Homemade wood-burning stove?

Started by 8x8x8, December 24, 2008, 10:43:06 PM

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CREATIVE1

I like the small antique laundry stoves (I have a Dandy).  Mine cost $35, in perfect condition. They were also used on chuck wagons--you can cook on the surface or remove the two "covers"  (don't know what else to call them) and lower big iron pots into the stove.  A link: http://cgi.ebay.com/1938-Pioneer-Ozark-Laundry-Coal-Wood-Stove-Vintage-Ad_W0QQitemZ400017375112QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116#ebayphotohosting

This posting will go away soon--can someone post the picture please? I am photographically challenged. :)

glenn kangiser

"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


diyfrank

Home is where you make it

Squirl

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yukon-Tent-Stove-M1950-Solid-or-Liquid-Fuel-Used_W0QQitemZ360116806708QQihZ023QQcategoryZ588QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/STOVE-MILITARY-NEW-45-000-BTU-WOOD-OR-COAL_W0QQitemZ200292067016QQihZ010QQcategoryZ588QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Here are two more options, all under $100.  I personally think they would be to powerful.  I would just use an oil lamp or candles and crack a window in my climate.  I had a small apartment once (200 sq.ft.) and could heat the apartment until the beginning of winter with a few tea light candles. The hot stones would do better do keep you warm overnight.  The other problem with many wood burning stoves in such a small space is clearance.  If they are small and thin, they need clearance from the walls so they don't burn the building down.  You can reduce this with stones, but they take up space too.

MountainDon

Quote from: Squirl on December 29, 2008, 10:59:12 AM
You can reduce this with stones, but they take up space too.

As far as that goes, just to be perfectly clear, and to follow the NFPA and UL guidelines, placing a "shield" of stones, rocks, bricks, metal, etc. around the stove, against the combustible wall surface, does NOT count as a means of reducing the clearance from a wood burning stove to the combustible wall. Further note: paper covered drywall is a combustible surface, even though a thin one.

When using non combustible materials as protection from a hot stove there must be an air space of at least one inch behind the non combustible material; an air space with provision for air to enter at the bottom and exit at the top. (This works very well; a sheet on 24 gauge steel does an amazing job at reducing the temperature of the actual wall behind it... done it, measured the temps)

The reason given is that if the wood stove is burning long enough the rocks will get hot and eventually conduct heat to the combustible surfaces behind. Over a long enough period of time wood that is exposed to moderately elevated heat levels can change (change to being more like charcoal than wood as far as ignition point) and then ignite from exposure to lower and lower temperatures. Granted this may take a number of years.

Of course if you are not in a code zone and if fire doesn't overly alarm you, you can break the rules. If there's an insurance company involved they might not pay a claim if there was improper installation.

There are cases of fires breaking out form wood framing being exposed to heat from improperly installed steam heat pipes, for example.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


8x8x8

Hey guys, I was going to try the 'rocket stove' thing as a last resort, but I found a stove pretty cheap on Craigslist.  I think I'm going to get it this weekend, it's $20.  Nothing fancy, just something that someone put together with a welder for an ice-fishing house.

Does anyone know a cheap way to ventilate the stove? Home Depot has stove pipe, but it's expensive (like $12 for four feet of pipe).  Is there a "poor man's way" of ventilating a stove?  (Not including pop cans as mentioned earlier in this thread, haha.)

MountainDon

By 'ventilating' do you mean the exhaust or the inlet air?

If you mean exhaust, smoke and the like, then as far as I'm concerned there is no cheap safe method, unless you can find good used pipe. Yes you could probably run single wall black pipe up through a roof with a hole through a piece of sheet metal, or out a window pane with the same sheet of metal in place of a glass pane. Those have been done before, I've seen old shacks in the boonies like that.

