Thinking about my options to heat my shop this winter. Anybody have any experience with those wood pellet stoves? I have a distant relative up in the northeast who says they're the best thing since sliced bread.

 

I know a lot of people in my area have gone to them. Many who bought them so they wouldnt have to run the heat that was already in there house. From the houses i've been in with them they seem to keep it warm and burn clean. I've even been told they're the reason we have way less chimney fires than we used to, because they burn so much cleaner than wood.

 

My son has one and it works well,,,,,,,except the night several years ago when one of the blower motors quit and the house filled with smoke. Everyone out of the house into the cold until they got the house aired out. A new blower motor and it is fine. Other than that he likes it.
I have a lot of wood available on my place for the cutting so I opted for a clean burn stove. Did I say I like to cut and split wood.

 

Thanks for the replies. I've been looking at them on the net, and all I find are the decorative ones for a home or fireplace insert. I wonder if they make a "plain jane" more practical model for garages, shops, etc. Hopefully it would be cheaper.

 

My father-in-law has one and loves it My opinion though is, we have a lot of power outages around here and with a pellet stove, no power means no HEAT! I'll stick with my wood burning stove

 

Good point. I'll tell you what caught my attention. The fellow who was telling me about it lives up in Massachusetts and heats his entire house with one. He said that his ash tray is something like 14 x 10 x 6 inches deep. He said that he emptied that ash tray only THREE times all winter long. I've cut and chopped wood all my life. It's just very tempting to handle a 40 lb bag of that stuff as compared to messing with cutting, cussing, splitting, hauling, cussing, stacking, cussing, carrying, cussing, etc. One brochure I read said that you fill the hopper about once every three days. Very interesting and tempting.

 

My FIL heats a 14X70 mobile home with his and I think he only fills it every few days.
Around here we have a farm and ranch store called Atwoods, they had a cheaper, no frills pellet stove last year for under $1K. Not sure if you have anything like that around you?
Yep, I've cussed and cut and split and stacked and then cussed some more for many years, but I plan to keep doing so as long as I can.

 

If your afraid of a power outage... Pick up a Generator that can be tied into your shop power and/or your house... That way you still have lights and heat... and can do some work... If power goes out your wife may join you out in the shop though...

 

Doc, that's a lot of cussing. What are you like when you're working on your truck? That's when I usually do my best cussing.

 

Actually I don't cuss too much when im working on it. I go so slow and I'm alone. But you should have seen me laying under my last POS hay baler with a pocket knife trying to clear the stuck grass out of the rollers. Or the other day when I was trying to swap out a busted hydraulic line on my tractor when I was wishing my arms were toothpicks and about a foot longer.

I made a phone call. Those pellets are around 5 dollars a bag. Not all that bad. Especially if im only gonna use it when I'm working in my shop.

 

I got a new side window from an old boy down in the valley who had a very small wood (log) burning stove in his shop. It was tiny. But it put all its heat into the shop, very comfortable, although as with any woodburner it is radiated heat. If you are not in line-of-sight with the unit, it won't feel as warm.

If you have a drafty shop, wood is the way to go (wood log or pellet). If it's tight, I'd be cautious.

 

Just to throw this out there. In my business shop, 50'X50' with 14' ceiling, I have gas fired radiant heat. I have two units but normally only use one, once in a while if it's really cold the second will fire up but that's very rare. Up here in WI it can get pretty cold. I really don't feel the heat, it's just there. The radiant heat units heat objects and people in the room, not the air. You can lay on the floor and it's not cold. I don't know if they make smaller units for small garages and shops.

The two things I like about the radiant system is the shop isn't pressurized like with a forced air system. I can open one of my 12' overhead doors in the middle of winter and the warm air doesn't rush out. I can't keep the door open for extended periods of time but long enough to forklift a pallet off a truck and bring it into my shop. The other thing is heat is always there, unlike the forced air units that are hot when running and gets cold as soon as the unit shuts off. I hate the constant on/off and the dryness.

The only bad thing about the radiant units is it takes a little longer to heat the room. Not much but you don't get the instant heat blast you do with a forced air unit.

On more thing that I think really helps in my shop is the insulation. I have 6" thick walls fully insulated and 12" of insulation in the ceiling. It costs me about $150 a month, during the coldest months, to heat my shop. That's for five days a week, ten hour days.

 

I have a pellet stove in my house.......I love the no mess and ease of keeping it going, but I sure hate the cost of the pellets. I bought my stove used for about $200 a couple years ago, works just fine.....try to find an older one without all the electronic stuff that will fail.
Depends on the size and insulation level of your shop too....for a smaller shop I think it's a great option. My shop is 40x60 so I heat it with wood. I have a huge outside woodstove, so I don't have all the mess in the shop...

 

How long does a 40 lb bag of those things last for instance? My shop is about 30 x 40. Is it one of those things where I could start it when I get home from work and be comfortable after eating supper, etc? Im sorry I brought this topic up. But I hope somebody else is benefitting as well.

 

Doc,

Why are you sorry for bringing the topic up? I think it's pertinent to the truck hobby. For us in the northern climes our season is cut short by the crappy cold weather. If we can't enjoy driving out vehicles at least we should be able to work on them.

Some interesting information is being presented and I'm sure more will come.