Woodburning stoves in Workshops

[Benchwayze]

Come on folks! Someone must know something about heating workshops with wood-burners.

Are there any prohibitions in any parts of the country?
Does it depend on where your workshop is situated with regard to your house? My main shop is an integral garage.
What about pollution?

Can anyone help please? I am becoming buried in offcuts, and it costs power to cut them into small pieces for the wheelie-bin... it costs money to take them to the council 'dump'...

Cheers and thanks in anticipation.
John (West Midlands)

 

[Anonymous]

We heat the house with offcuts and sawdust. Wouldn't waste it on the workshop.
There are plenty of wood-stove or multi fuel (more useful) sites if you google.
Otherwise if you put an ad on freecycle or somewhere, someone will be glad of all your wood waste.

cheers
Jacob

 

[wrightclan]

John,

If you contact your local council or stove supplier, they should be able to tell you if you are in a smoke control area. I don't know of anything in regards to where your workshop is in relation to house. Building regs govern the height of your chimney in relation to your roofline. There are stoves which are certified to burn wood in smoke-control areas. They are very expensive, mostly due to the expense of certification (many modern stoves could easily pass the certification but the manufacturers don't go to the expense of certification, mainly because their main market is outside smoke control areas.)

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll either answer, if I can recall the answer, or I'll point you in the right direction.

Brad

 

[ByronBlack]

I concur with grim about freecycle - full of well natured bin-dippers who'll gladly remove any old tat and toot you have to get rid of.

 

[wrightclan]

John,

This should help.

Brad

 

[Benchwayze]

Thanks for all that folks.

For Wrightclan, I do live in an uncontrolled area it seems.
So I could have a stove installed. Some folk around here, I am told, still burn coal.
However...
SWMBO has kyboshed it on safety grounds. She obviously doesn't trust me to damp-out the fire each night after use.
I wonder why? Well at 68, I suppose I could forget one day! I will continue to pay electricity bills for heating, even though I do leave the lights on sometimes!


Say No More.

I will contact some group that likes to recalim or re use timber.

Thanks folks for all the useful suggestions.

John

 

[Pecker]

Just to throw another spanner in the works. I looked into a "proper" wood burning boiler for my council owned workshop. Now I can actually get a grant to help buy it and install it as it lowers carbon emissions compared to leccy or gas etc.

But the council after telling me all about the grants, won't allow me to have one...

Too much risk of fire in a wood working area so the insurance would be void!

Found that out after 3 weeks of paperwork and calls to the council! hmmmph.

So your own insurence company might also have something to say.

Woody

 

[wrightclan]

Woody,

If you really want to push it forward, you might get an expert in woodburning installations to assess your proposed installations with recommendations as to how to keep combustibles a safe distance from the hot surfaces of the boiler and flue. I'm thinking of things like a cage, doublewalled flue, etc. If it's a boiler, and your heat will be hot water (as opposed to getting your heat directly from the stove) you could even have an annex lined with fireboard, then the sawdust, offcuts, etc. will come nowhere near the boiler (except to load it.) The council and insurance might relent if you have a letter from someone who knows what they're talking about. (I know that's alot to ask of bureaucrats, but perhaps worth a try. :roll: )

Whereabouts are you? I know a very knowledgeable man in this neck of the woods, and he knows a number of people throughout England. He might be able to recommend someone in your area.

Brad

 

[Escudo]

I have a small woodburner in my shed/workshop. It is similar to the sort that are in narrowboats. It is great for burning offcuts and scrap.

Temperature control is not always easy but when it gets too warm I open the window. :idea:

I was advised that building regs and other rules did not apply (by the stove shop) as it was not in a dwelling. (worth checking).

I also installed it myself. It is important to use a twin walled flue and I part lined the area around it with a fire retardant board (very expensive). I also put rockwool in the shed wall around the flue.

I generally make sure there is no sawdust etc on or near it when I light up and I always cramp the fire down if I leave it unattended.

I always felt if my shed burnt down I would get some sort of notoriety..."there's that bloke who spent two years making a shed and then set fire to it.....and burnt all his tools..." :shock:

Hope that helps BW.

Cheers, Esc.

 

[Losos]

John,
I am a great fan of woodburning stoves, got one in my workshop and it works a treat (Even if the outside temperature is minus 15C !!

However, where I am there are no council rules and certainly no 'smoke free zones' so I can do what I like. Wood burners are efficient, give a dry heat, and plenty of it.

But they do have an enormous appetite, I put an armful of 1 Mt. lengths on every 40 - 50 minutes unless I am nearing the time when I will exit the shop for the night.

 

[Adam]

A friend had a requirement to have a wall (brick) each side of the burner, and it had to be sat on a concrete plinth, but other than that, they were fine with insuring it.

Adam