mattdwelder
Well-known member
anybody built a wood stove ? any ideas ? any tips?
woodstove ?
- Thread starter mattdwelder
- Start date
Lassen Forge
Well-known member
A close friend built his own - used plate steel, took a loader with some chain to move it, but it's now the main cooking implement in his "outdoor cookhouse". You may be only using it for heat, but some of the biggies I remember from his build...
(1) Make sure you have good (and regulatable) airflow into your stove and good ventillation out - otherwise it will choke out or run too hot. Thats how you will control the heat and burn of your stove.
(2) Same way, CHECK BEFOREHAND what the airflow is through the stove (IIRC he used a Halloween store smoke generator) - you may need to tack baffles to get it to flow right, and also, you need to check for air leaks. There was a reason a lot of the potbelly stoves were round - you get a good cyclonic effect from that design.
(3) Make the door big enough, and make sure you have a good way to remove the ashes. either a removable pan under your firebox or a trap door at firebox brick level is cool beans easy to incorporate.
(4) BE VERY careful on assembly, test fit everything twice, and avoid long, unsupported spans of metal (like a big, unsupported flat top). Assembling, tack welds and a die grinder (to remove them) are your best friend to prevent warpage. And after you fire it up. ESPECIALLY after you fire it up. Yes, it will warp, be ready for it, know how you'll fix it now.
Once you go with wood heat, realize that you have an ignition source for fuel, ESPECIALLY GASOLINE... you'll need to increase your ventillation in your shop, and possibly get a fireproof fuel storage locker for your gascans, etc. You might have to go as far as to have a pedestal to set the stove on to keep your fire above your gas fumes.
(1) Make sure you have good (and regulatable) airflow into your stove and good ventillation out - otherwise it will choke out or run too hot. Thats how you will control the heat and burn of your stove.
(2) Same way, CHECK BEFOREHAND what the airflow is through the stove (IIRC he used a Halloween store smoke generator) - you may need to tack baffles to get it to flow right, and also, you need to check for air leaks. There was a reason a lot of the potbelly stoves were round - you get a good cyclonic effect from that design.
(3) Make the door big enough, and make sure you have a good way to remove the ashes. either a removable pan under your firebox or a trap door at firebox brick level is cool beans easy to incorporate.
(4) BE VERY careful on assembly, test fit everything twice, and avoid long, unsupported spans of metal (like a big, unsupported flat top). Assembling, tack welds and a die grinder (to remove them) are your best friend to prevent warpage. And after you fire it up. ESPECIALLY after you fire it up. Yes, it will warp, be ready for it, know how you'll fix it now.
Once you go with wood heat, realize that you have an ignition source for fuel, ESPECIALLY GASOLINE... you'll need to increase your ventillation in your shop, and possibly get a fireproof fuel storage locker for your gascans, etc. You might have to go as far as to have a pedestal to set the stove on to keep your fire above your gas fumes.
ive built one years ago, copied all the the commercial ones I could get acces too for measure ments and ideas...now I don't know what you plan on doing with this but be advised the insurance company wont like it.... but they will always look for a reason/excuse to screw ya!!! I bought a piece of glass and made my door to fit it so I could see the fire, been going strong for near 20 years now, had to re paint it a few times as the high heat paint don't hold as good as a factory paint job would.... if you do go with glass make sure you put in an air wash system over the door, will clean the glass off when u burn it hot. also as the above poster said about avoiding long spans, I would go 3/8s on the top I used 1/4 and it did sink in a bit over the years... a few bucks more and u should be good to go
Man Cave
Well-known member
After I retired last year I went with wood heat as I now had time for firewood. I was tired of paying the propane man too. My shop is 125 ft behind my house so I don't have insurance issues. I checked with my insurance agent ahead of time. You don't want to burn down your abode and get screwed. On my stove I started out with a barrel stove kit and it did OK but I found a commercial built wood/coal stove with a blower and traded for it. I'm glad I went with wood heat, it keeps my shop warm and with the efficient wood stove I don't go through much wood. I don't paint in my shop and any flammables are well away from the stove. My shop is 30x50 pole building with the white vinyl backed insulation.
