[TheForge] Wood Stove for Shop heat

[Jerry Frost]

Exactly. The recent corn stove is an adaptation of the 
pellet stove. Selecting the right size stove for your 
situation holds no matter what you heat with. Choosing 
the right size stove isn't about area alone, you have 
to take into account insulation, windows, exposure, 
climate, including and especially wind, number of 
stories, etc.

The first time I saw a pellet stove it was sitting in 
the living room cold, in mid-winter. I asked why they 
weren't heating with it and they told me it was only 
for when the power went out. I tried to be diplomatic 
about pointing out the illogic of it all, they were 
good friends of my parents but not only didn't they see 
their mistake they got rather PO'd. They figured it out 
a couple years later during a prolonged power failure 
and bought a generator.

Some years ago I did a little cyphrin and discovered 
they were just as cost effective as a regular wood 
stove if you buy cord wood. Considered with the cost of 
fuel the easier handling and very clean burn, (low 
maintenance) and they aren't a bad choice. Provided of 
course you have reliable power.

When I was researching stoves last spring I ran across 
a few schemes for making pellet stoves easier to light. 
The ones that come to mind now are the propane lighter 
and the head shakingly silly sounding electric element 
lighter. A small propane burner to preheat everything 
and get the pellets going properly makes good sense 
but. . . Electric?

If I could rent a decent wood chipper, like the one at 
work which takes 14" dia. trees without trouble, I'd 
build a stoker, wood chip furnace for the shop and 
maybe the house. Unfortunately all I can rent are 
nothing more than brush chippers that choke on 6" 
sticks.

I think the shop and house would look cool with a big 
old silo standing next to them. heck, I'd build a nice 
comfy room on top so we could watch the northern lights 
and sunsets in comfort. <grin>

Frosty
-------------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.

http://www.artmetalradio.com/

From: "Jim Beard" <regionalchaos at gmail.com>



> Pellet stoves can burn a lot of different types of 
> material though..
> I've heard of people using things like walnut or 
> filbert shells.  A
> good option if you happen to live on or near an 
> orchard I guess.  My
> parents had a wood stove for a long time, then 
> switched to a pellet
> stove.  After about 4 years of the pellet stove they 
> switched back to
> the wood stove.  The pellet stove was too hot for the 
> house!  Not only
> that but it is such a pain to turn on and off, that 
> you more or less
> want to turn it on once for the season.  I remember 
> in the winters
> when we would have the sliding glass door in the 
> living room cracked
> open to let some of the heat out!
>
> Jim
> Eugene, OR
>
> On 1/25/07, craig.schaefer at verizon.net 
> <craig.schaefer at verizon.net> wrote:
>> Even pellet stoves aren't a good idea at this point 
>> in time out west.  There is a pellet shortage.
>> Never did understand the pellet stove idea.  Tying 
>> your heating needs to a wood-product burning stove 
>> that needed electricity to burn a manufactured wood 
>> just didn't seem like a good use of materials......
>>
>> CraigS
>> Gresham, OR
>>