Which kind of woodburning stove is best for heating a small garage workshop ?

[the mushroom]

I have been looking for a woodburner design I can use to heat my workshop but I'm not sure what kind of burner to use, what's best a rocket heater or something more traditional ?

 

[striker]

I made a pocket rocket stove for last winter..whilst it does throw out a lot of heat, It is difficult to get going well and needs regular attention feeding it. It was interesting designing and building it and it does work well.
I have a conventional woodstove in the house. I can light it and spend maybe 5 mins getting it going, but then I can leave it gor 4 hrs.
For this reason im going back to a normal woodstove this winter.

Paul.

 

[gaz1]

ive made a rocket burner out of a gas bottle and uses very little wood about 2-3 builders black buckets full of chopped wood

if your going to build one dont use 3" stay above 4" for vortex chamber or for the flue mine is 4" and have no trouble in lighting it or running it with a 9"x9" firebox on the front

it heats an area of mine 10'x9' and is overwarm but can heat bigger areas than that up to 20' x 20'

the dimensions for it if you dont want to cast it then use stainless steel tubing but will last about 2 years or more if your lucky im now upgrading to a cast vortex chamber myself but im still using the stainless steel version

 

[gaz1]

for those that dont think a rocket stove can be used to heat somewhere heres the sizes depending on your build of the rocket stove

(Now someone stated that my shop is 2000 squ.ft and not insulated) Well it is that big but my shop is a stick built,insulated 2x6 walls 10 ft. high,finished inside, double pain windows and insulated over head doors the ceiling has blown insulation R40. So this is close to new house building standards.

can get up to 12 hour burns using white oak

for this build in stainless steel

http://woodstoves.forumotion.co.uk/t617-batch-box-wood-loading-and-few-thoughts

ppottys room size is 25' x 25' x 7' high

these are actual room sizes with real world burn times and heating of the room

 

[striker]

Gaz1. They look fantastic. Mine is of the pocket rocket design, nothing at all like these! Mine draws so much air it vibrates and sounds like its going to take off!. I use a heavy steel plate to cover most the feed tube to regulate it.... this causes the wood to burn further up the feed tube. If its unregualted just the end of the wood burns..seems to run better on 2x2 sections, and smaller, like this. When gagged down with the steel plate I can burn proper logs like yours.

 

[gaz1]

heres my start up my own build striker to give you a good idea I start it there due to firebox been large it can start pulling other way so firebox becomes a fire instead

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/first-build-rocket-burner.45497/

 

[striker]

Looks great...is it all steel inside or did you cast your own refractory?

 

[gaz1]

from the firebox i made it out of 3mm stainless steel then into stainless steel 4 3/4" burn chamber before entering the vortex tube which is also stainless steel 3mm

plain steel destroys itself within 3 months thats using 5mm

I havent cast a refractory as of yet but i will be doing on the new build of mine

 

[rockweasel]

Gaz1. They look fantastic. Mine is of the pocket rocket design, nothing at all like these! Mine draws so much air it vibrates and sounds like its going to take off!. I use a heavy steel plate to cover most the feed tube to regulate it.... this causes the wood to burn further up the feed tube. If its unregualted just the end of the wood burns..seems to run better on 2x2 sections, and smaller, like this. When gagged down with the steel plate I can burn proper logs like yours.

I've just started lighting fires in mine. Like you say, it's like a giant wind instrument at times.
A hot air gun aimed in the inlet will help a stubborn fire get going.
I'll have to try regulating the air flow: the wood only burns right underneath the chimney in mine so far.

 

[gaz1]

ive done testing with my rocket burner these are downloadable

this is without secondary air

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ukki49y1twtlu9n/rb14.3GP?dl=0

and this one is with secondary air and tuned for best output

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cg0hxhl95vdvqwj/rb20.3gp?dl=0

this is what is inside of my rocket burner after the firebox made out of 3mm stainless steel

 

[gaz1]

this one here is built to an older specification and smaller uses wood pellets but can burn wood sticks

The stove is made from 4 inch box section mild steel and is 13 inches long by 16 inches high. The vortex generator and riser tube are 2.75 inch stainless steel and the exhaust is 3 inch tube

as you see its heating a shed or garage up and has a nice vortex action

highest temperature reached 950f and was reduced back down to 800f

this model uses heat wrap from car exhausts to insulate the vortex tube