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Post by stephen2017 on Nov 13, 2017 9:22:42 GMT -8
Hello Everyone,
Thank you all for your generous sharing of information and help.
I have recently moved into a new (to me) home with a 900sq.ft. workshop/garage. It is a pole building with some insulation. Not much though.
I started working in the shop a few weeks ago and quickly came to the conclusion that the space is not usable this time of year without some kind of heat. Temps have been running 30F-40F in the morning when I go out to try and work.
I had looked at RMH options a few years ago as an option to heat the home that I lived in at the time. I loved the efficiency of the rocket and the understanding (misunderstanding?) that I could vent the exhaust horizontally. Unfortunately my home at the time did not lend itself to installing a RMH.
Now I am looking at rockets again to heat my shop. I bought "The Book" and have read through it and am confused. As I understand it, the book says that rockets are not well suited to space heating yet I see many people here doing just that.
Also, I am getting the impression that horizontal venting may not work.
I am hoping that you all can help me get pointed in the right direction?
What I need:
An affordable method of warming my workspace above 50F during the day. Hopefully closer to 60F.
Exhaust that is not visible from the street. I have a 6' fence around the yard.
A proven and reasonably simple design to build. I would love to experiment but right now I have an immediate need for heat so that I can use the space.
A reasonably small footprint as I don't have a ton of "extra" space. I do have a high ceiling and have seen a batch rocket with 3 x 55 gallon barrels stacked.
I don't mind having to tend fire through the day and I do need fairly quick heat.
Also, I lean towards ceramic fiber board & vacuum formed tubes for construction. Not a must have just a preference.
Can you all offer some recommendations? Perhaps a documented build that may fit my needs that I can follow?
Thanks
Stephen
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Post by Orange on Nov 13, 2017 9:33:04 GMT -8
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Post by peterberg on Nov 13, 2017 13:29:34 GMT -8
Hi Stephen, welcome to the boards. It's perfectly possible to build a shop heater for your purpose. That could be the three barrel tower, but luckily there are other people who tried similar setups. A good start would be the website uzume-asso.org/index.html. It's in French but google translate could take care of that. Those people have designs which can be used under a Creative Commons license, one of those is a 6" version of a heater with very little mass which is simpler to be build than my three barrel tower. Please see uzume-asso.org/batchrocket_plans.html#sidewinder_bidon_1500W. It's built out of fire bricks and a ceramic fibre riser but the riser could be also built of bricks. Of course this heater can't work properly without a half decent chimney but as far as I know it is able to run outside with a 3m (10') bare pipe connected to it as chimney stack. This bidon heater need to have a door and a floor channel in order to run safely, but these steel parts doesn't need to be complicated since it's a shop heater, not a showroom piece.
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Post by stephen2017 on Nov 13, 2017 17:40:24 GMT -8
Hi Stephen, welcome to the boards. It's perfectly possible to build a shop heater for your purpose. That could be the three barrel tower, but luckily there are other people who tried similar setups. A good start would be the website uzume-asso.org/index.html. It's in French but google translate could take care of that. Those people have designs which can be used under a Creative Commons license, one of those is a 6" version of a heater with very little mass which is simpler to be build than my three barrel tower. Please see uzume-asso.org/batchrocket_plans.html#sidewinder_bidon_1500W. It's built out of fire bricks and a ceramic fibre riser but the riser could be also built of bricks. Of course this heater can't work properly without a half decent chimney but as far as I know it is able to run outside with a 3m (10') bare pipe connected to it as chimney stack. This bidon heater need to have a door and a floor channel in order to run safely, but these steel parts doesn't need to be complicated since it's a shop heater, not a showroom piece. Thank you Peter. As far as space constraints and simplicity that looks pretty good for my application. I am having a bit of trouble understanding the translated version. Have you seen any builds of this version documented in English? Regarding the chimney, I could have sworn that I read that rocket stoves "push" the exhaust out and do not rely on the chimney draw like a conventional wood stove. I remember reading of folks that ducted RMH exhaust straight out the wall with no proper chimney. What am I missing here? Could it have been something that they tried and wrote about a few years ago and then found that it did not work? That is a big deal for me. I am in a circumstance where, if noticed, I may have to remove the heater. Thank you again for your replies. Stephen
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Post by wiscojames on Nov 13, 2017 19:18:57 GMT -8
Your guess is right. Venting out the wall may have worked for someone somewhere, but a chimney is needed to make these work. Luckily for a stealth installation, this type of a heater should produce minimal visible smoke.
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Post by satamax on Nov 14, 2017 1:03:16 GMT -8
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Post by peterberg on Nov 14, 2017 1:11:05 GMT -8
Regarding the chimney, I could have sworn that I read that rocket stoves "push" the exhaust out and do not rely on the chimney draw like a conventional wood stove. I remember reading of folks that ducted RMH exhaust straight out the wall with no proper chimney. What am I missing here? Could it have been something that they tried and wrote about a few years ago and then found that it did not work? It did work in some circumstances, yes. In a situation where the entire winter the wind is coming from one direction, the house just one storey high. No openings whatsoever above the chimney outlet which is right under the eaves. Even the top of the door and the windows are lower than the chimney end, the roof is done with a pond liner. Just a horizontal outlet like a laundry vent won't work at all, a vertical piece is really necessary and the end of the pipe need to be higher than any other opening in the house, however small. When your situation is or can be made exactly following all these rules it might or might not work the right way. When you think it's worth the trouble you could try but I won't put my money on it. I haven't seen any of those builds being ducumented in English. Just load the drawing, take the thing apart brick by brick and recreate that in reverse in your shop is what I would do. A small drawing where the street is and the shape of the roof of the workshop would help.
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kpl
New Member
Posts: 47
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Post by kpl on Nov 14, 2017 2:52:35 GMT -8
If it's a workshop, most probably, there is power available. Then chimney fan can be installed, which should solve this problem. I like the design of that 1500W heater, was going to build one just like that, but with only one barrel and much higher brick portion, to get a bit more heat mass. But it's already winter, again Current "deom turbo 4" will have to work one more season.
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Post by peterberg on Nov 14, 2017 7:29:53 GMT -8
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Post by briank on Nov 14, 2017 17:21:32 GMT -8
In cases where there is marginal chimney draft due to height, I think this might help: www.drawcollar.com/It heats the immediate area of the flue to several hundred degrees F and keeps it there via thermostat, and can be left on 24/7 to eliminate back drafts when the stove is cold, but the cheapest I've found one so far is $280. This type of heater for heating pipes, if wrapped around a section of stove pipe and covered with ceramic blanket, would probably accomplish the same effect at less than half the cost: www.omega.com/pptst/HTWAT.htmlA cheap option is to install a clean out T stove pipe and put a fire starter in the clean out cap to preheat the flue and induce better draft at start up.
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Post by stephen2017 on Dec 12, 2017 14:52:38 GMT -8
That is a great build thread. If I can overcome my chimney issue That may be a winner. Regarding the "flue boosters" mentioned above; would they need to be run whenever the heater is fired or just when initially starting the fire? Thank you Everyone for your help & suggestions. Stephen
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Post by woodburner on Dec 28, 2017 1:06:00 GMT -8
Once you have heated the flue it should perform without power to the heated collar. Most flues work without this at all. When I light oil vapourising cookers I sometimes use a blowlamp played over the flue pipe to warm it up if there is insufficient draught.
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