Workshop heating

[Ring]

Hi all and Happy New Year to all, I am looking to put some heating into my workshop it,s ****** freezing up here in Scotland and i am looking at these www.thehotspot.co.uk/products.asp?cat=1 ... =2&range=5

The relax workshop stove-R1 now im sure i've read somewhere on this forums about the flue set up but cant find it,anyways what i would like some advice on how to run the flu, could i use the straight pipe then 45 degree bend then straight bit of pipe then another 45degree bend then straight pipe with china mans hat on it, i would rather go out through the wall rather then the roof i hope this makes some sense lol .tnx
Jim

 

[DaveL]

Hi Jim,

There are some members who have hotspot stoves, I have a Jutol wood burner, its not a top loader but copes OK with wood shaving and saw dust, I just had to put a long handle on the shovel. :roll:
You idea of using 45 degree elbows is the correct way to go. When you select your flue please get stainless steel, the galvanized steel will rust very quickly and look bad as well as rusting through in time. It does cost more but should last forever. Try to keep as much of the flue inside as you can, a single skin flue will put heat into the shop. You can get double wall flue that is insulated, this is used were the flue runs inside lofts or other floors above the stove, it cost loads. :x

 

[Losos]

Hi Jim - As Dave said if you keep the flu inside 'till near ceiling and then go outside you'll gain some extra heat. This is what my flu does 'tho it then goes into a brick chimney and up through the roof.

Wood burning stoves are good, it's a dry heat and if you want you can really load them up and get bags of radiant heat from them.

I make it a rule to always sweep up around the stove at the end of the day, to not put on any wood for an hour or two prior to leaving the shop, and always close the loading and control doors on final exit.

They do use quite a bit of wood 'tho so it's best to prepare a pile each day before starting work then there's no need to break off what you're doing to start sawing more wood

 

[Ring]

Hi Jim - As Dave said if you keep the flu inside 'till near ceiling and then go outside you'll gain some extra heat. This is what my flu does 'tho it then goes into a brick chimney and up through the roof.

Wood burning stoves are good, it's a dry heat and if you want you can really load them up and get bags of radiant heat from them.

I make it a rule to always sweep up around the stove at the end of the day, to not put on any wood for an hour or two prior to leaving the shop, and always close the loading and control doors on final exit.

They do use quite a bit of wood 'tho so it's best to prepare a pile each day before starting work then there's no need to break off what you're doing to start sawing more wood

tnx for the help guys i will get 1 ordered asap one thing i didnt notice on the hot sopt web site is brackets to hold the flue i take it i could make my own up to support it,and yes for the extra cost i think i will go for stainless steel,tnx again for advice.

 

[tibbs]

The relax workshop stove-R1

I had one of those about 10 years ago when we lived in Cornwall - they're fine if you have a lot of sawdust/offcuts thats a pain to get rid of by other means & you intend to spend all day in the workshop, otherwise I wouldnt bother - far too much work fiddling around loading it & cleaning it out - the flue supplied with it rotted out in less than a year as well (although that may have been because I ended up having to use coal to get it going every day).

Richard

 

[judder]

you're in the same boat as me Jim, tried to order one on Friday but they're still closed for the holiday, will phone tommorow and place my order, think I'll prob go for the R3 as I'd like to leave it burning all night, and I have access to unlimited waste wood. Must be costing me a fortune just now as I've got a small background heater going and a dehumidifier both 24/7. Time to sheet the ceiling me thinks !.

Stephen

 

[amilford]

I have an R1 in my 7mx4m workshop
I find it great.
It makes noticeable difference to the warmth of the workshop within 1/2 hour of lighting, especially if I turn on the air filter which gets the air moving around the workshop. I light it even if I am only going to be in there for a couple of hours. I find it easy to light - bit of screwed up newspaper in the bottom, then a few bits of kndling, throw a match in top and away it goes. Then just top up with scrap wood every 1/2 hour.
My flue goes straight up and through the roof. There is about 2 metres of flue in the room which like others have said makes a difference to the heat output.
One thing I haven't managed to do is to burn sawdust - if I open top to try and pour it in I find it flares and catches as I put it in. I remember someone once said to put sawdust in first then a firelighter on top. But then how could one refill once alight?
Anyone else use one of these with sawdust/shavings?

 

[Adam]

of these with sawdust/shavings?

Can you wet them down with water and compress into "shavings" bricks, l;et them dry and then burn those?

Adam

 

[Steve Maskery]

Re burning sawdust:

I don't have one of these burners, but I know a man who does.

He starts by putting a tube down the middle of the stove, about 3 or 4" in diameter. Than he packs sawdust and chippings all around it and tamps them down tight, so they are a solid mass. Then he wiggles the pipe to remove it and fills the hole with a bit of newspaper which he lights. The whole lot then burns from the inside out, and one load in the morning lasts until the middle of the afternoon.

