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El Cheapo Robert

Started by Quartlow, November 12, 2005, 07:19:09 PM

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Quartlow

Strikes again.

We really had to do something about heat this year. The old furnace in the trailer is only 70,000 btu's. One of its problems is that when it comes on, after the plenum heats up and the fan kicks on, It would cool the plenum faster than the burner could heat it. As a result the blower would cycle on and of about 5 times before it got up to temp in here. It did this every time the furnace cycled on.

What I really wanted was an outdoor wood burner. but the prices put me in shock to say the least. So cous and I went on a mission to build one. The initial design went in the scrap in a hurry, to  light was pulling and twisting when you welded on it.

So I went down to see old Dick Grimm. Dick makes fuel and custom tanks. He rolled me two tubes out of 3/16 thick stock. on 20 inches in diameter and one 39 inches in diameter. Had a piece of 1/2 inch plate laying here. that was my end caps. only thing was it was only about 26 inches wide.  Not a problem tacked the seam on on the big tube and set it on the plate and layed out the arc.

Moved it to the other end and layed out the arc again. 
using the arcs for reference I burned off both ends

Took the center section and burned it in half. Welded it onto the end pieces where the arcs ran out of plate.

Next i set the little tube on the plate and positioned it just 2 inches from the bottom and welded it on. Positioned the other end and welded it. hooked up an air line and checked for leaks, only had to fix 2 not bad for a hill jack

next I split the tacks on the outer tank and spread it around the inner tank. Pulled it back together got it lined up and welded had to fix 4 leaks this time

Burned out a square hole for the door, salvaged a cast door off of another old wood burner. cut a whole in the back for a piece of 6 inch truck exhaust.
put a 1.4 X 1 pipe bushing in the bottom for the return put the suction pipes on the back and a filler on the top. Time for a test run. it makes lots of heat had it up to 175 degrees, shut the drafts at 11 pm, left till 11 the next day. Still had a good bed of coals and the water temp was around 145. Good enough

added leg's and started plumbing the pump and getting the bottom closed in.

Left to do
Add a suction filter of some kind,
Wrap the tank.
Install the heat exchanger under the furnace
run the water lines and the electric.
Install a 6 diameter X12 inch  inch filler pipe in the front
cost so far
$225 for the tanks
$125 for the pump and flange kit
$225 for the heat exchanger
$75 for misc items, welding rod, pipe fittings, truck exhaust

$650 so far

Front view. If you look close you can see a black ring thats where the inner box was welded


Back view, no the extension cords aren't part of it  ;D these are the supply pipes, i figured since the return was front bottom center I should draw the supply form both sides to help water flow up both sides of the tank, of course I could be just crazy


lastly the pump, which is going to change some when I find some sort of filter or screen






Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

SwampDonkey

Your Hired !  ;D  8)

Lookin good mr. fabricator. Great pics :)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

Quartlow

Quote from: SwampDonkey on November 12, 2005, 07:28:38 PM
Your Hired !  ;D  8)

Lookin good mr. fabricator. Great pics :)

Yeah!! whats it pay?
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

DanG

Good job there, ya ol' skinflint.  That sure beats payin' 10 grand for one of the factory jobs.  Maybe you can sell heat to the neighbors to recover what ya had to lay out. ;D
"I don't feel like an old man.  I feel like a young man who has something wrong with him."  Dick Cavett
"Beat not thy sword into a plowshare, rather beat the sword of thine enemy into a plowshare."

SwampDonkey

 :D :D Well in the spirit of the topic......about that much. ;)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

beenthere

Looks great Quartlow. Similar to mine, but a bigger 'jacket' of water.

What I don't see is a relief valve,
or a way to shut down the draft when the water temp gets up to near boiling.
Don't see a draft inlet either.

Mine draws the water off the top, so the air that boils out of the water has a place to go (eventually bubbles into a tank). If air stays in the system, it will cause the steel to rust pretty quick. Any new water put in should be heated right away to 'de-gas' the water and get the oxygen out to stop rusting. Maybe drilling and tapping for a bleeder valve could be added at the top most point of the water tank.
I have an 'aquastat' on the top that senses the water temperature, and a sensor that closes a damper when the upper setpoint is reached.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Coon

beenthere,    have you got pics of your system?  It sure sounds interesting to say the least.

I am planning on building an outdoor heater out of a 100 gallon heating oil tank (Reinforced of course)  :D inside a 250 or 300 gallon tank.  I am also going to cut the top of the 100 gallon tank and add a baffle system for the smoke to have to go through in order to get as much heat out of the smoke before it escapes.  This baffle system will also create a larger area in which the water can come in contact with the heat source.  This will all be housed inside a little tin shed to keep any cross drafts out as we live on the prairies with  alot of wind. ;D
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
Husqvarna, Stihl and, Jonsereds Saws

Quartlow

not gonna have one either  :D actually I'm going to put a pice of 6 inch exhuast at the front, with baffles in it, the theory is that any steam created will condense on the baffles and drop back to the tank. We hope, The lid will be a loose fitting light weight cap.

