Heat with Wood Stove

[CorporateOffRoader]

OK, I just got word from my State Farm agent that using a wood stove in my new shop is no insurable. That is disappointing at best as I have lots of oak that has succumbed to Oak wilt here in Wisconsin. Let's say for a moment that I still would like to put the wood stove in my shop, and reserve myself that State Farm won't insure it if I burn it down. What is the safest way to put the wood stove in? I lived in AZ for 12 years, and we had a gas water heater in the garage. It was sitting 24" or so above the floor on a platform, I assume so the low lying gas fumes didn't blow the house up when the heater kicked on. We never had any issue (no explosions). So my question, should I put the wood stove up on say cinder blocks and if so (I would assume yes here) what is the safe height above the floor? Are cinder blocks a good way, or maybe even better to weld together a "table" to set the stove on.

Any advice here would be welcome. I plan to supplement the stove with a propane heater mounted to the ceiling to keep the shop around 40 in the winter unless I am in it.

 

[tdkkart]

IMO, unless someone is cutting, hauling, and stacking the wood next to the stove for me, wood heat is more of a pain in the *** than it's worth. There's a reason the Good Lord helped us invent gas heating systems. In alot of places, including my neighborhood, gas pipes are found growing right out of the ground next to houses

BTW, if State Farm won't insure the structure they probably won't cover the liability if your burning building catches the neighbor's house on fire either.

 

[Bigrhamr]

Well I'm usually the last one to say just follow code but in this case the code for your particular type of stove, floor and walls is likely a pretty good guidline. Typically a masonry hearth pad is going to be a lot safer than putting it up on blocks since along with keeping the floor surface from getting hot it catches any embers that fall out when you load the stove. Same thing goes for wall covering if it's anywhere near a combustible surface. The masonry pad is more effective if it has an air space behind it also. I would guess more fires get started by cobbled up chimney and pipe installations than anything else so make sure that's done right. Of course this is all just theoretical since you're not going to do it anyway, right? Maybe it would be worth talking to a different insurance company, I had one tell me the same thing and another said no problem as long as the fire marshall inspects it. The inspection consisted of measuring the setbacks to combustible surfaces and making sure the joints in the pipe were mechanically fastened instead of just slipped together.

 

[Bigrhamr]

IMO, unless someone is cutting, hauling, and stacking the wood next to the stove for me, wood heat is more of a pain in the *** than it's worth. There's a reason the Good Lord helped us invent gas heating systems. In alot of places, including my neighborhood, gas pipes are found growing right out of the ground next to houses

BTW, if State Farm won't insure the structure they probably won't cover the liability if your burning building catches the neighbor's house on fire either.

Yeah it can be a pain all right but I'm getting old and fat so the exercise is probably the only thing keeping me alive. Until I was about 18 I thought my name was "Gitwood". Dad would always point at me and say Gitwood so what's a kid gonna think?

 

[nate379]

Wood heat isn't a pain in the *** when it costs $500-600 a winter to heat with it vs $1000-1200 with gas.

I wouldn't even worry about lifting the stove. My Dad heats the shop with wood. We have painted in there to the point where I was high as a kite... couldn't see a few feet in front of you. Nothing ever blew up.

Tell State Farm to shove it. MY folks have them and they heat both the house and shop with wood. Sounds like someone is feeding you b/s.

 

[rinny_tin_tin]

OK, I just got word from my State Farm agent that using a wood stove in my new shop is no insurable. That is disappointing at best as I have lots of oak that has succumbed to Oak wilt here in Wisconsin. Let's say for a moment that I still would like to put the wood stove in my shop, and reserve myself that State Farm won't insure it if I burn it down. What is the safest way to put the wood stove in? I lived in AZ for 12 years, and we had a gas water heater in the garage. It was sitting 24" or so above the floor on a platform, I assume so the low lying gas fumes didn't blow the house up when the heater kicked on. We never had any issue (no explosions). So my question, should I put the wood stove up on say cinder blocks and if so (I would assume yes here) what is the safe height above the floor? Are cinder blocks a good way, or maybe even better to weld together a "table" to set the stove on.

Any advice here would be welcome. I plan to supplement the stove with a propane heater mounted to the ceiling to keep the shop around 40 in the winter unless I am in it.

Get rid of State Farm and look for another insurance co. Try Erie or Hartford. SF ***** anyway

 

[tdkkart]

Tell State Farm to shove it. MY folks have them and they heat both the house and shop with wood. Sounds like someone is feeding you b/s.

It is kinda interesting, my house had wood heat when I moved in, State Farm had no problem with it, and didn't even ask about the shop.

 

[sammerdog]

Insurance regulations will vary by state, even with the same carrier. What may be acceptable in Iowa could be a violation in Minnesota.

Be pro-active and call an independent agent or two, ask if they have any carriers who will write wood stoves. Find out what kind of inspection is required BEFORE you install your wood-stove. If they have an inspection company they prefer, call the inspector and find out what he requires to sign off on your install.

 

[kbs2244]

Will they cover you if you use one of those outside burners?

 

[swvega]

Thats what I plan on doing in my 1800 sq ft. shop. Gas hot water for in floor heat as a back up and outside wood burner for main heat.

 

[sammerdog]

Will they cover you if you use one of those outside burners?

It will vary by carrier and state. Here in Michigan, most carriers require 51' or greater distance from your home and/or garage and the unit must be set on a concrete pad, minimum of 10' clearance to any other lot improvements (i.e. fence or deck).

 

[Bigrhamr]

Will they cover you if you use one of those outside burners?

I just checked on that in Idaho. If the wood furnace is an all metal or masonry block structure they said it can be 5' away. If it has any flammables in it's construction it has to be 50' +. Maybe it's just me but somehow a flammable wood furnace did NOT seem like a world class good idea

 

[skinanbones]

Here in Ontario Canada when we put a stove in a garage the codes we go by require that the stove be at least 18" off the floor and two steel posts in front of the stove as bump guards. I'm am with State Farm up here and they treat me fine, but that can vary even from agent to agent.
The other thing you could do is contact your local Hearth retailer and see if they could give any insight into the regulations to install a stove in a garage and if there is any local insurance companys that deal regularly with wood burners