I know it is July! I want to build a wood store for my barn and want to get started soon before the summer is over. I have a 1500 sq foot barn with 20' ceilings. I just got done insulating and putting in large fans to help keep the heat down. What I am looking for is any info or even better a set of plans to build a wood stove. I want to put in larger logs and produce enough heat to keep space warm enough to work in the winter. I can go and buy the plate steel and build this thing myself ( I hope). Northern tool has one for around $1300 so hoping to build it for less. The wood will come from all the land clearing I did this summer. I have been stock piling logs. I will also need a spliter but thats another issue. Any ideas or even better a set of plans would be great. :drinkup
Maybe you could mod these plans to take wood as well: http://www.wasteoilplans.com/ But it seems to me a radiant heat/indirect system would be most efficient....rather like the hot water systems installed in the old wood stoves...except you use the heated water for shop heating. Much more complicated I suppose More waste oil heater plans here: http://forums.makezine.com/comments.php?DiscussionID=1830 There is some stuff on Ebay http://search.ebay.com/heater-wood-...nace-outdoor-wood-heater-corn-stove_W0QQfsiZ1 There is an interesting discussion/hints/tips in this site: http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/how-install-chimney-wood-heater-53229-2.html
We had one in our garage (22'x50'x12'), was made out of plate steel (2.5'x2.5'x4.5'), ran 4 - 2.5" tubes across the top above the baffle plate that were open to the outside, ran a 3"x2" channel down one side with a small blower on it to blow air through the tubes. Would get it 85+ in that garage in the dead of winter and have to work in short sleeves. Aerosal cans were great to through in there when you had someone new in the garage.
You can buy a kit to make a stove out of barrels. I would get the one that uses two barrels about $120 + barrels. Now for the part no one does, in the top barrel you cut matching holes in each end then weld exhaust tubing in to connect the ends. Then hookup the fan to blow through the tubes, it increases the heat output. My brother heated his uninsulated 40' x 80' cinder block shop w/ 20' ceiling with one of these home built heaters. Even when it was below zero the heater could keep it in the 80's. If you have access to wood, it's the cheapest route.
I might add that there is moves afoot Down Under to ban all traditional wood heaters from homes in urban areas due to the smoke and CO2 hazard.
Jmac, at a shop I use to work at we built our own wood stove out of plate steel.(3/16 or 1/4 IIRC) It was basically a steel box within a steel box, with only the face being common between them(for the door) Air was forced between them by a squirrel cage and then into ductwork. It appearantly wasn't a good design, as we constantly had problems with the steel cracking due to the expansion when heated. We'de weld it up and it would just crack again. The steel also became bowed out from the heat. If you can get plans for a "tried and true" design, I go with them. I'd hate to see you build something and have troubles like we did. Good Luck!
http://www.aqua-therm.com/?gclid=CJa-j8K_hY0CFRPdPgod0h5mpA
Thanks for the advice guys, I thought about the waste oil route but they burn about a gallon an hour so you have to produce a lot of waste oil. I am thinking about checking with my local stove store and see what they have. The reason for wood is that I have so much of it to get rid of. Can anyone post a set of plans of PM them to me. Or how about a photo? The 14 x 14 overhead door get installed next week so have to focus on that but heat is next. I did a lot of work so far on the barn this summer. Had a 2nd story 10' from the floor supported by 18" steel "I" beams that we took down and framing the 14' door was a challenge. The walls are block and the roof is a gambrel roof. Doing all the work from a lift took some getting used to. I had some help from my friends for this work, worked quite a few nights till 3am getting it done. Cost me a lot of beer. :drinkup