# My homemade outdoor wood furnace (boiler)



## Lapeer20m

Last year was the first winter in our new home.  It has an lpg indoor boiler and baseboard heat.  We spent over $3,000 in propane.  OUCH

I searched for several months for a 500 or 1000 gallon propane tank that i could use to make an outdoor boiler. 

Finally, i found this:  It's a giant woodstove that is made from a propane tank.  It's 3/8" thick!









In august i began building the outdoor wood furnace.

I had a 119 gallon welltrol bladder tank for a well that i picked up at auction for $20.  This would serve as my firebox.  It's approximately 4 feet long and 26" in diameter.  I'll refer to it as "the blue tank"  It is about 1/8" thickness and was rated for 150psi.  

The propane tank, is about 4 inches longer and 5 inches larger in diameter than the blue tank.


----------



## Lapeer20m

I began by cutting the ends off both tanks.  The blue tank was relatively painless.  I used a circular saw that i picked up at a garage sale for $5.00 and an abrasive blade.  You can see the rust colored bladder inside.






Then i began cutting the propane tank utilizing the same method....except this tank is 3 times the thickness, and it's over 8 feet in diameter.  It took over 4 hours of saw time to complete this cut.   In retrospect, i should have just cut it with the ox-acetylen torches, but i was afraid it would be too jagged and difficult to weld back together.






I did finally get through it......3 days after i started.  And my saw never got so hot that i couldn't hold onto it. 











Here is one tank inside the other:


----------



## Lapeer20m

I was pretty happy that not only would the door fit within the footprint of the blue tank, but so would the draft control.  






I should probably mention at some point that i have almost no proper metal working tools or a shop.  I did the entire project outside in the driveway.  Oh yeah, I also have pretty much no welding skills.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Next, I welded the blue tank onto the piece i cut off of the propane tank.


----------



## Lapeer20m

I didn't have any 8" steel pipe laying around, but i do have a bunch of fire extinguishers i picked up at an auction for almost free a while ago.  CO2 extinguishers are rated for 1,200 psi and are thick walled.  

I used a saber saw and 2 blades plus one can of spray lube to cut the hole in the blue tank.  






Nice tight tolerance.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Then i slid the blue tank inside the propane tank. 







I also welded a foot onto the back of the blue tank before inserting it into the hole.  

and i welded the propane tank back together.  










they are definitely not going to hire me to work on submarines any time soon.  There were a few leaks, but a couple hours of grinding and re-welding and the outside eventually had zero leaks.  I've done lots of cobbling things together in my lifetime, but this is the first application that has required me to weld water tight.  This is a different type of skill compared to just sticking two pieces of metal together.


----------



## Lapeer20m

The co2 extinguisher wasn't quite long enough, so i welded a second tank to increase it's length.  This welding is a lot easier than anything involving the blue tank.  The blue tank is relatively thin walled compared to the rest of the project. 










from the inside....


----------



## Lapeer20m

Welding the chimney on the inside was not a lot of fun.  I used a fan to pressurize the tank and blow the welding fumes out the chimney while i was welding.  I also wore a respirator, just for fun.  I had to crawl inside to do the welding.   Plus, upside down i weld even worse than horizontal, so i was important to flip the boiler over a couple times.  Also, it's really difficult to swap out welding rod while in such a small space.  I did most of the welding with an older than me lincoln ac arc welder, mostly with 6013 rod.  I did use a little bit of 6011, and some 7018.  The 6011 seems to do a much better job while welding vertical. 
I don't know how i would do this project without a backhoe.  The boiler weighs several hundred, or even a thousand pounds, and it seemed I was constantly rotating it this way or that.  

I did a little art work on the door....






Here is the chimney sticking out the top.  






Then i fabricated a "collar" to bridge the gap between chimney and tank. This is made from the end i cut off the blue tank.  






the outer ring didn't need to be so precise, so i turned up the heat and used welding rod to cut the outer diameter.  It fit quite nice!  It was a little challenging, because the chimney was not centered in the hole.


----------



## Lapeer20m

I test fired it for the first time.






It is pretty sweet!  I cut my firewood at 24".  I can put them in the firebox sideways.  That's a lot of wood!

I started a fire of dry white pine, then i began filling it with water.  Rough estimate, it probably holds a little over 100 gallons.  There was a pretty good fire in there by the time the garden hose filled it up.  Keep in mind, the boiler is not connected to any circulating pump at this time.






