Stove for greenhouse?

**Peter** · 21-01-2007, 09:01 PM

Snadger, it looks a little small to hold enough fuel to last overnight.

Does the vendor have any info in that direction?

**Alice** · 21-01-2007, 09:13 PM

Hello Snadger, I don't want to be too pessimistic here. Lovely wee stove, but I don't think it will burn all night for you. Stoves like that need to be fed and attended, and if it's on your lottie you won't be there to do that. The only thing it would be useful for would be heating the place while you were there to give you a comfortable potting shed. At that point you would be as well with a calor gas heater which would at least be instant.
If you really want heating for your greenhouse, looks as if paraffin or gas are your only real options.

**sewer rat** · 21-01-2007, 09:18 PM

Hi Snadger
I agree with Peter that it looks a bit on the small side for overnight banking of fuel. Does it have any air flow control ? I don't have one outside but we heat our kitchen and hallway with a wood burning stove and it's fairly large - I can close off the air flow valves to stop it burning too quickly and if I then stuff it full of hardwood logs before going to my kip, I can usually rescue some sort of flame from the embers the following morning (at about 6 a.m.).
One wordof warning - do not use "coal chips" in these stoves - I dod - once - left it for ten miniutes, returned to kitchen - flue and stove top were glowing bright red and paint on surround was blistering and kitchen stank for days !!

**Digger-07** · 21-01-2007, 10:11 PM

Snadger - I have used one of these and agree with others. They are too small to keep in all night. I have woodburners at home and they work great but the pot belly in the workshop needs to be fed every hour or it burns away. You can close the vent to make it last a bit longer but then you have to deal with quite a bit of smoke until the fire dies down. As to the size, the flue pipe on the top plate is about 100 / 150mm diameter so you can estimate the size of the stove in the picture from that.

Machine Mart www.machinemart.co.uk do similar stoves.

Did you see the programme the other day about paying your mortgage off in 2 years? The bloke in question was making designer stoves from old calor gas bottles. Perhaps your welding and recycling skills may be used to create something from there.

Good luck.

PS
Found the web site http://www.hotcreations.co.uk/aboutus.html
but you don't need anything as stylish s this for you greenhouse. If you did you would probably find it was pinched.

**JennieAtkinson** · 21-01-2007, 11:22 PM

Snadger - my OH has one of these in his workshop and although the stove was cheap, the flue has cost us a bomb! (four times as much as the stove) and its still not working properly. He burns the wood from the woodturning and everything else we put by (cardboard etc.) and he has to keep it fed all the time.

I have just bought a paraffin heater for the greenhouse and am still having to feed that with paraffin every other day. Turning it down is the main problem, I turn it down to a light glow and then it goes out (too far), turn it it up and it burns blooming quickly!

So if you are not able to get to the lottie every day even that might be a problem.

**Snadger** · 21-01-2007, 11:30 PM

Originally posted by Digger-07 View Post

Did you see the programme the other day about paying your mortgage off in 2 years? The bloke in question was making designer stoves from old calor gas bottles. Perhaps your welding and recycling skills may be used to create something from there

Old Billy on the lottie next to me has one of these stoves part completed he says that he intends bringing to lottie for me to complete! He has done all the hard work apparently and there is just the welding to do!
Will the stove made from the gas bottle stay hot for 24hrs do you think?

PS I used to be a self employed Wrought Iron Smith (Derwentside Metalcraft) for two years but still never managed to pay my mortgage off!!!!

All that time wasted when I could have been making stoves! Ce-la-vi!!!

**Snadger** · 21-01-2007, 11:46 PM

Originally posted by JennieAtkinson View Post

Snadger - my OH has one of these in his workshop and although the stove was cheap, the flue has cost us a bomb! (four times as much as the stove) and its still not working properly. He burns the wood from the woodturning and everything else we put by (cardboard etc.) and he has to keep it fed all the time.

I have just bought a paraffin heater for the greenhouse and am still having to feed that with paraffin every other day. Turning it down is the main problem, I turn it down to a light glow and then it goes out (too far), turn it it up and it burns blooming quickly!

So if you are not able to get to the lottie every day even that might be a problem.

Most of the lottie holders just use cast iron drainpipe poached from the scrappie for flues!

I have a paraffin heater in my little greenhouse/shed which is one of those cold frame heaters which burns for 14 days on one filling (1/2 Gall)
I've done a few modifications to it and now its got bits of about three different paraffin heaters attached to it. I'm quite pleased with it and the flue I've attached gets so hot you can't touch it (the heat off the small flue heats the air)...massive improvement on the original which was flueless! I have just this evening cadged a spare shower curtain from the OH so I can curtain off the heated area to intensify the heat!

From now on I will be at the lottie most evenings and all weekend as I have just taken on another lottie and greenhouse which is derelict! Starting with a big bonfire after work tomorrow!

**Snadger** · 21-01-2007, 11:50 PM

Originally posted by Peter View Post

Snadger, it looks a little small to hold enough fuel to last overnight.

Does the vendor have any info in that direction?

Good thinking Peter......I'll drop him a line and ask him!!

**nick the grief** · 22-01-2007, 12:54 PM

I'f your havinga pot bellied stove, I'd think about looking out for a solid fuel boiler & pipes it will spread the heat better around the greenhouse. Maybe you could even use the heat store principle & have the path as a 10ft x 2ft heat store to leach out over night.

Also, line your greenhouse with bubble wrap that will help no end with heat retention & get the 1" bubbles rather than the small ones - you don't loose so much light.

Have you thought about Propane heaters? they are quite efficient to use and you can always have two bottles and an automatic switch over so you won't run out.

**Digger-07** · 22-01-2007, 08:03 PM

Originally posted by Snadger View Post

Old Billy on the lottie next to me has one of these stoves part completed he says that he intends bringing to lottie for me to complete! He has done all the hard work apparently and there is just the welding to do!
Will the stove made from the gas bottle stay hot for 24hrs do you think?

I think it will be hard pushed to burn for 24 hours but I agree that heating pipes would distribute the heat better and keep warm for longer.

**Snadger** · 22-01-2007, 10:48 PM

As far as I know, pot bellied stoves don't have a water jacket so I couldn't hook it up to piping. Most of the guys at the lotties have old central heating boilers which have a water jacket and can be piped. Might have to look out for one of these instead?

Just liked the look of the pot bellied job and thought it was quite cheap!

PS Thanks for all your replies!

**JennieAtkinson** · 22-01-2007, 10:56 PM

They do look lovely Snadger and I like ours in the workshop, but boy when the wind is in the wrong direction (like north, south, east or west) it doesn't half smoke. As the utility room is next door with the washing pulley, our clothes tend to smell a little "smoked".

**dexterdoglancashire** · 22-01-2007, 11:02 PM

JA - you could always smoke your own kippers! DDL

**Snadger** · 22-01-2007, 11:07 PM

Originally posted by JennieAtkinson View Post

They do look lovely Snadger and I like ours in the workshop, but boy when the wind is in the wrong direction (like north, south, east or west) it doesn't half smoke. As the utility room is next door with the washing pulley, our clothes tend to smell a little "smoked".

You've just given me another idea for storing my veg.....smoking!!

Cut a trap door in the flue pipe and I could smoke anything, the sky's the limit! I'd have to burn oak or hickory though!

PS Just had a bonfire in the lottie, came in, cast my clothes off to wash, and I still smell like a kipper!

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