Barrel Stove Kits

[imported_banzaitoyota]

Does anyone have any experience (Good Bad or indifferent) to the 55 Gal Drum stove kit sold by Northern Tools and Made by http://www.vogelzang.com/barrel_stoves.htm

[trovato]

My father-in-law had one of the double barrel style in his basement many years ago. It put out so much heat you would have to work in shorts. The only real negatives are things that apply to pretty much all wood stoves. Cutting wood, smoke, etc.

[JasonK]

Barrel stove are extremely dangerous. The also work extremely well......

[trovato]

Barrel stove are extremely dangerous. The also work extremely well......

Could you expand on that? What is so dangerous about them, that wouldn't be true of any wood burning stove?

[JasonK]

Please don't tear me up on this guys..... My brother had a double barrel stove in his shop. The barrels are way too thin, On too many occasions we had the bottom barrel glowing red hot. What happens when you heat something up too much? The metal becomes weak. I would not advise it, I'm a cheap bastard, but, I waited and picked up a nice wood stove for my garage.

[trovato]

Tear you up? Nice guys like us? Of course not. When using the stove you don't HAVE to build a humongous fire inside. And you can regulate the air intake to slow things down a bit. In any event, I'd be interested in hearing if there are any reports of any real problems caused by weakening of overheated metal. For my garage, I use a vented propane heater. The hassles of wood combined with the smoke and smell were just not things I wanted to deal with. My garage is part of my house.

[imported_banzaitoyota]

Just a question? Did you line the bottom of the stove, as stated in the directions?

[JasonK]

ya, his stove had the bricks installed. barrel stoves have been around for years, you'll probably be okay as long as you stay away from hedge and woods that burn so freakin hot. If you build one just be careful!

[imported_banzaitoyota]

ok, built the bottom half today. Used black fireplace joint sealant(Thanks for the tip and not charging me $9.99 to find out), I fired the unit up outside tonight to burn off the barrel paint; then I will paint with stove black.
Tommorow will install the top barrel, move into the shop, add sand and firebrick

Will be making the grates out of some rebar

Pics tommorow

[ringer]

Make sure you use the carbon fiber style flue. The decreaeed friction on the air molecules when open, increases heat efficiency by 5000%. :)

[imported_banzaitoyota]

Sorry, I already purchased a Flue made of UNOBTANIUM, CF Flues are only good to 800ºF and since I added NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWZZZZZ to it, the exhaust temps have skyrocketed!!!!! :)

[imported_banzaitoyota]

Here is a pic of the first/bottom burner barrel I took last weekend. I test fired it and I am pleased with it so far.

I do not like the attachment method for the top barrel, I will post pics this weekend of how I solved that dillema

[RTcat]

I recently had a Cleary building (pole barn) put up and am trying to decide how to handle the electrical. Eventually I'll section off a part of the shed for a dedicated workshop. Basic items such as woodworking tools, air compressor, welder, table saw, etc along with lights will be the main use of the ele.

99% of the time it will just be me in the workshop enjoying quality garage time so only one tool will be in use at a time.

My two basic options are:

#1 Tap into the 200 amp service in the house and run a 100 amp out to the shed.

#2 Remove the 200 amp socket at the house and replace with a 300 amp socket and run 100 amp to the shed.

Ignoring the difference in cost of the above two options, is #2 overkill?

Basically I'm wondering how many amps the shed will draw. What kind of electrical set up do you guys with separate standing workshops have?

Thanks,
David

[wrench]

I used to heat my garage with a single barrel stove[vogelzang kit] .I really liked the heat, but I didnt like it burning when I was not in the garage. also your homeowners insurance wont like it very much either. I traded some chevy heads for a montgomery ward oil stove, not as nice as the wood burner, but I can turn the SOB off when I leave the garage at night. I see this is a month old but thought I would add my .02 worth anyway

[z28toz06]

Being placed in a garage do you guys have any concerns about open fires and gas fumes etc. I would imagine that could be a dangerous combo, no?

[billystargazer]

Please don't tear me up on this guys..... My brother had a double barrel stove in his shop. The barrels are way too thin, On too many occasions we had the bottom barrel glowing red hot. What happens when you heat something up too much? The metal becomes weak. I would not advise it, I'm a cheap bastard, but, I waited and picked up a nice wood stove for my garage.

I agree! I have had 2 and both were dangerous. First off, you need a lot of space between any garage structure and the actual stove. They do glow red hot at times and are, like all wood burning devices, hard to regulate. The mess caused by the wood is also another factor to consider.