The starting temperature was 70 degrees

10 minutes later it was 78 degrees

20 minutes:  93

30 minutes:  115

50 minutes:  150 degrees

closed damper

64 minutes :  148 degrees

Then i had to go leave for 14 hours.  I left the damper closed 100 percent.

When i returned home, the water was still 104 degrees.

The plan is to run my pex tubing above ground, inside this 18 inch diameter plastic culvert.






it's big enough i can crawl inside:






I did a lot of reading, and i decided that running pex in the ground is expensive and perhaps not the best method for my application.

I found for free, a crazy amount of dow foamboard that has been machined into small pieces.  In it's original shape, this material has an R value of 5.0 per inch.  With my pex lines near the core, that should give me about an R-40 for my pex lines.


----------



## hobbyheater

Welcome to "Hearth" ! A very impressive piece of "ART WORK ". Please keep up the posts as you have a very interesting project !


----------



## Lapeer20m

It is a non-pressurized system, much like most commercial outdoor boilers.  It has a vent pipe with a cap on it to keep the water from boiling out, but if any pressure is created it will simply vent to the atmosphere. 

I opted to run pairs of 3/4" lines rather than 1" pex simply because i already own the tool to crimp 3/4" fittings.  I didn't want to spend the extra $100 on a tool i only plan to use once.  Research suggests that a pair of 3/4" pipes will flow more gallons per minute than a 1" pipe. 

I'll have to take more photos of the progress.  I welded on fittings for a temperature gauge, an inlet, outlet, and an air vent.  The design of the boiler would trap a lot of air inside if i didn't have the vent. 

I hope to have the boiler installed an operational tomorrow.  It'll take a while longer for me to finish insulating the boiler and complete the finish work, including adding firebrick on the bottom and a baffle for the exhaust inside the firebox.I also want to install an automated damper.  I have a draft fan i could use, but i am not sure it is necessary.


----------



## Lapeer20m

My goal was to do the entire project for $1,000.   So far i've spent about $1,200, but it's ok as i want to do it right, and i plan to make back 100% of the money in savings this winter.  

I live on 60 acres and have more firewood laying on the ground rotting than i can process into firewood.  A lot of pine and cedar, but also some hardwoods like elm and ash.


----------



## hobbyheater

Can't tell in the picture , are you using a 3" layer of sand or so on the bottom of the firebox ? The layer of sand will allow the fire to attain higher burn temperatures !
Again  what a GREAT project , WELL done !


----------



## Lapeer20m

hobbyheater said:


> Can't tell in the picture , are you using a 3" layer of sand or so on the bottom of the firebox ? The layer of sand will allow the fire to attain higher burn temperatures !
> Again  what a GREAT project , WELL done !



I had planned to use firebrick, but that costs money.  Sand is a fantastic idea!  It's free!  thanks for the suggestion.  I actually wanted it because it seemed likely that firebrick (now sand) on the bottom will help to increase the lifespan of the burn chamber.

fyi, i would estimate at this point that i have at least 100 hours of welding into the project.


----------



## hobbyheater

Lapeer20m said:


> (now sand) on the bottom will help to increase the lifespan of the burn chamber.
> .



With a water lined firebox  I believe sand will work better than the firebrick . The firebrick has the potential to trap moisture between itself and the steel shell of the water jacket ! Once the sand is dry I think it would wick the moisture away from the steel walls . Somebody more educated than me will tell you if I'm wrong !


----------



## hobbyheater

The draft control on our first boiler late 70s.
The draft butterfly was controlled by a low voltage ( 24 volt) type zone valve control box. Simple construction but it did the job well.


----------



## WmFritz

Nice project. That will be a good feeling this winter saving all that propane money. Good for you on your low-budget build.


----------



## Tennman

Wow!! big congrats on your skills and resourcefulness. Man... I'm having MacGyver flashbacks! I just gotta admire your innovation. We'll be interested to hear how efficient she is.... but man... you built the whole stinkin' thing from stuff you found laying around. You may not have the fanciest system here, but geeez it's gotta be one of the least expensive. My hat's off to ya! Also pretty handy to have a backhoe laying around to pick up all that heavy stuff. Anyway just wanted to cheer from the bleachers.


----------



## OT_Ducati

Looking forward to updates on this..
Nice work.


----------



## rowerwet

is it going to be inside, if not you will loose a ton oh heat without insullation. cool build


----------



## Lapeer20m

rowerwet said:


> is it going to be inside, if not you will loose a ton oh heat without insullation. cool build



While an indoor boiler would be most efficient, I have neither the space or the desire to deal with the mess of firewood inside the house. 

