Advice: Heating garage on a budget. 2 options this year.

[Sambone]

Howdy.
I've got a 2 car garage (roughly 580 sq. ft.) With a pitched roof about 15' at the peak down to 8' on the walls. It's concrete slab, insulated in the walls and ceiling.
But I live in Maine and it gets COLD. Here's what my options are until I can afford the hanging Hot Dog heater of my dreams.

1) I have a small wood stove a friend gave me. I figured I'd build a cinder block platform to make sure the box was at least 18" off the ground and run single wall stove pipe up and out.
My concerns with this are how long it takes to produce heat, and how long it takes to cool down when I close up, and god forbid I have a fuel spill, I can't just turn the flame off.

2) I picked up an old (tag says 1932!) freestanding kerosene heater with the stovepipe attachment to vent it outside. I could clean it all up and rebuild it in no time, replace all the wicking material and place it on top of the same 18" cinder block platform to keep the flame up away from lingering flammable fumes.
I visited an old timer last winter who had the exact same heater in his small garage and it kicked off some nice heat and I don't recall any nasty fumes.
My concerns with this is how much heat can I really expect from this thing and how long will it take to heat up my garage. And even with the stovepipe venting, how bad can I expect the fumes to be.

Until I can afford a better, more efficient system, what do you guys think would be the wisest option to get me comfortably through some nasty Maine winters?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Red Green]

Given those choices I would do the kerosense heater. I doubt that with the vents it would be much fumes at all. If it turns out you want to bring the temp up quicker a Mr. Heater that mounts on a propane tank helps. I use one in my shop from time to time.

 

[Sambone]

Thanks Red Green - I'm kinda leaning that way myself. I pulled the burner out of the kerosene heater this afternoon and spent about an hour pulling the old wicks out and chipping away at the creosote.
I figure if I clean everything up real good, replace the wicks, and make an effort to seal my stovepipe real good I should be in business.
Thanks for the suggestion on the Mr. Heater. I used to use one of those when I worked in an unheated, uninsulated warehouse back when I moved furniture. It was only good for about a 10' radius in that giant barn of a place but would probably do wonders for insta-heat in my little garage.

 

[D.J.]

Dude make sure u run the stove pipe thru a tripple wall pipe when you go thru the roof or wall! Also don't let your insurance man know anything about it!
________
The Cigar Boss

 

[Sambone]

D.J. - I was actually wondering about the insurance aspect. I figured if it was set up correctly with the proper through-wall connections there wouldn't be any issues.
Would the insurance guy freak out because it was kerosene or the vintage of the heater?

 

[Mark-in-NH]

Also don't let your insurance man know anything about it!

He is better off checking with his insurance co. Now, before the install.
If he performs an illegal installation, per his insurance company or fire code and disaster strikes. It is quite possible that his insurance co. will not pay off, irrelevant of what caused the fire.

 

[D.J.]

I was really referencing the wood stove portion but to be safe check before installing it! My insurance company doesn't want a wood stove in a garage! I don't know about the K-1, but no matter he should run piping thru tripple walled pipe in my opinion.

________
Teen Cams

 

[Sambone]

If there is one thing I am SUPER paranoid about, it's fire. I need to talk to my insurance company before I do anything else I suppose. Love those guys.

 

[Sambone]

I found a group of people on Yahoo that restore, maintain and sing the praises of those old Kerosene stoves. I finished rebuilding it last night and ordered new wicks.
I'm hoping this will be the ticket to good heat.