RAYJAY
Well-known member
yes they were the king of stoves back in the day.
with the new EPA regs i don't think you could even be able to do it ,
http://www.newsmax.com/US/heat-energy-wood-stoves/2014/02/18/id/553372/
http://www.epa.gov/burnwise/ordinances.html
http://www.offthegridnews.com/how-to-2/epa-bans-most-wood-burning-stoves/
Bondo
Well-known member
Ayuh,.... Built a shipload of 'em,....
How Big ya thinkin',..??
Hot air, or hot water,..??
This is my largest to date, my Owb,....
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
Steel twists, bends, expands and contracts as it is heated. Heavy plates minimize this, but you had better be certain that you have good welds !
The most efficient stoves out there all based on something called the "rocket stove". These were originally designed for one pot cooking but allowing the combustion gases to travel up, down, up through various chamber get the most amount of heat out.
The real secret of a rocket stove is the draft comes in under the burn chamber. The opening for the draft is typically fixed, but it is small. So small that once these stoves are running, the suction makes a rocket-like sound.
Burn chambers are small. Basically you feed it kindling. Very untraditional.
Lots of video on YouTube and many How-To's on the 'net.
The most efficient stoves out there all based on something called the "rocket stove". These were originally designed for one pot cooking but allowing the combustion gases to travel up, down, up through various chamber get the most amount of heat out.
The real secret of a rocket stove is the draft comes in under the burn chamber. The opening for the draft is typically fixed, but it is small. So small that once these stoves are running, the suction makes a rocket-like sound.
Burn chambers are small. Basically you feed it kindling. Very untraditional.
Lots of video on YouTube and many How-To's on the 'net.
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
I can just see those pencil-necked EPA geeks trying to go after some old guy in ME, MN, MI, AK who has been heating his home for 50 years with wood !.
This, plus you can get a brand new highly rated Englander 30-NC EPA rated stove for $659 when it's on sale (right about now) at HD. Along with tax and shipping, you couldn't buy the steel for that plus any time for design or fab work, never mind the engineering time to replicate a modern EPA-rated stove.
And why EPA rated? Simple: a 30%-40% reduction in the amount of wood needed for a given heat output. I don't know about you guys, but having to come with 30%-40% more wood sounds like a lot of work to me; no thanks.
vpd66
Well-known member
You forgot Wisconsin! I live in central Wisconsin about 12 miles out of town and on my way to town I can count at least 10 OWBs. I own one also. I doubt that they will ever outlaw the non EPA approved OWBs but it seems like the insurance companies are jumping on the bandwagon and dropping coverage unless you have a OWB that has the new EPA rating.
RAYJAY
Well-known member
You forgot Wisconsin! I live in central Wisconsin about 12 miles out of town and on my way to town I can count at least 10 OWBs. I own one also. I doubt that they will ever outlaw the non EPA approved OWBs but it seems like the insurance companies are jumping on the bandwagon and dropping coverage unless you have a OWB that has the new EPA rating.
there was a thread on here about that, not outlawed but grandfathered in, the kicker is the manufacture can not supply any replacement parts for the older units
OP
mattdwelder
Well-known member
im a certified welder with 25 yrs in as a metal fabber. Currently im shop foreman at a local fab shop. I have access to a lot of drop pieces and any kind of equipment. I am in the middle of building a pole barn house and wanted a wood stove to heat the house and the garage. All the ones you see for $650 are built really cheaply with the thickest metal being around 3/16. I cant see them lasting more than five yrs.I wish i would have put tubing in the floor for hot water but its too late for that.
Last edited:
The Fisher in my shop will keep the temps at 70+ for 1200sf with an open ceiling. The doors are cast, so that would be the hardest part.
MatBirch
Well-known member
I built a neater/tidier version of this stove for my shop-
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/newhouse/newhouse-stove.html
Works amazingly well, and is very efficient
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/newhouse/newhouse-stove.html
Works amazingly well, and is very efficient
89GLH
Well-known member
I have a fisher stove in my sunroom I can't give away. Thing must weigh 500 lbs.
