Workshop Stoves

[BradNaylor]

We got our workshop electricity bill yesterday and the difference between a summer quarter and and winter one is staggering. All the lights are on all day anyway so the difference can be explained only by the cost of heating. It looks like we are paying over £1,000 to heat the workshop during the cold months.

So, I've been having a look round and have found these.

http://www.workshopstoves.co.uk/workshopstoves.asp

By their calculations the biggest stove in their range would heat the workshop comfortably using our waste wood, savings, and sawdust. All for less than a grand including all the installation gear. On the face of it it's a no-brainer.

However, has anyone any experience of these type of stoves? What are the insurance implications? Do they work as well as they claim?

Any comments would be appreciated.

Cheers
Brad

 

[OLD]

There was a stove for sale on woodwork uk . com I have a similar type but the smallest, it works fine at first you are looking at it regularly but you get use to setting the air controls, burns every thing does not go out easily.

 

[Russ]

Yes, they do work very well, but never run it on just shavings/dust as it will burn like rocket fuel and the whole thing will glow red... You need to get the mix right using off-cuts otherwise you'll be building a new workshop and not a new cosy extension....

I managed to pickup a cheap s/h 18kw woodburner thats going to sort out the off-cuts and the shavings are being stored and will be made into pellets to heat the house, eventually...

Good luck

 

[woodbloke]

waste wood, savings, and sawdust.
Any comments would be appreciated.

Cheers
Brad

I should think tenners would burn quite well Dan :lol:...don't lob them in as a rolled up wad though, you need to put them in individually to get them to ignite properly - Rob

 

[eggflan]

Funny that this subject should come up in the middle of summer , myself and the wife were sat in the garden yesterday and i mentioned that i was going to look for a woodburner for the front room , she looked at me like i was mad :lol: until i pointed out that these things are cheaper to buy this time of year :wink:

Our house was built in 1832 so as you would expect we dont have cavity walls and the front of the house faces north into a field so we get the cold north wind all winter , the house can get so cold at the front (the back is always fine ) we have double glacing etc but the gas bills during the winter period are huge :shock:

I have a large chimeny in the back garden that i burn my offcuts in so my theory is get a stove for the front room and stock my offcuts for the winter months , i only need a small stove as the room is not that large and im sure it would pay for itself over one winter ..

Thanks for the reminder Brad ..

 

[bluezephyr]

They are good but the grate at the bottom will break up and if you have it glowing too long it will buckle as they are quite thin, Pot belly stoves are my favourite but the way they draw the air is useless for sawdust, the relax/hotspot style stoves tend to pop and fart a bit until you get the airflow just right.


And dont forget to put a fan in the roofspace, blow all the hot air down my old boss thought i was mad when i rigged up a 12v pc fan above my workbench until i proved it with a thermometer, quite a temperature difference, no point heating up the space above you

And the top of the stove is the ideal size for a Kettle/ frying pan too :wink:
Bacon butties on a friday morning

 

[pren]

I was considering getting a small stove for my workshop last year.

The thing that put me off was the thought of the sawdust in the air exploding as it gets ignited by the fire.

Is this a genuine concern? I guess proper dust extraction would help, but my shop does get awfully dusty when I'm sanding. :?

 

[bluezephyr]

Thats a bit of an extreme demo really, when i burn my sawdust it ignites as im throwing it on the fire, but you need alot to chuck on a fire to do this and make any sort of fireball.

 

[les chicken]

I have had a 6Kw hotspot stove for years in my workshop/non existent garage. The main thing is to only fill it up with sawdust when it is cold, fill it to the top and light with a fire lighter or paper. NEVER bung sawdust onto hot ashes, or if you must only to one side. The gasses need to burn from the top, so if you cover the flames with sawdust as the gasses ignite it tends to blow the lid off.
I usually fill it up with sawdust light it and let it burn to warm the shop and then top up with offcuts for the rest of the day.
I calculated when I bought it £220 against a 3KW electric heater that the payback was about 10 months, the hotspot is about 5 years old but is on it's second flue system. I would recommend buying the vitreal flue as they last longer than galvanized.
The dry and constant heat it gives out keeps the cast iron happy and wonderful for keeping an old kettle whistling.

Les

 

[Alan Smith]

I would agree with Les's coments above. Don't stint on the flue. I burned out a galvanised 8" flu in a year despite being careful to control the heat of the stove. Currently on a Stainless flu with a better stove and much happier with this.

The other tip is to make sure you clear out ALL the ashes in the summer months and open up all the air vents or leave the lid off. Wood ash seems to be slightly hygroscopic and soaks up moisture and will rust the bottom out in no time.

 

[DMD]

One of my pet subjects, the stove, has to be a Romesse, a large heavy cast iron chunk of a thing but i have had tortoises and this is superior. Can be increased in size by adding collars. not sure if they are made any more, bought mine for £65 some years back. Now the art of keeping the stove lit all winter without going out. So at night put in some chunks, i use reclaimed timber so have offcuts like pallet blocks to pile in, but in layers. in between a mix of wood ash and sawdust and wetted so it keeps in place and does not 'take off'. if i need to it will glow from Friday pm to Mon am. I also encase the stove with bricks as a heat sink and fire break. big workshop and have to keep it on low otherwise i overheat.

 

[big soft moose]

theres a guy near silverdale who specialises in making workshop stoves out of gas bottles - i'll see if i can find the link

edit:yer tis

http://www.stonecarve.com/woodburners.html

its only a woodburner rather than a sawdust burner but its easy to make briquets out of saw dust and newspaper.

 

[Streepips]

I had one of those workshop stoves until last year, then gave it away. They are fine for burning waste but useless as a heat source.
I bought a 15kw cast iron stove instead, about 345 quid and it burns coal/wood either and the mass of the iron is a heatstore, the burn control is superior and its just far better all round. and it will last longer, the workshop stoves are thin metal and as mentioned are prone to rust.
I bought an 8x4 sheet of galvy steel to line the wall behind the stove as well, reflects a lot of heat into the room that otherwise would just be warming an outside wall.
Pay attention to the flu. bigger = better and minimum bends and angles. and you MUST use the insulated section where it goes outside or the cold air chills the stack and the smoke/fumes lock up and the workshop will fill with smoke...

 

[PAC1]

Brad

I have had one of these for 8 years now. It gives off plenty of heat. however you need to light it an hour before you start as they do take time to move the temperature the first few degrees.

I have not had a rust problem with mine the stove is as good as new. I had to replace the grate last year as they do take some punishment. It cost me 18.00.

It is worth thinking carefully about its location and if against the wall as someone suggested place some reflective material behind the flue. I put a large paving slab below and behind mine. the one below is just to try to keep ash from spreading everywhere. The one behind acts as a big heat sink and continues to give off heat hours after the stove is out.

If you are going to burn your offcuts of mdf a couple of points to consider are, first mdf burns very well and very hot, second I am not sure how healthy the smoke is from mdf i.e. does it contain all those nasty carcinogens?

lastly try not to burn too much softwood as it tars up the flue very quickly. I clean my flue every year.

 

[MIGNAL]

I'm fairly certain that your insurance company will want to know. It's probably best to contact them and see what the implications are. I suspect that some won't want to insure, especially if naked flames and workshop are mentioned in the same sentence.