Wood stove in the woodworking shop

[Jerry Olexa]

I would love to have areal wood stove in my shop..Just be careful. Use triple insulated stovepipe, etc Enjoy it..

[James Suzda]

Off the top of my head the reason your Insurance Co said no to a woodstove is because you called it a garage and not a wood working shop. No Insurance Company will insure it because of the fact that gasoline fumes are heavier than air and with any kind of stove on the floor you risk having an explosion or fire. But, they will insure the building if you have a furnace mounted at least 2 foot off the floor or in the ceiling. At least this is the answer my Insurance Agent told me. Now if you would have called it a woodworking shop then it probably would have flown!
Jim

[Keel McDonald]

I use a wood stove and wouldn't have it any other way. That's part of the charm for me. In my experience, there's nothing that gets you as warm as a wood stove. I love it!

[Scott Loven]

Off the top of my head the reason your Insurance Co said no to a woodstove is because you called it a garage and not a wood working shop. No Insurance Company will insure it because of the fact that gasoline fumes are heavier than air and with any kind of stove on the floor you risk having an explosion or fire. But, they will insure the building if you have a furnace mounted at least 2 foot off the floor or in the ceiling. At least this is the answer my Insurance Agent told me. Now if you would have called it a woodworking shop then it probably would have flown!
Jim

I will be a used half as a garage with a car, lawn mower, gas cans etc. I hadn't thought about gas fumes, I was thinking more about wood dust, and other combustibles. Thanks for the reminder.
Scott

[Russ Massery]

I have one in my shop. No problems so far (6 yrs.) Common sense should be your guide. I use planer flakes as kindling. And burn of all my scrap in it. My only problem is sometimes it's like a "freight train" and hard to control the temp. So I open the service door to cool it down.And I did pipe in a fresh air supply into the back.

[Mark Pruitt]

I will be a used half as a garage with a car, lawn mower, gas cans etc. I hadn't thought about gas fumes, I was thinking more about wood dust, and other combustibles. Thanks for the reminder.
Scott

I would urge you to never, ever keep a gasoline container inside. The risk is way too high.

[Andy London]

I've had a wood stove in the shop for 16 years, even when I worked in there full time and have no complaints. I did however buy a pellet stove last year and would not be without it, works perfect......Forget insurance though....at least around here.

[Frank Pellow]

I've had a wood stove in the shop for 16 years, even when I worked in there full time and have no complaints. I did however buy a pellet stove last year and would not be without it, works perfect......Forget insurance though....at least around here.

Andy, do you think that the insurance problem is because you are a proffesional? I had no problems at all getting insurance both for my shop here in Toronto and for my three buildings (one a shop) with wood stoves at Pellow's Camp in Northern Ontario.

[Scott Loven]

I would urge you to never, ever keep a gasoline container inside. The risk is way too high.

ok, where do you keep your gas containers? My car is in the garage and is full of gas, I have the red plastic containers made for gas, lawn mowers, chain saw, weed wacker etc.

[James Suzda]

Scott,
Another thought. Are you going to build this garage/shop large enough that you could put a wall between the cars and your workshop area? Then you will have a "workshop" with an attached garage. This is how a friend of mine got around the insurance underwriter and has a wood stove in his workshop.
Or you could spend a ton of money and put in an outside boiler and put tubing under the concrete and have a real nice warm floor in your garage/shop!! You could also run some pipes to your house and heat that too!

[Michael Adelong]

It might be a good idea to run this by your homeowners insurance provider. They might nix the idea. But then they might not see any issues. Better to ask now than later. My .02

I just got my latest renewal package from my homeowner's insurance and spotted this provision in it.

"Alternative Heating Sources - A surcharge will now be applied to your homeowner's base premium when there is a freestanding, solid fuel burning unit located in your residence premises."

Make sure that you disclose this as soon as you install it.

Michael

[Andy London]

Andy, do you think that the insurance problem is because you are a proffesional? I had no problems at all getting insurance both for my shop here in Toronto and for my three buildings (one a shop) with wood stoves at Pellow's Camp in Northern Ontario.

No, it has to do with zoning. Although I have over 4 acres, the property is zoned residential and impossible to change. The insurance company said any residential property with a home that has an out building, can not be heated, no matter what the heat source.....called 5 different companies.

I have commercial insurance through a different company for theft but that's about all I can get.

[Frank Pellow]

No, it has to do with zoning. Although I have over 4 acres, the property is zoned residential and impossible to change. The insurance company said any residential property with a home that has an out building, can not be heated, no matter what the heat source.....called 5 different companies.

I have commercial insurance through a different company for theft but that's about all I can get.

What a strange rule! My shop is on a suburban lot. It is a large suburban lot by Toronto standards, but much much smaller than 4 acres.

[Bart Leetch]

No, it has to do with zoning. Although I have over 4 acres, the property is zoned residential and impossible to change. The insurance company said any residential property with a home that has an out building, can not be heated, no matter what the heat source.....called 5 different companies.

I have commercial insurance through a different company for theft but that's about all I can get.

Sounds like its time for a boiler in a brick stand alone building with insulated piping under ground over to the concrete slab & heat tubing under the shops concrete floor to me.

Or figure out how to shut off the heat for a week at a time or all the way up to & including all winter in all the insurance underwriters buildings & then show up & ask them how they like it. Oh & make sure all they have around to work with or on is concrete & steel & cast iron , make sure to remove all furniture & cabinets anything that is made in a wood working shop. Oh & they must stand on their feet no sitting down & they can't wear gloves. The fat cats are far to comfortable while taking our money. Wouldn't it be an eye opener to them & fun for us if this were possible?

Gee I wonder how many houses or homes on property zoned residential would have to catch fire before they wouldn't allow you to have any kind heat in them too? Are all the homes that burn down caused by outbuildings that have some form of heat?

All I gotta say Andy is "there's somting offwe skwooy going on awound here." (Elmer Fud)

Scott what type of overhead LP are you thinking of installing?

[Andy London]

What a strange rule! My shop is on a suburban lot. It is a large suburban lot by Toronto standards, but much much smaller than 4 acres.

A bit of a rant<G>

I bought this property back in 1986 because it was way outside city limits, I always wanted lots of room for a shop, place at the time for future kids to play, on a lakem basically ideal. Now I am part of the city however we have no city services, I can't even have a campfire in my back yard any longer cause the city folk think it's dangerous and don't like the smell.....in fact they are now trying to pass a law that we can't even have wood burning stoves....and to top it off I pay city rates, it's just stupid IMHO.

Bart, I asked about a wood doctor as I was seious about buying one and my insurance company of 25+ years without a claim said no water heat in an out building, could freeze up...... in fact we do not want any type of commercial business on your property. My reply was what about folks that work from home, that is no different....anyhow it's been a friggin battle for years.

I asked my assistant at the office to look into additional insurance as we purchased a few hundred thousand in computer gear for a new project we are starting, when I read the policy and if I took it for face value, I am covered for very, very little....I spoke with the agent and he said, "Well most customers do not read that stuff" well geeze man you have to ready it in case something does go wrong.

In any event, like my grandfather said, to heck with them, I am doing my thing"