Firewood rack

[Bearskinner]

You know the worst thing about wood heat, getting up in the morning to start the fire and freezing your butt of while it heats up the room enough. The other thing is getting the heat from the room where the stove is back to the other rooms. Now if you have a wood fired boiler that uses hot water to heat, then the last item is not an issue.

Our house is almost 10 years old, but built well and sealed and insulated, with 12” walls. We get lots of cold and snow (90 miles from Canada, PNW forest area) we severely down sized so only 2,200SF. I can set the thermostat, in case we have to go somewhere for an extended period, but it doesn’t come on at all normally.
Even in heavy snowy, stormy weather, say 5 degrees outside, I usually won’t stoke the fireplace ( centrally located, efficient wood stove) afternoon or at night. Yes, that means start a new fire in the AM, but the house only drops 5-8 degrees, in really cold weather, all evening and night.
I don’t like sleeping in a warm environment, so we keep the master area closed from full house heat. A large ceiling fan in the 28’ living/ great room ceiling height area, keep the air circulating slowly.
If the weather is only in the 20’s, I won’t even fill the stove. Just do a little warm up fire, and let it go out in a few hours.
Insulation and air movement are the cure. Like the highly insulated ice chests, compared to 20 year old hollow plastic ones.

 

[Bearskinner]

It sounds like you might have a ventilation problem more so than just heating. Propane by itself doesnt create moisture, it comes from the combustion air around it. The fact that your wood stove discharges the burned fuel and combustion air makes it drier. You may have the shop too well sealed and therefore no air circulation which is a bad thing especially in an enclosed shop where you could be TIG welding.

My shop has 3 areas, or chambers.72’ deep. The front is daily use vehicle parking, covered, enclosed, but no insulation what so ever. Lots of light and sun thru windows.
The main work shop ( thru a 16’ wide, 10’ tall rollup door) is where I work on most things, woodworking, fab work, welding, truck lift for vehicles etc. only lightly insulated, but well lit with multiple large ceiling fans, to circulate air. A couple sunny side windows, plus man door, or open the big door for total air change. Really no moisture issues, or “sweating” until spring, when it goes from thaw to freeze daily for a week or two. One fan always moving air cures that.
In the little back room, 24’x12’ it’s an absolutely sealed envelope. Zero air infiltration, on purpose. 12” ceiling 12’ tall so I can have a mezzanine above. Walls are all 8” thick, and the whole room is spray foam insulated, filling the studs. I taped the back of light switches, electrical outlets etc, before the foam, so there are absolutely no air infiltration.
This is why it will sweat a little with the propane heat. I keep a dehumidifier in the room, to keep it very dry, as I house my roll away tool boxes, and other power tools and sporting gear inside. I want to absolutely regulate moisture in this room. I installed a pellet stove in this room, with outside venting, so you only get warm air blowing inside the enclosed envelope. The pellet stove fires up within 5 minutes of start up, is thermostatically controlled, and cools off quick when I turn it off.
On severely prolonged cold days or weeks, the pellet stove is way oversized, so it has the capacity to open the man door and windows( all exterior rated and insulated) and heat both rear rooms. I do keep a large torpedo type propane heater for quick, emergency warm ups. Say you break something on your vehicle, tractor etc, in the middle of winter. Melt it off in the outside parking area, bring it into the working area of the shop, go on the lift, torpedo on, for 10 minutes, makes it warm to work on anything.
It took a few years to get everything perfect so that it works well for me in my climate.
Sorry to be so long winded, but make your environment fit your needs for use and comfort, so weather doesn’t effect your ability to play, build or work.

 

[Bearskinner]

My Apologies to the OP, as this has morphed into heating related talk, instead of the great build of a wood rack!

 

[cpufixerjr]

No worries, I have been outside wrestling a tree for next years firewood. Its pretty ealy in the year but I want to clear a lot of fence line this season for some new goat pens next spring.

 

[CA_Bgrwldr]

You know the worst thing about wood heat, getting up in the morning to start the fire and freezing your butt of while it heats up the room enough. The other thing is getting the heat from the room where the stove is back to the other rooms. Now if you have a wood fired boiler that uses hot water to heat, then the last item is not an issue.

If you use Idaho energy logs, there is little issue with waking up to a cold house. With 2 and a piece of oak, I can get about a 10-12 hour burn, with coals hot enough to ignite new logs when added. I went to them over using oak and pine about 25yrs ago, they burn cleaner with less ash. and burn at a constant rate, allowing you to maintain a more constant heat level. With a couple of fans on the other side of the house to move the air around, I can usually maintain about 65* throughout the rest of the house, even on the coldest of days.

 

[Bearskinner]

I like to keep it as simple and inexpensive as possible. A few of us used to go get dead standing in the local hills. When I figured in what fuel costs, labor, wearing out equipment etc costs, it’s faster, cheaper, and much easier on the old back to get a truckload of good wood delivered every 4 years.

 

[Bearskinner]

It’s still work, but with the log Grapple and lumber delivered to my wood lot, I can set the logs on a saw buck in front of the wood shed, saw them and there right where they need to be. I can do a little at a time, split when needed, and keep the wood shed always full, and load the back porch ( covered) so it’s dry and ready to use.

 

[henerythe8th]

No one else has said it...

NICE RACK!

 

[Baja]

I agree with Bearskinner. A wood stove is the only way to go , as long as you have a good source of wood. I have two wood stoves in my house and one in the shop. Always warm , here it gets pretty cold in the winter and snows.

My first post... I am also in agreement with Bearskinner. I have heated with wood for the last 25 years, so long that the heating unit doesn`t even work anymore. Don`t remember last time it was used. This is my only heating appliance and it uses no electricity. I built it out of old billboard steel I was given, with the exception of the sched 40 2" pipe that goes from the floor through the firebox and blows warm air out the grille. My wife can get the room up to 80 degrees from 65 in half an hour. I have enough mesquite on my property to supply my needs, with an occasional foray for ironwood.

 

[Robert]

My first post... I am also in agreement with Bearskinner. I have heated with wood for the last 25 years, so long that the heating unit doesn`t even work anymore. Don`t remember last time it was used. This is my only heating appliance and it uses no electricity. I built it out of old billboard steel I was given, with the exception of the sched 40 2" pipe that goes from the floor through the firebox and blows warm air out the grille. My wife can get the room up to 80 degrees from 65 in half an hour. I have enough mesquite on my property to supply my needs, with an occasional foray for ironwood.

Why did you run the 2" pipe from the for and then across the top of the furnace? I like your stove and would like to duplicate it for my shop. I live in MS and it gets cold in the shop during the winter months. The shop is 30x24.

 

[Jimboyett]

Looks very sturdy. If when you load it, it deflects at all, you can add a piece of angle iron across the top, in the back so as not to bump into it, if it was on the front.

 

[Baja]

Why did you run the 2" pipe from the for and then across the top of the furnace? I like your stove and would like to duplicate it for my shop. I live in MS and it gets cold in the shop during the winter months. The shop is 30x24.

The pipes run through the firebox and convection pulls the cold air from the floor and heats it and blows it out the front. I originally was going to have the pipes bent but wound up cutting them at 22.5 degrees and welding them together. The stove blows hot air about eight feet or so when it`s going good. Here is a view in the door where you can see the pipes going through the fire box. How do these pics get turned sideways and how do you rotate them?