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Author Topic: My homemade boiler  (Read 19383 times)

petemoss

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My homemade boiler
« on: December 28, 2011, 08:34:02 PM »

I built this back in february works really good all together about 1450 gal. hope the pics work.
« Last Edit: December 28, 2011, 08:40:27 PM by petemoss »
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Bull

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2011, 04:00:41 AM »

Welcome to the site Petemoss, nice looking furnace
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Southern Indiana
Just outside of the "Small Town"

petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2011, 06:28:39 AM »

Thanks bull !
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vpd66

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2011, 08:57:58 AM »

Great looking boiler! I see its a Garn syle. I've seen others have made this style boiler on other forums. my question is: how do you figure out the sizing of the fire box? The size of the secondary burn chamber? How long the exhaust passes are and how many? What type of material did you line the secondary chamber with? Like I said. I see other people have built these, but no one mentions how they firgured out what dimensions to use. Or did you just measure someones Garn? 
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petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2011, 11:35:40 AM »

Well, the way it worked out i had an old fuel tank, 4'x11' 3/16" steel so thats my tank, i had an old propane tank that was 30" dia i cut off one end and ended up with a firebox 36" long, 3/8 " thick. refractory comes from ISA inc. got two pieces 12" long and found a 10 1/2 " pipe 24" long and thats my secondary chamber. i had a whole pile of 4" sch 40 pipe and thats my exhaust. there's around 58' of 4" in the 5 pass system. the intake is 5" sch 40 12' long going to the air coller in front. 1/2 hp jet pump motor from ebay that turns 3450 rpm 10" blower wheel 3 1/2 " wide with 5" opening pulls the air through the front coller and pushes out the last pass. exhaust temp at front of unit 400-475* 150-175* outside. smokes for about 15-20 min on startup then cleans up real good no smoke. very effecient burn. runs on a timer, 3 hr burn is normal every other day. i run it up to 200-210* small learning curve on when to burn and for how long, but actually very simple. takes about 12, 24"long splits to go from say 110*- 200* in around 2 1/2 hours. 500 gal propane tank vertical beside it for storage. it's an open system, i use the top of the propane tank for expansion. two pumps one top and one bottom of storage, they run on the same timer as the boiler. when the boiler shuts of all the water is the same temp. i pull load off of the top of storage and return to bottom of boiler,there fore pushing hot water from the boiler up to storage. i have run it with the pumps unpluged and it will actualy thermo siphon. cost around 1k to build, and alot of welding.but it was enjoyable work. I'm a welder by trade, so just another project. if i were to build another it would be bigger, prolly 5-6000 gal. then no need for extra storage. 6000 gal whould run me about 4-5 days, but would prolly be a 5-6 hour burn. i have the next burn load in it now but won't lite it till tomorrow afternoon, but it will be nice and warm and lite very easy, i put a 3"x4" window in front so i can watch it burn, looks like a jet engine burning with the refractory chamber glowing red. you can open the door anytime you want and no smoke whatsoever, but dont get your hat to close it might suck it right on in. thats all for now.

                       Larry
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BoilerHouse

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2011, 01:08:56 PM »

Wow, very impressive.  Do you have other pictures as it was being built?
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petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2011, 01:13:23 PM »

i have alot of pics, i'll have to look for um!
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6401 makita
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706 ih tractor
west central mo. lots of hedge

vpd66

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #7 on: December 29, 2011, 06:52:35 PM »