[tedbick]

i just thought i would add my 2 cents here if you use the 2 barrel kit and instead of using the top barrel as the flue pipe get some flue pipe and put it inside to create a seperate chamber to keep the carbon dioxide out you could use an old blower motor to blow air over the single walled flue pipe inside the top chamber.i have heard of some people using an old oil burner on the front of the barrel and burning there waste oil.

[jimb]

I have also installed one of the barrel stoves in my garage. I paid the extra money and bought a barrel grate for it. This keeps the bottom from getting excessivley hot. Also you don't have to light a big fire in it to heat your garage. A small fire well controlled will keep it around 60-70 degrees when the weather is 23 outside. Also insulating the walls in the garage helps too. I also used 22 guage sheet steel with ceramic washers as spacers for a heat sheld behind the stove. I must say it works really well at reflecting the heat back into the space. You also don't need carbon fiber stack or pipe! Its very hard to find and VERY VERY expensive! You can use just plain old single walled or double walled black pipe as long as the connection for the outside stove pipe is clear of any building materials ie wood. You should be OK. Most codes state that you must use double or triple walled pipe to go through the roof! Just make sure your flashing covers the pipe and make sure you use caulk that is rated for high heat! to caulk the flashiing and pipe together. I have had this setup since september of 2007 and it has worked really well. Another thing when painting the stove, Buy the rustolum HIGH heat flat black paint. It costs about 5-6 a can but you get alot of paint for the price. I used two cans an was able to paint the stove with 2 coats and the pipe as well. That was after I stripped and sanded the barrel.:beer:

[Northstar9126]

You should avoid having a barrel stove on any sort of combustible floor. They tend to develope rust though holes when you aren't around and were sure that you had the fire all the way out.

[kbs2244]

The problem with 55 gal drum stoves is that they do not have the surface area to get rid of the heat they make. That is why they "burn out." A 2 barrel stove helps but the second one is realy too little, to late.
I used a kit on a 275 gal fuel oil tank. I used it for over 10 years. Lots of surface area to dissipate the heat, and just to make sure nothing got too hot I used a back and forth drug store fan to keep the air moving.
It would take 4 foot sticks and I only cleaned it out once a year.
You do have to learn how to adjust your intake air. Every installation is different. I had dampers in both the exhaust and intake to control the burn rate, and it took me about 3 years of fiddling before I was happy with the settings.

[drjekyl30]

Very nice pic of the barrel. I am thinking of purchasing a barrel and kit from vogelzang. I have a contractor coming out today to look at my garage and give me an estimate on running the pipe out of the garage and up past my roof.

[comp]

get pic and update us :thumbup:

[DuckusCrapus]

I just purchased a kit hust like this and am starting on it as well. Interesting points made on here. Looks like I might look for another wood stove next summer to replace this barrel burner.


Seems like if you pay attention to it while burning you can't go wrong for the price. Space is the major drawback in my eyes.



DuckusCrapus

[Eaglehoss69]

I would just like to tell you all that i used a double barrel stove for several years. I had a 32' x 28' garage and i worked in my t-shirt all the time it si a safe and economical way to heat your garage or anything else. Just you common sense and you'll be alright. Eaglehoss69

[6768rogues]

I knew a guy 30 years ago who made a stove from a 275 gallon fuel oil tank and he burned old tires in it. It heated a huge garage where he fixed his 10 wheel dump truck. Probably a good thing that he lived in a remote area.

[barrelman]

I used a single barrel with a Magic Heat reclaimer on top in my basement for 17 years.It was a great little heater,never a problem right to the point when I retired it.The barrel was still fully intact.My friend who turned me on to these barrel stoves still runs a double barrel in his basement after 22 years.He swears by them.

[josh+audi=happy]

From what I've read so far about the barrel stove is that dissipating heat is a problem. So if I made a setup where I took one of my extra large truck intercoolers added one of my volvo fans to it and attached it to the barrel heat setup would it not dissipate the heat? THe volvo fan is rediculus, and so is the intercooler. If I was really creative I could make the fan temperature regulated.

[josh+audi=happy]

also i'm making a sand blasting cabinet out of one these 55 gallon drums. I'm going to use the dual 55 gallon setup with the 6 inch adapters and the legs as parts for the blast cabinet. :-)

[josh+audi=happy]

From what I've read so far about the barrel stove is that dissipating heat is a problem. So if I made a setup where I took one of my extra large truck intercoolers added one of my volvo fans to it and attached it to the barrel heat setup would it not dissipate the heat? THe volvo fan is rediculus, and so is the intercooler. If I was really creative I could make the fan temperature regulated.

to take it to the next level. How about this idea?

