anyone ever build your own wood stove?

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I'm gathering parts to start building my own wood stove for heating my garage. I know about the double barrel kits. I'm not going that route, insurance reasons,  I'm building a forced air system that will sit outside my garage. I Plan on using propane tanks for my fire box and air chamber. I was just wondering if anyone has built their own wood burners or heaters for their garages?
Reply:I've built powder coating ovens and you want to use roxul mineral wool insulation. If I where you I'd use a radator and a radator fan as a heat exchanger and heat a watertank and use a pump to circulate water. Keep it simple, andd you have built in over preasure release with the cap!
Reply:Originally Posted by warnoI'm gathering parts to start building my own wood stove for heating my garage. I know about the double barrel kits. I'm not going that route, insurance reasons,  I'm building a forced air system that will sit outside my garage. I Plan on using propane tanks for my fire box and air chamber. I was just wondering if anyone has built their own wood burners or heaters for their garages?
Reply:Forced air outside the garage? Sounds like a fruitless endeavor.
Reply:Originally Posted by nomoreusmcI've built powder coating ovens and you want to use roxul mineral wool insulation. If I where you I'd use a radator and a radator fan as a heat exchanger and heat a watertank and use a pump to circulate water. Keep it simple, andd you have built in over preasure release with the cap!
Reply:Still sounds stupid to me.
Reply:You didn't say where your from.  Every one has told you right-- I can tell you from expierence, the forced are units, far enough away for the insurance co's, are wate of time, money, and materials.  They are extremly inefficiant.  Air is a very poor conductor of heat---lots of BTU's to get it up to temp and it looses temp fast.  You'll keep warm by feeding it wood.   If you go this route,  insulate, insulate, insulate!!!!!!!!!  And water proof.   An airtight combustion chamber, with a blower for combustion air--controlled by a "thermostat".  No need for firebrick all over the place--just in the lower area where the ashes and bottom of the fire is.  You want max heat transfer to the shell of the firebox.  You want as small a door as you can get--away from the heat to avoid warping and it has to be sealed, or you won't be able to throttle or control your fire.   If the LP tanks are over 1/4"  then it will take huge amounts of fire to get it hot enough to heat the surrounding air.    Hot water heat is hands down the absoulte best--bar none......  Just one more tidbit--you Do Not want a "boiler".   They are under pressure and one little malfunction---KABOOM!!!  Insurance co's= vultures that demand high premiums!!!   wildiron51It's Better To Remain Silent--And Be Thought A Fool,  Than To Open Mouth And Remove All Doubt!!!!!Lincoln Tig 300/300Ideal-arc 250Sp-125+Powermig 255LN-25Miller S-52eHobart DCC-353-pHobart 303Riland CT-416Oxy-act-LP
Reply:I built one about 30 years ago out of a 24" 1/4" wall pipe 4' long and used reject pressure vessel heads on the ends. I tacked 2 1/2 or 3" 16 gauge sheet metal ribs on it and then wrapped it in sheet metal that was riveted on. My teacher at school had the 24" pipe and went with me to get the heads and the school had a sheet metal shop. The interesting thing is I built it a few years after I finished school. I wasn't working at the time due to the recession and my welding teacher didn't mind me going to the school and working on some stuff with the rest of his class. I had an 18" exhaust fan I bought at an auction and mounted it on one end. When I have a good fire and the pipe is hot, you can't hold your hand in front of the other end with the fan on. The biggest problem is that wood only burns for about 2-2 1/2 hours till you need to fill it up again. I also have a sliding baffle on the chimney so once the fire is burning good, I can close it so the heat doesn't go straight up the chimney. It has to go around the ends of a plate the length of the pipe and then back to the middle where the chimney is. When adding wood and/or getting the fire lit, I leave the baffle open to get a better draft. I can also adjust it as necessary. People have said it looks like a jet engine. The idiot Realtor I had, when I sold my acreage, told the buyers the heater stayed in the garage when I clearly told her I'm taking it a couple weeks earlier. I wanted to punch her in the face when she told me that. Don't worry, I took the heater. If I made another one I'd change a few things and make it smaller and stand the pipe vertical. That way ALL the heat is concentrated and goes to the top. Keep in mind you won't get insurance with a home built heater.Last edited by Welder Dave; 01-11-2015 at 11:23 PM.
Reply:My firebox is 1/4" wall X 36" X 24" it should transfer heat fairly well.  I called my insurance copy before  collecting any materials. They told me as long as the fire is not inside it will be fine they will still insure me. Does anyone have any pics of their home built burners?
Reply:Originally Posted by mikecwikStill sounds stupid to me.