It will be super insulated when finished, and it is going to be inside of a shed.  The shed should have storage for about a face cord of firewood.  I won't have to stand in the snow to load the boiler and my firewood will be nice and warm. I believe that you waste energy throwing frozen wood into the firebox. 

As far as costs:  I did spend $475 for the propane tank delivered to my house.  But it did come with enough left over to build a second boiler. I spent  another $400 on o2 barrier pex, heat exchanger, and fancy 2 stage thermostat. $75 for the plastic culvert, I also have massive quantities of welding rod into the project. All the small plumbing and insulation materials add up, and I bought a new Milwaukee grinder, and the non-contact thermometer etc etc.


----------



## georgia hillbilly

Good score on the free foam!


----------



## Lapeer20m

I can't upload any photos for a few more days, but I made serious progress. 

Ran all the plumbing, made all the connections, installed the heat exchanger, set the boiler in its final resting place. I was disappointed when I finished last night that the house was already 69 degrees, too warm to test the owb. 

I woke up before sunrise today and started a big fire.  Water temp is up to about 100 degrees now.  As soon as it hits 120 ill begin heating the house.  

Still a few items left to finish, including electrical, logic, and insulation. 

Temps tonight are predicted in the upper 30's.


----------



## harttj

Looks good. I would run higher water temps. Below 140 the flue gases condense and causes corrosion.


----------



## Lapeer20m

harttj said:


> Looks good. I would run higher water temps. Below 140 the flue gases condense and causes corrosion.



I let her run until she was just below 200 degrees, then I shut the manual damper. My heating/cooling buddy said that 120 degree water is the minimum that'll heat the house.

I have yet to install the automatic damper because I am waiting for the aquastat to come in the mail. I would prefer to not add a draft fan as long as I can make enough heat without it.  However, I have two different fans laying around that I could use.

I'm really excited that it works as well as it does.  I'm also impressed with the heat exchanger. I'm seeing about 30 degree f temperature difference between input/output for the owb side and the house radiator side.


----------



## stee6043

Awesome thread.  Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Lapeer20m

I had an epiphany this morning when it comes to automatic draft control....I considered using some crazy Rube Goldberg mechanism crafted from junk I have laying around, but I want something simple and reliable. 

Unless someone talks me out of it I think I'm gonna use a series of 1 inch solenoid sprinkler valves.  However many it takes to equal the area of my current draft control. 3 inches. 

I'll have to take steps to keep them from getting too warm. 

I could even control half of them at a time when I don't need to make as much heat.   

What do u guys think?


----------



## stayfitz

I want to be you when I grow up!  Absolutely amazing work!  Thank you very much for sharing!


----------



## Lapeer20m

I talked myself out of solenoid valves.  Not because its not a good idea, but because its too expensive. 

I did the math:  Pi r2 indicates that I would need almost 10 one inch solenoid valves. At almost $13 each plus the cost of plumbing fittings it is cost prohibitive. 

Home Depot sells a 6" auto damper for $59.   

To be continued....


----------



## Lapeer20m

here are photos....

Here is the spot where the lines run into the house.  In this photo, you can see the naked red pex lines, and a pair of lines that have armorflex insulation over the pex. 







Here is the culvert that the lines are running through......






I started insulating the boiler with R-30 insulation. 






The entire boiler will be built into a "cabinet" which will be inside an 8x8 shed. 

Here is the heat exchanger just prior to installation:






I'm sure the installation process is not as pretty as some of the other members, but it'll do.  I only had to go back and fix one leak. 






For the automated draft control, I found this awesome 24vac actuator.  It has built in limit switch so you can leave power to it all the time.  This takes a lot of complexity out of trying to manufacture your own control.  I paid less than $7 for it.  I may also add a damper control in the future.  I actually picked up three of these handy little gizmo's.  






I still have a lot to do, but it is operational right now.  Low temperature outside this morning was 32 degrees F but it was nice and toasty in the house.


----------



## Jags

Pretty neat build.  I think you are doing a fine job for a 100% DIY.  It will be interesting to hear the wood consumption of this beast when we get deep into heating season.


----------



## saladdin

I thought I was a DIY'er. If you are calling yourself "only" a DIY'er then I'm demoting myself to village idiot because we're not in the same league.

Please keep the updates coming.