If you are scrounging material do not use galvanized HVAC pipe. Heat can make the zinc off gas and that's not very good for you. Not at all.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

rwanders

The army used to have a "yukon stove" used to heat squad tents (8 man tents)---don't know if they are still to be found----burnt diesel fuel. You can find references to them by googling (see reference below)

M1950 Yukon Stove
Compact and lightweight, the Yukon stove is primarily designed for heating tents but may also be used for heating water, cooking rations and various duties, ...
www.herman-nelson.com/itemInfo.cfm?itemID=727 - 55k - Cached - Similar pages
Rwanders lived in Southcentral Alaska since 1967
Now lives in St Augustine, Florida

lonelytree



tc-vt

There are vented catalytic heaters available which are not that big because they are designed for RV use.

Start here:
http://www.ventedcatheater.com/2.html

Tom

MountainDon

Those look good Tom. I've never seen a vented catalytic heater before. With a thermostat and auti ignition too!

The 12 VDC half amp power draw isn't too bad I suppose.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Jens

Not trying to hijack the thread here, and will work it around into it. 

I am sick and tired of having a cold house!!!!  Our thermostat has been at 55 or so, while it is 10 deg outside, and we are still spending plenty on gas!  To this end, I went scrounging in the basement of the outbuilding that came with our house.  Our fireplace used to have a coal burner in it, I think, and I found this little thing that looks like a coal basket.  It has a tray, that sits within a folding, three sided framework of wire.  The tray has holes in the bottom, with another piece of sheetmetal underneath it, and an airspace.  I put it in the fireplace, and built a fire in it. 

We tried a small fire in the fireplace before, but the morter in the back kept spalling out, poppin all over the place!  I took a metal lid from a barrel, and put it on the back wall of the fireplace.  It provides an airspace, and metal reflector for the heat.  The fireplace doesn't do a great deal, but does help some, and well, the wood was free.  I have wanted a cast iron stove, but lack the funds, so I have resolved to go to the salvage yard and get .250 steel plate to make a craftsman styled insert fireplace.  I dreamed it all up last night, and designed a bit of it.  It should do a good bit better than just a fireplace, and makes some things easier.

As far as this thread goes, it makes me wonder how expensive it would really be to lay up some block, filled with sand, lined with firebrick in the box (or maybe cob), and a clay liner for the flue going up.  The sand in the block would serve to hold the heat, and radiate it.  If the firebox were made small, and had a door on it, you could even burn the fire super hot with the aid of forced air, heat up the masonry, then radiate the house all night.  Flash burn the wood, close the damper almost all the way once no more smoke, and enjoy the heat. 

I know it doesn't help for your situation, since you said you found a cheap woodstove, but it might help others.  Don't know for sure, but it might!
just spent a few days building a website, and didn't know that it could be so physically taxing to sit and do nothing all day!

rwanders

If you are tempted to build home-designed fireplaces and/or heaters, please find a qualified professional (perhaps a mechanical engineer) to advise you-----code requirements is only one concern----more important is a safe design and installation for you and your family. Badly designed or maintained fireplaces, flues and chimneys kill a lot of sleeping families every year!
Rwanders lived in Southcentral Alaska since 1967
Now lives in St Augustine, Florida

MountainDon

If the mortar was popping out when you built a fire in that fireplace, I for one would be very careful about using it without a chimney inspection. When fireplace inserts or wood stoves are installed using an existing brick and mortar flue more often than not a liner is used. Sometimes that is because the stove or insert performs better, as in drafts better, than with the old brick flue. Sometimes the liner is needed because the brick and mortar is bad. Sometimes it's because local code requires it.

G/L

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


Jens

We are getting a double wall stainless flue.  Found it on craigslist, 24ft, with collars, $175!

Quote from: rwanders on January 17, 2009, 02:36:58 PM
If you are tempted to build home-designed fireplaces and/or heaters, please find a qualified professional (perhaps a mechanical engineer) to advise you-----code requirements is only one concern----more important is a safe design and installation for you and your family. Badly designed or maintained fireplaces, flues and chimneys kill a lot of sleeping families every year!

If I asked a mechanical engineer, they would tell me that it is not possible.  They probably wouldn't even know that smoke travels upward (most of the time), let alone how to get it to draft, what a smoke shelf is, what a damper is, or how to lay up bricks.  They also would have told me that you can't build a car out of scrap, that I should just tear down my old house, and that all of the houses on this website are unsafe. 

