After completing the build of my new workshop in the summer of 2015, winter was approaching and came the time to decide about which method I would use to heat the workshop. Initially I was leaning toward heat pumps because it’s practical and consumes less energy than electric heating. But the quotes I received were close to a whopping €13.000 just for the workshop, a quick calculation made it clear that this investment would only start paying off after 20 years when compared to electric heating. Basically it never pays off and both methods are way too expensive any way.
That’s when I turned to plan B, burning my sawdust waste to provide heat, I already knew the DEOM turbo wood stoves because they are quite popular here, and had read on various forums about people using them to burn saw dust with success, but other than that, information was very scarce.
So I made the plunge and ordered one online from a Dutch webshop, prices for this stove have been increasing steadily over the last years. I paid about €600 for mine excluding VAT, including delivery in 2015. That’s quite steep but still the cheapest option by far. (they sell several types on that webshop, the DEOM model is the original made in Belgium one, there is also a PM model which I believe is a cheaper Spanish copy that doesn’t have cast iron shields on the inside, and maybe even a steel top as well, less durable in my opinion)
For the installation I wanted to get a professional to do it, but there again I got quotes for over €6000 from a local installer. I knew the pipes cost about €1000 and it could be done in a day, so basically they were charging €5000 for one day of work… Therefore I did the install myself and filmed the process. The company that sold me the parts also gave me the necessary advice, and looking back it was pretty straightforward.
Using the stove, this stove can burn solid wood but also different types of waste including paper, sawdust, dried leaves or other dried waste. I have tried it with solid wood and saw dust and I prefer saw dust because it requires less attention and the solid wood waste I produce is usually small or thin, so it will burn quickly and require constant refills. With “real” thick solid wood you will probably get better results and have it burn hours without attention.
I store all my sawdust in “big bags” and before I had this stove it was becoming a problem like with most woodworkers. I would give it away, use it in the garden or throw it in the stables as bedding. All these methods were not ideal and time consuming. By burning it, it becomes a valuable but free resource. The only by-product is the ashes which are ideal for improving the garden soil.
Filling it requires about two buckets of saw dust, I found that oak works best, it’s dense and will burn for long and provide an intense heat. But all other species will do, generally the finer and more dense the dust, the better. Species like beech burn well but the shavings are usually small curls that contain much air, which makes it less dense.
So at best you can get it to burn for 6-7 hours, or as little as 1 hour with a light wood species full of air. Therefore I also try to use the oldest sawdust first and store the big bags onto each other to compress the sawdust over time.
Hola. Timoteo te saluda moises te felicito por tus trabajos me interesa el escritorio lo tienes paso a paso en pdf. está muy bonito justo necesito uno también si pudiera diseñar en formade ele (L) seria mucho mejor
Hello Timothy,
I would like to buy a stove for heating my room and maybe the corridor as well. I found your youtube video about your pm4 turbo stove. I would kindly ask You to reply my questions.
So:
– one big bag saw dust can be enough for 10 day? Because in this case 3 big bags / month consumption is totally cheapest heating method
– Is there any requirements for saw dust? Or i can buy it from any collector
– How many times will i need to refill this stove, if i use it at home? 3x/day?
– I am afraid of the stove-pipe. If i see clearly in your video, the pipe can suck the flame, so maybe this pipe will suck the most of heat from the inside part of stove??? Because it means the efficiency will be small…..or it is wrong way?
– What do You think how many hourse can the stove give the heat out with one filling?
Thank You.
Hello Joszef,
– 1 big bag is about what I use weekly yes, the actual longevity depends on the compactness.
– saw dust from solid wood is the best, and hard woods are even better. You should try to avoid dust from panel materials that contain toxic glue.
– how many times you fill it depends on the density of the dust and intensity of the burn setting, it goes from 1 hour to 6-7 as I wrote in the article. But I’m heating a big workshop, much bigger than what this stove is supposed to be able to heat.
– The pipe gives off heat, but the actual stove radiates much harder. It’s good to have as much single layer pipe in your room as possible before transitioning to double layer. For a stove to work well, the air in the pipes has to be as hot as possible, otherwise you get condensation and creosote, with ultimately chimney fires.
Hello,
I was most curious about how you went about conditioning your three separate spaces. Did you concentrate heating (maybe cooling) of all three spaces equally, or did you shift more attention towards the Assembly and Finishing rooms? Leaving the Machine room to have much fluctuation during the day and year?
I do like the way you have separated your spaces for each specific tasks at hand.
Hi Adam,
The stove is kind of centrally located, apart from the direct radiation around the stove itself, the temperature is practically even throughout the building. Even when not using the dust collection system and air filters which move huge quantities of air.
I was however hoping that the heat would naturally go to the apartment above but it doesn’t, there I had to place an electric radiator.
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This saw dust burning stove is exactly what I have been looking for, but I have not been able to find it for sale in the USA. Do you know if there is international distribution? Your shop is beautiful! Nice job.
Hello Bob, I don’t think you can find them there but it’s always a good idea to check with the manufacturer. Deomturbo.com
I would like your sawdust stove please text me 1-575-223-8268 very nice it’s what I’m looking for
You show loading the stove cold, packing down the sawdust, etc. How do you refuel the hot stove, or do you let the fire die each time and reload cool? Thank you for your very nice article, videos, and a reply if possible.
very clear and good article easy to understand. Thank you