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Fitting a Log Burner in a garage


Cornish Rattler

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Hi guys

Been thinking for a while now about fitting a log burner in my garage and with having the flu recently probably caused by working in the garage with little to no heat I have decided to buy one, I quite fancy a JAO13S its a 5.5kw burner and my garage is 18'6" x 18'3" but before I buy does anyone have a log burner in there garage and what kw is your burner and size of garage, basically I am trying to find out if the log burner I want will heat up my garage as most reviews just mention about heating up a living room or similar and can't get a decent answer, so just thought I would ask what do you think

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I suspect 5.5kw may be too big for a garage that size.. You are better to run a smaller unit "flat out" than have to throttle a big one back.

We have a Morso Squirrel in the front room of the house which is about 5m x 5m and it is more than enough.

My parents used to have a big Jotul stove in their house and it was a tricky brute to keep in check... 

Other considerations will be the insulation in the garage, the size of the flue, the amount of drafts or open doors etc... and the type of wood you intend to burn... for example, well seasoned hard wood chucks out a lot more heat than barely seasoned soft wood...

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My garage is half that size and I have one of these fitted : https://www.wesellstoves.co.uk/hawk-3?gclid=Cj0KEQiAsrnCBRCTs7nqwrm6pcYBEiQAcQSznN62k5wuOuqy_nqdAAFr96xwtdYHR1JTB98GPIuWyB8aAqDy8P8HAQ

Its very small but has quite a high heat output.

its been a while since I really fired it up - but it certainly warms my garage through. What I really like about it though is that with it being small I can light small fires in and it will still heat up quickly. Big ones can take a bit of heating up, which if you are just popping in for a couple hours means it may only get going when you're ready to come out.

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We've a 5kw stove in our living room (5 x 4m with a big single glazed bay window), and it's more than we need in there - usually have the vent well in. I'm quite sure it would be well up to heating your garage.

We find our stove very efficient, even though we hardly ever have it running hard - when I got a chimney sweep out last month he had a look and declared the flue not worth sweeping yet (it hasn't been done since the stove was installed - three winters of use). Obviously, that's going to be dependant on the particular stove and what you're burning.

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When I built my garage a helpful forumer ran the numbers and pointed out that running a cheap electric heater is much cheaper and easier, not to mention less of a fire risk.

Seriously, electric costs pennies, it's hardly even worth your time chopping logs even if they're free.

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23 minutes ago, FridgeFreezer said:

When I built my garage a helpful forumer ran the numbers and pointed out that running a cheap electric heater is much cheaper and easier, not to mention less of a fire risk.

Seriously, electric costs pennies, it's hardly even worth your time chopping logs even if they're free.

The problem I have with an electric heater is I live in a council house and limited to how much electric I can pull before I start tripping the fuse box in the house, if it was my own house I would have the garage wired up properly so I could pull as much as I wanted and not have to switch things off to use something else, plus good heater pull loads of amps which I don't have and all the domestic heaters I have tried have been useless up to now :)

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You'll never get it up to "boiler thong" temperature but a cheapo electric heater can take the edge off and make it liveable. How bad is your garage electric connection? Can you rig up a temporary addition?

I've got one of those halogen ceramic type things which just kinda "beams" heat out, my garage is about 11m x 3m and it does OK, especially if you point it in the area you're standing.

Alternative cheapo two-birds-with-one-stone solution is a couple of 500W halogen floodlights, either fixed or on one of those stands, they do the same thing as about 495w of it comes out as heat. I used to have a 150W one as a worklight, that also helped shine a bit of localised warmth.

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It's basicerly an extension lead perminantly plugged into the house and I just flick the socket switch when I go in the garage and run what I can off it mainly lights and a compressor at the same time I have a bench grinder and small piller drill plugged in but normally switch them off when using the compressor, not ideal I know but as for electric heaters I would rather go the log burner way TBH but thanks for that though 

Edited by Cornish Rattler
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my heater in my garage is (a very old ie free) one of these style heaters.

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-mobile-gas-heater-mgh1/

it heats up my large garage very quickly and is very cheap on gas, i refill the butane cyl maybe once every couple of years.

 

also used one of these

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/clarke-little-devil-2-propane-fired-space-heat/

good little beasty but too noisey really.

Edited by qwakers
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One other thing to bear in mind with a gas heater is that most will generate a fair amount of water vapour, which can cause condensation problems. Good ventilation would alleviate this to some extent but would also let a lot of your heat escape. I used to use one down south but usually had the door open - this stopped the condensation but meant I used a s**t-load of gas.

I now use a 2kw electric heater which works fine.

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I bought one of the little butane gas fires for my garage 27' x 13'. 4.2kw £100 with a bottle and 2 years in I'm still on that same bottle. I also have one in my conservatory but the type that looks like a cast iron stove, only about 3kw and about 3 times the price but it keeps the mrs happy <_<. There is more moisture than with electric but it heats the garage so quickly I don't have it on for long, if I'm sat at a bench any more than 1 bar and your burning your legs. I thought about a wood burner but I usually only get to go in the garage for an hour or two in the evening so the hassle of stoking and cleaning seemed like a huge waste of time. I did insulate my garage though, it's 22mm t&g with 45mm of polystyrene then 9mm of OSB. If I was working under a car I use a little fan heater instead so that it blows under the car rather than heating the roof space.

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1 hour ago, UdderlyOffroad said:

Interesting topic.  Those who've fitted log burners, presumably you only need a 'single' skin flue pipe and not the ma-hoos-ively expensive double-skin stuff used in domestic installations?

Matt

Thats if you can get them easily. We had difficulty sourcing one at one point - I think mum was too honest about what we wanted it for! Single skin would be better for this I would think as it would also ensure more radiated heat?

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2 minutes ago, reb78 said:

 We had difficulty sourcing one at one point - I think mum was too honest about what we wanted it for!

 

Yes you have to think about the implications of DIY fitting a stove in a shed that belongs to the LA, if it all goes horribly wrong you could be in deep water.

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There are also potential planning and building regulations pitfalls to be aware of.

For example, the presence of a 'combustion device' fitted into a workshop/garage takes it out of the scope of permitted development and hence would mean the building requires planning permission.

Edit: Hmm, having checked to make sure I was correct I can't now find the bit that says about combustion devices - I swear I read it somewhere! May be OK then, but proceed with caution!

Edited by Retroanaconda
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8 minutes ago, Retroanaconda said:

There are also potential planning and building regulations pitfalls to be aware of.

For example, the presence of a 'combustion device' fitted into a workshop/garage takes it out of the scope of permitted development and hence would mean the building requires planning permission.

Yep, its certainly something to be mindful of

Like a lot of things, it gets done and no one notices and all is well with the world.

Sometimes it goes wrong and the world can fall apart.

In the case of a log burner it only needs an awkward neighbour to moan about soot on her washing,..... is it sexist to say 'her' washing - probably :-)

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I know for a house it should be inspected once you've put it in to ensure your not gassing yourself and you have to tell your insurance as well as ensure your not in a defra smoke free zone. I know if you move house the solicitors generally ask for the certificate along with the ones for windows, doors etc I'm not sure if it would apply to a garage? Most I visit have something cobbled from an old gas bottle and length of pipe and their garages are red hot :)

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