Reply:Dave, here is a pic of my shop heater with the door open and fire inside.  It's quite simple and I obtained the generic plans from some tree-hugger website.  It's made from a gas-fired water heater.   It's my first real project when I was trying to play 'MIG-Welder' a year or so ago.I'm sure it's not what you are looking for but I thought it was relevant to your topic.I really have no idea what I am doing.Two Shop Cats (not Bobcats...real cats)Miller DialArc 250 AC/DCScratch-Start TIG SetupMIG 175Plasma CutterO/A
Reply:There was a water build posted already in the past 2 weeks...Same opening "Homebuilt".Anyways, I have seen 2 of these Hot Air kinds.One old Farm house, I thought it was a water boiler till I stopped to look it over.30 feet of heavily insulated piping!Second one I ever saw was at a house known for chimney fires.He gave up and had one installed about 10 feet from the house.I think the footprint of that house may have been 30 by 30?
Reply:If nobody else says it you'll need to protect your firebox from the intense heat of fire. Water outdoor wood furnaces in some cases have thin fireboxes, while water is present, surface temperatures won't get above 210 D F. Air is a less effective coolant. In either case they aren't very efficient. People have other reasons to want them. You can use low quality fuel, it need not be processed as far. Safety is a factor.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:Well I have been leaning towards the hot water heat system. The more I research and realize how long it's going to take me to build this thing. I figure I can stretch my time and money throughout the summer for the build and be ready for next winter. I do hope someone can help me with some parts suggestions.  Is www.pexuniverse.com a good site to buy from? I found this pumphttp://www.pexuniverse.com/taco-007-f5-circulator-pumpthis tubinghttp://www.pexuniverse.com/bpr1030-1...ier-pex-tubingAnd this aquastathttp://www.pexuniverse.com/honeywell...A2007-aquastatAm I on the right track here for my outdoor system?Any help from anyone would be greatly appreciated.
Reply:Might look at the design of the wood fired furnaces that are getting more popular.  Tehy woudl be pretty simple to replicate.  Basically just a sheet metal box over the stove with fans.  http://vogelzang.com/index.php?route...product_id=126
Reply:These things (commercially built wood boilers) fail on a regular basis. The most common failure is rust. You need a corrosion inhibitor, many owners don't bother. Leaving ashes in the firebox when not in use rusts them out fast! Sometimes they freeze up and burst. I've heard of a dozen of them scrapped. If you can get your hands on one of these, and repair it it'd be cost effective.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:Here is one I made from a hot water heater. 3/8 plate steel top Attached Images
Reply:Originally Posted by jdbuckshotHere is one I made from a hot water heater. 3/8 plate steel top
Reply:Some people kind of said it but I'll go ahead and say it again. You need to be very wary of building your own wood stove for heating anything any more. Those nice little old insurance folks just love to deal with claims that involve home-built wood stoves. Does that mean that I wouldn't build one myself, No! It does mean that I would take every precaution in the design and installation that I could to prevent ever having something go wrong and cause a fire and I'd also consider every other factor in where it is installed, at the same time I would look into any electrical issues that might be present. Plainly and simply, if you have a wood stove that you have built and if you then have a fire, the insurance carrier might just weasel their way out of covering you.A lot of the folks on here can probably remember when there was first a big boom in the wood stove industry, wasn't too long after that the government and UL stepped in and this became an issue for those builders. This caused a large majority of the companies to bow out of the industry due to the high cost of getting a UL approval for a wood stove. There weren't any blanket approvals, each model had to be put through the paces in order to gain approval. I am not being a nay-sayer here, I am urging you to pay particular attention to your design and your installation to prevent even the slightest chance of having anything go wrong with your build. Don't cut any corners and pay close attention to requirements for double walled piping, set-back distances from walls, special shielding on walls, and anything else that UL approved stoves and local codes might include for a regular installation. Good luck on your build and best regards, Allanaevald
Reply:My friend designed a wood fired heat storage system. The wood boiler was to be in an old shack 75 ' from the house. He had several dozen 55 gallon drums in his cellar. the plan was to burn the furnace, circulating the water through the barrels till hot, then let the fire go out. Stored hot water would circulate through baseboard radiation controlled by a thermostat. His insurance company got wind of it. They didn't confront him on the invention, they notified him he was cancelled until his house was rewired. After rewiring, they then told him he couldn't have any systems that weren't tested and approved by an approved testing laboratory.An optimist is usually wrong, and when the unexpected happens is unprepared. A pessimist is usually right, when wrong, is delighted, and well prepared.
Reply:Keep your eyes pealed for somebody looking to downsize because they bought too big a unit.Then install that inside your shop.The efficiency losses of an outside furnace sending the heat indoors will more than cover the savings of building your own.Choose the safer path, please.Be wary of The Numbers: Figures don't lie,. but liars can figure.Welders:2008 Lincoln 140 GMAW&FCAW2012 HF 165 'toy' GTAW&SMAW1970's Cobbled together O/A