Stoker for Garage?

Den034071 · Post by **Den034071** » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 2:29 pm

Dude my buddy has a garage workshop29by 50 bought Miller mobile mobil furnace .300 bucks .Does an xcellent job .He turns it up to 65 an hour or so before going out to work .Try mobile home park they have them jack

SMITTY · Post by **SMITTY** » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 5:14 pm

Problem is, the cost of oil will put you in the poorhouse. $850 to fill an empty tank here.

Can piss through that in a month in an uninsulated building ....

Carbon12 wrote:Northern Tool has a waste oil heater for about $2000.00

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_h ... il-heaters

I can buy cars for half that!

009to090 wrote:Smitty, you can do this setup now, with your new stoker.

Yeah it SOUNDS like a good idea ... BUT ...

Not sure I want to deal with more plumbing. Then I'd have to buy the heat exchanger ... I'm sure those ain't cheap ... then I'd have to leave it on all winter or the thing would freeze and bust in two ... go through more coal ..... I don't know.

What I do know is, used oil is free all day long. Worst case I may have to buy an old stove and make a drip system. I'd rather use one of the oil burners I have on hand though.

Been running the oil out there for 10 years now, and I've had some pretty strong fumes in there. If I'm working on fuel systems and plan on wearing gasoline, I usually shut the thing off for a while.

EarthWindandFire · Post by **EarthWindandFire** » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 8:30 pm

After looking at the picture of your garage, it looks to me as a perfect candidate for a wood stove!

You can get the fire going easy and fast, it puts out heat immediately, and will burn out on its own once the fuel is used up. Never thought I would recommend wood...lol

samhill · Post by **samhill** » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 9:46 pm

About the only thing I can add is my own experience, I have a 60X52 garage with 12 Ft. to the bottom of the rafters, most likely 20 to the roof & no insulation, vented eves & a 4X4 vent on each end. I can get it to around 40 in there using just about everything that's been suggested so far except oil. I kind of settled on a wood fire in the Hitzer 75 & I have a propain patio heater for a little more heat where I'm working. Coal worked pretty good except by the time I got it going good I'd normally be done so I went with wood because it's faster. It at least gives you something warm to stand by for awhile, I'm thinking about taking the outside shell off & using it for radiant heat instead of a furnace. I figure it would be about 2K to insulate under the rafters so that's not likely so I have a nice warm weather garage to work in. There is only so much you can do without anything to help contain the heat.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Thu. Dec. 12, 2013 10:52 pm

Sam,

Have you ever priced that foil faced foam board to attach to the bottom of the rafters ?? Probably using just 1/2" and taping the seams would be a huge improvement.

Rick

samhill · Post by **samhill** » Fri. Dec. 13, 2013 8:01 am

Rick that's what I intend to use except 1inch, runs about $12 a sheet around here & because of the way I have the additional 12 ft. on what was originally to be a 60X40 I have a lot of extra cutting & waste. Don't forget some of us older folks are just barely getting by as is, not complaining that I'm retired just saying how it is, we keep getting talk of cuts but don't get any increase, that's why so many older folks work for WalMart.

Rick 386 · Post by **Rick 386** » Fri. Dec. 13, 2013 9:25 am

samhill wrote:.................... that's why so many older folks work for WalMart.

And here all along I thought it was because all you retirees just wanted to say hi to guys like me.

Sam, maybe just putting up some cheap plastic sheeting would help. No insulation but would keep the heat from going directly to the underside of the shingles.

If I ever hit the lottery, I'll buy you some 2" thick foam.

Rick

katman · Post by **katman** » Fri. Dec. 13, 2013 12:08 pm

Get a cheap stoker. I have a 30 x 40 x 14 uninsulated pole barn. Got an old Hearthstone wood stove from a friend that sells them (the largest they made-it was a free trade in). It would eventually warm the place but I was always running out to get wood to feed it. Put an old Alaska triburner in and if I thought I was going to be in there working I would try to start it the night before--no problem keeping it at about 55 on the coldest day burning about a bag or rice a day. It was great not having to keep feeding it. Last year I got an old Harman Magnum. This thing is much better--uses less coal and can get it quite toasty. Ran it all last weekend through Tuesday. It's been idling since Tuesday burning just enough to stay lit and i'll bump it up tonight so I can work out there thru the weekend again. Let me know if you want the Alaska. I used one of those bullit heaters for a while. Lot of noise and stink!