How to own a wood stove

[bradleyheathhays]

I'm gearing up my little 400 sq ft shop to be heated with a small wood stove this winter and thought I'd ask some advice since this will be my time first owning one.  I think even a small stove would be enough for the shop, as I'll have a fan on it.  I just need it to be long enough to take in unpredictable lengths of firewood.  I've got a small log splitter so I can control the thickness you could say, just not the length.  I've got a couple free sources of wood, just have to take it as is.

 

I'd like the top flue pipe to turn 90 deg parallel to the floor very soon after exiting the top, and then exit through a 1/2" sheet of plywood that serves as the wall behind it.

 

First, what kind of clearance do I need to keep away from the plywood wall it's nearest to and exiting through?

Can I put the stove closer to that plywood wall if I put a sheet of say corrugated metal roofing between it and the wall?

What's the cheapest way to frankenstein my exhaust pipes together, including the through wall piece?

Does the pipe needs to be a certain length in order to create a good updraft?

What size stove should I look for, length wise?

And lastly, any and all extra advice appreciated.

[Eric - TIA]

Great questions.  I will try and answer them but the owner's manual will give more concrete answers.

 

You will not be disappointed with a stove.  I have a fireplace insert for my house and it's awesome.  My next purchase is a stove for my garage so I will be doing the same thing you are in a year or two.

 

Having the fan will be nice to move air around, I am going to do the same thing.  For 400 sq-ft, you will not need anything big or substantial.  The one thing I would look for is one that is deep.  Some stoves do not have deep bottoms which means you have to clean them out more often.  It's not a huge deal for a shop if you are not running it all the time, but if you are burning this 24-7, then it's a pain.  

 

It's even better if you have free wood.

 

In regards to the 90-degree exit, you will have to look at an owner's manual.  When I did my research a while back, some had a minimum height they suggested before a 90-degree turn in order to get proper air flow and create a draft.  So that i will not be able to offer any help.

 

In regards to going through plywood, I am not sure about the setup you have but those pipes get extremely hot.  The owner's manual will let you know all the clearance you need.  The insert I have in my house creates so much heat, that my hardwood floors get to hot.  My insert sits on stone and the wood floor is about 18" away from the insert and the floor gets so hot.  I had to buy a fireproof mat to keep over that area of the floor.  Now if you go with a double insulted pipe, it won't get as hot, but my guess is it will still be hot enough where you can run it alongside wood.  Since it's in the shop, I am sure there are things you can buy that can withstand the heat that you can screw to the wall to give protection instead of having to put a stone or a non-combustible material up.

 

Sorry, I thought I could answer more questions but I do know that these stoves produce a ton of heat and you can not have any combustible material like plywood in close proximity to the stove.  

 

I am here in Chicago so winter is coming up so I might get back into thinking about getting a stove for my garage.  I will see what I can find and update this as I find stuff.

[bradleyheathhays]

Big thanks for all the advice.  Unfortunatly I'll be spending a bit of cash here soon and I'm having to go cheap and buy used, so probably no manual to go by.  I bet a lot of my questions can be answered just by looking up the city codes.

 

Just found this little gem of an idea on youtube about using bricks with your stove.  Put a mass of bricks near the stove and they'll serve as a great heatsink for keeping the temp more consistent after the fire is out.  I'll probably end up making a wall of bricks between the stove and shop wall, and probably a bunch on top after reinforcing the legs.  Pic from the vid..

 

Edit.  After reading up more on stoves and seeing how much shop space it's gonna take up (a good %) I've had the idea of how to use a wood stove at about 1/3 the scale of the smallest one.  If you could manage it you could save a decent amount of room.  99% of the heat of all fire stoves goes out the flue.  Simply putting a fan on the stove gets MUCH more heat into the room, meaning you can get by with a MUCH smaller stove, IF you can figure out how to tend that kind of fire.  Is this what these pellet stoves are about, the ones I've been seeing advertised as used?

 

 

[Eric - TIA]

Very cool.  Once you get it, post a picture.  Yes, a fan is key.  My garage is small so I am looking for something small.  I am going to do the same thing and have some type of fan.