[TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT

[Ralph Sproul]

Hi Mike,  I was very dissappointed this winter.  I locked all the doors,
insulated them, went in and out of just one door, covered the windows in
plastic, and kept the thermostat at 40 at night and 52-55 during the day
...........and really tried to keep the heat to it all winter to see if it
would make a difference........and I just could NOT afford it and turned it
off and dawned my insulated coveralls in March.   I gave it an honest try -
but it just ain't gonna happen unless I can get an outside boiler to heat
this place on free wood - but for the time it takes to load the boiler.

My shop has 6 inch insulation in all the walls, and a frost wall foundation
tight to the walls, and 9 inches of insulation in the ceiling - it's
frustrating as hell, as I was really comfortable for $150 to 225 per month
for the past three winters......but this last one when our dollar fell so
bad was killer.  I found heating it full time was way worse than turning it
on each time I came in.........even with all the improvements I made.  It
was less drafty, nice and workable - but just plain unaffordable with the
high price of propane now.

The thing that really scares me with the wood heat in the shop - is four of
my friends have lost their shops to fire in the past three years.   All at
night - due to chimney fires.  This is making me head in the outside boiler
direction as I just can't afford enough insurance for full replacement
value - last time I checked it was $4 per hundred.  Afraid I just don't make
that kind of profit - like they do.

The house I feel comfortable heating with wood like we always have - as
there are nice masonry chimneys and we keep things clean and run hot fires
before closing them down at night.  To run slow burning stoves all night
with huge fireboxes thru metal pipe like most shops are set up is too risky
to me - and I'm not going to spend 10 grand on a masonry chimney to heat
with like the house has.

I figure I've worked outside and in cold shops for all but the past four
years of my life - so I'm going back to insulated coveralls or the boiler
project - if I can complete it by next Dec.  I'm sure next November's temps
will be motivational.   :-(

Ralph

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer at tallships.ca>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Monday, May 23, 2005 4:32 PM
Subject: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT


>
> Thanks for the numbers on your heating setup, Ralph.  It'll give me a
> starting point to ask questions here.  I expect to do something for
> heat in my 1200 sq. ft. shop this year.  Ten ft. ceiling and an upper
> story where Peggy has her looms.  We need to heat her 600 sq. ft. more
> than mine -- weaving is fiddly finger-work and/or sitting-down work)
> but it would be nice to have my space up to 50 (or at least 40)
> deg. F.  And I can't afford $400/mo propane bills either.
>
> Despite heating the house with wood, I don't want to go with an indoor
> wood stove in the shop.  Don't want oil.  Mumble.....mutter.
>
> On the original question, I found that a 50-gal oil drum wood stove
> would get my previous shop up to comfy (for all but fiddly little
> finger-work) in about four hours, starting with all that iron
> heat-sink at ambient -- say, 5 to 20 deg. F.  Interior walls but no
> insulation. If I'd had New England/N. Dakota outdoor temps of 20 to 40
> below, It would have been totally useless.  Our coldest spells here
> are c. -10 F. at night, 0 daytime.  Maybe 15 to 20 deg warmer
> than northern NH.
>
> - Mike
>
> --
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~.
>                                                            /V\
> mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^
>
> --
>
>
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