Girl from MS needs help to learn to heat garage with coal?

We bought our first house and I am a car NUT! I work on them just as well as any guy out there, but I'm from Mississippi and it's cold! I am currently restoring a convertible and would like to have it ready to sell by spring, but it is too cold in the garage to work on it, even with jeans and fleece pj pants, two sweatshirts and a coat. We rewired the whole house but the garage and I think that electric heat will cost too much, and I'm not sure that's safe with the old wiring. The house came with a bunch of coal in the basement (we have an oil system, no coal system anymore). So I was wondering if anyone could help me out with figuring out how much it would cost to get set up, how long the coal would last only using a day a week, how complicated this would be, if it's worth my time, and if I can do it all myself. I'm the handy one, my husband is the brute force (aka lifts the heavy stuff). I found a guy on Craigslist that will sell me a used stove for 20 bucks (which is good, we are kinda poor after buying the house). But he said I will need piping, and wood to get it started. I'm not going to lie to you guys, I have never even seen a coal stove in my life! So also knowing the dangers and hassles involved would be great! Sorry, I'm a SUPER NEWBIE, and I know NOTHING. But if there's anyone out there that could inform me/explain it all/teach me everything I would need to know I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks for you time!
Amber
PS. I live in Westbrook Maine

First of all, WELCOME.....

We need to know more specifics. HOW big is your garage? Insulated? etc....
That would determine how many BTU's (heat output) you would need .

do you have a chimney?

There are HAND FED Stoves (Like Wood Stoves), you have to feed 8-12 hours ,etc... shake down, etc....
no power needed except for heat blower

and

Automatic Stoker SToves, you fill up, empty the ashes, mostly automatic. Depending on how much heat needed, they can run 2-3 days (more or less) until you need to add coal or empty ashes.

They range in price from $500 (Used or less) to $3000 new, depending.

There are many choices, options, etc...do some reading on here first and get an idea of what is available....

IIRCC you mentioned that you will only be working in the garage one day a week. If that is the case you may want to consider burning wood instead of coal. Coal is usually used for continual heating. But which ever way you go you will need a chimney and the cost of it will have to be taken into consideration as well.

Good luck which ever way you go.

no matter which way you go--wood or coal--only burning 1 day a week--I would just cut a hole through the wall in accordence to what size pipe you use--6" or 8"--put a clay thimble through the wall & run your pipe through it--I don't think I would even worry about double or triple wall pipe--just 6" black pipe--if you can get a stove for $20.00 bucks--have at it--I agree that wood is a faster heat source if it's available--coal takes a while to heat a space up--although it's a great concept--as mentioned--more info is needed----all the chimney stuff can be had at Home Depot or Lowes---check your local building codes --just remember no matter what you do,safety is real important---PS--a hand fed will do you nicely

If she's from Mississippi, she will be burning Bituminous coal and starting it up for only a day for heat isn't as difficult as getting an anthracite fire going for only a day.

I would just look on craigslist etc. for an old stove that is BIG, has an ashpan and a grate system. there are many old coalstoves out there, you just have to look. Burning bit, i'd run an 8" single wall black pipe through the wall and up the side of the garage (keeping it away from the side of the garage by at least 20" and where it passes through the wall at least 18") T's not elbows at the change from horizontal to vertical.

P.S. she lives in westbrook Maine..... from miss where it used to be warmer ...

apparently my reading comprehension skills are deteriorating well, then disregard the bituminous coal stuff as it likely doesn't apply to you, you might have bit coal if it burns with an orange flame, but most likely it's anthracite.

First, tell us more about this 20$ stove you are thinking of buying. Does the ad say what type it is, brand/model, how big etc.? Is there a photo in the ad?
We need to know that so we can give advise on how to safely install it and tell you what it would take to operate it.

