Author Topic: DIY wood stove .... (Read 11060 times)

TexasTimbers · « **on:** February 22, 2006, 12:13:51 PM »

Has anyone Seen These Plans?.
I googled "DIY wood stove" and DIY wood furnace" and didn't come up with much on a wood furnace which I'd rather have. I did find this article on Mother's website that seems doable.
I want to heat my shop and I'd like to build a wood furnace or wood-fired water furnace that would supply the supplemental heat for a DH kiln.
I have a 3/8" thick round pipe that is 14" diameter and 5 feet long. I don't know if the dia. is big enough really.
Have any of you built your own wood furnace or wood stove?

beenthere · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2006, 12:22:54 PM »

kevjay
I have something very similar as my main heat source, pumping hot water through three 'zones'.
Here is one of the pictures of it from my gallery. There is a 9 gallon water jacket around the inner 'barrel'. The back-up gas boiler is in the back corner, and usually out of the loop.

TW · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2006, 12:32:00 PM »

Just a thought
The insulation on those old electric water heaters used to be asbestos. At least over here. I hope yours are inulated with something less dangerous.

TW
always sceptical

Skytramp · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2006, 01:04:14 PM »

The wood furnace is a good choice for heat, just remember the thicker the metal the harder it is to get hot. I built a water furnace once and it would have worked much better if I had made the water resavoir larger. Mine held around 50 gallons and should have been three times that size. one problem I had was the lime in the water in this area. I don't think the water furnace will produce enough heat for a kiln. I built a kiln that works very well except I didn't have a forklift at the time and had to handle the wood through a door, My fault I didn't plan very well. I am going to build another one 24 ft long five ft wide 8ft tall with two 10 foot doors that I can strip stack the lumber as I saw it and put the wood in the kiln with a forklift. My furnace is a 55 gal barrell with a fire proof pleniam around it. I kept the pleniam about 3 inches from the barrell used lots of insulation and used cage fan to move the air. I blow the hot air in at the top and put the return on the bottom for thourogh circulation. I air dry my wood for 90 days to get rid of the surface moisture then let the kiln do the rest. I start out at 90 degrees and as the wood dries I increase the heat to 110. I also have a large dehumidifier that runs constantly. when the water from the dehumidifier starts slowing down I check the moisture content and go from there. I try to get it down to around 7 percent but it will go back to around 14 in this area.
This method can probably stand a lot of improvment but it works for me.
SkyTramp

Bill · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2006, 02:23:21 PM »

Kevjay

Some years back ( not too long after the 73 oil embargo ) a friend wanted to heat his one room ( 8x10' ) retreat ( cabin ) in the woods. As wood stoves were pretty much unregulated back then he found some scrap steel ( maybe 3/8 - 7/16" thick ) and since I had a store bought airtight stove , I got the job of studying what was being sold that looked like we could copy. Seemed pretty simple - door on one end lower than chiminey connection high on the other end.

Another friend had an arc welder so he welded her up by my instructions. I recall ( course memory erases all the mistakes

) that it was around 18" wide, about 20-22" tall and about 24-26" long. The sides and rear were straightforward. Plain steel cut square ( well rectangular ) but in the back I located the exhaust as high up on the center of the rear as possible to mount a 6 ( or was it 8" ) chiminey. The hard part was the front to get, make, an opening door. We solved that initially by using several firebrick to cover the opening and the air passing between the bricks was more then enough to keep ' er cooking. We also used firebrick under and between the wall and stove as it would git cookin. Did I mention it had to be built at no out of pocket money - total cost - some beer with the welder - which would probably have happened anyway

?

He used it that way for a year or two till some kids set 'er on fire - them not knowing how hot the sucker got. Later he built a bit bigger 12x14' one room cabin with a small sleeping loft for the kids which also used that stove for heat, cooking, etc.

Know very little more nowadays though I see the new store bought wood stoves have a catalytic device in the exhaust. If you have access to coal it burns hotter and longer between loadings and doesn't appear to require the cat device. Coal construction seems to be pretty similar excepting that the air has to come from below the fire and the fire is held by cast iron grates instead of fire bricks. The coal fire box has a way to shake the ashes through so you don't wait for the fire to go out before refueling. In case I didn't make it clear most stoves have firebricks lining the bottom and a course lining the sides so the fire is not up against the steel.

