Hog Barn Heats Farm Shop

Hog Barn Heats Farm Shop FARM SHOP Miscellaneous 22-3-3 An Ontario farmer who wanted to keep his shop warm without spending a lot of money uses a fan to blow air from his hog barn through clay field tile installed in the shop floor. Laverne Brubacher, of Ariss, installed rows of 3 1/2 to 4-in. dia. clay field tile in the concrete floor of his 24 by 40-ft. shop as it was being built. He constructed 1 1/2 ft. sq. manifolds at either end of the shop to direct air into and out of the tile in the floor. To "transport" the heated-up hog barn air from the barn to the shop - a distance of 75 ft. - Brubacher buried 18-in. dia. concrete sewer pipe 6 ft. deep. It runs from an 18-in. exhaust fan at the hog barn to the "intake manifold" on one end of his shop. The air runs through the floor and is exhausted out the other end of the shop. "It works great and was relatively inexpensive to build," says Brubacher. "It keeps air inside the shop at an average of about 40 degrees in winter although in the coldest weather it'll drop down to just above freezing. But it still melts snow off equipment I bring in to work on and keeps the floor dry. I can fire up a wood stove if I need more heat. "The exhaust fan in the barn mounts in the wall about 4 to 5 ft. off the floor. I keep it running night and day. A concrete and ply-wood tunnel delivers air from the fan down to the 18-in. underground pipe. "I bought the clay tile as æseconds'. The cost of the tile is a big factor. Concrete blocks lined up in rows could be used as a an inexpensive substitute for the tile. I used sand to æbed' the tile and poured 4 in. of concrete over it. There's no hog barn smell inside the shop because the barn air stays underground and is exhausted outside." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Laverne Brubacher, RR 1, Ariss, Ontario, Canada N0B 1B0 (ph 519 846-9217).

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