I didnt want to add this to the other garage heating post because he’s looking for gas heat. Has anyone converted a 55 gallon drum into a heater with a kit from like HD? is it that simple that all I need to do is get a drum, the kit and cut a hole in my roof? I have a torpedo but its not big enough for my 4 car garage. any stupid laws in the city of buffalo saying I cant do this?
My buddy was going to get one and was talked out of it by a few different people. One guy told him that sometimes they get so hot, you can basically like see through the metal. Idk how true it is.
I’d just search cl and find an actual wood burning stove w/ fan.
OK - slight sidestep here on topic… let’s say you have a large wood-burning cast-iron stove already, and you want to heat a larger garage (mine is 1000 sq. ft. for the primary space).
Has anyone here hooked one up? What do you need so far as ancillary materials go? :study:
Steel barrels are pretty thin. I would be worried about a failure of the carbon steel after hot cycles and a massive open flame inside a smaller space.
i called harrison brothers and they recommended a toxic waste barrel because its thicker. Im gong to try it and see. worst comes to worse Im out 100 bucks. I plan to line it with bricks and I wont load the thing full with wood.
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i have one of these setups, got the kit from northern tool, a oil drum for $5 from the new holland place on 78 in wrights corners, and scavanged some random used pipe parts from the dumpster at a fireplace store on transit. works pretty well, you def want a low rpm fan to circulate the warm air. i dont use it if im not in the garage for more then an hour or 2 though. ive had it about 4 or 5 years now. my neighbor has one in his garage, which is insulated much better then mine. its also a little bigger but roof isnt as tall, if he leaves his goin pretty good he has to crack the garage door because it gets so warm. its nice working in a tshirt in the garage in the middle of winter though. theyre good for what they are. just take up a good amount of space as you cant have anything close to them. make sure you use fireboard behind it and double wall where you go through roof or wall.
My family has used a couple of these setups and I am currently using a double barrel setup in my personal shop (app 45x55x18). These work great heat wise and we have never had a problem with the drum material being too thin in the 20+ years since my father has installed them.
I agree - the barrels are fine, people have been doing this for decades. I have the barrels, just haven’t bought the kit yet. Try to keep your garage up to code, so make sure you have the fire liner on the walls and it is far away from the wall.
IF you line it with bricks, you are going to reduce the heat output of the barrel, the majority of the heat will be absorbed by the brick, or go up the chimney…
You need the fire to heat the sides of the barrel for the head to radiate off that…
A friend used to heat his shop with a barrel stove. Worked dam well too. His was actually home made. Not sure what the barrel was used for but the metal was pretty thick compared to the chinese barrells that I see kicking around my work. His was vertical though not horizontal. It consisted of a barrel, a grill that had 4 legs and would free stand on the bottom of the barrel, a little door at the bottom for clean out, and a door at the top for loading with wood. The exhaust /damper port was mounted on the side near the top. He had the thing for years, and his shop was far from air tight. But that thing absolutely made it T-shirt worthy in there.
LMK