Steve Schilling

Thanks for your time replying guys, it means alot. The relatively tight space in the shop and the potential limitations of the stuff I have on hand are making me realize i've got alot more mulling to do, Haha! I obviously don't want to go headfirst into a shaky design. Just seems like the tried and true RMH design may not be possible for me. We'll see, i'll fart around with it and be sure to post my results.

Steve

I should give a little more context of the situation. The exhaust will be exiting the gable end wall (20' high) on the lee side of the building. Will I need to run stack all the way to the roofline? Building codes are optional here, lol! If it makes more sense
to add mass to cool the exhaust I'll go for it.

Brett, I hear you about the behavior changes and I'll say that I'm looking forward to them. I figured an hour or so to heat the place up. A batch box is definitely something to consider. I wondered about the effect of one on a 4" burner.
I
I assumed a 4" burner for that size barrel, didn't think a 6" would fit. I'm totally open to making a form and casting a base/ burner too. Do you know of any examples of successful smaller stoves?

I recently created a workshop in my garage for my knifemaking/leather working habit. I partitioned off a 12'x 14' area in one corner of the larger structure that has a concrete floor and 8' ceilings. I'm currently using a wall mounted propane heater rated at 20k BTU but really can't justify the expense of the propane. This isn't a space that needs heat for more than 8 hours/day, just to take the edge off so I can work in the shop. I regularly see 0-20deg F lows in the winter and would like to get the shop to 60-70deg in a reasonable time.

I have good fabricating skills and a decent shop, not afraid to take on a more challenging design if need be. I have some materials on hand that I hope can be useful.

A roughly 18gal stainless barrel 15"ID x24" tall shown located where i'd like to place the heater




Here i have another shot of the barrel along with a small rocket cooker i welded up out of 4" stainless pipe (the carpenter's square 24" shown for reference)




I'd love to be able to work with the barrel at least as it seems a nice fit in my small space and perhaps offering the flat top for a tea kettle....Can I use this for space heating a small (<200sqft) shop? What would you do?

Thanks,
Steve

I just wanted to stop in and say Hi and say Thank You to those who created and administer to this site. Thank you for your passion and patience, I can't imagine how much work it must take to maintain this.

My name is Steve I live here in rural central New York with my wife and two kids. I work as a field tech for the USDA and my wife teaches middle school math.
Our goal is to live a happy and sensible life while working to reduce our impact on our environment. I've been poking at the cutting edge of low technology for years
and look forward to sharing/learning with you all!

Steve