outdoor wood boiler from junk

Outdoor wood boilers have become a popular option in the cold country for heating the home.
The advantage is that you keep all the smoke, mess, and fire danger outside and away from the house.
The down side is the cost. A factory made one costs several thousand dollars. We burn wood to save money, thus the spending of several thousand doesn't support that goal.
I will show you how I built mine for almost no cost.

I ran the first one of these all last winter with no problems at all. I didnt buy a single whiff of gas for the whole winter. now I am making this one for a friend

 

Step 1: The fire box

we start with the construction of the fire box. I aquired from a dumpster a large water heater that I am using for my firebox. about 20" to  24" diameter is good. I've found the round firebox works great because the flames play all around the top for good heat transfer.
* First we start with removing the outer cover, insulation, burner assembly from the water heater. all thats left now is the tank.
*Next, I cut out the flue running up the center, and all the pipe fittings, and welded patches over the holes.
* Then, I reused the flue from the center and welded it to the outside of the tank. I welded a plate on the end for pressure testing.
* Now we have to pressure test the tank for leaks. For this, I welded a small pipe fitting in a convenient spot and installed an air valve. this is like a tire valve stem with pipe theads on it. they are used in campers to pressurize the water tank. we only need about 5 psi. with the tank pressurized, I used a thick solution of dishsoap and water in a spray bottle to find the leaks.

Comments

[rimar2000]

Wow, what a great job, congratulations.

[rimar2000]

And thank for the captions in video!

[digitalenigma]

Love it, plan on doing my own similar project someday, have a seen a few similar projects on youtube, you should do a quick video presentation and throw it up there, yours looks a lot nicer than most of them on youtube, seems to better utilize the existing heating cooling system parts!

[heathbar64]

Ok, so I've made a couple video slide shows. Hope they are ok.

[heathbar64]

Thanks, I just might do the video. I haven't posted anything to youtube yet, but was thinking about trying it out. I have to give a lot of credit to my neighbor who built one a few years before i did. I utilized a lot of his experience to make mine better.

[digitalenigma]

Always gotta give credit to our predecessors! When I make mine I will utilize concepts from all those who made them before me, gotta love the internet allowing us to share all the knowledge!

[bernie308]

This is great. Gives me lots of ideas for building one.

Thanks for sharing.
Best Regards,
Bernie

[heathbar64]

I hope you do build one. If so, show us some pictures. I think you would find the welding a lot easier if you used heavier tanks like old propane tanks.

[Navarone]

Looks like a giant flowmaster muffler!

Mount that on a honda for moar powa!

[RedneckEngineer]

This is butt a$$ ugly, I LOVE IT!!!

How long a burn do you get out of a load of wood? How much wood does it hold at a time?

[heathbar64]

well the firebox is almost 4' long so you can get a lot in there. I usually topped it up each morning and evening, but in all but the coldest weather there was still half a load left. Even if you let the fire go out, the water will hold enough heat to go most of the day,but then you have to start a new fire from cold.