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Vintage Test Gear and Workshop Equipment For discussions about vintage test gear and workshop equipment such as coil winders.

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Old 17th Jan 2018, 11:03 pm   #41
MotorBikeLes
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

Terrybull, Silicon et al. My cottage is VERY old, probably200+, stone plus rubble walls 2' thick. Normally a lot of air in-leakage, but mostly sorted since the double glazing. I had a Baxi with underfloor air supply many years ago. That had a proper inlet setup with small holes in a cast iron recangle. One day, working on a TV, I heard a small noise, looked up, and a mouse was crossing the floor. I got up, it turned around and disappeared into the Baxi. (Not lit of course). I got one of my traps, carefully positioned it with the spark guard allowing one route only. 15 mins later, click, SNAP, got 'im.
Behind the wood burner there is a pipe leading out through the wall, but blanked off. It was there and blanked before I moved here, when the big fireplace (Chiollagh) had been partially bricked up and a "conventional" fireplace with an enclosed "Flue boiler" added. I removed the lot to reveal the original where there would have been a simple peat fire on the floor. I installed a self standing unit for anthracite before fitting the HAWK. Because I know about downdraughts here, I fitted a 6" diameter thick wall stainless steel flue, but I welded in an angled "side arm" near the base for starting the fire with a downdraughting flue. With the primary, secondary and tertiary air arrangements, I knew it would be very difficult any other way. My wife was appalled by this "appendage", but she now realises it was a necessity.
I may open that pipe up, but would need to make some external baffling arrangement as it directly faces the only wind direction, due west. And of course, mouse prevention!
MS660, I really like those Squirrels, I had one briefly 25 years ago.But too large (KW) for my present needs.
One big problem with an old stone cottage is condensation in cold corners, but cracking open the windows every morning has stopped that. Direct external vents VERY difficult to fit, and originally with all the leaky sash windows, there was plenty of air ingress. Six months ago, we had a dispute over the TV, my wife wanting it moving from under the main (small) living room window. Intractable, and I would not have it "up on the wall and out of sight", so I disconnected it and moved it into the back room. Since then, no TV, so I either listen to R3 or R4, whilst watching the flames behind the Hawk's glass front!
Les.

Last edited by MotorBikeLes; 17th Jan 2018 at 11:05 pm. Reason: Sp., Sp.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 2:47 am   #42
Boater Sam
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

I've fitted lots of Morso Squirrel stoves in boats. The free air inlet has to be sufficient to prevent the occupiers premature deaths. Possibly the best boat stove available. My original one lasted 25 years, I sold it for £250, needing a new top plate, when I fitted the new one!
If you read the makers instructions, the flue pipe should be 14 feet long, vertical!
Impossible on a narrowboat that moves.
The new ones restrict the air inlet to the underside of the grate and have a part preventing the bottom door being opened with the top one closed, to prevent over draughting.
This makes lighting more difficult, mine is removed but never on a clients installation.
New regs demand twin wall flue, a larger non combustible hearth with kerb and secure fastening to the base. The fresh air requirement for a boat increase dramatically with a wood burner fitted.
I burn smokeless eggs mixed 50/50 with anthracite, occasionally wood, well dried, But never chipboard or MDF. The products of burning these can block a 4" flue with hard resinous clag in a few weeks, its horrible stuff.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 2:48 am   #43
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

I have a wood burner in my workshop and when I was using propane I was going thru over 350 gal/month @ 2.50 usd/gal. This was to heat a 38 x 60' shop with 12' ceilings.
Since I went to wood and put in a ceiling fan, I have cut the cost down to basically the cost of gas, oil, & repair for my chainsaws. Maybe 30+ $ /mo. average. Drastic cost reduction.
Free pallets, trees, sawdust, shavings, limbs, wood waste, etc. all feed the stove.

Building codes here require an insulated pipe going through the ceiling and roof, and out to 2' above the tip top peak of the roof.
For fire insurance reasons, I clean my chimney every month during the burning season, and once more just before the start of it in case birds or bees decided to nest in the chimney. (For some reason, the hornets & mud wasps don't appreciate a chimney brush going down thru their nest.)
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 7:49 am   #44
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

You can get very efficient burner's rather than the traditional tin can with hole in top. These range from one one deflection plate that cycles the unburnt gasses over the fire to get secondary burning. There are also burners that take this to the extreme with convoluted paths for the smoke and heat as well as others that burn waste oil, waste most things. Also have a look at rocket stoves. You can also make your own burner from a gas cylinder with bricks surrounding it.

The only problem with some of these more efficient stoves is the price, you can spend a grand easily. These are usually made in the Scandinavian countries.

My workshop heater is a Tektronix 585A scope. Takes the edge off the chill in a morning and useful as a diagnostic tool also. : )

A.
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Last edited by Diabolical Artificer; 18th Jan 2018 at 7:58 am.
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 9:06 am   #45
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A friend has a fancy wood-burning boiler. Wood gets heated in a chamber and gasified. The gas burns in a downwards pointing nozzle with a blue flame like a blowlamp. I believe it's Czech in origin. It needs electricity for a blower, and in a unit about the size of a domestic washing machine, heats a farmhouse.

Near Dunfermline, a new townlet has expanded and wrapped itself around a farm. The farmer's cashed in on this, installing an industrial scale pellet burner and selling heat to surrounding properties. The scouts are one user and theirs is the toastiest scout hut I've ever come across! The labour of a lot of systems has been aggregated, pellets are bought by the artic-load. It's the opposite end of the scale from a stove in a workshop shed, but it shows that wood fuel isn't just limited to rural residents.