Uncle_Charlie
Well-known member
lol old guys like that have guns and are not afraid to use them
SWAT teams aren't afraid to use them either.
http://www.vice.com/read/even-the-epa-is-using-swat-teams-now
built a few, nothing fancy like the professional ones, mostly from scrap. one is a small 8x12 piece of pipe with fittings and plate welded on to use in the deer blind, others from barrels and one from an air compressor tank (for a smoker), one from a 10lb propane tank, etc.
only tips I have is: unless you have all the scrap you need and enjoy the build, you are much further ahead buying someone's used castoff. Woodstoves go cheap in the summer. the one I heat my shop with is an expensive brand name insert, sits on blocks. paid $1 at the auction...was too heavy for anyone to want to bother with.
only tips I have is: unless you have all the scrap you need and enjoy the build, you are much further ahead buying someone's used castoff. Woodstoves go cheap in the summer. the one I heat my shop with is an expensive brand name insert, sits on blocks. paid $1 at the auction...was too heavy for anyone to want to bother with.
Ign
Well-known member
I've got an All-Nighter that I've looked at closely and it looks like it would be pretty damn easy to replicate. I'd get critical dimensions on the thicker plate and just have a sheetmetal shop w a press brake bend it up. The hardest part on mine would be the seal for the door cord, and even that is just small channel, not hard.
I've only had experience with one new EPA stove and I don't understand it - you can't really get it "going", it more just trickles heat. I'm not talking about glowing red stupid hot (which I've read of people getting stoves red hot & I know it's stupid but I don't know how anyone gets it to that point) but I've had my All-Nighter like too hot to comfortably stand within 3' of it when I want heat NOW.
I've only had experience with one new EPA stove and I don't understand it - you can't really get it "going", it more just trickles heat. I'm not talking about glowing red stupid hot (which I've read of people getting stoves red hot & I know it's stupid but I don't know how anyone gets it to that point) but I've had my All-Nighter like too hot to comfortably stand within 3' of it when I want heat NOW.
Kevin54
MEMBER EMERITUS
I did, and it split the back of the stove open. Luckily the back was part of the air chamber though. It was close to 20 below, and I had enough wood for a few days. My dad would burn coal once in a while and gave me two big chunks of Kentucky coal. I tossed on in the woodburner which was an airtight stove. Pretty soon the house was like 85 degrees, I just the dampers down, turned the lights off to go to bed, and the front of the stove was glowing a dull red.
BTW....I was young and dumb and new to airtights. That was the last time I ever did that.*Probably* due to unseasoned or poorly seasoned wood and/or a clogged chimney. The new EPA rated stoves really need well seasoned wood (i.e. <20% moisture as measured by moisture meter) to work well.
The difference in heat output of my 30-NC from last year (less seasoned wood) vs. this year (with well seasoned wood) is like night and day.
IMO only a rocket style stove is worth making. The outer case is made from an old electric hot water heater.
The pics and text here are the easiest to understand IMO. Lots of other people make drawings of the idea, but they are 2 d views and make no sense unless one knows what the inside looks like in 3d.
http://www.iwilltry.org/b/build-a-rocket-stove-for-home-heating/
A rocket stove always has excess air and no visible smoke when run correctly. The down side is it needs to be fed pretty constantly. It is NOT a stove that can be "turned down" and left for hours to roast wood.
The pics and text here are the easiest to understand IMO. Lots of other people make drawings of the idea, but they are 2 d views and make no sense unless one knows what the inside looks like in 3d.
http://www.iwilltry.org/b/build-a-rocket-stove-for-home-heating/
A rocket stove always has excess air and no visible smoke when run correctly. The down side is it needs to be fed pretty constantly. It is NOT a stove that can be "turned down" and left for hours to roast wood.
My experience with wood heat goes back over 30 years.
80 year old two story house with a walk around attic and a celler (not a basement)
I started out with a barrel kit in the celler.
But soon found out I would have an 85 degree celler and a 60 degree kitchen.
I needed a way to get the heat upstairs.
I started over with a 275 gallon oil furnace tank.
I welded 2 thirty gallon barrels end to end, cut a circle at the top of the tank to thread them through and welded them in place.
They became my heat exchanger.
The barrel kit door went in the bottom of the front end.
The house had a 2 story central hallway with staircase and a huge 4 x 4 foot iron grate as a cold air return in the hallway floor.
I used a fan from a de-humidifier at the front of the tank and some 6 inch ducting to pipe the hot air over to the bottom of the cold air return.
I ended up with a thermal switch on the fan so it would turn off if the fire went down.