----------



## Lapeer20m

here is my draft control version 1.0.  I may go back and make a more heavy duty flapper door.  This one is made from a paint can lid with a spring loaded hinge.  The actuator from the above post will open/close this little door. 










first i want to finish insulating and building the shed.  Then i need to figure out all of the logic circuits:  I think i have most of it worked out in my head.....  

I need the lpg boiler in the house to fire when there is no heat available from the owb,

The draft control needs to close at 190?  and reopen at 160-170?

I also want built in freeze protection, so if the owb temperature drops to perhaps 35 or 40 degrees  the lpg boiler will heat the water in the owb.  I don't want to waste propane, but a little propane is a lot cheaper and easier than allowing the owb to freeze.  It's too bad that i can't find a simple way to install a 60 watt light bulb or a toaster oven element inside the burn chamber.  I'm sure this would be enough to keep things from freezing.  

since the boiler will be insulated to a value of at least R-50, plus it'll be inside of a shed that will eventually also be insulated, the risk of freezing should be minimal.  We don't usually get too many days down in the single digits.  Perhaps simply circulating water through the heat exchanger in the house even without lpg being used will keep things from freezing.  We may leave home for a couple of days at a time on great occasion, which is about the only time freezing should be a concern.


----------



## Jags

Why not use a 110V 1500W water heater element?  You would obviously need a control thermostat on it, but it could be integrated right into the system.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Jags said:


> Why not use a 110V 1500W water heater element?  You would obviously need a control thermostat on it, but it could be integrated right into the system.




That's genius!  I could just drill and tap a hole in the back of the water jacket.  And most importantly, it should be feliable because its very simple.  

Thanks for the suggestion!


----------



## Jags

I think they are standard thread.  Weld the appropriate pipe coupler onto the water jacket and carry on.


----------



## maple1

McGyver in da house!



On the freeze thing, could you just run the circulator 24/7? Then when the LP boiler sees cold water it'll just do it's own thing. I'm not fussy about running a circ 24/7, but lots of people do it.


----------



## BoilerMan

If you run a water heater element, you can simply supply it with 120V instead of the rated 240V and half the wattage.  Get a cheap 3500W element and it becomes a 1750W.  Plenty to keep your boiler from freezing and you can feed it with a 12-2 piece of UF buried to the boiler. 

TS


----------



## ewdudley

BoilerMan said:


> If you run a water heater element, you can simply supply it with 120V instead of the rated 240V and half the wattage.  Get a cheap 3500W element and it becomes a 1750W. ...


(Whoops, probably not what you meant since wattage varies as square of voltage, so 1/2 the voltage yields 1/4 the wattage, or 875 watts in the example.)


----------



## BoilerMan

You are correct, and to think I work with it everyday.  I was thinking amperage. 

TS


----------



## Lapeer20m

I feel privileged to tap into such a vast knowledge base here on this forum.


----------



## Fred61

how many watts do you think are needed? You're talking much higher numbers than the original 60 watt bulb contemplated above.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Fred61 said:


> how many watts do you think are needed? You're talking much higher numbers than the original 60 watt bulb contemplated above.



It's not as if I did any scientific calculation. 800 watts, while approximately 8x the power consumption of the light bulb should do a fine job and would likely use the same amount of energy to raise the temperature of the water above 40 degrees but it would add more btu's in less time.


----------



## Fred61

I was just thinking about the economic side. I would want the lowest wattage that would do the job but it would be difficult to calculate the wattage needed given all the variables. I was rummaging through my junk (treasures) last week and found a McMaster Carr bag with 4 heaters in it that I had purchased years ago for some experimental project. Two were built like hose clamps that would fit 3/4 inch copper and 2 were tiny rods that would go into a dry well quite nicely. I don't recall the wattage but memory tells me they were at least 100 watts.

Installing something like that and moving the water would hold off jack frost quite nicely, I would think.


----------



## maple1

If you just ran the circ all the time, it should pick up heat from the HX when the fire is out & LP is doing backup duty. Right?


----------



## Lapeer20m

I am not sold on running the circulator 24x7. Plus, I don't want the lp boiler to heat the owb on a regular basis, and with my current setup that's what would happen if the owb circulator was running while the lp boiler was in operation. 

I really like the simplicity of a water heater element and thermostat, assuming the tstat has an anti freeze setting. It's cheap, reliable, simple, and effective. 