I have carefully considered the design though, that I promise you.  I am even exploring ways to make it airtight, and possibilities for switching from solid doors, to screens, so we can have some ambiance too if we want. 

BTW, much of the badly designed stuff out there comes from the desks of engineers :)
just spent a few days building a website, and didn't know that it could be so physically taxing to sit and do nothing all day!

rwanders

I have worked closely with engineers of all disciplines for many years and have found most quite willing and even happy to help out with "outside the box" design and construction---I know there are those who can be a little/lot arrogant but I haven't run into many. A master builder knows a lot, but he doesn't know everything.

As our own John Raabe says;  "All of us are smarter than one of us."   
Rwanders lived in Southcentral Alaska since 1967
Now lives in St Augustine, Florida

MountainDon

Quote from: Jens on January 17, 2009, 04:27:13 PM

BTW, much of the badly designed stuff out there comes from the desks of engineers :)

Unfortunately the engineers are just that, engineers. They are not always the ones deciding on how much money can be spent on the proposed product; the bean counters can force poor designs to be built. That may not be the best way to run a business, but that is sometimes the way it is in the real world. Many products are designed to sell at a particular price point. Also a perfectly good design can be turned into an inferior product if the production facilities or workers are substandard. Not every fault lies at the desk of the designer when you take the big picture into account. Of course there are some poor engineers who should likely be doing some other type of work. That applies to all fields, butcher, baker, or candlestick makers. You painted them all as being the same with your tar brush and that is not right, IMO.

An engineer may plead his case that something is not suitable the way it is, for the purpose at hand, but his objections may be dismissed as nothing to worry about. Remember Challenger?


I can count many engineers among my friends. Every one of them loves to problem solve both in and outside their area of expertise. I find them all to be widely versed in many areas. Maybe I've been lucky.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

rwanders

Well said Don---all designs are indeed formed and built as compromises between the ideal and the real world of business needs----I worked in quality assurance and quality control for many years---I was certified in welding inspection (CWI); in radiography, mag particle, dye penetrant and ultrasound as well as coatings and corrosion control. Also did civil, mechanical and piping systems. The only area I didn't do was electrical. As it takes a village to raise a kid, it takes a whole system from those who write specifications and quality requirements all the way to the craftsmen/women who bang the nails and join the metal. The product or service can fail at any point in the process.
Rwanders lived in Southcentral Alaska since 1967
Now lives in St Augustine, Florida

Jens

I wasn't meaning so much mechanical, or other engineers, as I was structural, and architectural.  While their stuff may have the right calculations in play, much of the time it falls short of real world possibility, i.e., structural members being in the wrong spot to pick up a load properly.  IMO it generally comes down to not building things in the real world...things go together a lot better on paper/computer screen sometimes.  What I was meaning wasn't as much a sleight on engineers, per se, but was that while engineers have the degree and the stamp, there are a great many people out there who do a better job (or at least are capable) that the powers that be don't even recognize.  I have known many engineers, and I have known many people who see, think, do, and none of them have died due to their not consulting an engineer first.  Most of the greatest inventions that we take for granted, were prototyped not by engineers, but by these individuals.

That being said, enough with the thread drift here, on my part at least.   ;D  I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel, just build a cheaper one for myself.  My insert, is basically going to be a steel liner for the firebox.  I plan on first re-coating (like plaster) the old walls with a refractory mix, then placing the box in there.  It will be hooked to a double wall flue, with a damper (air tight if I can manage), and a smoke shelf.  Basically it will be able to be used as a fireplace, or a wood stove, depending upon which doors are chosen (the solid doors will basically radiate more heat).  I am going to build a convection tube system into it, as well as an air induction (simple, like bellows maybe) that will provide fresh air to stoke the flames.  There will also be an inner box, that will collect the ash, and can be easily removed to dispose of said ashes. 

It's kinda funny that through the thread so far, nobody started talking about engineers, until I said I was going to build a fireplace. 

Let me say again, that there are many great engineers out there, some of my friends included.  I have been asked my opinion on some of their designs however, but that may be only due to the aesthetic side of my nature!
just spent a few days building a website, and didn't know that it could be so physically taxing to sit and do nothing all day!