I also had an back and forth fan blowing over the tank.
I never overheated the steel since the tank had so much surface area and the fan blowing through the heat exchanger kept the temps down.
I did take me 3 seasons to get the draft through that 40 feet of chimney under control.
I ended up with a second, 3 inch, butterfly vent under the door to control input air and a butterfly vent in the exhaust pipe to control the exhaust volume.
I ran it for over 10 years and loved it because it was a twice a day loading routine.
And it would take 5 foot long sticks.
But it all went away when we decided to move.
The RE guy said no house inspector would even think of OKing it.
80 year old two story house with a walk around attic and a celler (not a basement)
I started out with a barrel kit in the celler.
But soon found out I would have an 85 degree celler and a 60 degree kitchen.
I needed a way to get the heat upstairs.
I started over with a 275 gallon oil furnace tank.
I welded 2 thirty gallon barrels end to end, cut a circle at the top of the tank to thread them through and welded them in place.
They became my heat exchanger.
The barrel kit door went in the bottom of the front end.
The house had a 2 story central hallway with staircase and a huge 4 x 4 foot iron grate as a cold air return in the hallway floor.
I used a fan from a de-humidifier at the front of the tank and some 6 inch ducting to pipe the hot air over to the bottom of the cold air return.
I ended up with a thermal switch on the fan so it would turn off if the fire went down.
I also had an back and forth fan blowing over the tank.
I never overheated the steel since the tank had so much surface area and the fan blowing through the heat exchanger kept the temps down.
I did take me 3 seasons to get the draft through that 40 feet of chimney under control.
I ended up with a second, 3 inch, butterfly vent under the door to control input air and a butterfly vent in the exhaust pipe to control the exhaust volume.
I ran it for over 10 years and loved it because it was a twice a day loading routine.
And it would take 5 foot long sticks.
But it all went away when we decided to move.
The RE guy said no house inspector would even think of OKing it.
sberry
Banned
I don't think insurance cares about EPA but they do about UL and for good reason. A freestanding stove is a slightly different animal than a furnace type which can have more issues than one can dream up.
Stoves are slow to build,,, the start is quick but the details add up.
Stoves are slow to build,,, the start is quick but the details add up.
TheEquineFencer
Well-known member
I built a big one at my old shop. I used an old fuel tank that was about 8 feet long by 3-1/2 feet diameter. It laid on it's side and i could just throw the long sections of wood in. The barrel sat outside the shop and was enclosed with an air box around it with the feed door opening where I could feed the wood. I plumbed a fan to blow shop air into the air box and then it returned the hot air into the shop through a couple of sections of 8 inch stove pipe. Sort of like having central heat. You could wrap a whole chicken in foil and set it in the hot air duct coming back in the shop and in about an hour or so have a roasted bird for lunch. I'd put the potatoes and onions in the other duct.
At an old friend's shop we heated it with a 30 gallon barrel inside of a 55 gallon barrel basically the same way but it stood upright, fed from the top and had 6 inch duct run to it. It was a one car carport we closed in and we often had to crack the door because it got too hot in there. We usually burned pine cones and twigs and such from his yard. I found out the filler material in the Luber-Finer filters at work was wood, so I'd cut them open and make balls with the filler inside with tin foil and we started burning them for fuel as the yard was pretty picked clean after a while.
Right now I'm rebarreling a 30+ years old Taylor wood fired water heater.
The single and double barrel kits from Northern Tool are about the cheapest way to go. I'd do one of them and put an air box around it and let it sit outside and plumb the heated air inside myself.
At an old friend's shop we heated it with a 30 gallon barrel inside of a 55 gallon barrel basically the same way but it stood upright, fed from the top and had 6 inch duct run to it. It was a one car carport we closed in and we often had to crack the door because it got too hot in there. We usually burned pine cones and twigs and such from his yard. I found out the filler material in the Luber-Finer filters at work was wood, so I'd cut them open and make balls with the filler inside with tin foil and we started burning them for fuel as the yard was pretty picked clean after a while.
Right now I'm rebarreling a 30+ years old Taylor wood fired water heater.
The single and double barrel kits from Northern Tool are about the cheapest way to go. I'd do one of them and put an air box around it and let it sit outside and plumb the heated air inside myself.