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heater BTU's

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Robbie

01-11-2004 16:47:45

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How can I tell what a wood burning heater will put out. I need about 75,000 BTU for my shop. I am looking to burn wood and maybe waste oil. But I am not against other fuels. Is there some way to know how big to build my wood heaterto get the right amount of btu.

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Allan

01-12-2004 06:27:05

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Re: heater BTU's in reply to Robbie, 01-11-2004 16:47:45

Hi Robbie,

Boy! That must be some shop! 75K BTU?

My 30K BTU heater just idles along; 'course, I don't have a monster shop either.

Allan

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jdemaris

01-12-2004 05:37:54

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Re: heater BTU's in reply to Robbie, 01-11-2004 16:47:45

Just buy a woodstove or furnace with a rating that's at least 25% over what you think you need. In this case, rated over 100,000 BTUs. Wood burning units are usually adverstised with a maximum output that you'll rarely experience (draft at optimum, best firewood on the planet, etc.). I've been heating several houses and shops for years, with wood and oil and I've experimented a little. With your shop, one consideration is - are you going to heat all the time at least a little above freezing? Also, how fast do you want your shop to heat up when you want to use it? If you need to keep your shop from freezing, using just wood will be difficult. If you want a fast warm up, wood is also difficult. My biggest shop has two systems, an 80K BTU oil hot-air unit and an old large wood stove that has a output of 125,000 BTU and just works on convection. It's an "air tight" that was popular in the late 70s. Used to be lots of this sort around. Heavy, simple, and reliable. Today, such woodstoves are not allowed to be called "woodstoves." Because of emission standards, they now have to be called wood furnaces or such. I paid $50 for mine (model 500) and it was built in 1980. The company is making them again, they have a Website at:>Link
I>Link see good used ones often for around $300. My shop is 25' by 50' first floor, and 2nd and 3rd floors are 20' by 25'. Only insulation is 1" foam board on sidewalls and 10" fiberglass overhead. I keep it heated all winter at about 40 degrees F with the oil. When I want to use it, I turn the oil up to 60F and start a wood fire. We get down to -35F on occasion, and the I've had no trouble keeping the place warm. Seems a combo (wood-oil) unit should work well also. Those must have electricity, however, to run the intake damper and the blower. I like my wood burner since it needs no power whatsoever.

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Hermit

01-11-2004 18:22:31

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Re: heater BTU's in reply to Robbie, 01-11-2004 16:47:45

Soft maple has approx 24 million btu per air dried cord. That's equal to 171.4 gal of no. 2 heating oil. Wood stoves typically run 50-60% efficient. You might want to check the various commercial woodstove websites as well as government wood burning information websites. There's lots of info out on those sites.

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Bob

01-11-2004 17:07:17

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Re: heater BTU's in reply to Robbie, 01-11-2004 16:47:45

Not what you asked, but here's some ideas.

Poor coal = 5000-6000 BTU's per pound

Good coal = 12,000-15,000 BTU's per pound

#2 burner oil = 140,000 BTU's per gallon
(some say to expect less than this for used oil, some say expect more)

If you actually need 75,000 BTU's per hour, you can expect a furnace efficiency of maybe 60%, so with oil you're going to have to burn about .90 gallons of oil every hour for a net heat output of about 75,000 BTU.

With poor coal, say 5500 BTU's per pound, your going to have to burn about 23 pounds per hour to get a net output of about 75,000.

Now all we need is an expert to guess the heat content of the wood you intend to burn, as compared with the poor coal, and you could have an exact figure!

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Jerry/MT

01-11-2004 18:36:12

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Re: Re: heater BTU's in reply to Bob, 01-11-2004 17:07:17

If you know the density of the wood (lbs/cu ft), then you multiply that by the number of pounds of wood required to supply 75000 BTU/hr and that will give you the # of cu ft for your fire box. For example, suppose your wood has a heating value of 1000 BTU/lb, the wood density is 25 lb/cu ft and your stove efficiecy is 60 %. Then,

(75000/1000) X 1/0.60 X 1/25 = 5 cu ft. Snce you will need mor room for air to circulate and to allow for irregular shaped wood, you'll have to make it much bigger. Maybe 2-2.5 times or more. Go to a dealer and see what dimmensions they use on their stoves.
You'll also have to get some real numbers for the heat content and the density. They are available. Do a web search. Hope this helps.

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