About 6 years ago, with the cost of heating my house rising, I began looking at designs for wood stoves. In The Mother Earth News (Issue # 49- January/February 1978) I found a promising article about using discarded hot water heaters. Using that article as a guide, I constructed a wood stove that I have been using for about 6 years.
The stove is used in the first floor of a 20 foot by 36 foot uninsulated brick house. When the temperature is 20 degrees outside, the basement is 80 degrees and the floor above is 55 degrees. The temperature difference would be reduced by connecting the floors with ducting.
Here in the city, it takes about 16 square blocks of scavenging territory to scrounge up enough discarded wood to supply one house with one years worth of fuel. It helps to have a car or truck to transport the wood that people throw in the alleys. Discarded furniture made from particle board is great because it is easy to break into small pieces. Keep an eye out for folks with dead trees that you can offer to remove.
The Mother Earth plan calls for electric water heaters. My variation uses a gas heater, which is much more common in cities. For this instructable, I made a second stove and documented what I did. Since there are so many metal scavengers in my area, it is very difficult to find a heater in the alley, so I traded an old car battery for a water heater from a nearby scavenger.
Note, before starting this project, check with your homeowners insurance to make sure there won’t be a problem.
Photo A shows the heater with the covering and insulation removed.
The stove is used in the first floor of a 20 foot by 36 foot uninsulated brick house. When the temperature is 20 degrees outside, the basement is 80 degrees and the floor above is 55 degrees. The temperature difference would be reduced by connecting the floors with ducting.
Here in the city, it takes about 16 square blocks of scavenging territory to scrounge up enough discarded wood to supply one house with one years worth of fuel. It helps to have a car or truck to transport the wood that people throw in the alleys. Discarded furniture made from particle board is great because it is easy to break into small pieces. Keep an eye out for folks with dead trees that you can offer to remove.
The Mother Earth plan calls for electric water heaters. My variation uses a gas heater, which is much more common in cities. For this instructable, I made a second stove and documented what I did. Since there are so many metal scavengers in my area, it is very difficult to find a heater in the alley, so I traded an old car battery for a water heater from a nearby scavenger.
Note, before starting this project, check with your homeowners insurance to make sure there won’t be a problem.
Photo A shows the heater with the covering and insulation removed.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Materials needed.
Materials.
1. A 40 or 50 gallon gas water heater. The 40 gallon heaters are about 4 feet long and 16 inches in diameter (with the insulation, base, and outer covering removed).
2. A large helium gas container of the type used for balloons.
3. A saber saw and plenty of metal cutting blades.
4. A Dremel or Rotozip tool fitted with a metal cutting saw.
5. An angle grinder with a metal cutting saw.
6. A 3/8 inch drill.
7. An assortment of bolts and two hinges.
8. Some fiberglass cloth or ceiling tile.
9. A knob for the door.
10. A latch for the door.
11. Scissors to cut the fiberglass and stapler to secure the pieces.
12. Measuring tape and marker.
13. Enough 5 inch stove pipe to reach to the chimney.
14. A wrench to remove the gas valve and remaining pipes
1. A 40 or 50 gallon gas water heater. The 40 gallon heaters are about 4 feet long and 16 inches in diameter (with the insulation, base, and outer covering removed).
2. A large helium gas container of the type used for balloons.
3. A saber saw and plenty of metal cutting blades.
4. A Dremel or Rotozip tool fitted with a metal cutting saw.
5. An angle grinder with a metal cutting saw.
6. A 3/8 inch drill.
7. An assortment of bolts and two hinges.
8. Some fiberglass cloth or ceiling tile.
9. A knob for the door.
10. A latch for the door.
11. Scissors to cut the fiberglass and stapler to secure the pieces.
12. Measuring tape and marker.
13. Enough 5 inch stove pipe to reach to the chimney.
14. A wrench to remove the gas valve and remaining pipes
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
~Bob~
~Bob~
Anyway, 2 things I noticed that could be a problem. The first is the stand. Yours appears to be mounted firmly but anyone else doing something like this needs to have good strong mountings (legs or whatever.) What I see is that it is round and if it rolled with the fire going inside it could be a disaster. I sometimes put pretty heavy logs in my stove, it even moves it around on the floor, so whatever is used for mounting has to be stout enough to handle a lot of weight, just in case.
The second area is the stove pipe or flue.
The flue on a wood stove can get a lot hotter than a normal furnace so you might want to make certain yours can handle it. As you brought out stuff builds up in them and it can burn at very high temps if it lights. Again something that doesn't happen with gas.
When I installed my stove I used what is called triple wall pipe. It is what was required for the installation and I did not have an existing chimney. Its expensive but the idea is that the inside pipe (made of stainless steal) does not touch the middle pipe and that is separated from the outside pipe. So the outside one cannot get hot enough to ignite anything, like wood rafters even if the inside one gets very hot. Bottom line for my concern here is that anyone putting in something like this be very careful about what flue pipe you use.
Something you might find interesting, and I have been thinking of doing an instructable on it. I have found a way to burn used oil in a stove SAFELY)
Use plastic drink bottles, like those from vitamin water. Poor about 1/3 to 1/2 full of used oil, then get shredded paper, crosscut is the best, and pack it into the bottle with the oil. Keep packing the paper in until the bottle is filled and hard packed, then cap the bottle. The oil will soak into all the paper in a day or so. You can store these safely and with the caps on tight they won't leak. To use them just throw one on top of the wood in the stove. The plastic bottle shrinks at first and then as the plastic melts the paper/oil lights. It produces a lot of heat for a short time and since most of the oil is contained by the paper until its burned, it burns completely and slowly enough to stay under control.
My stove pipe is just the ordinary single wall type. It is far from anything flammable, so it just adds heat to the room when the soot ignites.
My stand is made from a discarded gas grill. I have never had any stability problems with it. It wasn’t included in the instructions because they are hard to find in the alley.
I have been reading “The Book of Masonry Stoves” by David Lyle. It is full of ideas and stove designs. Great book.
I have also been researching Sterling engines, with the idea of running one from the heat of the stove and powering a generator that keeps storage batteries charged. One could perhaps modify discarded fire extinguishers as the gas cylinders.
~Bob~
One request: I'd really like to see a photo of the stove with the door open, and fuel being loaded...
The picture you wanted has been included.
~Bob~