Efficiency is not top of the list for anti-freeze technology. It may never actually be utilized and it only has to keep the water above freezing. The difference in efficiency between a 100 watt element heating 900 pounds of water 3 degrees vs an 800 watt element is likely negligible. And all the parts for the 800 watt setup is redily available from Home Depot. 

I appreciate everyone's opinion and input.


----------



## maple1

What about just running the circ when the boiler goes cold, or it's a certain point below freezing outside? Or you could just manually turn it on with a switch if you'll be away for a while.

Just thinking with a circ already in place, and the OWB already attached to a backup heat source in the house - everything basically is already there for freeze protection, no plumbing mods or opening of the system needed. Plus a circ pump draws a lot less electricity than a heating element.


----------



## mchasal

Lapeer20m said:


> I am not sold on running the circulator 24x7. Plus, I don't want the lp boiler to heat the owb on a regular basis, and with my current setup that's what would happen if the owb circulator was running while the lp boiler was in operation.
> 
> I really like the simplicity of a water heater element and thermostat, assuming the tstat has an anti freeze setting. It's cheap, reliable, simple, and effective.
> 
> Efficiency is not top of the list for anti-freeze technology. It may never actually be utilized and it only has to keep the water above freezing. The difference in efficiency between a 100 watt element heating 900 pounds of water 3 degrees vs an 800 watt element is likely negligible. And all the parts for the 800 watt setup is redily available from Home Depot.
> 
> I appreciate everyone's opinion and input.



Even with heating element(s) in the boiler, without a circ running won't you still have an issue with the outdoor lines freezing up? Or do you expect to get enough natural cycling to curb that?

As an off the wall idea, for truly emergency protection, you could tee in a zone valve to one of the lines hooked to a thermostat that would just dump the water if it's getting close to freezing. Water's pretty easy to replace


----------



## Jags

mchasal said:


> As an off the wall idea, for truly emergency protection, you could tee in a zone valve to one of the lines hooked to a thermostat that would just dump the water if it's getting close to freezing. Water's pretty easy to replace



That is a neat idea - not sure how practical for this application, but I like it.  Way to think outside of the box.


----------



## Lapeer20m

mchasal said:


> Even with heating element(s) in the boiler, without a circ running won't you still have an issue with the outdoor lines freezing up? Or do you expect to get enough natural cycling to curb that?
> 
> As an off the wall idea, for truly emergency protection, you could tee in a zone valve to one of the lines hooked to a thermostat that would just dump the water if it's getting close to freezing. Water's pretty easy to replace



That is an interesting idea also......and cheap, easy, reliable.


----------



## mchasal

Lapeer20m said:


> That is an interesting idea also......and cheap, easy, reliable.



I've been trying to think of a way to make this setup cover a power outage situation as well. You could use a NO zone valve, but that would dump the water whenever the power failed, regardless of water temp. That would be a bad thing if there was a fire roaring in the boiler at the time. You could have it on a battery backup, but that starts to feel pretty complicated. You'd need some sort of bi-metal controlled zone valve, or perhaps some variation of a thermostatic mixing valve like many showers use.


----------



## hobbyheater

Would heat tape work for both ?


----------



## Lapeer20m

I just about have the automatic damper control finished.  I was able to bench test the unit successfully using a thermostat, although the final install will utilize an aquastat instead.  







open:






closed:






I shot a very unexciting youtube video of the draft control in action.  



As far as freeze protection and dumping the contents in a power outage, one could use a 12 volt sprinkler control valve, an automotive battery, and a thermostat from a refrigerator/freezer.


----------



## grader

you dont have to dump the water for freeze protection, and it will still allow the lines to freeze if you did. the backup system will heat the water enough and the pump should run 24-7 as moving water wont freeze.


----------



## Fred61

grader said:


> moving water wont freeze


http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Frozen_Waterfall_Ohiopyle_State_Park.jpg


----------



## BoilerMan

grader said:


> you dont have to dump the water for freeze protection, and it will still allow the lines to freeze if you did. the backup system will heat the water enough and the pump should run 24-7 as moving water wont freeze.


 Even if moving water would not freeze, the small flow through a boiler relative to it's size would be of no help.  Heat or glycol is the only answer.  I'm for electric heat in the boiler and heat tape in the lines.  This way even with a circulator failure there would be no chance of freezing anything.

Personally I'd put a heat tape in any underground line buried above the frost line, which is 6.5' here  
I always stay below the frost with any water line of at all practical. 

