, at least in this lifetime.


Chuck

 

[stonykill]

I remember these were popular in the late 70's. They crank the heat out.
be warned though, they can and will eventually burn/rot through.
One popular idea was putting a smaller 25-35 gal barrel inside of the 55 gal barrel, for the firebox. Some I remember had a 55 gal barrel on top of the bottom barrel connected w/stovepipe. Then the chimney went from the top barrel out. Some guys even put a loop of waterpipe in there somewhere
for baseboard hot water heat.

my grandfather ran this setup in what is now my workshop. It through too much heat for the small work space. If you've got the pieces, its a cheap way to heat.