[TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT

Mon May 23 21:26:58 EDT 2005

Ralph,
One of the more efficient wood boilers is made by a company 
call Charmaster, in Grand Rapids, MN.  Perhaps you can do 
search and get some design tips to incorporate in yours.
-Rick

---- Original message ----
>Date: Mon, 23 May 2005 20:52:23 -0400
>From: "Ralph Sproul" <brhlbsmt at mcttelecom.com> 
>Subject: Re: [TheForge] Re: Heating with woodstove OT  
>To: <mspencer at tallships.ca>, "Sponsored by ABANA" 
<theforge at mailman.qth.net>
>
>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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Rick Korinek
Emerald City Forge
46 Joseph Road
Framingham, MA  01701
508.320.7425