The Barrel Stove Thread

Under the door. It's there.

 

You can see the door in this pic.

 

Keep your eyes open for old Pressure water tanks. Try to avoid Galvanized versions but the sidewalls are normally at least 1/8" thick. Dad made his up and used an old coal furnace door for an opening. It's been his heat source for 40 years now with no issue. Oil Furnace has not been used.





Total cost. Flue pipe, welding rod and electric to put together.

 

That's an interesting exhaust setup.

 

All I know is it works VERY well. That stove will cook you out of the house and takes about 6 cord a year in Ohio. The flue design is an easy clean. Normally twice a heating season he cleans it by taking out 2 screws and lifting the whole horizontal section off and out of the house. Tap the end and buildup falls out. Looks like black snow crystals when it builds up. Chimney stays completely clean. First few years he put a light at bottom and no build up so didn't clean. After 15 years he decided to do it and got about a handfull after a 1 hour of us running a cleaner up and down. All I know is it extremely well matched system for his needs. Wood is stored from an outside fed storage. You can see the door in the wall. Holds about 3/4 of a cord and keeps the bugs and dirt out of the house and they don't hatch before it's too late.

 

I am impressed!

 

I'm afraid of putting too much wood in my barrel stove as it will cook me out of the garage. Huge capacity for wood.

 

Well...ummm...there's no A/C setting on the thing, and I didn't see a refrigerant compressor or evaporator...

 

Oh yeah....well, just bought sand and firebrick for layering the bottom inside. I've already had it going outside several times before it found it's resting spot inside the garage. I just need to buy the vertical piping, flashing and other supplies and schedule a time with my BIL to help install as I want his advice (he installed his own). We're probably a month or two out yet from actual use if the stove as I am pretty busy splitting wood and ensuring wife is OK and kids occupied or at school + FT job. Wife is on short-term disability from work for gall bladder infection so being more careful with money than usual. Removal surgery scheduled soon. Life might get back to normal by April/May. I'm looking forward to my first real burn!

 

Can anyone elaborate on the benefits/drawbacks of the two barrel setup. I think I understand it, but want to hear it from someone with first-hand knowledge of the "why"...

 

For some reason I can't see your pictures so I don't know what you have exactly. The 2 barrel gives off a lot more heat than a single. Second barrel becomes a big heat radiator if you will. Don't load it way up your first few times. I'd suggest working your way up. Once fired, close to air intake if it has one. We had a "true" double barrel stove(using 55 gallon drums) in the shop where I used to work. It did fine in there but you had to watch putting Osage in it as it would make the sides glow red. Metal is just SO thin. Keep it away from anything flammable naturally and away from the walls.

 

Here's another that may be of interest to you. Dad made this one up from a tank or water heater that someone dumped along side of the road years ago. He used a circular saw with a metal cutting blade and cut a square out of the top for a door opening. Then welded strap around the cut out piece for a flange. Some other scraps for legs, hinge and door latch. We did some "testing" on it to see if we could melt it. We fed in super dry cedar shingles and dry lumber scraps and left the door wide open. It was huffing and puffing and was creating such a draw it started to suck the sides in but did not fail. It's 1/8" thick steel. Came in about 4 inches on each side. It's in an old building now and still used in the winter to keep warm.





Not much to look at but it'll keep you warm!

 

The 2 barrels do heat much better, friend had one in his garage for many years and there was also a equipment rental business that had one......they had a pipe straight through the upper barrel, end to end, with a blower attached, worked well.

 

I am going to try my one barrel setup this next fall and winter. It's not a huge garage and I'm honestly more concerned with being too hot than being too cold. These barrel stoves hold a lot of wood and can throw off immense amounts of heat. The last thing I want to do is cook myself out of the garage on a cold day. If I can get to 60° F in the dead of winter and find a system to keep me right there in the zone and not much warmer, I'll be a very happy guy.