Does a wood burning stove count as a tool?

[Pallet Fancier]

Thinking it might if I use it to dispose of waste. It should fall into the same category as dust extractors!

Anyway, I've never lived with one in a workshop, but I have a small one that would be ideal as a shed burner (hopefully, not a literal "shed" burner) that would be a handy way to get rid of wood waste as well as keeping my snot from freezing.

Anyone ever lived with one? Pros, cons? Stern advice to avoid or best thing eva?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I had a pot belly that was brilliant, but intermittent heating may cause surface rust. I don't lnow where you are, it might be drier there - the humidity here is low atm, it's only 80%. The downside of course is that they take a while to warm up, and they're burning nicely just when you're ready to shut shop.

 

[Pallet Fancier]

Fair point about the time it takes to warm them up, although I've noticed that small ones get up to temperature more quickly, at the cost of having to feed them continuously to keep them there! I'm talking about things like the Pipsqueak stove, which I see they are now making, again. My woodshop stove is about the same size, maybe slightly bigger, than a Pipsqueak. So I was thinking that by the time I wanted to shut, the stove would probably be burning down, anyway.

 

[Jacob]

Avoid cast iron and fire bricks. Steel welded is far more durable.
I've had several over the years and currently have two "Dowling" stoves.
Both good for wood, maintenance free, but the "sumo" is much better for sawdust because of the vaguely pyramid shape - you need a good surface area on top of the sawdust for it to burn - an old cylinder style won't do it so well.
With dry wood they get hot very quickly if there's enough draw up the chimney but you need as much cast iron flu pipe within the room as possible as a lot of heat comes off it.
Bigger is better - a small fire burns hotter, more efficiently, heats the room faster, in a big stove half full, as compared to the opposite.

 

[Pallet Fancier]

Thanks for the advice, Jacob.

I just googled Dowling stoves. Very interesting design.

 

[D_W]

Thinking it might if I use it to dispose of waste. It should fall into the same category as dust extractors!

Anyway, I've never lived with one in a workshop, but I have a small one that would be ideal as a shed burner (hopefully, not a literal "shed" burner) that would be a handy way to get rid of wood waste as well as keeping my snot from freezing.

Anyone ever lived with one? Pros, cons? Stern advice to avoid or best thing eva?

We heated solely with wood my entire childhood. Things are better now than they were then - you need a heat shield around your stove if it's not in the center of a room (or should have one) and understanding of draft and a matching chimney run for the stove. Stovepipe is double walled standard here, and I'd imagine since we're less safety conscious in the states, it must be there.

The key to running a stone with little maintenance is to line the bottom of the stove or keep ashes in it (that's the old school way) in a deep enough layer to insulate the cast or steel, whatever it's made of, and burn the thing hot now and again to send high heat up through the flue and keep anything from building up.

Really old won't be airtight. Old (like 70s) will probably be airtight, but inefficient other than that and smokey and will line a chimney with creosote if not opened up for a hot burn once in a while. Newer stoves with secondary burn are a lot cleaner, but most of them have an element where secondary air comes in that gets consumed every couple of years by corrosion.

We used the type second in this group, one that would take 30" logs and burn for about 8 hours....

....and after we finally took it out and had the chimney cleaned, we set a fire in the fireplace that the stove was sitting in. The chimney sealed shut with wet creosote and the burning creosote came drilbbling down and the smoke had nowhere to go but into our house. Nearly burned the house down and took the fire department a couple of hours to solve and the flue cracked.

If you're burning dry clean wood in it and not shut down like we did, I doubt you'd ever have a problem. We had terra cotta for the flue and no second wall - that was a problem. If the flue cracks and you're doing normal burning, you get oddball things like smoke coming from places where you didn't expect it as it seeps out of the firebox and chimney into adjacent things. If you get a chimney fire, then the fire and intense heat seep out of the chimney.

The safety rules and setbacks here in the US (distance from wall, etc) are so safe that it would be very difficult to create a problem with a modern stove.

 

[Jacob]

Thanks for the advice, Jacob.

I just googled Dowling stoves. Very interesting design.

They aren't cheap - they are "domestic" but you can get good workshop stoves but I don't know much about them.
Small hot fires are more efficient as I said so I wouldn't bother about having them stay in over night (except in depth of cold winter if you live in the shop). Slow burning means soot, tar, chimney fires.
Newspaper and cardboard also burn clean but glossy paper makes too much ash.
Both of mine light up like a rocket with small dry stuff not too full or tight packed
While you are at it a flat top is good for a kettle

 

[Pallet Fancier]

Hi DW, that sounds like it was fun!

Definitely a good point about insulating the base. Will think about that.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yup. Dowling's are brilliant.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Rather expensive for a workshop, though.

 

[Jacob]

Rather expensive for a workshop, though.

Yes but could be worth it. We had one in regular use for about 15 years with zero maintenance except when we broke the glass by accident. Still there but we live in another room now.
Useful tip! - if you burn scrap wood, pallets etc there's loads of nails which can jam the ash plate. If you let the fire burn right down cold you can get them out with a magnet in a plastic cup. They stick to the outside then you pull the magnet out and they drop off into the bin

 

[Trainee neophyte]

You need a rocket stove. Hours of fun making something diy.

