Thoughts on a pellet stove for a large shop

[therrien]

I'm at the point where I need to put some heat in my new shop. I have plenty of wood that I could use but I am also looking at pellet stoves. I don't know much about them, but I like the Idea of being able to load up and not have to worry about it for a couple days. I'm not trying to keep it 85 degrees in there but would like to keep the shop 50/60 degrees so that my machines stay happy, and my pipes don't freeze.
It seems no one builds a stove that doesn't have a glass door on it. I don't care about looks or sitting around watching a fire burn, I just want the heat. I could build a stove and it may lead to that, but time is getting short, and my shop is still not all the way tooled up yet. I know I couldn't afford gas or electric and I don't generate enough used oil to keep a waste oil burner going so my options are limited. Just looking for ideas about the pellet burning stoves. The idea of not having to have a full-blown chimney appeals to me because they just vent through the wall.

Many towns go by National fire code which states No solid fuel burning devices in garages. No wood stoves. Pellet stoves can get tricky because of how they are defined as solid pellet fuel burning device. Does your shop hold vehicles? Is it a garage?
I put a pellet stove in my garage legally with outside combustion air but it takes a long time to heat the garage. I wish I put a ceiling mount propane heater in with outside combustion air with a similar through the wall chimney. A friend has one and the heat is fast and More controllable. Less work also.

 

[MattB4]

Where is the "snake oil" in the MASS?

View attachment 826430

The snake oil is that a mass gives you more heating than not having a mass. People conveniently forget that warming that mass up takes energy. Heating a space is all about heat transfer.

 

[mx842]

Is the shop insulated??
My shop is 57X45,, and up to 22 feet high,,

I modified a "Papa Bear" type stove to "SUPERCHARGE" it,,
That stove does almost zero towards heating my shop.

Two big wheelbarrows of dry hardwood (like oak),, will raise the shop temp maybe 10degrees F,,

My shop is all steel walls, but, I do have six inches of ceiling insulation.
I insulated the ceiling to keep out summer heat,, that was successful.

My stove mod was to create a lower chamber to allow the stove to have air fed under the wood.
It probably doubled the BTU output.

I've been looking for big wood stoves but haven't had much luck. Everything I've seen on Craigs list and marketplace is rather junky and I don't like anything new I've seen in my searches. Right now, I'm thinking to just do something to get by for a while and maybe build something later on as time permits.
I have this big piece of pipe that's 30" round and 6' long that I've been thinking about building something out of. This pipe has 3/4" thick walls. I'm thinking about standing it on end and putting some kind of grate at the bottom with a door for cleanout. Then at the top I'll take about a foot of space and use that as a dead space that will collect heat and put some kind of fan to blow hot air out and into the room. I'm thinking of putting a thin sheet of SS plate with a bunch of holes like what's inside most of these new-fangled stoves they are building today, right under the heat exchanger. My thinking is that if I can get that ss sheet hot enough it might burn off some of the smoke and gases before it goes up the stove pipe. This is just a though, but I am collecting parts to maybe someday build it.

 

[David in KY]

The snake oil is that a mass gives you more heating than not having a mass. People conveniently forget that warming that mass up takes energy. Heating a space is all about heat transfer.

Given the same fire/ BTUs, the RMH keeps more (MUCH MORE) heat inside the space, instead of directly out of the chimney. That's not snake oil nonsense as you previously alluded.

 

[Snobdds]

The snake oil is that a mass gives you more heating than not having a mass. People conveniently forget that warming that mass up takes energy. Heating a space is all about heat transfer.

Keep in mind, there are three was to transfer heat.
Convection, conduction, and radiation.

Don't show us your blind spot.

Radiant heat may take longer to warm up, but it also takes less energy to maintain that same output. I can heat my shop with 70* water all winter and have everything inside 60*. I can open the doors for an hour and only drop a degree.

 

[D&D]

I've been looking for big wood stoves but haven't had much luck.

Outdoor boiler with fan coil units inside ?

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[mx842]

Many towns go by National fire code which states No solid fuel burning devices in garages. No wood stoves. Pellet stoves can get tricky because of how they are defined as solid pellet fuel burning device. Does your shop hold vehicles? Is it a garage?
I put a pellet stove in my garage legally with outside combustion air but it takes a long time to heat the garage. I wish I put a ceiling mount propane heater in with outside combustion air with a similar through the wall chimney. A friend has one and the heat is fast and More controllable. Less work also.

I won't deny that those propane shop heaters will do a good job. We had one in another shop and I liked it. But that was when you could get a 300 gallon tank filled for a little over a hundred bucks. Now it would probably take at least $800 to fill one up. They do heat well but they burn a lot of fuel in doing it.
My shop is not a car shop it's pretty much a sheet metal shop. I wouldn't say that I would never work on my truck or the wife's car every once in a while, but then it would only be to change the oil of rotate some tires, but I don't see me leaving anything like that for any period of time because I don't have the spare room.

 

[rob in ore]

I put a used pellet stove in my shop/garage. It's an insulated, 3 car garage with a 10 foot ceiling. I was able to add a pipe to draw combustion air from outside so have less concern about gas and paint vapors igniting. I've been very happy with it although here in western Oregon I only need it occasionally.

 

[Jchonline]

I also put in a minisplit in my shop. Very cheap to heat. DIY MrCool 240v. Easy install.

 

[MattB4]

Given the same fire/ BTUs, the RMH keeps more (MUCH MORE) heat inside the space, instead of directly out of the chimney. That's not snake oil nonsense as you previously alluded.

But it doesn't. People delude themselves. In fact not enough heat leaving means that combustion gasses build up on exhaust spaces. Rocket mass stoves are no better and some cases much worse at heating a space. But you will never convince the true believers.