What if I were to make a barrel stove on wheels with a handle and keep it outside the garage. I'd weld on a 3 inch exhaust pipe setup so that i could run it through the garage door and attach it to the intercooler with the fan mounted? The intercooler would dissipate the heat and the garage would be warm, and I wouldn't have to worry about plumbing the exaust stack out the garage ceiling because all i would have to do it add a cap to the barrel heater?

When i'm done with it I could make sure it's completely out and either roll it to somewhere outof site or back into the garage. I've got a few ideas though on where i can roll it. I can even chain it up to the fence.

Oh.. I hope this works cuase i like this idea. I've even have a dust collector from harbour freights that i could turn into a blower setup for the barrel heater if I wasn't happy with the intercooler idea. The blower setup might even work just fine. All i'd have to do it add a hole to the garage door and plug it into the 115v. hmmmm...

great googly moogly i'm potential happy and completely lacking sleep since it's 6:13am in the morning and i've been thinking about this setup and the sand blasting cabinet all night.

[josh+audi=happy]

to take it to the next level. How about this idea?

What if I were to make a barrel stove on wheels with a handle and keep it outside the garage. I'd weld on a 3 inch exhaust pipe setup so that i could run it through the garage door and attach it to the intercooler with the fan mounted? The intercooler would dissipate the heat and the garage would be warm, and I wouldn't have to worry about plumbing the exaust stack out the garage ceiling because all i would have to do it add a cap to the barrel heater?

When i'm done with it I could make sure it's completely out and either roll it to somewhere outof site or back into the garage. I've got a few ideas though on where i can roll it. I can even chain it up to the fence.

Oh.. I hope this works cuase i like this idea. I've even have a dust collector from harbour freights that i could turn into a blower setup for the barrel heater if I wasn't happy with the intercooler idea. The blower setup might even work just fine. All i'd have to do it add a hole to the garage door and plug it into the 115v. hmmmm...

great googly moogly i'm potential happy and completely lacking sleep since it's 6:13am in the morning and i've been thinking about this setup and the sand blasting cabinet all night.

I'm sorry about my multiple posts but i have a bad habit of doing it.

Is this even easier? What about two 55 gallon drums. One mounted inside the garage with a door and the wood, with legs and on wheels and a handle, and another just like it mounted outside the garage with a small flue? I'm trying to creatively do it as cheap and safe as possible?

I'm picking at least two drums up tonight, maybe three :-)

[baldeagle650]

This thread cracks me up...

[landi250r]

Hopefully you guys can help me with this....getting really frustrated.

Ok, I built my double barrel stove kit, look great. I built a rebar grate to go in it. I put a fan behind it to blow the heat to the rest of the shop.

The problem is that I cant seem to keep the fire going, do to lack of air I assume. then when I open the door to get air in, smoke comes rolling out and wont stop even after the fire is going well. I have approx. ten foot of pipe from the flue throught the wall to a T where i have a cap on the bottom to clean the chiminey out with, then the other side of the T goes up to the chiminey where I have mesh to keep the birds, etc out and then a cap to keep the water out.

Can some one please help me figure out how to keep the smoke out of the shop and get it going up through the chiminey? Thanks in advance.

Jon

[landi250r]

Is there anyone that can help with this, I would realy appreciate it.

BTY, this site rocks, it has given me a ton of ideas for my shop. I will post some pics of mine after I finish the insulation install.

[krusty the clown]

i use a barrel stove and had the same problem. the stove doesn't draft well to begin with so eliminate all of the bends and cleanouts in the flue, and lengthen your pipe to at least as high as the crown of the roof. the fire has to be hot to get the draft going through the upper barrel. i also found it helpful to cut an air hole in the back of the bottom barrel so air can get in to both ends, so the fire burns from both ends. once you have a good bed of coals it will draft fine with no smoke inside the shop.

[kbs2244]

After you get the pipe up th ridge height thr this as a quick experment.
Try taking the cap off the bottom of your vertical outside piece.
The idea is to get a good draft going in that part that will pull from inside as well.
You may want to put a damper in the caps place so you can adjust the amount of draw.
The old oil aand coal furnaces had a air thermo controled inlet at the bottom of the chimminy.

[Junkman]

I recently had a Cleary building (pole barn) put up and am trying to decide how to handle the electrical. Eventually I'll section off a part of the shed for a dedicated workshop. Basic items such as woodworking tools, air compressor, welder, table saw, etc along with lights will be the main use of the ele.

99% of the time it will just be me in the workshop enjoying quality garage time so only one tool will be in use at a time.

My two basic options are:

#1 Tap into the 200 amp service in the house and run a 100 amp out to the shed.

