Pellet Stove for Pole Barn 30x48?

[RLIZRD]

Hello, I just finished building a 30x48 Pole here in South/West Idaho. We get cool winters with average highs in the upper 20's for December/January months. The barn walls are 16' tall with a ceiling heights of approximately 22'. The walls and ceiling are insulated with r-11 fiberglass. I have the ability to get Propane to the shop, but would really like to use a Pellet stove for heat. I am in a rural area so Natural gas is not an option. Does anyone have any experience with putting a Pellet stove in your shop? Does it adequately heat your shop/garage? Would you have done anything different? Any advice is surely welcome. Thanks

 

[Bretny]

Thats alot of cubic feet to heat with not to much R value in the ceiling.

If your looking at a pellet stove you will prob need one for at least double your square feet and some kind of fan to blow the cold air up into the ceiling.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Hello, I just finished building a 30x48 Pole here in South/West Idaho. We get cool winters with average highs in the upper 20's for December/January months. The barn walls are 16' tall with a ceiling heights of approximately 22'. The walls and ceiling are insulated with r-11 fiberglass. I have the ability to get Propane to the shop, but would really like to use a Pellet stove for heat.

That is about 4" of fiberglass. You need a minimum of 12" with 18"-24" being better in the ceiling. There is now way one pellet stove could heat that when the temp is below freezing.

If you are buying pellets at retail (lumber yard) will send you to the poor house. You have to buy HARDWOOD pellet directly from the manufacturer and store them INSIDE preferably on pallets so they are not in contact with concrete.

 

[Kaizen]

Your time in the shop normally dictate. If you want to go out there after work for a few hours or the weekend and not going to get more insulation then I’d get a big propane blower heater. The pellet stove is more for if it’s an all day long thing where you will keep it at temp. Takes a long time for pellets. Factor in the cost of the unit as well. Pellet stoves are not cheap and the parts are hundreds to replace


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Jackfre]

For a short time I was in the pellet business back in the mid-80's. I say a short time because I just saw it as being problematic, long term. People that have them like them, but storing moisture sensitive fuel in 40# bags and carrying them and lifting them to pour into the hopper while having some one there with the shop vac to get the dust...and there is dust, it just doesn't seem a winning proposition to me. For your size space you would need at least a couple of them or you would need to get into a commercial type unit which you should feed from a large hopper. Very pricey and you had better be able to do the service and repairs yourself.

 

[930dreamer]

I use wood so I don't have to rely on a computer controlled stove. What is your pellet stove heat output rating?

 

[Showkey]

The real pellet stove “hay day” was when propane spiked to $2 then $3 then $4 and topped near $5 gallon in some locations.

 

[RLIZRD]

Thanks for the replies and suggestions, I really appreciate it. Looks like I'll be looking at another heating source.

 

[machsnell]

I have a pellet stove and I love it. But I have spray foam. 1500 sf and it heats up really well. Harman 61k.

As others stated pellet stove needs to be more constant or at least turned on friday night for weekend work. Big propane blower heater if you just want to turn on and have more instant heat. I keep my garage heated all the time so stove adjusts via thermostat.

Sealing your space would help greatly to not let conditioned air escape.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[stillnostrebor]

I've ran a pellet stove in a well insulated 30x40x12 for two seasons in SW MO. Not going to bring the temp up real fast, not going to cook you out. Good enough to work out there in short sleeves after running half a day.

I put in a minisplit this year. We'll see if it makes reasonable heat. IF so, the pellet stove goes away so I can gain the floor space.

 

[SeanAr]

I have a similarly sized workplace that I need to heat in winter because I spend 7 to 8 hours a day there working on wood plus I keep completed but not picked up yet furniture, parts, etc here and wood doesn't really pair with sudden temperarture changes... I also want to be comfortable while I work and wear short sleeves for safety purposes. So far installing a pellet stove was the best decision both heat-wise and price-wise because compared to other heating systems it's really THE cheapest one, especially if you buy pellets in bulk for a whole season and have a moisture-controlled place to keep them. The only problem with the stove is that it's so hard to choose one, I remember going through like 10 to 20 pages of different materials, blogs, etc to pick the best one for the least amount of money possible. Ended up with Comfortbilt HP22 and I have no regrets, I've burned 12 tons of fuel already and it works like a charm. Do your own research though, but as a tip consumer report ratings are surprisingly good guides on that, at first I've thought that it's all a corporate shill lol but after reading up they are pretty objective incl. cost of operation and such. As an example this list was quite useful:
https://cozyhousetoday.com/best-pellet-stoves/
Plus search some more and after you've chosen your favourites go and check out reviews on amazon and other sites as some stoves are notorious for certain repeating defects and you can only notice such patterns after reading a dozen reviews.
Overall if you need constant warm temperature stove is a good choice, if you need to use your barn only a few times per week I'd choose another heating system.
P.S.: As a bonus it's very calming to just sit near the stove and look at fire burining after hours of working if you ask me.