TS


----------



## mchasal

That fry pan damper is the most awesome thing ever! I bet you can make breakfast in it while it's burning!


grader said:


> you dont have to dump the water for freeze protection, and it will still allow the lines to freeze if you did. the backup system will heat the water enough and the pump should run 24-7 as moving water wont freeze.



If the dump valve was at the low point, it should empty the lines  as well. Given that his lines are above ground, this should be possible, I think. I suppose it would be best to put a dump on each line to eliminate the need to pitch them back to the boiler.


----------



## maple1

I don't think I'd empty my boiler in the face of a freeze up. Everything left behind when you do that could be a big frozen mess that you could have quite a hard time getting up & going again - puddles & bits of frozen in the wrong place, valves frozen open, little low spots that are now ice cubes...

Everything is there now to do it one way (circ & heat exchanger in the house tied to backup heat) - I'd plan on that, I'd maybe add heat tape for redundancy (easy & cheap), and if you want, maybe put an element in too (more money & more hassle to install). The more redundancy the better. Even with just doing the tape & element, I think I would still want to run my circ.


----------



## Lapeer20m

mchasal said:


> That fry pan damper is the most awesome thing ever! I bet you can make breakfast in it while it's burning!
> 
> 
> If the dump valve was at the low point, it should empty the lines  as well. Given that his lines are above ground, this should be possible, I think. I suppose it would be best to put a dump on each line to eliminate the need to pitch them back to the boiler.



Although the idea of dumping the water is a fun one, especially during a power outage,  I'm going to stick with the water heater element inside the water jacket. 

I found an anti freeze Tstat and the element all for under $30. I will use these in conjunction with circulating water. 

I'm not concerned with water freezing in the lines. Not only is the possibility of freezing remote, pex tends to have excellent resistance to bursting even when water freezes inside although the fittings tend to fail. As long as the boiler is protected I'm happy. I could replace the 18 feet of pex running from boiler to house with not much money or time. Especially since we are talking about an event that is not likely to occur more than once a decade. 

I should have more photos tomorrow.  I have a list of boiler related projects I hope to accomplish today!


----------



## Lapeer20m

Today I installed my new 2 stage thermostat and nearly all of the logic controls and wireing for both boilers.  If the owb fails to provide enough heat, the Tstat automatically turns on the backup LPG boiler.  

The owb draft control closes just above 180, and opens around 160. The temperature continues to climb to just above 190 degrees if the house is not calling for heat. 

Still waiting for a temperature controller to arrive in the mail. This will turn off the owb circulator when the water temp drops below 120. It also has a large digital temperature display that I will be able to read by looking out the window of the house. 

I filled the firebox with a mix of elm and poplar. I came back 4 hours later for a refill before bed and it was still pretty much full. High Temps today in the 40's lows near freezing.


----------



## Lapeer20m

I've been heating the house without propane for the past 9 days. 

I've gone as long as 26 hours between filling the firebox and the water temp was still 180 degrees. 

The water when heated obviously expands. I added an overflow container to combat this problem. I also added a digital temperature gauge I can see while looking out the window of the house. 

Another issue I'm dealing with is now that the owb is insulated the water temp continues to slowly climb when the damper is closed and the house is not calling for heat, eventually reaching the boiling point and venting steam.   For now, I've lowered the temp of the aqua stat from almost 190 down to 170. 

Overall, I'm very satisfied but we will see how things progress when it really gets cold out.


----------



## Seasoned Oak

Perhaps you could put some storage inside the house instead of venting steam and losing heat ,store it inside in the form of hot water while the house is not calling for heat.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Seasoned Oak said:


> Perhaps you could put some storage inside the house instead of venting steam and losing heat ,store it inside in the form of hot water while the house is not calling for heat.



I will solve the venting problem with the door gasket hopefully. 

While I would love indoor storage of 1,000 gallons, I've already maxed out my allotted time and money on this project for now.  Perhaps next year.


----------



## Lapeer20m

It turns out that not only did I not need to install the door gasket, but I didn't have to do anything to the boiler for the past several days except put wood in it. No tinkering or fiddling required. 

I reduced the temp to 70 degrees C and it has yet to get warmer than 80. 

I still need to build the shed and do some more insulating, but as far as functionality, the boiler is completely finished.


----------



## Lapeer20m

I made really good progress, which is handy because we are already a week into november here in Michigan. 