#2 Remove the 200 amp socket at the house and replace with a 300 amp socket and run 100 amp to the shed.

Ignoring the difference in cost of the above two options, is #2 overkill?

Basically I'm wondering how many amps the shed will draw. What kind of electrical set up do you guys with separate standing workshops have?

Thanks,
David

also i'm making a sand blasting cabinet out of one these 55 gallon drums. I'm going to use the dual 55 gallon setup with the 6 inch adapters and the legs as parts for the blast cabinet. :-)

great heating ideas.......:beer::thumbup::beer:

[landi250r]

ok, I will try taking the cap off outside. the only reaso I didnt want to go any higher was to avoid cutting a hole in the side of my shop tin. the way that I ahve it running now is throught a spot that was going to be garage doors from the previous owner but were never installed.

One idea i had was to install a small blower on the front of the bottom barrel to blow air in.

Anther idea from a different site was to run a tube that had holes drilled in it through the bottom barrel right above the door that would suck air in.

I will post a pic of my setup tonight.

[kartracer23]

My neighbor has one of these that he heats his entire house with. It just sits in the basement, vented to the chimney. Not connected to ducts or anything.:confused:
I was telling someone about it, and it happened to be his insurance agent. He said 'man, you shouldn't have told me that-I can't insure him if he's using one of those inside.'. Not sure if he dropped him or not.

[jjkrjh]

We had a double barrel stove at our old house in the garage. It would run you out with the heat. But it wouldn't draft well unless we left the door open against the latch. If you closed the door it would stop drafting and start blowing smoke into the room. tried adjusting damper and air nothing helped. Replaced it with an old wood stove and didn't have any more problems. I liked the heat from it, might even try again.

[Torque1st]

Tree limbs near the chimney will disrupt the draft also. I had that problem on a conventional fireplace that drew well for many years. A few branches trimmed away restored the draft.

[landi250r]

Here are some picshttp://http://photobucket.com/landi250r

[landi250r]

sorry,

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/landi250r/IMG00045.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/landi250r/IMG00046.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/landi250r/IMG00048.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/landi250r/IMG00052.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/landi250r/IMG00053.jpg

[krusty the clown]

the first thing i noticed is the bottom barrel should have been made so the bung is on the bottom so it could be left open. that way it pulls air in, under the fire grate. i would cut some holes with a 2" hole saw at each end below the grate.

the main thing to remember is the top barrell has got to get hot before it will draft. start your fire with smaller pieces of wood so you get a bed of coals quicker then you should be fine.

i lit a fire in mine this morning at 7:30. by 8:00 i had a bed of coals and then loaded it with wood, by 9:00 the shop was 52 degrees (it was 20 outside).

[landi250r]

Ok, I will try that tonight...hopefully that work. I dont want to have to reconfigure the stack. Thanks

[landi250r]

ok, thanks to you guys I got it figured out. First cut a hole on each end of the bottom barrel to let more air in, then I took the cap off of the botto of the T. I started a fire and all seemed good. I went outside to check the stack and almost all of the smoke was coming out the bottom of the T...bad... I was about to tear the whole thing down and run it through the roof when I remembered the question about the mesh. So I decided to check it just to be sure. Sure enough the mesh was full of creosote. I guess all of the times I tried to get a fire started filled it up with creosote. I removed the mesh....and good to go. Hopefully a birdy doesnt try to nest in the stack...could be trouble for them... :)

[clutch47]

Yo,
I've been using a single barrel in my old garage for years. Just as every other post said, these barrels start kinda slow....Small fire at first, and work up. Mine drafts like a champ after about 15 minutes. If I feed it too fast without the draft open far enough when it is hot ,she'll start chugging, and trying to draft backwards...It's really kinda cool. I am bothered by the posters saying they built theirs with the bung on the bottom......and leave it open.....
WOW........... No wonder their stoves are getting red hot.
Mine is sealed up tight, lined with firebrick and works great. It never gets red, and I can get about 9 or 10 hours out of it with the right wood. Even longer with locust.
Clutch47

[krusty the clown]

Yo,
I've been using a single barrel in my old garage for years. Just as every other post said, these barrels start kinda slow....Small fire at first, and work up. Mine drafts like a champ after about 15 minutes. If I feed it too fast without the draft open far enough when it is hot ,she'll start chugging, and trying to draft backwards...It's really kinda cool. I am bothered by the posters saying they built theirs with the bung on the bottom......and leave it open.....
WOW........... No wonder their stoves are getting red hot.
Mine is sealed up tight, lined with firebrick and works great. It never gets red, and I can get about 9 or 10 hours out of it with the right wood. Even longer with locust.
Clutch47

double barrells draft even slower.........with a double barrell w/o the bung open it won't draft enough to get upper barrell hot. with a hole in bothe ends open mine has never glowed red hot.

