Oz is hot. Right? Bloody Cold just now.
by John
It is the depths of winter here in southern Oz. I know that is difficult for you northern hemisphere types to realise, but here at present we have frosts when we get up, and the workshop is just too cold to do anything productive after about 4pm.
And the tooling surfaces rust up in front of my eyes.
So I decided to make a wood burning heater for my workshop.
The workshop is 7m x 13m. Not lined or insulated. Just a tin shed.
Electricity supply is dodgy and expensive. And I dont want to suck power away from my CNC machines. Bottled gas is very expensive… about $AUD20-25 per day.
But I have plenty of trees dropping dead branches.
So I decided to make a wood burning heater.
Parameters…..
Not occupying much floor space. No wall space available.
Able to be removed in warm-hot months (it gets up to 110 fahrenheit / 45celcius in summer.
So this is what I have come up with. I had some 220mm dia pipes left over from a building job. That would be the body of the heater.
The footprint is 300x400mm. It is 1600mm high. There is an ash pan under the grate. The air intake (hidden) and flue are placed to encourage swirling in the pipe, and maximise heat transfer to the body of the heater. The top is closed with a heavy plate. I plan to add a proximity rail.
The heater is now finished, and I will do a test burn tomorrow. If it works as hoped, I will post a video.
And totally unexpectedly, I have bought a model traction engine. It feels a bit strange to buy rather than build, but here it is.
1500mm long. Deceased estate, never run on steam. Beautifully made. based on a steam engine which was used to power a sawmill. ? 3″ scale. Needs boiler re-certified.
I will make a ride on driver’s trailer, and a kids ride on trailer. I really have caught the steam disease.
johnsmachines 
I’d would have thought it would be better to insulate before adding heating.
If the space is very large you might partition a bit off so it would be easier to cool or heat as required.
john f
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I seem to be really feeling the cold this year. So I needed a quick fix. Unfortunately the building would be difficult to insulate (need to move large heavy machines and fixed shelving. Widely spaced steel frame with no studs. And uncertainty about duration of occupancy). So the wood heater seemed to be the logical choice. Time will tell.
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Hi JV, the diameter of the heater seems relatively small. Are you confident you can get enough combustion happeining in the chamber to keep you warm ?
Regards, Phil
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I wanted a small footprint so it did not take much of my workshop, and also so I can wheel it outside when the weather warms up. It works!!
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and one heater which I looked at from UK had a diameter of 100mm!! Mine is huge by comparison.
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I welded up a wood stove for my cold Boston apartment one winter. It threw so much heat I was dumbfounded. Luckily, I didn’t set the old chimney on fire.
You might want to make some modifications after you’ve used it a bit. I can’t see the back of it. Do you have an opening to clean the ashes out? You might want a sill under the door to catch live ashes, too. Glad I don’t need to heat my studio or house out here; just need to keep the air moving.
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The size was determined by the steel which I had available, and also the desire to keep the footprint small. It was an experiment, and I am happy with the outcome. See later post. John
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