outdoor wood burner who has built one

[badbowtie]

I am really trying to find information about building my own outdoor wood burner and am not finding great info on them. I am looking for something simple I don't need all the bells and whistles. I figured with all the great things I have seen built on here I am figuring some have built there own. I have heard of building fieboxes and then using 100lb propane bottle for watter tanks but not sure how they did them. I want to heat my 1800sqf home and my 30x40 garage. I would like to see some ideas of different ways people have done them. Thanks in advance.

 

[beenthere]

Which bells and whistles are you wanting to do without?

 

[Egon]

Take a look at boilers/fireboxes, Psv's, bursting plates and of course some means to control the water temperature and you have the good old "Bells and Whistles" back with you.:thumbsup:

Turning water into steam isn't very hard to do but containing it is another mater that had better be well thought out.

 

[Jeepnford]

I am building one right now. I had a machine shop roll a piece of 1/4 thick sheet into a tube for the firebox then built a cube for the water jacket. I know a guy that used an old propane tank for a firebox. I'll try to post up some pictures this weekend. However,it's not done yet so how well it works remains to be seen. These are usually vented to air so there is no pressure build up. My house and shop is about the same size as yours.

 

[BruceWard]

We lived in England for close to 7 years. Most eating there used radiator systems with a gas boiler heating water to flow through the radiators.

We had a problem with our system at one time and the boiler started making steam. We cut the gas off. The repair man said it would have blown up if left on.

Please be careful with your heater.

 

[badbowtie]

The bells and whistles I was talking about is water cooled door and the electric blower on the door and the way they are all nice and built inside metal siding that look really nice. I can always improve looks some other day I just want effiecent.

jeepnford
I would really like to see some pictures of your setup I thought about doing the same thing is there a reason of using round burn box verse square. I was not sure if 1/4 was gong to be thick enough I was going to use 3/8" I am very interested in seeing you progress and any more info you have.

 

[magicheater]

Are you going to tie this into an existing duct-work system or do you have tubing in your floors or baseboard units?

 

[badbowtie]

I am going to have to use a heat exchanger to tie into my existing furnace in my house. I have not complete decided how I am going to do the barn proably heat exchanger then a fan to blow air accross it.

 

[Jeepnford]

I went with a round firebox because a cylinder is stronger than a box,also less welding. I would have gone 3/8 but the only place within a reasonable distance 1/4 was the limit on their roller. I figured with it surrounded by water it should hopefully take a LONG time to stress the firebox enough to cause problems.

 

[jcims]

I went with a round firebox because a cylinder is stronger than a box,also less welding. I would have gone 3/8 but the only place within a reasonable distance 1/4 was the limit on their roller. I figured with it surrounded by water it should hopefully take a LONG time to stress the firebox enough to cause problems.

Do you have any firebrick in your firebox? That's the only downside i see to round, but you could weld in plate walls to support the brick and use the small channels on the outside of the walls to support airflow. (Kind of a square peg in a round hole concept)

If you look at the design of modern EPA stoves, you'll find that managing airflow and secondary combustion is the key to high efficiency. To do that you need heat and a secondary source of oxygen that mixes with the wood gas late enough to have a combustible concentration, but early enough that there is adequate heat to ignite it.