Little barrel stove

[Downstream]

I scavenged a few items and built a little barrel stove.  Found the std us stove barrel kit at a local salvage place for $2 and added a 30 gal barrel for another $15.  $6 for a 2ft section of pipe for my test and burn off runs.  I have seen these at various places but had never made one.  Pretty easy but had to rope gasket and cement the flue damper/pipe attach because of diameter difference between 55gal and 30gal barrels.  Fired it up today for burn off runs and to finish curing the cement.  Works pretty well.  Will play with it a little tomorrow and then decide whether to keep or sell.

 

[Crusarius]

Looks interesting. this year would be great to have heat in my garage, but with the machining tools in there constant heat swings = condensation and rust.

[Don P]

I've got one of that style draft and another that's an old Sotz kit. It must be on the 5th barrel. The draft on it is a circle drilled through the pressed steel door up high, with a swivel damper plate on a bolt. On the backside of the door was a piece of vertical channel making a preheat tube, and door strut. The top of that was capped and the inlet air dumped in low. Anyway, that one is the much better burner but I've not seen that kit since the old Mother Earth days. I've got one of their monster mauls too, that thing must weigh 16 pounds.

[Ljohnsaw]

Back in the 80's, my brother lived in a little cabin.  It had a pair of barrel (15 gallon?), one laid on top of the other.  Built a fire in the bottom, vented into the top one at the back and then stove pipe out from the front.  Made for a lot of radiant heat!

[Downstream]

I also picked up this smaller barrel in the attached photo.  I used the larger of the 2 in this build.  I have to found any mini barrel kit parts so I would have to try and fabricate door/damper area to make a stove out of it.  I like the smaller size but not sure it will put off enough heat to make a big enough difference to inside temp to be worth the hassle.  We will see.

 

[Old Greenhorn]

Back in the late 70's early 80's I had a number of these stoves. Mostly Sotz (stamped sheet metal) which I like because the doors sealed well without a gasket. When I rented a shop building I built the two barrel 55 gallon kit for heating and if I recall it threw between 180, 000 to 220,000 BTU. I made the mistake of throwing a bunch of dried cedar shakes in there and it took off, literally, dancing around the floor. Exciting times for the young and dumb. Even with normal wood, you couldn't work within 10 feet of it. The radiant heat would set your pants on fire.

 The problem I had with the 2 barrel was a long upsloping pipe run to get outside the wall and up the chimney and it built up HUGE amounts of creosote I would have to clean it every Saturday morning. I'd take the interior pipe apart and stand them in a garbage barrel to brush them out after knocking the big stuff loose with a stick, then I would remove the head on the top barrel and clean that out with a stove shovel. (If you ever build a two barrel, make sure you use a top barrel with a removable head, huge difference.) That was a rough winter. ;D

 I had also built one of the 30 gallon ones which I really liked and you rarely ever see. That fit nice in a fireplace and I just cut out a plate that was shaped and gasketed to fit in the flue opening and shoved the pipe thru it. We used that in our first house for about 4 winters, then in our current house for 20 years. I took good care of it, giving it a full cleaning and stove paint every year until it finally burned through. It too produced a lot of creosote, but that was more related to sending smoke up into the large flue are inside the fireplace. I only did a full cleaning on that once a year, but near the end of the season I had to be careful with our burning. When it finally burned through we bit the (big) bullet and got a modern insert with a chimney liner (as required by code here now) and I get a LOT more heat, and a LOT more efficiency out of it and burn a lot more wood because of that (it's worth it in savings).

 I also had one of the cast kits like you show, but the door never sealed really well and beyond messing with it, I never put it to use. Not sure where that wound up.

 These make great cabin and shop heaters but can be tricky to control sometimes. You need to keep at least 2" of fine ash in the bottom all the time or you will burn them out quick. Also, keep in mind that if you do have a fire incident, your insurance company will likely not pay off and cancel you. These stoves are not really legal. Just sayin'.

 When Sotz was in business, they also sold an automatic damper control (thermostatic) that covered the draft hole on the front of the door. These worked great and allowed us to keep it under control much easier. I have never seen that gizmo available since I bought mine. They sold a lot of "suck the most heat our of your stove and pipe" gizmos, but that damper control was great. It served well as protection against runaway incidents in the middle of the night.

 Not sure what happened to Sotz, whether the closed, sold out, or changed their name because of lawsuits. The is a company called 'Valzgang' or something like that still selling the kits, but not the stamped steel version, just the cast. A LOT of folks are using these for sap boilers these days with a conformed pan on the top or some other arrangement.

 Thanks for the memories.

[newoodguy78]

Vogelzang is the barrel stove parts maker I believe. 

