Barrel Stove Kit
For a number of years prefabricated barrel stove kits have been available, predominantly in the northern states of America and Canada. They are designed to let the average household handyman convert an oil drum into an effective space heater for a workshop or garage space.
The barrel stove kits typically have some main parts included:
- A stand for the barrel body
- A cast iron hinged door for loading fuel
- A flange joint to attach stove pipe to the barrel body
- Screws etc... for fastening together
The barrel itself, stove pipe and stove pipe fittings and parts to ensure safe egress of the stovepipe through the roof would be bought or acquired locally.
Ease of Barrel Stove Kit Assembly
One of the attractions of this homemade wood stove is that they can be assembled in as little as half an hour and require little in the way of skills, experience or equipment to produce a functioning (if inefficient and smokey) wood stove.
The stove itself throws out a huge amount of heat - far more than you would ever want in the sitting room of your home - but suitable for heating a drafty workshop in the depths of winter. Once the fire is going large amounts of fuel can be loaded at once and the dampers turned down to restrict the burn.
NB: this is NOT recommended - fires with restricted oxygen smoulder and produce exessive smoke, heavy creosote deposits, and burn really inefficiently. Small, hot fires are more environmentally friendly and won't bring the wrath of the neighbours down on you, although they do need more care and attention.
Safety precautions
These barrel stoves get phenomenally hot - when going flat out the metal surfaces can glow cherry red and the heat radiates in all directions - behind and beneath the stove as well as into the room. They present as serious fire hazard as anything flamable within meters of it will be exposed to extreem heat.All wood stoves need to be installed on a fire proof (concrete/brick etc... ) pad, but these also need large clearances around them in all directions.
A layer of sand, or fire bricks, in the base of the drum will support the fire and go some way towards reducing the heat directed towards the floor.
Barrel Stove Kit Prices
These kits provide an affordable way to purchase and build a simple yet effective wood stove. The kits themselves come it at under $100 but you would probably need to allow another $150 for the parts needed locally (stove pipe especially can be expensive).
Barrel Stove Kit Suppliers
A few companies supply these kits in the US (they may ship over seas).
Lehmans offer a two kits - a basic single barrel wood stove and an extension called a 'smoke chamber' that boosts efficiency and uses a second barrel.
Options and Improvements
The basic stove design can be improved upon with a bit of thought and some more parts:
- Include a grate to raise the fuel off the bottom of the barrel - this improves air circulation and facilitates complete burning of the embers
- Add a second drum (kit parts are available) to boost heat transfer and efficiency
- Adapt the barrel stove kit to include some thermal mass and insulation
- Add a secondary air inlet and burn chamber to combust unburnt gases (reduces smoke and improves efficiency
Overall Assessment
A homemade wood stove produced with one of these kits may be an attractive proposition for anyone with a large space needing periodic heating. They can throw out a huge amount of heat in short order and can be assembled with the minimum amount of fuss.
The off-the-shelf version is inefficient and smokey but it should be possible to improve upon it with a bit of thought. If anyone has experience of building and adapting these stoves I'd love to hear about what worked for you and what didn't.
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Used a barrel stove kit and have story to tell?
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What Other Visitors Have Said
To see barrel kit stoves built by other readers; explore the links below.
I heat my 1800 sq. foot home with a barrel stove
No story... lol it works better than a cast iron stove I had. I clean the chimney and pipe every 3 weeks.
It does eat wood too;we get about a 10 hour ...
Sotz Barrel Stove Kit
Many years ago I built a double barrel stove using a kit manufactured by SOTZ. My understanding is they are no longer in business. This kit was not as ...
Barrel Stoves in a war zone
Croatia, 1994, Knin
One of the outposts has a barrel stove...and it was a life saver.
Much needed warmth, and a sense of security after a long patrol ...
How to buy a stove kit in the UK.
I wish to find a company that will ship a barrel stove kit to England, as I wish to build one, and as far as I know, no stores stock them?
so help please ...
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