My pex lines were just laying inside this culvert....






so i crawled inside, using small planks i was able to suspend the pex in the center of the tube.   Then i packed the culvert with insulation.  The insulation is rated at least R-40, plus the armorflex, plus the plastic culvert itself.  

I didn't score any photos of the insulation filled culvert....






I then spray foamed where the culvert meets the house.  






Here is where it enters the skeleton of the shed.  






Here is the shed mostly built....
















I even insulated the gaps inside the shed.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Here is a photo of my new "log skidder"


----------



## stayfitz

This is, by far, my favorite project document on the entire forum! Well Done!


----------



## OH_Varmntr

How much room do you have between the top of your fire door and the ceiling of the shed?  

I sometimes have to load mine with a burn cycle going and flames do come up out of the door.  Just don't want you to burn the shed down around the burner...


----------



## Lapeer20m

OH_Varmntr said:


> How much room do you have between the top of your fire door and the ceiling of the shed?
> 
> I sometimes have to load mine with a burn cycle going and flames do come up out of the door.  Just don't want you to burn the shed down around the burner...



I would estimate the ceiling is 8 feet high. The top of the door is about 3 feet. So there is about a 5 foot gap.  If this proves to be an issue perhaps ill install some steel roofing material on the inside of the shed. 

Smoke is a bit of a problem at this point especially if I open the door to the firebox while the draft control is closed.  I'm considering adding a fan to suck the smoke out of the shed. Perhaps wiring it to the motion detector light. It is nice loading the firebox inside rather than standing out in the elements.


----------



## Jags

Is that a Snowcat?


----------



## Lapeer20m

Jags said:


> Is that a Snowcat?



it's like a mini-snow cat, except it can be driven year round. I call it the honey badger.  It's technically a PPT or passe par tout.   It has a footprint of about 0.5psi.  The tracks are 18 inches wide each with about 5.5 feet on the ground.  It is not amphibious, but goes through the swamp, mud, snow, over logs, through bogs......it's pretty sweet.  My john deere gator can't even drive through the muddy trails without getting stuck.  The honey badger will drive through the mud while skidding logs.  

here are a couple video's of it in action:


----------



## brenndatomu

Cool toy! Not completely on topic here, but if ya wanna see some funny stuff, look up "Bad A** Honey Badger" on you tube, hilarious! (FYI, some foul language.)
Impressive boiler build too BTW! Love the make-do-with-what-you-have creativeness!


----------



## Lapeer20m

brenndatomu said:


> Cool toy! Not completely on topic here, but if ya wanna see some funny stuff, look up "Bad A** Honey Badger" on you tube, hilarious! (FYI, some foul language.)
> Impressive boiler build too BTW! Love the make-do-with-what-you-have creativeness!



That's where the name came from. Honey badger doesn't give a crap.  Lol.  We're way off topic now.


----------



## samdweezel05

My favorite thread to date on this forum.  I'm going to have to see what I can build for an outdoor wood boiler.


----------



## shoeboxlen

Lapeer20m said:


> It turns out that not only did I not need to install the door gasket, but I didn't have to do anything to the boiler for the past several days except put wood in it. No tinkering or fiddling required.
> 
> I reduced the temp to 70 degrees C and it has yet to get warmer than 80.
> 
> I still need to build the shed and do some more insulating, but as far as functionality, the boiler is completely finished.


 
I had the same issue with my eko and changed the set point to 70 and like you I have had no more overheat issues. nice project keep up the good work


----------



## Lapeer20m

Just wanted to say that things are going great!  The boiler works better than I expected.  We had a bit of a cold snap and there were no issues, the boiler kept burning easily with loading at 12 hour intervals. 

This morning was below freezing but highs are going to be near 50. On days like today I like to start a fire and heat the house using only sticks that I pick up off the ground within about 100 feet of the boiler. I can just let this single load of sticks burn and it'll heat the house all day. I'll start another fire after dark. This way I save my processed wood for when its actually cold out.


----------



## McKraut

Lapeer20m said:


> Just wanted to say that things are going great!  The boiler works better than I expected.  We had a bit of a cold snap and there were no issues, the boiler kept burning easily with loading at 12 hour intervals.
> 
> This morning was below freezing but highs are going to be near 50. On days like today I like to start a fire and heat the house using only sticks that I pick up off the ground within about 100 feet of the boiler. I can just let this single load of sticks burn and it'll heat the house all day. I'll start another fire after dark. This way I save my processed wood for when its actually cold out.


