Wood Burner in Pole Barn

   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #1  

LouieJunior

Gold Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2012
Messages
490
Location
Moline, Illinois
Tractor
JD4052R Open Station
I have a 30 x 60 pole barn -- no electricity and it is open on one side. Corrugated metal siding with no insulation. I do have an endless supply of free firewood and am considering how I can heat my workspace while I am there. Are the Barrel heaters the best bet?
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #2  
I don't think you will accomplish much heating in that set up with a wood burner. You will have a place to warm your hands and feel some heat if you are standing close to the stove, but that's about all IMO.

It's more money, but if you want heat where you are working, one of those kerosene burners with a fan would be about as good as it gets. A generator to run it wouldn't have to be large or expensive. Here is one example that burns diesel too. The power is 120v, 230 watts, easy to supply with a small generator.

Heaters | Portable Gas, Propane & Kerosene | Munters JAZ 80 Mobile Direct Fired Diesel / Kerosene Heater SIAL20930101 77.7K BTU W/Wheels & Handle | B1191183 - GlobalIndustrial.com
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #3  
I had a 36x54 uninsulated pole shed in southern Wisconsin. On a rare day in the winter I went out and had to do something in it I would run my 155,000 BTU torpedo heater. Unless I stood right in front of the thing I would feel almost no heat. A wood heater wouldn't do anything except possibly make condensation, and that you probably wouldn't want either.

Consider insulating the thing, or possibly lay out a small corner where you will be working and hang tarps down around it. Then heat that small area with something. Then you would probably only be heating it while you would be working at that point in time.
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #4  
I had a 36x54 uninsulated pole shed in southern Wisconsin. On a rare day in the winter I went out and had to do something in it I would run my 155,000 BTU torpedo heater. Unless I stood right in front of the thing I would feel almost no heat. A wood heater wouldn't do anything except possibly make condensation, and that you probably wouldn't want either.

Consider insulating the thing, or possibly lay out a small corner where you will be working and hang tarps down around it. Then heat that small area with something. Then you would probably only be heating it while you would be working at that point in time.

At least you can aim the torpedo heater at your work area so you are in front of it, sort of in an envelope of warm air if the wind doesn't steal it. :laughing: Short of permanently insulating and closing in an area, I agree a tarp attached to the underside of the trusses and a few tarps hung like curtains around the work area would help some. That's not very portable though.

A barn that is open on one side with no ceiling and no insulation, well you may as well be standing in the open where at least you can feel the heat of the sun. You just won't accumulate any warm air in that space, even if one side wasn't open.
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #5  
I agree - without enclosing a space (the entire barn or some smaller unit of the barn) you will, essentially, be attempting to heat the world. A wood stove will have to work a long time to heat that entire barn even if you enclose the open side. Heat loss thru uninsulated metal siding will be huge.

If you use one of the "tornado heaters" in a smaller walled off space be certain there is proper air flow. Those things can "gas" you from fumes and oxygen deprivation. If you wall off a smaller space, hanging tarps, etc, look into a wood stove with a blower. They can heat an area a lot quicker than just a simple non-blower stove. I have a simple wood stove in my log cabin work shop and to increase the heating I put a stand alone fan behind the wood stove. The increased circulation of heat almost drives me out. My log cabin is 18x26 and far from being insulated.

On a cold winter day - outside being 20 deg F - my wood stove and fan will easily bring the inside temps to 65 within one hour.

Be safe--------
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #6  
No way, it will be like a candle in a wind storm!

My 70,000 BTU wood burner works hard to heat my 4,000 sq ft well insulated garage on a COLD cold day, muchless an open building!
 
   / Wood Burner in Pole Barn #7  
I have a 40ft x 80ft insulated workshop and use an old wood stove with circulating fans to heat it. It helps and on a -15C /0F day, it will keep the inside temperature at around 50F , but I burn quite a lot of wood to do it. So, out of need, I try not to do any work in the workshop during the winter - of course that never works and I sometimes have to spend several days down there.
The point I want to make is what other have already said - curtain the area you want to work in and then heat. It will help, but be prepared to spend a lot of money doing it. You might find deer and coyotes coming close for warmth when it is real cold :)
 
 
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