Well, the way it worked out i had an old fuel tank, 4'x11' 3/16" steel so thats my tank, i had an old propane tank that was 30" dia i cut off one end and ended up with a firebox 36" long, 3/8 " thick. refractory comes from ISA inc. got two pieces 12" long and found a 10 1/2 " pipe 24" long and thats my secondary chamber. i had a whole pile of 4" sch 40 pipe and thats my exhaust. there's around 58' of 4" in the 5 pass system. the intake is 5" sch 40 12' long going to the air coller in front. 1/2 hp jet pump motor from ebay that turns 3450 rpm 10" blower wheel 3 1/2 " wide with 5" opening pulls the air through the front coller and pushes out the last pass. exhaust temp at front of unit 400-475* 150-175* outside. smokes for about 15-20 min on startup then cleans up real good no smoke. very effecient burn. runs on a timer, 3 hr burn is normal every other day. i run it up to 200-210* small learning curve on when to burn and for how long, but actually very simple. takes about 12, 24"long splits to go from say 110*- 200* in around 2 1/2 hours. 500 gal propane tank vertical beside it for storage. it's an open system, i use the top of the propane tank for expansion. two pumps one top and one bottom of storage, they run on the same timer as the boiler. when the boiler shuts of all the water is the same temp. i pull load off of the top of storage and return to bottom of boiler,there fore pushing hot water from the boiler up to storage. i have run it with the pumps unpluged and it will actualy thermo siphon. cost around 1k to build, and alot of welding.but it was enjoyable work. I'm a welder by trade, so just another project. if i were to build another it would be bigger, prolly 5-6000 gal. then no need for extra storage. 6000 gal whould run me about 4-5 days, but would prolly be a 5-6 hour burn. i have the next burn load in it now but won't lite it till tomorrow afternoon, but it will be nice and warm and lite very easy, i put a 3"x4" window in front so i can watch it burn, looks like a jet engine burning with the refractory chamber glowing red. you can open the door anytime you want and no smoke whatsoever, but dont get your hat to close it might suck it right on in. thats all for now.

                       Larry

Larry, Thanks for the details and specs of your boiler. I too, am a welder by trade and thought this would be a cool project, but without exact specs of compontants I would never attempt to build one. Did you just guess on the size of the parts and use what you had available to you? Maybe I'm just worrying too much and should just use what I have available. How many square feet are you heating with this boiler? I'd love to see more pictures of your build.
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petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2011, 01:41:56 AM »

if i were to build another it would be bigger, prolly 5-6000 gal. then no need for extra storage. 6000 gal would run me about 4-5 days, but would prolly be a 5-6 hour burn. right now only heating my shop,30x40 with 14' ceiling, no insulation, only radiant barrier, that stuffs amazing. this spring plan to run 300' of 1 1/4" pex to the house. it will be sprayed in place foam in the ditch. $4.00 ft for the foam, but it sould work good. 2400 sq ft earth contact built in 08 super insulated. easy to heat. forced air heat & flat plate for dhw. hindsite would be in floor heat house and shop. live & learn. I will never pour another slab without pex in it! more pics.
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6401 makita
new holland L783 skidsteer
1086 ih tractor
706 ih tractor
west central mo. lots of hedge

petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2011, 01:53:26 AM »

 More Pics
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mikenc

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #10 on: December 30, 2011, 06:36:13 AM »

Neat build  :thumbup:
Do you let fire go out between cycles? Or just smolder. Like the pics to. 1k not a bad investment. I use to weld but not anymore cant see to stay in grove anymore. Tried cheaters in hood not much help. Would not attempt to weld something like that anymore. Good looking job.
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petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2011, 08:25:11 AM »

Do you let fire
go out between cycles?     Yes the fire goes out. I know what you mean about that groove thing. i've done the same thing. How do you put those smileys on a post?
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6401 makita
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1086 ih tractor
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mikenc

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #12 on: December 30, 2011, 12:21:42 PM »

Just put curser where you want it and click on it .  :thumbup: It will put it in after you click on post!!!
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BoilerHouse

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #13 on: December 30, 2011, 03:44:35 PM »

Great pictures.  Thanks for taking the time to post them!  An impressive system with very impressive performance.
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petemoss

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Re: My homemade boiler
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2011, 05:32:15 PM »

Thanks boilerhouse , it's just a poomans water heater.               ;)
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009 stihl
024 stihl
029 stihl
029 super
6401 makita
new holland L783 skidsteer
1086 ih tractor
706 ih tractor
west central mo. lots of hedge
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