[icfbob]

Great thread here. Regarding barrel stoves, I have some additional ideas.
I know this is garage related, but I will have my barrel stove outside.

I will have a double barrel style and a flat plate in the middle of the top barrel for more gas movement and the vent in the back of the top barrel.
Vogelzang has made a new model recently with dial air intakes on the door, just like the stoves. The door is gasketed also. A little more money too.

I will build a little house for my stove (concrete block maybe) and wrap copper pipe (1/2 inch) around both the barrels. I will fill the area between the barrels and the concrete with sand to absorb the heat and hold it like a heat sink. The copper pipes will stand off then barrels somewhat and will be buried in the sand. The heated water in the copper pipes then is pumped to radiant floor tubes put into the floor before the slab pour. You can put the heatedn water lines to a radiator type HVAC element and putr a fan behind it or plug it into your existing air handler.

You could do this for the whole house and alot cheaper than the outside boiler companies want to sell you one for.

I can put additional openings for air flow into the barrels and through the little house.

I pass this along for your S&Gs and any comments you might feel impelled to relate. Thanx

ICFBOB

[kbs2244]

Have fun.
I wouuld try it without the sand for a season first.
BTW, Why would you put gaskets around a door that has vents in it?

[Torque1st]

Have fun.
I wouuld try it without the sand for a season first.
BTW, Why would you put gaskets around a door that has vents in it?
So a person can control the draft properly. My uncles unit had gaskets.

[rinny_tin_tin]

Not to be a party-pooper - but...one good fire and all the insurance company investigator needs to see is the remnants of an unlisted wood stove and its all over. They are not real even crazy for UL listed wood stoves, but they accept them - for a higher premium. A barrel stove will bring as much warmth to an the insurance co as a deep-fat turkey fryer. :)

[TheEquineFencer]

HI guys, I'm new here but I've used a lot of differant ways to heat a shop. The torpedo heater is whatI used first, one with Kerosene, then a propane one. Both were OK if you're into jet powered vehicles, heat was good, noise sucked. Propane you could not use a regualr thermostat. I used a regular heater wood heater, worked good inside but made me a bit nevous leaving it or working with gas inside the shop. I then got smart and built a heater outside, enclosed in a metal air box, smoke was seperate from the air box, and plumbed a (2) 8 inch pipes through a metal plate in a window. One I forced air into the air box and the other brought the heated air into the shop. This worked OK. It was crude built but worked. My shop I have at home now, the other was a rented one, is 40 X 60 X 16, it has a taylor water heater outside, wood fired. When I poured the floor I put red PEX inside the concrete with Foam/Foil/Foam insulation under the floor before I poured. I heat with radiant heat from the floor in the office/ bathroom and parts where I thought I'd have work benches and such. If I'd know what I know now I'd have done the whole floor. I did not think I could heat the whole shop with the heater I had, it was used and cheap. I also added some heater coils above floor with low speed fans. It's cost me about $1500 for labor to get my wood cut and split, the woods free, for the past five years. I keep the shop around 45-50 in the winter and crank it up a little when I'm in working to 60, above that I start to sweat if I move around much. When I was working out of a freinds "shop", we closed in the one car carport, we built a 30 gallon barrel inside a 55 gallon barrel with 4 inch ducting and heated the shop. It was just big enough to get a full size Buick Electra in and be able to move a round. We used a heater motor/blower to force the air through our heater. Most of the time we had to crack a door to keep the temp down in the winter. We would take Luber-Finer filters from big trucks where I worked, cut them open and take the filter media out, roll it up in tin foil the size of baseballs, starta fire with pine tree "droppings" and put one of the balls into it. It smoked a little to start with but would burn clean and long, but the fire and smoke was outside. I ran into a guy when I was working in Texas, he took his BDL BRL heater, gutted the insidie of a Ford van, put it inside it and use the van as the airbox with it ducted to his shop. The guy in here that wanted to use sand has a good idea, it'll act as a heat sink, just like I use the water tank in my Taylor heater use the water in the tank to hold the heat. I'd put the heater outside in a box and duct it into the building, It's about the cheapest safest way to go for the low buck way. You can get a thermostat from Lowes' that run 120V to run a blower motor or use one that is storebought that plugs into a wall recepticale and what you are powering plugs into it. Well that's my .02 worth.

[fireball 440]

Has anybody ever tried a single or double barrel stove with 30 gallon barrels?