Wood stove plans

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My gas bill is going to be outrageous this winter so I was thinking of being more self sufficient. making a door and the stand would be easy but the size and shape might be important for efficiency. It would seem that welding up a 2' cube out of 1/4" plate would do the trick but that seems too easy. Also the insulated flue pipe that is recomended is really expensive. Does anyone have any alternatives? I searched for this topic but didn't come up with much.Thanks
Reply:i built a small unit for my shop out of 16ga with 8" vent pipe that works very well, it has good combustion and puts a good amount of heat out. i have a small blower fan i mounted over the top of it to blow air over the hot top plate making it like a forced air system.StangnetShop Full Of Stuff. Joey
Reply:Soul-tez, welcome to the forum!  How big an area you trying to heat? What kind of wood you be using? My buddy at work made his own stove and uses pressed-log and does pretty good. His house is kinda small(900sq) but he only uses3-4 logs a day when its fairly cold(25-35) O.K. I know thats not really cold but its cold enough-- The logs are about a foot long and cost about a buck. His stove is pretty small too, if I remember right(REF; Halbrit, beer research)    I think its 20w x 18h x 12 deep but I can find out for sure tomorrow if you want
Reply:My place is only about 1000 Sq'. I'm only trying to suppliment my furnace. I'll be burning hardwood. My brother lives near a pallet plant that sells scraps for $10.00 a truck load. The flue is what worries me the most. I want something safe and cheap. The supervent that lowes sells near me is about $20.00 per foot.Thanks for the info
Reply:The big problem I see with just having a 2' cube is you can't blow air directly out of it into your house, cause you'd smoke yerself out.  Maybe you could make a cube outside of the cube to act as a heat chamber.  I would think insulated flue pipe would be very important any time it was passing through the structure in any way (like your roof).  Once you got past that, I'm pretty sure that just about any pipe would work as long as you had a way to hold it up where you needed it.  I know one guy that used regular old duct pipe held up by a piece of angle iron.  Of course, if your stove were outside, you wouldn't need insulated flue pipe at all.  One rule of thumb that I've heard a lot is that your flue should extend above the peak of your house so that embers coming out of it don't ignite dry leaves on your roof.You might want to look at your homeowners policy too.  I've heard that some companies won't insure houses at all with wood stoves and some charge higher premiums.Just some ideas.  I'm no expert.TEK:  Do you think you could get some pictures of that stove of your buddy's?  I'd kinda like to get some ideas too.
Reply:I did something a little different last year. I built a 5x7 metal sided building behind my house about 6 feet away. I put a forced air woodburner in it. I sealed it with foam and insulated it. I ran the 8" heat duct into the house and a cold air return from the house back into the building and put an elbow on it so the return is right at the blower cage. I used 300 gal. fuel oil last year. The pipes to and from the house are not insulated. It was a quick setup in October to see if it worked. It did a great job. I have to go outside to fire it up, but that is ok. A great way to get awake on the cold winter mornings. This doesn't hurt my home insurance because I don't have a woodburner in my house. The building being all metal with little 2x4 frame leaves very little to burn if nothing at all. Hope this helps.jcooper
Reply:jerrymat, give me a day or two and I'll get all the stuff.
Reply:A couple of notes of interest, unlined chimneys stay cool near the top and quickly fill with creosote as it is warm moisture laden unburnt smoke  condensing on the cold steel. Having a small structure near your house ios ok as long as the flu exceeds  10 feet from the house in the closest proximity to any part of it. Also make sure there are no flamable materials laying near the stove building like dead grass , dry leaves etc. Even with a spark arestor on the top of the flue small cinders that are glowing tend to sneak out and are hot enough to ignite dry material. Building a really hot fire for about an hour  , with the flue/damper wide open, will burn any residual creosote in the chimney. You will have to check it weekly though if you go with unlined pipe. I was in the woodstove buisness for ten years and swept chimneys also have seen the results of cobbled up systems. A chimney fire goes from regular stack temperature of 250 to up to 3500 degrees in less then 30 seconds causing most snapped together single wall pipe to pop loose at the seams. If you go with single wall pipe make sure you use stainless steel screws every 12 inches through the seams to eliminate this from happening. Screw the conection  joints together with three screws also. With the building connected to the house with a vent pipe for the hot air the insurance company can balk on payment due to a fire even if its not from the heater. They are always looking for reasons not to pay off a large claim. I have installed over 1000 stoves in the past years so I have seen every type of installation there is and then some, If you have any question you can email me off list. hope this helps.
Reply:It sounds like I should get a windmill or solar panels. Maybe I'll look at pellet stoves. The wife likes to go by the book.Thanks
Reply:http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_...earth/me5.htmlHere is you an instruction manual for making a waste oil stove....I am planning a small one of these as a project with my son.Smithboy...if it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'.
Reply:Hi Guys,..... I'm New here,..... Actually,... I signed up awhile ago,+ am now getting around to posting,......These are some of My work,......This 1 is a woodstove I built for a friend's Great Room at his lodge,........Trouble is,.... It's Huge,+ he Sold the place before we even moved it in.........This 1 here is my current project,....An Outdoor Wood Boiler,.......That's 80' of 2"X4"X1/4" box tubing welded inside for added Heatexchange..........The heat has to go up against these tubes,.. to either end,.. around the tubes,+ back to near center to excape the smokepipe.........I spent today fitting in the Doorframe,.....Once I get the outer tank sewn back up around the doorframe,... I can start Pressure Testing to see where my welds are Leaking,........It'll be a 12lb Pressure System when it's done........
Reply:Looks good Bondo,thats the answer up here in new england. do you have any inside pics? or plans i can peak at?Last edited by leaves and lawns; 11-03-2005 at 06:34 PM.
Reply:do you have any inside pics? or plans i can peak at?
Reply:inside the stove pics-or just some more pics of the stove-looks great
Reply:You Got'em,.......I'll grab the camera tonite,+ Snap a few for you.......
Reply:Here you Go,........Good Luck.........................
Reply:Ok-thats the ticket-just needed to see inside. thanks man.