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Old 18th Jan 2018, 9:58 am   #46
Boater Sam
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They looked at the "green wood pellet" fuel on our farm. As the pellets come by ship from Canada, its not so green is it?
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 10:10 am   #47
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

Fitting a wood stove in the house was one of the best decisions I ever made.
As my house is pretty much open plan, the stove heats the whole house so well I have not used the central heating for four years!

Like many others, all my wood is free. The only cost is petrol to collect it & electricity for the saw.
I use pallets, logs, and wood offcuts from the many house refurbishments being done locally, in some cases the builders have helped me load my van!

I worked out that the stove + installation paid for itself in three years.
The only cost since then was to replace the stove rope & buy a chimney sweeping kit.

I have a small Clarke pot belly stove in the workshop, this has proven to be an excellent choice.
It chucks out more than enough heat on the coldest day, is very frugal on wood and easy to clean out & light.

Mark
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 11:28 am   #48
brenellic2000
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

Like Lawrence we've been using a large wood-burning stove in our sawmill-workshop some 50 odd years.

I'm horrified to see no-one has mentioned sweeping the chimney. This is crucial to maintaining a draught to be rid of smoke and toxic gases, and to prevent build-up of crusted tar - even from dry softwoods - the principal cause of chimney fires.

Brush often and play safe!

Barry
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Old 18th Jan 2018, 6:30 pm   #49
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

A friend of mine (who admittedly likes to cultivate an air of insouciance) says that he rates pumice liners on the grounds that, "if it's getting clagged up, I just stoke the burner up until the flames come roaring out the top of the chimney- that soon clears it. After all, that's basically what diesel cars do!".... At least he had rebuilt and relined the chimney (tall, hefty, Victorian brickwork) virtually from hearth up, so knew that there were no joists, wiring etc. nearby. The house itself is also quite isolated from possible alarmed neighbours. Not something I'd want to try myself, as I'd heard that a significant fire-triggering mode other than internal proximate timber is when flying lumps of sooty sparks and embers get blown into eaves, drift through roof-tile gaps etc.
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Old 19th Jan 2018, 11:49 am   #50
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Our stove is in an inglenook with a huge chimney of the type they used to send little boys up. It just so happened that my son had a quantity of 6" stainless steel pipe which almost reached right to the top, I had to use a couple of feet of flexible s/s right at the end.

I have found that the combination of using wood in spring and autumn and anthracite in the winter works very well. The wood gives a layer of resin which prevents the sulphuric acid from the anthracite flue gasses attacking the pipe. I sweep it once a year but get very little soot.

Peter
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Old 19th Jan 2018, 12:03 pm   #51
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

Here in S. France a lot of people use wood burners. Most of us burn oak so no problems with resin. Nowadays the regulations specify that the chimney pipes must be stainless steel. The melting temperature is very high and to a large extent they are self-sweeping as the surface is so smooth that not much sticks to it.
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Old 19th Jan 2018, 12:10 pm   #52
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bluepilot View Post
Here in S. France a lot of people use wood burners. Most of us burn oak so no problems with resin. Nowadays the regulations specify that the chimney pipes must be stainless steel. The melting temperature is very high and to a large extent they are self-sweeping as the surface is so smooth that not much sticks to it.
But just to be clear, burning hardwood does not mean that tar won't build up in the flue, it's all down to moisture content, flue temperature etc, stainless steel flue pipes are not self cleaning, SS flue pipe might look clean inside when the "soot door" for cleaning is opened but it's often a different matter further up the flue.

Lawrence.

Last edited by ms660; 19th Jan 2018 at 12:18 pm. Reason: Addition
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Old 28th Jan 2018, 12:54 pm   #53
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Default Re: Wood Burner in Workshop

We recently moved to rural Somerset, and I've built a detached workshop at the rear of the garage. The options for heating were
1. extend the CH system to feed a conventional radiator
2. wood-burner (there's one in our lounge)
3. simple fan-heater(s)
4. air-conditioning unit = air-source heat-pump

As many people have already commented, the regulations relating to wood-stoves are onerous, and the resulting cost is multiples of that of the actual stove!

After weighing up the pro's and con's I installed a Mitsubishi aircon unit, which is rated at about 3.5kW (heating) and has a CoP of around 3.6, so 1kW in for 3.6kW out. They are relatively easy to install (mechanically), but the overhead is having the system professionally plumbed for refrigerant. However, you can buy systems with "quick-connectors" which are close to DIY, e.g.
https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p...ir-conditioner.

John

PS now is the time to buy aircon units, as demand is low and they are often on "sale"
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Old 29th Jan 2018, 10:45 am   #54
Peter.N.
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I used one of those in our downstairs bedroom for about 10 years and it worked very well, it now needs regassing and I haven't bothered because we don't use that room now but I leave a dehumidifier on off peak in it, it's a very old stone house and almost impossible to stop the damp penetrating, at least at a price I can afford.

Aircon units used in reverse are a very cheap way of heating an area if you only run them on off peak electricity but the efficiency drops off rapidly at around freezing.

I use an oldish Worcester oil boiler for the rest of the house and although only 85% efficient, providing you buy your oil at the right time of the year, which usually means installing a 5000 litre tank it works out at about 4.5p per kW hour, about 2p cheaper than off peak!

Peter
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