I'm afraid I can't tell you exactly what make & model he has though.

HTH
S

 

[tim]

Steve,

The hotspot stoves are designed to do exactly this - they have two inlet holes - one of which is attached to a pipe to create the same effect as the method you describe above.

I use my R2 mainly with logs but will burn sawdust and shavings happily. I tend to put sawdust or shavings in in the morning or let it die right down to avoid the flaring probs.

If I bought another I'd go for a bigger model - not for kW but because the R2 doesn't take very big logs and because of the internal pipe, there can be a prob with half burned stuff not falling to the bottom and thus it can go out. On the whole though its a really good bit of kit and I also recommend the air filter trick to bring the hot air down from the ceiling. Makes a real difference.

Cheers

Tim

 

[yotasurf]

out of interest, do you get much smoke from these burners when they are going.?

i stay in a smoke free zone, but would be tempted to get one to burn through the night during the winter.

cheers scott

 

[les chicken]

Steve

I recently bought the R2 on advice from this forum. It is superb nice warm heat SWMBO wanted to transfer it into the house as it is such a cosy heat. My flue 3 metres as reccomended goes straight through the roof with the supplied bits and chinamans hat no problems. It is a bit hungry for food, do not clean it out too often as the ash in the bottom helps with the heat. It takes a bit of getting used to to avoid smoking the neighbors out but it is worth it.

Considering the R2 gives out approx 6kw of heat it should pay for itself against an electrical heater in about 28 weeks. I light mine in the morning with a firelighter and wood chucked in and it takes about twenty minutes to warm the workshop up 32ft x 9ft.

The one problem you might have it is so warm that you will sit next to it contemplating and planning rather than getting on with it.

Cost for R2 , 3 metres flue, roof seal, chinamans hat, delivery £221

Les

 

[Losos]

Scott - Yes you do get a fair bit of smoke if the MC of the wood is above say 15% - Most of the wood I'm burning right now is like this 'cos it's been stacked out doors but there's no such thing as 'smoke free zoning' in Czechland so I don't have to think about that. :wink:

I don't burn sawdust, my stove is a crude locally made one with a front loading door so it's tricky to get sawdust in & I find it a bit of pain to get sawdust to burn properly.

 

[Unlucky Alf]

how could one refill once alight?

You could try my Blue Peter solution. I save up all of the old tubes from inside kitchen/toilet rolls, seal one end with masking tape fill with sawdust and then close the other end with tape. By the time winter comes round again i have a stack of home made logs in the barn.


Simon

 

[johnjin]

Simon Thats a nice Idea.
I think i will give that a go.

All the best
John

 

[Sawdust]

I have the R2 (Christmas present from my wife) and it's great; really easy to light and it burns anything that will fit through lid, plus the lid is flat and boils a kettle in no time! The service is great, you can't order online but you can fill in an email form saying what you want and they ring you back to get payment details. Mine arrived in about 2 days.

I'd agree with people's comments about the flue though, mine looks pretty flimsy and it will be intersting to see how long it lasts.

I find it doesn't smoke much once it's warmed up but when lighting there is a bit of smoke.

My workshop is tiny (5m x 3m) but not very well insulated and the stove keeps it REALLY warm. I'm sure it would warm up a much bigger shop

You could try my Blue Peter solution

That is one clever idea - I will be trying it as I can't find any other way of burning sawdust. 8)

One other thing I really like about it is that my son spends ages with me in the workshop now. OK, I have to be honest, he just likes burning things, but it's got him in there and he's starting to show interest in what it's all about.

Mike

 

[JFC]

One thing that worries me is having a fire source in the workshop . I am very tempted to buy one of these heaters but im worried when using my site tools like the electric plane and circular saw with no extraction the dust will sit on the heater over night and become a fire risk :shock:
Am i just paranoid or is this a real risk ?

 

[tim]

It depends on how much dust you let sit on it I suppose and what surrounds it. Quite often if I fill mine with sawdust or add some floor sweepings, some ends up on the rim of the top. If I don't sweep it off it just chars but hasn't combusted. The point with these heaters is that they are mild steel and as a result aren't supposed to be heated to a glowing cherry red. Consequently the external surface, while very hot doesn't seem to have the critical energy to start a fire in normal use. I'm not saying don't take care but it isn't an open hearth either.

I'll experiment today by putting some timber on top when I'm in there and see what happens!

The wife is away so if you don't hear from me later call 999.

Cheers

Tim

 

[Waka]

I have been reading this thread with great interest and think that it's a good idea to have one of these burners in my workshop. But here lies the problem, my shop is fairly full albeit most is on wheels and I can only think of one place that i could fit such a burner.

Can someone please show some pic's of theirs installed so I can get an idea of how much space this will take up?

Thanks

 

[Steve Maskery]

Tim, are you there? Tim? Tim, talk to me! TIM!

S