Cheap Heat

Lately, the weather has been getting a bit fridged. Time to break out the heaters!

A few years ago Lenny installed a homemade wood burning stove in a one car garage we had converted into an additional living space.

 For this project Lenny’s Dad had given us a couple empty 55 gallon drums he obtained via the machine shop he works for. Then we headed over to www.vogelzang.com and ordered a double barrel stove kit and collars. The reason we chose the double barrel kit versus the single barrel kit was for heat retention. As the smoke leaves the first barrel it collects in the second barrel, heating the barrel, before exiting through the chimney, wasting less heat. Next, we picked up the 6 in. triple wall pipe through the roof kit, a 6 in. Dura-Plus chimney section and stove pipe from TSC (Tractor Supply Company). In all we spent around $500.

 Starting out we had to clean out the drums real well by stripping the paint and power washing because they had contained parts cleaner. You don’t want to be breathing that in while trying to burn a fire in your home.

 Once the drums were well cleaned, Lenny then cut out the necessary holes for the door, stove pipes, and damper. Then, Lenny installed the door, legs, damper, supporting brackets for the second drum. With those in place Lenny mounted the second drum on top of the first drum and installed the stove pipe and collars.

Because there was not a previous chimney in the roof we had to cut out a hole in our roof in order to install the 6 in. triple wall pipe through the roof kit and then apply flashing so that rain water would not get into the house.

The last piece of the puzzle was to connect the Dura-Plus chimney section to the stove pipe and chimney kit. To seal the joints we used aluminum ducting tape. The tape is not necessary, we used it to strengthen the connections in the event the stove would shift and cause smoke to escape due to the stove not being permanently attached to the floor. We did not secure the stove that way during the summer season we are able to move the stove to create more space for drying beans.

The wood burning stove was a practical addition to our home  because it has, over the past few years, reduced our need to rely on propane as the primary source for heating our home. With an abundance of trees, the cost is nothing to use versus over $1000 to fill our propane tank each year.

For additional information in regards to this project or if you have any suggestions feel free to e-mail me at thejoneshomestead@yahoo.com .