Workshop heating - wood burner?

framemaker · Post by **framemaker** » Tue 13 Sep, 2011 11:19 pm

I am looking at ways of heating the workshop, and have been thinking about fitting a wood burner. Does anyone use one to get rid of offcuts, scrap, sawdust, and morso chips? Or any other ideas on the best way to heat a workshop?

Post by **prospero** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 1:07 am

I'd be a bit windy about having any heaters with a naked flame in the workshop.

Night Storage heaters.

JFeig · Post by **JFeig** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 3:34 am

I would think that most insurance companies today would frown upon that idea.

YPF · Post by **YPF** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 6:08 am

Richard,

I have seen a woodburner produced specifically for commercial purposes and it was in a framer's workshop. The owner said that there must be a clear area around the burner when it's in operation. I will pm you his name and the name of the company he used.

Steve

Graysalchemy · Post by **Graysalchemy** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 7:27 am

There are companies which do make commercial ones, but the question is as Jfeig says will you be able to get insurance? If you did there would probably be so many get out clauses for the insurance company it wouldn't be worth it.

I have a workshop which is impossible to heat I keep the office warm and use 3kw halogen heater were I am working but even then it is freezing in the middle of winter.

Jonny2morsos · Post by **Jonny2morsos** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 7:52 am

Friend of mine had one in his workshop and one day when he had the decorators in they put the used paint tins in it which were made of plastic and filled the place with fumes and soot!

I used to have an open fire at home and took home all my offcuts but you have to chop them all down small enough and they burn very quicly unlike logs. I think you would spend a lot of time constantly topping it up and then there is the question of insurance.

Otters Pool Studio · Post by **Otters Pool Studio** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 8:50 am

I take my bare wood offcuts and scraps and use them in my chiminea on my patio. They light easily, burn quickly with not too much smoke or ash, and no spitting (as no moisture in the wood). I prefer not to use any finished wood as it tends to give off fumes, so not morso offcuts either (which burn really quickly and with more smoke).

I once though about a wood burner but installation costs were quite high. My workshop is cold too - last year the water in the toilet bowl had frozen over when I came in in the morning! I have a mains gas heater in the showroom, but have to use calor gas heaters elsewhere. The price of the butane bottles has rocketted, so I'm keen to find an alternative.

Graysalchemy · Post by **Graysalchemy** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 10:06 am

I have a great heating system................

thermals, four fleeces a hat and fingerless gloves oh and a big mug of coffee in an insulated cup.

Roboframer · Post by **Roboframer** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 10:45 am

I've only got one tooth in the middle of my gums - central eating.

jon buck · Post by **jon buck** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 11:33 am

I once met a girl from Mexico , she only had one tooth and went by the name of Wan Eata.

Sorry , but it made me laugh

Post by **prospero** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 11:35 am

Warm is Expensive. End of.

Lot of reports of firewood poaching in the forestry hereabouts. When have you ever heard of that before?

stcstc · Post by **stcstc** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 12:12 pm

my office is sooo hot cant turn the heating on

been here 2 years and never had the heating on

Graysalchemy · Post by **Graysalchemy** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 12:14 pm

You only need to leave a bag of offcuts outside on this industrial estate and they are gone before you know it. I have to leave it inside so that a farmer can pick it up.

stcstc wrote:my office is sooo hot cant turn the heating on

been here 2 years and never had the heating on

It must be tropical in that there Dublin town.

Grahame Case · Post by **Grahame Case** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 12:21 pm

what you chaps need is HQI-TS Metal Halide lighting - the shop is constantly hot thanks to those - our boiler has been broken for about 3 years - no need to fix it!"

Ricky · Post by **Ricky** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 12:59 pm

Don't Have to worry about heating its in with the rent

this is my heater & air conditioning

The Jolly Good Framer #1 · Wed 14 Sep, 2011 2:21 pm

Couple of years back we looked into installing a wood burner in the workshop to save money burning the off cuts.

The insurance was not an issue. They said as long as it was installed to all the proper standards it would not be an issue and wouldn’t even cost any more on the premium! Didn’t even need installing by a qualified installer (something like the gas one CORGI) just needed checking by one and a certificate issued.

The thing that killed it was the cost of installing.
A wood burner was going to cost less than £1000.... not too much in the grand scale of heating a workshop.
But then there was the cost of the flue and placing it through the roof and the base for the burner to stand on and the pumice stone backing so it could stand nearer the wall and the planning permission for the flue and so on and so on.
And before long the cost was nearly £5k and that’s before I had bought any wood!

We came to the conclusion that you could buy a lot of gas for £5k and as we already had the gas heating installed we would stick with that.

Graysalchemy · Post by **Graysalchemy** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 3:52 pm

My neighbours in the workshop next to me wanted to put in a gas blow heater in their unit, it was one they had in their old unit, however the cost of putting a flue through the roof 30ft up in the air was prohibitive especially when the roof has a layer of asbestos.

All these things sound like a good idea but in reality they are more expensive.

MarkScrivens · Post by **MarkScrivens** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 4:16 pm

Two years ago I had a woodburner in the workshop, it was super effective and everything was very warm, however I could not live with the dust/dirt that gathered on everything. Light shades of mountbord were a magnet for this and in the end I took it out. Now on electric, workshop clean but cold. All I will say is there may be other things to consider other than just heat. A woodburner may be cheap to fuel and hot but if you spend a lot of time cleaning everything it may be less cost effective that it first appeared.

Trinity · Post by **Trinity** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 6:16 pm

I've installed a Dailin split system - 1 condensor outside and 3 fan units internally doing heating and cooling - at about 3k. Very cheap to run maintaining 25deg in winter quite easily. Unless it's your choice, working in freezing conditions doesn't seem to be much of a worklife.

Graysalchemy · Post by **Graysalchemy** » Wed 14 Sep, 2011 7:22 pm

Trinity wrote:. Unless it's your choice, working in freezing conditions doesn't seem to be much of a worklife.

When you are in 3500 sq ft of workshop with 30ft to the apex you don't have much choice. 3kw halogen heaters barely heat my work bench area.

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