# New out door wood furnace



## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

Here's the deal; I paint cars and do wood work so I really don't want a fire source inside the shop, but I need heat and I'm cheap. Outdoor furnace to buy would have been in the $4000 range installed. Nope. Better idea.
$40 dollar wood stove from craigslist, 150 gallon oil tank (free), duct work and a $23 duct fan from amazon.

The theory is thus: wood stove out of building, oil tank is the heat exchanger, cool air from shop goes into tank, warm air pushed into shop, no flames around the enamel/lacquer/sawdust. Added air intake at the tank to prevent co2 problems...less efficiency, but less danger.

Put it together and had my insurance adjuster over for a look see before I tied into the shop. The response..."That will be just fine, can you help me put one together if I get the materials?"

Insurance signed off, no increase in premium. Fire department also liked the setup.

******* engineering at work today...first the greenhouse, now this...hoping the rest of the winter goes as well as today...knocks on wood.





And yes, I'm going to extend the chimney pipe up...this was just a dry run. Duct work will be picked up soon.

Matt


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

More pics when you finish!


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## Darren (May 10, 2002)

Good luck. The insurance companies I deal with would have a fit. Seems like you got lucky having that close and getting approved. BTW, if that was your agent that gave you the ok, you're not out of the woods. It will be noted and it's possible an insurance inspector may be visiting you soon. The agent may or may not know we're on the way.


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## han_solo (Aug 31, 2014)

As of now the way it is is it heating the garage? How hard was it to cut the door on the tank?


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## TnAndy (Sep 15, 2005)

I'd think you would want to insulate the oil drum outside....you have to be bleeding a lot of your heat off the skin of it to the outside.


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## itsb (Jan 13, 2013)

whats the beer can for ?:buds:


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## Roadking (Oct 8, 2009)

Door was cut out with a saw zaw...not too hard.
I am going to put duct board insulation around it soon.
It puts out a decent amount of heat in short order. My shop is 25x27 with 9' ceiling, and within 20 minutes of firing it off, it is very comfortable to work in.
Beer can = smart alec buddy who helped me get the stove up and in. We are ********.

Matt


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## doingitmyself (Jul 30, 2013)

The only issue I wonder is where does the stove get its air from? If its the lacquer laden air from the garage I think you could possibily run into an issue. On the other hand if the stove air comes from outside the tank then I think your good, its hard to tell from just a pic.

Good luck, I think its a fine setup. Let us know how its going. Interesting bit of engineering! :thumb:


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## Hobbes (Apr 1, 2008)

I jury rigged something similar last year with some metal barrels and basically a large rocket stove pipe running up the middle. It worked, but I was having to tend it constantly, and I knew there were small leaks where smoke and maybe carbon monoxide would get into the exchange chamber. I had a monoxide detector, and it never went off, but I knew some smoke was seeping in when the draft died down quite a bit.

This year, not wanting to fiddle with babying the fire all day long, plus I got another portable building I needed heated, too, I decided to break down and spend the money for a true ductable wood furnance. I found a great one for $1300 (free shipping) from Tractor Supply that I could hook my 8" ductwork to (http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/united-states-stove-hot-blast-warm-air-furnace-1900-sq-ft). It does 1,900 sq. ft. I got it hooked up last week for our first really cold spell, and it works like a champ. Since it has a large firebox, I don't have to tend it near as much, and it easily puts off enough heat for my buildings. I put it in a cheap (8x10) metal shed from Lowes just to keep it out of the elements (and me, too). The stove is made in the USA, and heeaavvyy.


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## michael ark (Dec 11, 2013)

Looks good.You may want to make some kind of filter . To keep the over spray from coating the stove and duct work. If the insurance company start giving you problems. You could add a coil to heat water on top of the stove and pump it inside to another coil and fan. Have done a few installs in factories that had the explosive vapors and the inside air could not get near the fire. We used a low pressure boiler and indoor forced air coil. That is the 1st wood fired package unit i have ever seen.You may also want to coat the seams of your duct with mastic.


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