Noobie need help

I have a 2 story BIG hobby garage I find myself spending 5 days a week in. I like making fires but frankly its becoming a pain in butt and its not efficient. Im probably No making and running fires properly so any insight would be great.

I have an old wood stove I am using and would like to make it much more efficient.

I am not looking to create a big project or spend big money so Im wondering if I should keep what I have and improve/restore or should I swap this stove for something else?

Willing to spend up to $500.

Keep Stove?- seems to work fine past 2 seasons. I am missing the insulation rope. Also I dont have the pipe that allows you to shake the tray. What is work around or where can I find tool?

Should I keep and restore exterior for looks?

Do I need to fix interior cracked fire bricks?

Smoke stacknhadnt been cleaned in years and lower portion is suspect. I would like to replace. Do I need a dapener?


Swapnstove out? If you do recomend this instead.... What should I get instead? Those rocket mass ideas are really cool! I wish there was a simple way to convert mine into that. In one of the pics below I added mass around wirh some stuff I had lying around for test.

Thanks for any feedback on my lost situation.

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I'd keep it if you want to only spend 500 or less.
Clean it up if you feel the urge, I think it's personal taste there.
Get the rope and put it where it goes, it's probably burning thru wood.
Don't think the shaker is that important in wood, if it was coal yes it probably is. Never burnt coal so I don't know.
Replace the brick that is missing chunks, cracks are fine.
Stove may not be big enough for a 2 story garage but you'd have to fill in more details, SQ footage of garage and the btu output of stove.
Pipe dampner might help, I don't have one myself, maybe I should can't answer that.
clean that pipe stack, you don't want a chimney fire that will decimate that lovely 2 storey hobby garage.

 

Welcome aboard!
I’d atleast put a gasket on the door while you figure out the rest.
Lots people on here with good opinions on lots of stuff, including stoves.
Good luck!

 

Welcome michaelangelocioffi to the FHC.. What's insulation level in garage? Make stove safe then spend rest of money on air sealing and extra insulation..

 

Thabks to everyones response and if you ski/board bless the dump thats coming your way tonight!

I insulated it this summer.

How do i learn what stove I actually have brand model?

Also I stacked a couple hundred pound of floor,wall tile, and granite on the side for mass. Will this work as well for mass.? Also should the mass be touching the stove or a couple inches away.

Do people recommend the electric stack fan addon from home depot/Lowe's?

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Messing around adding some more "mass" around.

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Welcome aboard michaelangelocioffi

A damper might be necessary to help control draft, can't be sure in your situation, but you can put one in even if it goes unused.

Clean the chimney!!!

Get gasket rope and fix that.

Then re-evaluate the situation.

 

How do I know if i need to replace the stack? Mine seems pretty crappy but it might be just fine?

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If there is holes in it, but yours looks ok to me from what I can see.
Mass is ok, too much of it might not be since it will take too long for it to warm up, might actually insulate the stove and keep the heat from radiating.
Unless you keep it going 24/7 and I guess it would eventually serve the purpose.
Whats the moisture content of the wood you are burning? Those logs don't look cured/seasoned but looks are deceiving.

 

Great feedback. The logs arent seasoned. Which sucks. I'm lookong to get a batch of seasoned wood somewhere.

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Welcome michaelangelocioffi

As others have said, fix that gasket and get the chimney cleaned. Those should both be top priority.

Be careful with buying "seasoned" wood. Seasoned does not mean dry.

Here's a quick read to help you get started:
Primer on Woodburning by Backwoods Savage

 

Thanks! Whats the gasket main critical points air tightness for proper flow?

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Yes the gasket will keep excess air from leaking in to the stove through the door. It will give you a lot more control over the burn rate. Most likely you will also see an increase in heat output as well. I would imagine most of your heat is going up the flue if it is leaking a bunch of air.

 

Here's a good thread on replacing the door gasket...

Door Gasket Needs Relacement

 

I'm thinking that the mass is actually hurting you. If you are not in there 24/7 then you are storing heat for when you are not there. You'd probably do better letting the heat radiate directly into the garage.

If this is what you are talking about for a stove pipe heat exchange you want to stay away. They are known to clog your stove pipe as soot/creosote builds up on the tubes.

 

Re gasket the ash cleanout door. Close it. Latch it and forget about opening it. Its inoperable correctly anyway. Not to mention it appears to be a coal stove grate. Let it fill up so you have a inch of ash to lay your wood loads on. Just get a steel ash bucket and shovel. One less spot for un metered air to get in. Re gasket the loading door asap. Imperative to stove control! Ditch all the mass items. They are really just slowing the heat dispersion. If you don't regain control of the fire with new door gaskets you may benefit from a damper. Forget the Magic Heat fan. They are creosote building machine's that really make creo well with unseasoned wood! See my link on this.

If using or considering a heat reclaimer. See this for consideration.

You may want to research. Clearance to combustibles. Bet you end up doing some measuring. All I am going to say. Best of luck.

 

It looks like that stove is too small for a big garage!
Can you 'section off' part of the garage and only heat half as many sq ft?
IMO that would solve most of your problems. Furring strips and 1/2" R-Max insulation would fit in your budget.
That worked in my basement.

And, of course, you already know about seasoning the wood to 20% moisture content...

 

Welcome to FHC. I would recommend having a professional out to see what you have going on. If you are not burning seasoned wood and the flue has not been cleaned in the last season, you should address that soon. Like mentioned above, make sure that minimum clearances to combustibles are met.

You have many good questions, and someone should put eyes on your set up and make reccomendations for you to burn safely.

 

It looks like the air intake is in the ash door so letting the ash chamber fill in might not work very well. It does look like that stove could be a combo coal/wood burner. Which unfortunately makes it neither the best at burning either.

If you only want to spend $500 you might be best finding a Fisher which can be made to perform quite well.