I still need to figure a way to do automatic draft control. There is a draft in the door, a 1.75 hole that has a plate over it, kind of hard to see in thses pics

I'll get a better pic of it tomorrow.
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

SwampDonkey

Need a limit control with a thermastat and a damper control. The wheel of the damper control has a chain attached to the damper. Door on my forced air furnace has a draft and a damper.
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

beenthere

Took some pics and loaded three in my gallery. The first shows the 'top' piping (l to r) of the relief valve, the outlet pipe, the aquastat (senses temp and controls damper motor) and the temp/pressure gage.


The next one is the air inlet, that has the motorized damper controlled by the aquastat (default when power off is to close but can be manually operated).


This one is a repeat of the first at a different angle showing the temp/pressure gage and the aquastat with wire to the damper.  The white 'box' in front is a digital thermometer that relays to the 'base' by my bed so I can tell when/if the fire is going out or something got hung up and the water is getting cool. It is very handy and saves a trip to the basement to check the fire.  :)  In the 30 years, I've replaced on damper motor. Might be time to have another one on hand  :)

south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

Coon

Thank you.  Very much appreciated and have a very good picture in my mind (or what is supposed to be my mind) towards how I am going to build my heater.  I think that I will keep my drafts all manual but will try to get a digital thermometer like that with a base so that I can read my temperatures from inside the house.
Norwood Lumbermate 2000 w/Kohler,
Husqvarna, Stihl and, Jonsereds Saws

Robert R

I saw the title of this thread and I thought, "What, he doesn't even know me!" 

For the record, I bought a factory boiler job--the Hardy.  If I were doing it again--well, I'd buy another one only because it would probably cost me more in tools to get what I would need to build the system than buy one.  But I did save by digging my own trenches and laying the pipe myself so hopefully that makes me el cheapo too!! It is the only way to be, as far as I am concerned cheap=smart.
chaplain robert
little farm/BIG GOD

wiam

Quartlow,  looking good.  Tarm has a thermostat/damper on their wood boilers that uses no electricity.  This always looked like a good system to me.  There is a themostat that is threaded into the water jacket with a chain to the damper on the ashpit door.

beenthere,  what is the temp range on the remote thermometer? I have considered that but have not seen one that will go to 185 degrees.

Will


twoodward15

A furnace service call costs about $70 here!! :D
108 ARW   NKAWTG...N      Jersey Thunder

SwampDonkey

$60/hr here. There even getting like mechanics and adding 'Consumables' to the bill such as that paper towel he blew his nose with.  ::)
"No amount of belief makes something a fact." James Randi

1 Thessalonians 5:21

2020 Polaris Ranger 570 to forward firewood, Husqvarna 555 XT Pro, Stihl FS560 clearing saw and continuously thinning my ground, on the side. Grow them trees. (((o)))

beenthere

Quote from: wiam on November 13, 2005, 06:58:43 AMbeenthere,  what is the temp range on the remote thermometer? I have considered that but have not seen one that will go to 185 degrees.

Range is up to 140°  stated on the box.  When my water temp is up to 180°, and with this thermometer just resting on the outer surface of the tank, it registers 115°. I know the water temp is above that, but suspect there is enough air movement to be cooler at the thermometer. At first, I thought I would set it 'away' from the surface, and found out I could lay it directly on and not have it too hot. Has worked well for a year or more. If I see the temp is down to 90°, I figure its time to throw a stick in or just let it go out, depending on the 'weather' and the time.  :)  Mine are the Radio Shack variety.
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

JimBuis

Quartlow,

I know you are not asking for advice on fixing your existing furnace, but..................the symptoms  are fixable.  Either the blower control settings are incorrect or the blower is running on too high a speed.  Sometimes people think that the blower moving more air is better.  However, the blower often has three speeds, high speed being reserved for A/C and low or medium being reserved for heating.  If the speed is set for high during heating, the furnace will short cycle just as you have described.  The blower control settings can easily be changed as well.

If you want to know more about this stuff so you can fix your existing furnace, send me an email, jbuis@caj.or.jp
Jim Buis                             Peterson 10" WPF swingmill

Quartlow

Jim, your right I didn't ask for your advice!! 
:D :D
Just kidding. actually slowing the fan down was one of the first things I did, It did reduce the short cycle to the above conditions. It was worse.

Personaly I don't think 70,000 btu,s is enough heat for a trailer. Of course I could be wrong, i  was wrong once, it could happen again. My biggest goal is to reduce the profane consumption to nil, only haveing it kick in if we are away for a couple days. Right now the furnace is out in the hall way  ;D after I get it back in and running I'll drop you a line. I would like to see it running better than it is.
Breezewood 24 inch mill
Have a wooderful day!!

Furby

Was the whole burner igniting when it was running?
My old one would short cycle and still put out some heat, but only a small flame and it ran non stop. Cost some big bucks in gas bills before I figgered it out.  ::)

OneWithWood

Nice job on the fabrication.  I see you have your Taco pump mounted in the proper position.  I recently learned that my interpretation of the mounting instructions was exactly 90° out of kilter!  :D
Let us know how it all works out.
One With Wood
LT40HDG25, Woodmizer DH4000 Kiln

Ed

Quartlow,
Looks Good!

You might want to look into adding a bladder to keep the pressure constant. Our Heatmore outdoor stove uses a small innertube that is plumbed into the water jacket, it keeps the pressure constant & provides a small ammount of "make-up" water. It also has a pressure relief valve.

Ed

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