The hot licks would probably be to amble through a wood/coal stove catalog ( or store ) to see what's out there that works as I'm far from an expert here.

Good Luck

TexasTimbers · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2006, 06:38:15 PM »

beenthere, is that barrel "The Furnace Works" the one with the 9 gal water jacket around it? Is there a pump that circulates the water through a forced air, air handler? Is that upright cylinder behind it a hot water tank with the shell stripped off? Is it used for storing water intil the water in circulation cools down below a certain farenhiet then the store water is released into cirulation?
Pardon all the dumb questions I know ZILCH about this type of system.

Bill I don't think we have a source for coal down here in Tejas

TW, nope. No more asbestos.

Sky, is any chance you could post a picture or two?

beenthere · « **Reply #6 on:** February 22, 2006, 07:13:23 PM »

Yes, The Furnace Works has the 9 gal jacket. There are three pumps that circulate water to the three zones in the house, each controlled by a thermostat.
The upright cylinder is a 30 gal stainless steel tank that has a copper coil in it. The coil is tied into the wood 'boiler' and pre-heats water going to the domestic hotwater heater that is behind and under the stack from the wood boiler. The only water storage for the boiler is the 9 gal jacket, and that works surprisingly well (1400 sq ft house).

The pumps respond only to the thermostats. They call for heat, and then pump water regardless (irregardless

) of the temperature of the water. Its up to me keeping wood in the boiler to keep the water temp up so the house can be heated. The boiler has a damper (not forced, just open or closed) that will close when the water temp in the boiler gets up to around 180°. I usually try to judge the amount of wood needed to just keep the boiler water temp up to 120-180, so the damper doesn't have to close too often.

This one is just two rolled sheets of steel (3/16 or 1/4") welded in barrel form of two diameters, and those are welded to an end plate that has the stack thimble in it, then the ring to close off the front. The big hassle would be the airtight door (I wish I knew where to get something like the one that is on there as this company from northern Minnesota closed its doors - Unclebuck - is Babbitt, MN near you?). It is a pretty simple design, but very effective. No grates and no ash door. I just shovel the ashes out which isn't a hassle after pushing the hot coals to the sides.

Questions are no problem. Fire away.

wiam · « **Reply #7 on:** February 22, 2006, 07:51:14 PM »

I am a proponent of you can't have too much water in an boiler. My central boiler holds 400 gal. The dealer put a 500 gallon tank in the back of his ton truck and filled it with softened water. Told me to come and get it when I was ready. Central Boiler is very strict about water quality. Nitrates and pH.

Will

UNCLEBUCK · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2006, 02:45:52 AM »

Babbit is good 4-1/2 drive east and north of me . I like that stove alot ! That is the same concept I am using except wrapping the copper tubing around the firebox , actually 2 seperate wraps of copper , one for domestic and one for heat , one could make a heat exchanger to blow heat into a kiln off of one line . I got plans off ebay from a man in wisconsin and I printed 150 pages of do it yourself drawings and step by step color photos ,3 different sizes of boilers plus homemade heat exchangers and other stuff. Last year I knew nothing of boiler talk and this year I know just enough to be fascinated by it . If I lived closer to Babbit I would hunt you down a door from the locals . Maybe someone here will see this and chime in ! I saved the link kevjay and going to check it out .

TexasTimbers · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2006, 07:16:58 AM »

I have several old 250 gal propane tanks on axles that were used to transport either propane or diesel probably. I have never opened one to sniff it. Apart from making sure i don't blow myself up putting one to the torch, can anyone see how I could put these to use tp make a furnace or water tank or both?

Don_Papenburg · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2006, 09:35:56 PM »

If you want to torch them fill with water and leave uncaped . Oh yha empty the contents first. then fill with water. Once you have a sizeable hole you can do just about any work on them that you want

UNCLEBUCK · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2006, 10:53:45 PM »

I used Harolds brush pile trick , removed the bungs ,stacked my brush, set tanks in the pile, light pile , run far !

Forestry Forum
Sponsored by: