For those of you with woodstoves in your shop

[myxpykalix]

here is a heat exchanger that might help heat your shop:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Woodstove-Heat-Exchanger/?ALLSTEPS

[Brian Harnett]

I built a heat exchanger for mine, and have a commercial magic heat one on the house stove, they pick up a bit of wasted heat though I clean the pipes more often.

I am designing a new one to combust unburned gases from the shop stove which is not the most efficient. though I design a lot of stuff it may be years before I get to it. I have more projects than time.

The nice thing is my scrap does almost all of my heating for 2400 sq ft of shop

[Ajcoholic]

I dont know how you guys do it, but there is NO way any commercial insurance policy here will insure a woodworking shop with ANY wood burning appliance in the building.

It is hard enough to find a company that is willing to provide a commercial policy on a woodworking type business in the first place...

Just curious... as a lot of hobby guys seem to do it, but also some business shops as well, from what I have read on forums.

[myxpykalix]

Hey Andrew,
If you notice I didn't say I had one....:eek: I would never have one in my shop because it is a wooden building, with a wooden floor, and sawdust EVERYWHERE, which is a recipe for disaster.:mad:

But i see guys here who have metal buildings and spotless floors. When i was a kid I worked in a guys car repair shop and he had a big old barrel stove that we would shovel a small load of coal into then he would keep it running hot by dumping in the used motor oil we drained out of cars. :eek:

[donek]

In 2002 we survived a fire.

You'd be amazed at what can happen to a metal building with no fuel in it but the coating on the insulation. Aside from the tyvek on the insulation there was a rack of lumber in the opposite end of the building that the fire started. As much as I would love to burn wood in my shop, it's not really an option.

http://bomberonline.com/images/photos/photo_Donek_fire_1.jpg
http://bomberonline.com/images/photos/photo_Donek_fire_3.jpg

[curtiss]

As handy as most botters are, I would suppose a few have some homemade sprinkler systems soon to show up here. I would think a few hundred dollars spent would prevent about 90% of the problem.

Seems most commercial operations would want to install a sprinkler system.

[donek]

As handy as most botters are, I would suppose a few have some homemade sprinkler systems soon to show up here. I would think a few hundred dollars spent would prevent about 90% of the problem.

Seems most commercial operations would want to install a sprinkler system.

When we put up the new building we planned on a fire suppression system. Unfortunately a sprinkler system cost more than the building and it's contents. This is primarily due to our rural location and ridiculous laws that say such an installation must meet situations whose likelihood is virtually non existent. In other words, the fire department won't allow you to install a system that would take care of 95% of the fire situations. They prefer you not install anything. We chose to install steel panels inside the building to prevent any sparks or fire sources from contacting the tyvek coating on the insulation. This is a common approach for welding shops, although welding is a rare occurrence for us.

[wberminio]

Years ago i had a wood stove in my shop.I set it up in a separate cement block space.I vented the heat through ductwork and fan.Work very well,but we wasted so much time keeping it stoked,not to mention the space I used up to store my scraps.
Needless to say I eventually invested in an oil burner
Sometimes spending money is saving money :)