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Forced air heater Ideas

Started by Taylortractornut, November 10, 2011, 09:53:04 PM

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Taylortractornut

I heat my house with a wood burning Ashley heater and it does well.  My problem is at the moment the  2 bedrooms on the lower end of the house  dont get any heat from the heater.     Last winter I built a small forced air heater from a 30 gallon drum inside a 55 gallon drum.      I split the 55 gallon drum and  cut a hole in the center of the top end of the drum.       I wleded in the the 30 gallon drum and     put in a flue pipe through the  outside of the  55gallon drum.       I made a stand for it to get it waste level.       


On the front of the drum off to the side I put on a 3 inch  pipe for a portable ventilation blower  I found at work.   It blew in cool air from outside and along the bottom and sides of the  30 gallon drum fire box.       At the back of the 55 gallon drum I added 3 inch pipe  at the top with a metal flexible  line to the window.    In the window I made a plywood plate the size of the window ac unit that goes there in the summer.        I cut a hole in it and attached the pipe to it.    It worked fair but it acted like it wasnt putting the air in the house like i wanted.        I figured it was like blowing in a coke bottle.     


I attached a 3 inch metal flex hose from the   cool air intake on the heater air box then   ran it back to the window and to the floor of the room.       I  put the little blower there.  It made a negative pressure in the room and  take the cold air off the floor and warm it.  Then  the air wasr warmer the next time around.       It also helped that i put  some 3 inch crushed stone i nthe  bottom of the air chamber to act  as thermal mass.


Id like to make a better unit for this winter.  What Id like to do is make a bigger fire box and air box and    use a larger pipe and run it to my homes old central unit duct work.          My biggest question is  has anyone here done this.    I know its not gonna be as effecient as a boiler but  I ve got access to all the  cabinetry drops I want.


My overload permit starts after sunset

Al_Smith

Those barrel stoves especially the double 55 gallon ones put out the heat .The origin of them goes back to WW2 in the building of the AL Can highway through Alaska .Lot's of wood no stoves .The GI's had a zillion oil drums so they improvised .

Although they work great they are not approved for installation on anything but a concrete floor .I think a double unit is rated upwards of 400,000 btu's if I'm not mistaken .Unfortunately many a house has burnt to the ground using them with an improper  installation .

As far as heat to a remote bedroom a common ceiling fan will get it there if you leave the door open .

FWIW a couple years back during the worst ice storm in 40 years the power was out where I live ,all electric home .Just a wood stove and a generater .

L shaped house bedrooms on the end .The front part of the house was an easy 80 degrees the bedrooms 65 ,no problem except the Mrs got a little nippley getting out of bed in the morning .I didn't mind . ;)

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