Tired of being cold - solved

[xsaras4ever]

Hello to all,

on the subject of garage heat, our next step is to install a "hot air" recovery system and duct it around the garage. We have installed similar in a few houses with wood-burners. We have a very simple design, if anybody would like us to post it.

[CitroJim]

You'll end up with a better workshop heating system that I have in my house

[xsaras4ever]

We all probably spend more time in the workshop than in the house though

[CitroJim]

We all probably spend more time in the workshop than in the house though

True!!! Very true!!!

[Hell Razor5543]

If you were securely fix a metal plate to the top (that can be easily cleaned) I would imagine it could be a useful burger cooker. Can I have onions with mine?!?

[van ordinaire]

Caravans (&, particularly ex-BT van bodies - used as sheds) in the Outer Hebrides seem to be permanently tethered like that!

Bought an industrial fan heater in Lidl's last Friday - took it back on Saturday as it produced so little warmth - regardless of the setting (bizarrely, even if fan was selected.) Disappointed because their stuff's generally OK AND I'm tired of having to go out in the garden to thaw out.

[bobins]

One of my mates used to be a local retained fireman - he reckoned they were getting called to more and more roof fires these days due to wood burner chimneys being badly routed up against beams and rafters in the roof space. Worth bearing in mind !!

[Stickyfinger]

Not my metal roof it wont

[CitroJim]

Bought an industrial fan heater in Lidl's last Friday - took it back on Saturday as it produced so little warmth - regardless of the setting (bizarrely, even if fan was selected.) Disappointed because their stuff's generally OK AND I'm tired of having to go out in the garden to thaw out.

Interesting you should say that as mine doesn't seem to give out much heat but by golly it does deliver the goods.. It delivers a very high volume of air and circulates it over a wide area and hence why the air coming out does not seem all that hot...

In no time at all my workshop is lovely...

I had another cheap domestic fan heater that produced a load of very hot air but only very local to it. Now that did not deliver the goods unless you sat on top of it... Last seen heading for the scrap yard...

[white exec]

Interesting to read about keeping warm, and efficient, air-circulating wood fires.

Down here, we burn about 4m3 of wood (olive root, stump and log usually) each winter. Many rural houses here are equipped with one of these - a "cassette" log burner, that slots into a brick fireplace.


When we tried to buy one of these, about 10 years ago, we were amazed to find that - despite the slightly germanic name of Rofer - they were actually designed and built just down the road from us, in Torre del Mar (Rofer = Rodrigo and Fernandez).

We bought their Alpha 65 (65cm), for about €500. It's extraordinarily well built, largely from 4mm and 5mm steel plate, in contrast to the tinny offerings of most of the competition. When installing, it takes two to lift it, but it's equipped with two pairs of detachable lifting handles - rather like a vaulting horse!



Chimney flue is 200mm iirc, and there are a pair of hot-air take-offs (100mm each). We have one of these ducted to an upstairs bedroom, which it will heat to 24degC if the duct is fully opened up. Heat output of the fire is 13kW if needed, and keeps a large open-plan living area nicely winter-toasty. Two instrument-quality fans, 45W, with Lo/Hi/Auto speed control, that operate when fire is producing useful heat, and shut down automatically after it goes out.

Rodi & Rofer have recently started selling these in the UK (rofer.co.uk) from their Yorkshire base. An extraordinarily well-built and capable device, and good-looking too.

[Paul-R]

That's very similar to what we have installed in the main room of our French house. In France that type is called an "insert", as it goes into an enclosure of some kind, as opposed to a "four", which is freestanding.

I can't remember the name of the manufacturer but they're definitely French. Apart from that, same idea - fan, smoke flue, two hot air flues, etc.

[xsaras4ever]

Hello to all , yep here in France the "insert" is very popular, though so far we have stuck to "stand alone" stoves , or log burners.


As the old French houses have big chimney spaces, we have installed a "hot box" in the chimney, insulated with foil-backed Rockwool.

The flue pipe passes through the "hot box" and exits atop the chimney as normal , but it causes the air in the "hot box" to extract the heat from the flue-pipe and that is distributed by 100mm pipes to bedroom, bathroom etc. Its amazingly efficient. Our "hot box" is 2m x 1m20 x 0.6m .

Eventually we will build a "hot box" around the flue-pipe in the workshop to distribute the hot air to the remote corners.

Its very simple to build, basically a large insulated box.
Ours differs from the diagram in that it has a cold-air feed pipe from outside into the bottom of the box. The electric distribution pump is optional and rarely required.

[CitroJim]

I'd love one of those "Inserts" in my house

Sadly I can't as I have no chimney

[xsaras4ever]

Hi Jim, why don't you build one - against an outside wall ?

[van ordinaire]

Interesting you should say that as mine doesn't seem to give out much heat but by golly it does deliver the goods.. It delivers a very high volume of air and circulates it over a wide area and hence why the air coming out does not seem all that hot...

In no time at all my workshop is lovely...

I had another cheap domestic fan heater that produced a load of very hot air but only very local to it. Now that did not deliver the goods unless you sat on top of it... Last seen heading for the scrap yard...

Know what you mean but mine was set up in the lounge - & by the end of the evening it had barely taken the chill off. What was more of a concern was that no matter what position either of the controls was in, it made no difference to the volume or temperature of the air in front of the grille.