[Don P]

A 30 gallon barrel with the top hammered flat and a baffle plate inside was a tree planter's school bus heater/stove/bath water heater (the "shower" is on the steps ;D). And they can keep a person toasty while running down the highway  :D.

My experience with the double barrel was the same, its a real creosote maker, we removed it. 

[bannerd]

A 30 gallon barrel with the top hammered flat and a baffle plate inside was a tree planter's school bus heater/stove/bath water heater (the "shower" is on the steps ;D). And they can keep a person toasty while running down the highway  :D.

My experience with the double barrel was the same, its a real creosote maker, we removed it.

Yeah they're, there was a company that use to make barrel wood stoves called FIRE-VIEW.  They figured out how to keep them from burning out and making holes all over the place.  The metal is super thick, High out put.

[aigheadish]

I'd love to add something like this to the shop, but I continue to move tools to move and use other tools. I'm constantly moving the heaters I have around in there so I can't imagine I'd find a place that would really work for it. It would be lovely to use some of that free wood I have instead of burning kerosene or propane all the time. 

[Don P]

How many plumbers stay warm on their screw ups  ;D

[goose63]

Put 4 inch of sand on the bottom or you will burn out the bottom :new_year:

[doc henderson]

or fire brick on the bottom.  

[Downstream]

I plan to put sand in the bottom before future burns but wanted to do initial burn off without it.  Same place where I found the kit for $2 had a box of fireplace brick for $12 so may consider that also.  These barrels had flavoring liquid in them originally so now my entire shop smells like kiwi/watermelon. 

[Don P]

Ashes work fine, I just keep them a little below the door.

[mike_belben]

Discarded upright air compressors and water heaters make better stoves than a drum imo.  A drum just fits too much wood for its gauge. 

[petefrom bearswamp]

Mine is a Vogelzang kit, not even close to air tight on a 55 gallon drum lined halfway up with firebrick.
has heated my 32x58 x10' ceiling shop nicely for 24 years now.
Smoke pipe is a long run of 2 24" joints vertical and 7 sloped up slightly.
I have replaced it once in this time period.
I will replace it again this summer.
I usually take it down to clean it and the chimney every summer but neglected to do that this year.

[snobdds]

We use to use one of these stoves in canvas wall tent for hunting.  It was terribly inefficient.  It was either too hot or too cold. If you wanted some quick heat, it was fantastic.  If you wanted a slow overnight burn, nope. 

We tried everything to increase the efficiency.  We put drafts in the door, bottom of the door, top of the door...nothing could damp it down enough to keep a long burn.  Putting a damper in the pipe did help, but it would still draw too much air. 

We finally just had a 3/16 plate steel stove built that was air tight.  The mass and lack of air leaks made it much more enjoyable to be around. 

[Don P]

One of mine is usually on a jobsite in winter, even if its outside with 4' of pipe on it, much better than a burn barrel at breaktime. Right now its swinging on plumbers strap from the floor joists so the concreatures can work under it.

[Al_Smith]

I've made several over the years .A double will run you out of a garage in the coldest of weather .I've seen them with a 30 gallon inside of a 55 gallon using the outer as a  heat exchanger with a fan .I forgot which forum but mentioned welding two drums end to end for by buddy to pile his masonary sand on to keep from freezing in winter .He burned old cross ties in it and the smoke just rolled .I've seen them with brick,sand etc but eventually they all rust out .Sotz made the best door kits but I'm not even certain if they are still in business ,that was 40 years ago .

[Al_Smith]

More to the above and my cheap skate buddy .He would find a section of rail road they replaced the ties on .They used a big carbide saw that cut the ties in three pieces then removed them,handy size .He'd load that barrel about half full and throw diesel fuel on them .Then dump about a pint of kerosene down the pipe and toss in a kerosene soaked rag followed by a kitchen match .Poof instant fire . 

[mike_belben]

An air compressor tank inside a 55g drum is what im onto now for a combo outside boiler and forced air furnace. 

[47sawdust]

Galvanized Maple syrup barrel was what I used. Vogelzang door kit, refractory cement in the bottom and up the sides.
The first fire was outside to burn off the galvanized coating.These barrel were a heavier gauge.
 Not air tight ,could burn out of control if not cautious.
 No fond memories of it.

[Al_Smith]

There is a local pallet works that my bud with a weld shop rolled some gigantic barrel shapes for out of 3/16"  plate steel  and basically copied double drum burners .However they have heavy steel stiffeners along the sides because they will warp and need attention every 4-5 years .Think about it  pallets ,oak .The fuel doesn't cost one red cent because it's all scrap and saw dust 
.It's a pretty good sized shop too all heated by barrels ,sort of with  fans of course .