I have to agree with everyone else - If you are talking about heating a residential size garage for one or two days a week, you'll probably want to go with wood. It produces heat faster and since you'll be in the immediate area you won't care too much about having to reload the stove periodically throughout the day. Coal is great if you want a slow steady burn over a long period of time. My personal best time between stove reloading or tending of any type is 36 hours. The stove was keeping my house at 75* when I left town and it was still 75* when I got back. Most of us here on the forum belong to the one match club - we light the stove in late Oct or early Nov and it doesn't go out until Apr or May; we just keep adding coal. If you were to only run the stove one or two days a week you really wouldn't have time to get it started and a good, deep bed of coals established before you would be shutting it down again.

The good news is that a wood stove is going to be less expensive to get and to run for one or two days at a time. Wood stoves don't have any moving parts to mess with. As the guys indicated the chimney set up is going to be less expensive, too. You should be aware of any stove which is advertised to be "dual fuel." They generally tend not to burn one or the other fuel well. For instance, my Harman coal stove is advertised to burn wood, too, but the fire box is to narrow hold the average piece of split wood. The draft is set up to work better with a coal fire rather then a wood fire. It is best to get a stove designed for whatever fuel you want to use.

So... know that coal could warm your garage but it's probably not the best choice given the limited time you'd be in the garage. However, if you grow tired of buying middle east oil for an arm and a leg to heat your home, I'm sure the guys here on the forum would love to talk with you about a coal system to replace the oil and save you a lot of your residential heating dollars. I guarantee you'll love the heat and appreciate the value. Lisa

Hate to be this way............but..............are you nuts???? Do not heat a garage with a coal or wood stove. Gas fumes hug the ground. Your stove will be on the ground. If you like "BOOM" go for it. Your insurance company will never pay you for a claim if they find out that you had a coal or wood stove in your garage.

Check with your township where you live. Very specific rules as to heating a garage where fuel, oil and other household items that are flammable will be kept.

Please enjoy the forum. Please don't blow-up!

That's funny because I've got 2 outbuildings w/ wood stoves--I also have metal cabinets I keep all my flammable stuff in--I don't park any tractors next to the stoves--my parts cleaning set up is not next to the stoves---my safety clearances are the same in the barns as they are in the house & I use a clay thimble going through the walls & all 6" black pipe---I have an exhaust/box fan in one of the windows if I need to use it for circulation----our code guy stops in for coffee on occasion & usually brings the donuts keep it simple & safe also,my stoves are on doubled up cinder blocks & I have functioning fire extinguishers placed strategically around

jeromemsn wrote:Hate to be this way............but..............are you nuts???? Do not heat a garage with a coal or wood stove. Gas fumes hug the ground. Your stove will be on the ground. If you like "BOOM" go for it. Your insurance company will never pay you for a claim if they find out that you had a coal or wood stove in your garage.

Check with your township where you live. Very specific rules as to heating a garage where fuel, oil and other household items that are flammable will be kept.

Please enjoy the forum. Please don't blow-up!

then what would you heat a garage with ?????? gas heat has a flame ..... so does oil ..........commercial garages use either gas heat forced air or waste oil heaters forced air so what would you use to heat it with ?????


i used gas forced air for years, the cost of heating my 30 x60 area was just getting out of hand, so i got a harman stoker for out there this year best thing i ever did .bd.....

Jeff

if you do a lot of garage work try this site lots of great info:


http://www.garagejournal.com

I just threw a Hitzer in my garage for burning mostly wood & never had any second thoughts, I even bought it off of a Erie Ins. agent, different agent but same Ins. that I have. Just as Fred says use common sense, before the Hitzer I would use a torpedo heater that did the job well but was like having a jet engine running, it shot a huge flame out of that bad boy, & guess what no kaboom.

never mind

jeromemsn wrote:Hate to be this way............but..............are you nuts???? Do not heat a garage with a coal or wood stove. Gas fumes hug the ground. Your stove will be on the ground. If you like "BOOM" go for it. Your insurance company will never pay you for a claim if they find out that you had a coal or wood stove in your garage.

Check with your township where you live. Very specific rules as to heating a garage where fuel, oil and other household items that are flammable will be kept.

Please enjoy the forum. Please don't blow-up!

One more important thing about putting a wood or coal stove in the garage is that most people store flammable liquids in the garage.Your local building code's may not allow you to put a stove in the garage.