Reply To: Workshop heating
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My garage is not insulated but my wood stove usually provides enough heat to make it a bearable environment to work in during the winter. However this winter has already been a lot colder than normal for this part of New England and as John in Florida mentioned, they have been colder down there too.
When I lived in England a while back a cabinet maker friend had a large stove in his shop that ran off sawdust only. It was basically a vertical tank with a small hole in the bottom (oil drum would work). An 1-1/2″ or so diameter pipe was stood in the center of the drum and then sawdust was packed solidly around it up to the top. Then the pipe was carefully pulled out and a lid with stove pipe was placed on top to vent it outside.
It was lit from the bottom and burned like a cigarette from the inside out. The heat curve would increase as more sawdust slowly ignited. It would burn from three to four days before exhausting it’s fuel. Practical only if you have access to large amounts of sawdust but very inexpensive to run.
I sketched the basic idea so you could view it.
Joe B.