What could possibly go wrong?

A random example:

 

[Jacob]

You need a rocket stove. Hours of fun making something diy.

What could possibly go wrong?

A random example:

yes they good example of small very hot efficient fire in a large stove

 

[Sandyn]

You need a rocket stove. Hours of fun making something diy.

I really love rocket stoves, I built a prototype. It worked very well. I would have one in my workshop but there are no regulations governing their design , so I don't see how I can fit one 'legally' and the fear of the insurance company refusing a claim if something went wrong. I think they are a superb technical design if built properly. They burn everything in the exhaust gasses, at a much higher temperature than normal wood burners. They still have to go through a 'lighting phase' where they will emit pollutants, but not for long.
I would love to have a rocket mass stove in a workshop. It's a rocket stove with a huge thermal mass to store the heat. once the fire goes out. The flue can run horizontally for metres. They are very popular in some areas of the U.S.

Unfortunately, I think the days of wood burners may be numbered, or a tightening of standards. They are getting more and more popular and the pollution from them is being blamed for some respiratory problems. I'm in a smoke controlled area so must have a DEFRA approved stove, but when you shut it down, at night it doesn't re-burn the gasses, so I don't think it would meet the standards under those conditions. They are tightening the rules for timber and house coal. I think from Feb, all firewood sold must be below 20% water and only smokeless coal can be used. They are also looking at pollution inside the home from wood burners. My one is a poor design, so when you try to refuel. it can allow smoke to escape from the front.
There is nothing so comfortable as sitting in front of a wood burner when it's wild weather outside. Very 'stone age' feeling comfort from a fire!!!
STUDY

 

[custard]

I'm loving my woodburner on these frosty days!

 

[Sandyn]

As well as a modern wood burning stove, I have one of these in the house, dating from the 50's.

It is an Esse Autovector 50. It dates from the 50's and it's design is better than anything I have seen in modern stoves. It is a cast iron stove with fire bricks, designed to burn anthracite. It has a large hopper which feeds the coal on to the burning face. Under the glass at the front is an air intake which creates a flame vortex, this splits in two. The air also keeps the vortex off the glass. The vortex, then exits the stove at each side in two secondary burn chambers, round to the back chamber which heats the hopper, then out the flue. I think flat out, it runs at about 11kW, but you can barely enter the room when it's running like that. It has thermostatic control via the knob on the left. A bimetallic strip operates a valve to control the air into the fire. There is a riddle lever on the far side.

I have rebuilt it a couple of times, but now it's end of life unfortunately. It would still run, but after almost 70 years. it's beyond economic repair. They are still made in the old Esse factory in South Africa, but too expensive to import.
A totally useless bit of information.....In one episode of The Prisoner, there was a Autovector 50 in the house where No. Six was being held!!.

 

[Droogs]

I have a woodstove as the main source of heat in our tennement flat. I live on a ground floor flat with a small front garden in the middle of Leith. I have a wood shed in the garden. the stove is lit right now and has been for the last week. We have an old boiler but only 2 radiators one in the bedroom and one in the hall. Unfortunately is is currently knackered and wont be fixed until the new floor joists, floor and kitchen are replaced. has been this way now for 13 months, worked stopped mid project when lockdown started and the builder couldn't come round due to my shielding. I had hoped to get it done this month but we go into lockdown at midnight so will have to wait until at least Feb. Been living in a building site for so long the only joy is staring into the flames on a cold night. I love the wood stove.

 

[Sandyn]

have two "Dowling" stoves.
Both good for wood,

I love the designs, really different, but no DEFRA which is a pity. Have you checked out the destruction testing video. Fans of the old Top Gear? It's brilliant!

Out-takes video is funny. I like that company!

 

[EddyCurrent]

This is the one I have in my shed;
One section of single wall pipe then double wall stainless for the rest.
It works very well indeed.



https://www.tecnikstoves.co.uk/8-kilowatt-stoves

 

[D_W]

re: indoor air standards - our stove was sealed and airtight (thus the low flue temp if you shut it down tight so it would burn 10 hours or so). Despite that, I'm sure that there was still a residual smell from that in our house. Back in the 80s, airtight stoves were the rage where I grew up (lots of wood - enough that most standing dead wood just fell without being harvested) - I can remember looking out and seeing a 50 foot stream of smoke coming from our stove until it was well burned off ,and the same with the neighbors. Some of the neighbors had the stream 100% of the time - I don't know if that was how they were running their stove or due to the stove design (ours cleared off after a few hours).

Air standards here have made most of the coal stove stores in anthracite country switch from half coal, half wood/pellet to usually one coal stove or order only.

We have the same issue with rocket stoves in the US - if the local government and regs don't ban them, the insurance company generally does. I'm sure that's not universal and maybe waivers can be gotten in some places for both, but most people won't go to the trouble (I wouldn't).

I don't follow that permaculture type rocket stove stuff (read about it a decade ago), but recall seeing russian stoves that initiated a draft by having an opening up the line from where the wood was starting - you insert something combustible, light it, and it creates the draft for you so that the main firebox has a draft when you light it. I can't imagine that couldn't be done down the line with rocket types.