 Congratulations on your success. Now that you're done, I could use some help........Michigan isn't that far away.

Bob


----------



## Lapeer20m

McKraut said:


> Congratulations on your success. Now that you're done, I could use some help........Michigan isn't that far away.
> 
> Bob




I installed the dhw sidearm yesterday.  It works great, but not sure if I plumbed it correctly. 

Thermosyphon action is improved with higher owb water temps, so I circulate water first through sidearm then to the heat exchanger.  My concern is that when it really gets cold outside this may make it more difficult to keep the house up to temperature. 

It would only take about 10 minutes to swap the pex fittings around to feed heat exchanger first then the sidearm...

Today has a high of 50, then I don't think we will be above freezing again for the foreseeable future. After the weekend I should have a good idea if this setup is going to function properly.


----------



## McKraut

Did you make your own sidearm or did you buy it?

Bob


----------



## Lapeer20m

I made my own.  I used 3/4 for dhw and 1" for owb. 

I wanted larger outside diameter but felt it was cost prohibitive and difficult to obtain as Home Depot doesn't handle any copper larger than 1". 

I suppose it would be possible to make one utilizing dissimilar metals but I did not explore this option. 

I'm still thinking about also installing a small plate exchanger into the dhw system just to make sure the mrs doesn't run out of hot water.


----------



## Lapeer20m

Just wanted to post a photo of the snow covered insulated culvert which houses my owb pex lines:  It's nearly 30 degrees outside temp today.  Water temperature is about 170 degrees.


----------



## Lapeer20m

We've had near record cold, like most of the country.  Many mornings bow freezing, the coldest: -20f.

The boiler keeps up just fine as long as I keep it fed.  It vaporizes hundreds of pounds of firewood in a 24 hour period when its below Zero.

Today I swapped out the actuator for the draft control. It was damaged by a piece of falling firewood and ended up causing a boil-over.

To reduce the chance of future boiling events I installed a new temp controller that will turn on the circulator in the house when the water temp reaches 190*.  This should also serve as an "alarm" to alert us that there is a problem.


----------



## GENECOP

Awsome project......well done, and you did the entire job for what my Fluepipe cost.....LOL...


----------



## rowerwet

Lapeer20m said:


> Just wanted to post a photo of the snow covered insulated culvert which houses my owb pex lines:  It's nearly 30 degrees outside temp today.  Water temperature is about 170 degrees.


that is when you know you did it the right way!


----------



## Would you like some Tea?

Fred61 said:


> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Frozen_Waterfall_Ohiopyle_State_Park.jpg



As far as freezing goes:  I was involved with a big commercial project with a 100 ton fluid cooler on the roof.  This thing saw 0-10F temperatures all winter, didn't freeze up due to circulating water.  All the pipes are directly outdoors, uninsulated.  They were gonna put the glycol in it about the time the hotel opened.  But then some knucklehead turned off the breaker to the pumps on Friday night when the temperature dropped like a hammer, no glycol.  Monday, $135,000 worth of fluid cooler scrap metal was sitting on the roof with 1000 pinhole leaks.  No circulation = freeze.

Moving water in insulated pipes won't freakin' freeze, frozen waterfalls notwithstanding (waterfalls are notoriously uninsulated).  Stagnant water in uninsulated pipes will freeze right now. 

Now, I've had wellhouses in the country for years, heated by a light bulb, never froze.  If your stove is in a tight little insulated house, it may not take more than a light bulb to keep it from freezing.  Your buffer tank?  Forget it, it won't freeze if it is insulated and you are using it regularly.  If you aren't, leave your pumps running. Your pipes?  Insulate them well enough, and they'll be fine.  Keep the circulators running if you are off at grandma's house for Christmas.   Heat tape them if you are paranoid.  Go to a farm store and get a horse tank heater and throw it in your storage tank, if you are even more paranoid, when you are not firing the stove.  If you insulate the whole system well, and add just a bit of heat or circulation, it won't freeze outdoors.


----------



## Lapeer20m

We saw the longest coldest winter of my lifetime last year with temperatures below -20f and had no freezing problems.  

This year I am upgrading to alpha 2 pumps which are up to 20x more efficient than my current boiler pumps.  I plan to run these pumps through a UPS power supply that will automatically transfer to battery power in the event of power failure.  

We went 5 days with no grid power with temps near zero last December. This sort of thing always seems to happen when I'm at work or otherwise not available.  The ups will give me a window of time before I have to worry about starting the generator.


----------

