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Ideas for heating a garage

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wp34:

That's an interesting idea.  I need to look but believe I do have ductwork on the I side wall.  When nobody is home I have been leaving the door to the garage open which does a decent job of heating.  Sawdust was getting to be a problem in the house hence this thread.

I wonder if there would be code issues or problems with fumes tying into the house ducts?


--- Quote from: JDFan on November 24, 2013, 01:12:30 pm ---Since the garage is attached to the house - What type of duct work does the house have (perhaps you could reroute some duct work into the garage and just use your existing heating\air conditioning to add the garage space (assuming the current units have enough headroom to heat\cool the added space !) of course this option depends on the current system you are using and if it has enough capacity for the added area but since the garage is attached it may be a viable option.

--- End quote ---


Xiaou2:

There's a really amazing development in super efficient wood burning heating called "Rocket Mass heaters".

 It actually creates a strong inward sucking wind, similar in look and sound to a Jet Engine.

 When looking inside, you can actually see the fire being pulled horizontally inside its burn chamber.  Its buns very cleanly, and its exhaust, is nearly smoke free.

 Rather than simply pipe the heat right out of a vertical chimney... a rocket mass stove will often guide the exhaust from its horizontal start.. up into a vertical burn chamber, then back downwards, into a long exhaust tube that is covered by a heavy thermal mass. 

 The Thermal mass, is often sculpted into a long sitting bench...  made from a mixture of  mud/clay/cob, and or firebrick, concrete...etc.   
I think some have even made the tube into a heated flooring system.

 The heat gets almost fully absorbed into the mass, before exiting the building... and the trapped heat will radiate out of the mass, for several hours after the fire has long since burned out.
 
 The wood being burned is typically fed vertically, and there is little to zero smoke.  Small possible exceptions, when getting it initially started.  Some have installed small fans to help start / and or remove any smoke traces as all.  Once its going, theres pretty zero  smoke / exhaust escaping the feed hole.

 Theres also been a lot of interesting modifications to the initial designs.. such as with auto-feed hoppers, cooking plates, radiant heat fins on the main chamber, secondary burn chambers, vortex spirals, and more.  (I think many of these may actually reduce the efficiency however... but might yield faster initial heat output)

 



Fursphere:

Pellet stoves can get crazy expensive.  (including the fuel).  And even though you can DIY - if you burn your house down without pulling a permit and getting everything "up to code" - you risk being ass out on the insurance side of things.  And where I am - there are "burn / no burn days" where you can get fined for burning on a no-burn day.  Totally lame, but something to consider.  (And they're a ---smurfette--- to clean - I've had a few of them over to the years...)

I insulated my garage two years ago, including the door (not the ceiling yet....) and just that made a HUGE difference in the summer and winter.  I have an in-wall AC unit that I installed - considering upgrading it to a in-wall AC / Heater unit.  Just haven't pulled the trigger yet. 

Xiaou2:

Not sure if Funsphere was thinking that my post was a Pellet stove.. but to clarify, its not... and its not even close in aproximation to one.

 Rocket stoves burn large chunky wood, and do so cleanly... without creating dangerous creosote and large amounts of ash/residue.

 They are also probably 500x more efficient, especially if your mass design is good.
 
 If memory serves right.. Id heard people whom used to use something like +4 chords of wood a season, to only needing 1.



Fursphere:

Nope.  referring to an earlier post.

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