I'm building a homemade boiler

[warno]

Quotation on anode rods. I found one on ebay for cheap and went ahead and got it. I'm wondering if it matters how I orientate the anode in the tank. Could it go in horizontally or is vertical better or does it matter?

Also how do I know if I need 1 or 2 rods?

 

[Bret Chase]

doesn't matter... 1 or 2 rods only dictates the replacement interval... 2 rods will last twice as long as one...

 

[warno]

OK. I'll stick with the one. If I'm eating it up too fast I'll add another later on.

Thank you all very much for all the help and comments. I should have another update this weekend.

 

[warno]

Well I decided to burn some vacation time at work to try and get this thing wrapped up, or at least as far as building it goes. Today I got the top welded on, the front HX clean out door and ash pan door as well.

Some pics from today

The top with access panel and lifting eyelet I put in.



Inside the access opening you see the over flow stand pipe



And the way over built top cover. It's one piece 1/4" steel bent and corners welded.



And aquastat and float switch ports



Doors mounted up with locking toggle latches



Close up on the top door



And hand built hinges



And the gasket holds the dollar bill just fine



Simple aluminum spring clips I made up to hold the gap for the rope gasket



TIG welds for the hinges



MIG welds for everything fire/water related

 

[maple1]

Man, that welding sure puts the bubble gum work I call my welding to shame.

Nice!

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Hey warn, are you over on welding web? I think I've seen you over there.

Anywho, nice looking welds man. I have a new tig machine on the way. What filler did you use for the hinges?

 

[warno]

Another update here. I managed to basically get it done today. Tomorrow I'm going to add some insulation hold points and few other odds and ends but all in all it's done. I put it on the scale after today's progress and it weighs roughly 1400 LBS as it sits now.

A few pics from today

Here's the inner workings of the feed door. I plan to fill this space with refractory cement. It will be about 3" thick.



Rear of the unit. HX clean out door and flue adaptor. I will be transitioning to class A chimney from the pipe sticking out.




Front of unit. Feed door, front HX clean out, and ash pan door.

 

[Bret Chase]

looks awesome..... you are going to go through a bunch of wood getting it all up to temp...

 

[warno]

Don't we all have to burn a significant amount of wood the first run? I know it will take a bit to heat the tank, I do plan to keep track of how much wood it eats to do so. I'm getting pretty excited about it.

Thanks for all the positive feedback.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Yep, first runs take a bit longer than to just maintain a temp. My first run of the year eats the wood. Heating 800 gallons from 70 to 190 degrees will take roughly 800,000 btus. My OWB is rated for 250,000 btu/hr but I doubt it actually does that. Even at 200,000 btu/hr there's 4 hours running full steam ahead.

 

[Z33]

Those welds are a work of art for sure.

Any thoughts about some form of insulation around the water jacket to slow the heat loss?

 

[warno]

Thanks for the compliment.

Yes I do plan to add insulation all around the water jacket. There will be two wraps worth of R15 around the sides, top and bottom. And I will be putting mineral wool up against the front and back with a panel of the pink foam stuff over to of that. And it will be going into a small shed I'm building for it.

 

[warno]

Today I got it ready to bring home. Next week I need to pay my fee, for using the company tools and materials at work, and then it can come home with me. I added just a few more things.

The fan assembly mount





I added a second port to the ash pan. This will be capped off during the heating season, but in the off season I will run a power cord through there to plug in a light to keep moisture at bay in the fire box/heat exchanger.



I also made my feed door interior cover plate. This is just a plate to help shield the refractory from the direct heat of the fire, even though I know refractory is made to take the heat, also it help hold it in if it starts to break down. It is fully removable if I ever need to completely replace the refractory in the door.




I also added some studs to hold my insulation tight to the front and back. It will be held down with aluminum channels I'll make at work. I didn't get any pics of the yet though.

 

[Bret Chase]

Thanks for the compliment.

Yes I do plan to add insulation all around the water jacket. There will be two wraps worth of R15 around the sides, top and bottom. And I will be putting mineral wool up against the front and back with a panel of the pink foam stuff over to of that. And it will be going into a small shed I'm building for it.

I don't like the thought of EPS on the outside.... so far you have a completely non combustible assembly... and then you add the EPS... if it was me, I'd wrap the whole thing with rockwool... then throw together a quick light gauge frame and put cement board over it... not only is it tough as hell... it can't burn either.

EPS has it's place for sure.... just not on a boiler of any kind, IMHO.

 

[Bigg_Redd]

I was worrying about putting this on the forum because I know how most feel about somebody building one of these units.

I feel like it's awesome and the haters can eat a large bag of hobo genitalia

 

[Bret Chase]

Yep, first runs take a bit longer than to just maintain a temp. My first run of the year eats the wood. Heating 800 gallons from 70 to 190 degrees will take roughly 800,000 btus. My OWB is rated for 250,000 btu/hr but I doubt it actually does that. Even at 200,000 btu/hr there's 4 hours running full steam ahead.

funny anecdote... almost 15 years ago, when I was still working for my former employer... the client called in a panic... they had just drained their propane tank (can't remember if it was a 500 or a 1000 gal).. on the initial fire of their radiant floor.... 150+ tons of concrete and thousands of feet of PEX in this 75X150 floor... Of course... once the slab got warmed up... they were VERY happy with fuel consumption.

 

[warno]

I don't like the thought of EPS on the outside.... so far you have a completely non combustible assembly... and then you add the EPS... if it was me, I'd wrap the whole thing with rockwool... then throw together a quick light gauge frame and put cement board over it... not only is it tough as hell... it can't burn either.

EPS has it's place for sure.... just not on a boiler of any kind, IMHO.

I really wasn't sold on the idea of the foam either. It was the cheap thing to do is all. You are right though, I could just do 2 layers of the wool then I could just cover that with some thin aluminum sheeting from work. With the insulation behind the sheeting it shouldn't get very warm.

 

[warno]

I just got the total from the boss for my boiler project at work. Total cost from what I have paid already and to finish it up, as in what the last picture shows, $500 out the door. And that's with me rounding up. Not a bad deal I don't think. I do have a ton of time in it though. Still not bad.

 

[Bret Chase]

well... it'd be a hell of alot more to buy one already made....

 

[warno]

Today after work I started on my heat exchangers for the garage. It's a couple of water to air exchangers that I built out at work. I built them with aluminum frames so I could weld on my duct work plenum and my exit side louvers. They are almost done and ready to mount up in the garage.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Any pics of your HX's? Sounds interesting.

 

[warno]

I could get some tomorrow.

 

[warno]

I got busy yesterday so here they are today as per request the pics of my heat exchangers. I had one of our sales reps at work size the heat exchanger for me. Then I built them out of scrap materials. I paid $50 for both of them.

Here's my cold air return side. It's a blower fan from a forced air furnace that I built a shroud around and mounted up it the rafters of the garage. I will be building a filter rake for it as well.





Here's the supply side of the system where my HX is. There is another HX going in on the other end of the garage. They will be plumbed in series from the boiler. I will be filing the gap space with ply wood for a clean look.




Here's some shots of one of the heat exchangers. Sorry for the messy bench in the background.

I suck at brazing so I had one of our brazers at work do the copper joints for me.

"Header" end view.



"Return" end



Air entering side of plenum



Louver side of plenum



Aluminum TIG welds holding it all together.



In case anyone is wondering I work in a place that builds industrial refrigeration units and we build heating application items as well.

 

[OH_Varmntr]

Dang man your beads are beautiful. Nice work there!

 

[hoverwheel]

Warno, your welding is probably good enough you could make a living at it

(Your welds are as much ART as function)