Barn Heater

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 8:30 pm

40x60 in the UP of MI. My money is still on the heatrola if you wanted actual heat this winter.

librarymark · Post by **librarymark** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 9:08 am

coalnewbie wrote: ↑
Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 7:51 pm
Of course, he will have all those things under his drivers seat. Sometimes you get lucky and the owner will load it. So $50 for the stove and $4000 for damage to truck and chiropractor bills. I still have those mashed knuckles from an attempt to rebuild a Jaguar and on a cold morning it still hurts. I think I do see new bolts on the front door so you may get lucky. Ahh, the hubris of youth. Don't worry about me Mark, I am just a sour old fart. I do wish you the best of luck. Obviously you own horses so I see why you are broke.

I am told by the owner that it is in three sections and right now it's just stacked together. He put it in his basement years ago by himself but says, "those days are long gone" so I am not sure what to expect. I will report back with what I find.

librarymark · Post by **librarymark** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 9:56 am

coalnewbie wrote: ↑
Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 8:30 pm
40x60 in the UP of MI. My money is still on the heatrola if you wanted actual heat this winter.

Not the UP, SW lower Michigan. And I won't be installing it this winter. Too late in the season - no chimney in the barn yet. And no horses, just lots and lots of really old toys that turn wood and metal into little chips. I retire in a couple of years and if I don't find a way to be out of the house doing things I'll go nuts.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 10:32 am

well...........then you are among friends. a good many of us are here for pretty much the same reason.

steve

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 11:10 am

coalnewbie wrote: ↑
Tue. Nov. 21, 2017 8:30 pm
40x60 in the UP of MI. My money is still on the heatrola if you wanted actual heat this winter.

Hahahahaha now that’s funny!

A heatrola is a mere girls toy when it comes to large gravity furnaces....silly newbie.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 11:18 am

You mean a Heatrola like this ,........ for a 40 x 60 barn ?

https://catskills.craigslist.org/for/d/antique-es ... 34411.html

Paul

librarymark · Post by **librarymark** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 12:29 pm

Anybody know what size chimney I am going to want?

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 1:10 pm

Whatever size or larger than what is on the stove.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 1:11 pm

librarymark wrote: ↑
Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 12:29 pm
Anybody know what size chimney I am going to want?

Easy answer is match it to whatever size the stove's exit collar is.

Other than that, a lot of old heating stoves used 6 inch for stoves with firepots/fireboxes holding up to about 70-75 pounds of coal. 8 inch for larger stoves.

Paul

joeq · Post by **joeq** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 4:33 pm

Does the barn have a cathedral ceiling? cause you know where all the heat will be going.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 4:56 pm

Does the barn have a cathedral ceiling?

Yes, and that is the issue with one unit.AND most barn ceiling are vented and even if the vents are shut they leak something fierce.

I tried to heat a 80x200' metal building riding ring. I had a Frostfighter 600000 btu heater and a 250000 cu ft ceiling fan ($5000). The phrase micturating in the wind comes to mind. Along with 30 galls of kerosene per day. In the old days people used to have about 12 propane heaters hanging either side heating riding rings. You were only semi warm sitting one one of the heaters. The birds in the roof had a great time. Multiple smaller heaters (at least two) are better than one huge unit as only the radiated heat worked at prices I could afford.. The largest heatrola(s) would be a start and the examples above are the juniors. There are bigger heatrolas but I must admit to liking that big WM.

hotblast1357 · Post by **hotblast1357** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 5:31 pm

Sounds like it’d be better to build a large camp fire on the floor and turn on the ceiling fans or open the ceiling vents lol

Kinda like the Indians used to do.

librarymark · Post by **librarymark** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 5:54 pm

The barn ceiling is just rafters and there is a vent along the ridge. I know I am not going to be able to heat the barn to shirt-sleeve temp, but if I could just have something to warm up around that would do. And frankly, I just think that the old gravity furnaces look neat.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Wed. Nov. 22, 2017 6:59 pm

, I just think that the old gravity furnaces look neat.

Now I understand completely.

librarymark · Post by **librarymark** » Fri. Nov. 24, 2017 6:10 pm

So I arrive at the guy's house and he says, "You didn't bring any help?" Fortunately he's got a teenage grandson handy to help us. The top portion liked to kill me coming up the stairs. Sucker is heavy. I gave the kid $50 for his help, and he earned every penny. My total expenditure for this thing is around $250 (gas included) so I'm happy so far.

How do you guys clean these up? I was thinking about sandblasting it but if there's a better way I'd like to know. And - when I put it back together, do I need refractory cement in the joints?

Does anyone have a link to a manual for this thing?

Here's some pictures of it in the back of my truck:

.JPG | 432.7KB | furnace_01.JPG

.JPG | 417.1KB | furnace_02.JPG

.JPG | 397.7KB | furnace_03.JPG

.JPG | 410KB | furnace_04.JPG