I am planning ahead an need some input I am building a new shop. 1400 feet. Only heat will be wood. Will spend 5 days a week at 6hrs. Each in it. I have 3.5 acres of woods, so all the fuel I need will be available. I am in western Washington temperatures around 40° but down in the teens sometimes. Looking for recommendations. New stove, old stove? I don’t care if it’s pretty. Less clearance the better as it gives me more room. I have been visiting here for a long time and finally jumped in to get some answers. I love my woods, maintenance of my woods and my wood pile!! Thanks Gary
Welcome aboard, Ggg3988 . Since you're planning ahead, start getting your wood now for next year. After that, don't stop. Others might disagree, but I say get the most efficient stove you can for the space and climate. You won't spend as much time processing wood every year. Will the shop have high ceilings? Aaand, we'd love to see pics of the shop (don't care if it's still just stacks of lumber), and the stove once you decide which one you'll get.
16’ ceilings. I have enough wood dry and seasoned for 2 years already. I would like a stove that I can start in the morning and get heat quickly so the space isn’t cold till noon
Ggg3988 Is the shop going to be insulated? I'd look into a couple low speed ceiling fans also. I'm currently heating a 40'x40' Quanset hut with 13' high to the center. I use a Fisher Grandpa bear (requires a lot of clearance) and I can put 20 degrees in my shop in an hour. I need to insulate more and install ceiling fans. I prefer the older stoves I would look into a double door Timberline(couple sizes down from the grandpa bear fisher). Something small enough that you don't need a ton of clearance or a monster fire to warm up but large enough to get a decent burn time.
Beautiful. I agree with SpeedShop64 about the fans. Definitely insulate, even under the slab. Cold concrete sucks a lot of heat from a space (most of our house is on slab, and all of the pole barn....un-insulated ).
I have done ornamental iron fabrication For 20 years and will eventually move into shop and continue as a hobby. Already planning on ceiling fans to push heat down. Also putting some windows up high for fans in the summer. Shop will be installed with 3- 12’x12’ roll up doors 2 solid 1 glass. I really like the ides that speedshot64 points out about putting heat in fast. Thanks
Go with a good pre epa stove for shop, if driven hard coal buildup(epa stove) can be an issue. This has been discussed in the past, one guy had pictures of his stove half full of coals. Pre epa stove work great in a shop.
Personally, I really love my Vermont Castings Vigilant. It's pre-epa interference but the design was ahead of it's time & given dry fuel, burns very clean with very long burn times. It's heavy cast iron, double doors in the front and a top loading door to fill it up. The Defiant was it's big brother and may be better for a larger space. Will heat up a space from dead cold very fast but then can be turned down low and burn all day long with a thermostatic temp controller. And a heat shield was available for the rear side to get a good reduction in clearance. They are very available used in all types of condition in this area. Don't know about the other coast. As an option, I recently spent a week with a Morso stove, non cat but had secondary combustion, that worked really well & burned long & clean.
Hearthstone 1 will give you 14 hrs of heat but will have to be shipped to you from Vermont.It's a monster stove 750 lbs and will make you toasty in an uninsulated space.
So A buddy and I have been talking Well you know how that goes As you know I’m in the planning stages Thinking about putting 3 or 4 loops of pex in the Pour of concrete, then build or buy some type of exchanger and heat the floor. Thoughts?
Welcome Ggg3988 I live in Western WA and do hobby ironwork in a home shop also. I have a past co-worker who did his house floors with pex and two hot water heaters and it works great. A small hot water heater and pump might work wonders. It would certainly frost proof the shop and provide a jump start for wood heat. You could also put in a hot and cold deep sink. Insulate the perimeter of the slab as well as the structure. I would also install a drain/blow down in the system in case of prolonged power outages. Map out the floor piping well so you don't hit it when installing floor anchors for your equipment!