Outdoor Wood Furnace Info

Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Home Made => Topic started by: petemoss on December 28, 2011, 08:34:02 PM

Title: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss 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.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: Bull on December 29, 2011, 04:00:41 AM
Welcome to the site Petemoss, nice looking furnace
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 29, 2011, 06:28:39 AM
Thanks bull !
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: vpd66 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? 
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss 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
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: BoilerHouse on December 29, 2011, 01:08:56 PM
Wow, very impressive.  Do you have other pictures as it was being built?
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 29, 2011, 01:13:23 PM
i have alot of pics, i'll have to look for um!
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: vpd66 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.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss 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.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 30, 2011, 01:53:26 AM
 More Pics
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: mikenc 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.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss 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?
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: mikenc 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!!!
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: BoilerHouse 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.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 30, 2011, 05:32:15 PM
Thanks boilerhouse , it's just a poomans water heater.               ;)
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: martyinmi on December 30, 2011, 06:01:24 PM
petemoss,
   Your build looks incredible. I had to stare at the pictures for a while before I figured out how it works. Awesome job. The motor on the front is a draft inducer of some sort,right? I've never seen any schematics or cut-outs pertaining to how the European style boilers actually function. Your design looks to be an easy one to perform periodic maintenance on. Can you sense the jealousy in my words? Did you make the nozzle yourself or is it a purchased, pre-cast one?
   Once again, great job. I think I can speak foe everyone here when I say "you done good" :thumbup:

   Marty 
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 30, 2011, 09:08:19 PM
Yes martyinmi the motor actually creates a negative draft in the fire chamber. the air is drawn from outside the building, through the boiler to the front coller were it travels counterclockwise around the air coller to the secondary air inlet [top] then to the primary air inlet [bottom] as the air tavels around the coller it gets super heated before it enters the firebox, makes for good combustion. from there it is pulled through the first 4 passes of the heat exchanger pipe and it is pushed out the last pass exhaust straight out the building, no need for a vertical flue. the nozzle was bought online precast, works good. a person could build that out of fire brick, which i thought about but they are expensive also. it is very easy maintinence, but i need to make some kind of flexible type brush to follow the pipes vertical to clean them. i've only been able to clean the horizontal pipes thus far, so i know i'm losing performance there plus my exhaust temps will go down and i will gain heat transfer. don't seem to matter what kind of wood i burn, it all burns hot. best wood burner i ever built, and i've built my share . Thanks for the compliments and the interest.

                 Larry     
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 30, 2011, 09:27:59 PM
Few more pics      :pic:
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: vpd66 on December 31, 2011, 11:09:03 AM
Larry, Thanks again for answering my questions and good job again on the boiler! I was wondering is there a tube or channel for secondary air to enter the secondary chamber, or does all the air just enter the firebox at the top and bottom of the door opening? Do you have any pictures of the draft induction fan? You said you used a spa pump motor, did you make the fan wheel? After thinking about it and running the numbers, your boiler is kind of small (for this type of boiler). I estimate it holds about 850-865 gallons of water. Explains why you went with an extra 500 gallons of storage.
Vince
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 31, 2011, 01:11:48 PM
Vince  the blower wheel can be found online, if you look at the first pic in the first post you will see where the air enters the firebox. I don't know where you are located, but if you can estimate the amount of water capacity from there i would say you are good to go. this is something i built from parts i had laying around the farm, old fuel tank,2 old propane tanks, 4" pipe some old i beams for legs, part of an old hay rake wheel on the door the front of the door is actually an old disc blade, a 1" bolt to hold the door shut, some 1" iron for the door hinge. i actually angled the I beams 45* on each end and cut slots in them to hook a chain to so you can move it around if i wanted to i could hook to my tractor and pull it down the road, built like a tank, and yes the 500 gal is for extra storage, it just prolongs having to build a fire. if you could store enough water to last all year you'd only need one fire per year! storage+efficient burn is key.                 :bash: 

                   Larry
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: vpd66 on December 31, 2011, 04:45:32 PM
Larry, thanks again! I understand that you built it with what you had laying around. It isn't hard to figure out what the water volume of your boiler is because you listed your tank size , fire box size, and the size and length of flue tubing you used. I'm beginning to think that there isn't that much magic to these style boilers and its just a matter of getting a hot clean burning fire and routing the exhaust through a large volume of water to extract the heat off it.
Vince
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 31, 2011, 04:57:32 PM
yes they work good and are very simple. two moving parts, the door & the motor.

             Larry


                                                                    :pic:




                                                                               
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: Bill G on December 31, 2011, 08:07:44 PM
Pete,

     You sure know how to get somebody motivated!  I sure do miss my toolmaking days, but....maybe someday soon, I'd like to take on a project like that!  Nice work and thanks for your time in posting pics and such!  Great use of your talents! 
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on December 31, 2011, 08:40:39 PM
Thanks Bill, Glad to help. i see your runing a p&m, thats top of the line right there. happy burning & stay warm !

                  Larry           ;)
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: Scott7m on January 05, 2012, 03:25:11 PM
How hot do you let the boiler get?  Pressurized?
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on January 05, 2012, 08:23:34 PM
I normally shoot for 200* or higher, it is an open system, unpressurized, I just used the vertical 500 gal tank as an expansion also. the boiler is always completly full that way. I just pull hot from top of storage, and return to bottom of boiler.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: rosewood on January 05, 2012, 08:31:57 PM
wow thats one of nicest homemades i have seen in a while! love to see the mass water storage,1200gals over here and wish i made it larger.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: Scott7m on January 05, 2012, 08:41:52 PM
Ive tried and tried to be a dealer for Garn, can't seem to get anyone up there to take interest in much.  Which is what I've heard from lots of people.  But if I had the material rounded up I would love to make a boiler like that with 3-4k gallons of storage.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on January 05, 2012, 08:43:53 PM
Thanks rosewood, I'm like you i like mass storage. I've already built another one alot bigger in my head. one of these days i'll need another project. my son wants a bigger one so that will be next. are there any pics on here of yours ?
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on January 05, 2012, 08:50:05 PM
Scott7m, the next one i build will be all new material, prolly 3-4-5 k gallons. no doubt they would sell. they're just so simple & work great.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: Scott7m on January 06, 2012, 09:34:02 AM
Scott7m, the next one i build will be all new material, prolly 3-4-5 k gallons. no doubt they would sell. they're just so simple & work great.

In may decide to build one of those, I'll probably need some parts numbers and locations of where you found certain things. 

I guess As far as all the steel I'll just buy new or round up stuff. 
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: rosewood on January 12, 2012, 07:46:55 PM
Thanks rosewood, I'm like you i like mass storage. I've already built another one alot bigger in my head. one of these days i'll need another project. my son wants a bigger one so that will be next. are there any pics on here of yours ?
 i had pics on here a while back ,but when the site was redone everyones pics got left behind.i do have a picture file and will ask the ol lady how to put it on photo bucket or something.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: NFR on February 17, 2012, 03:34:23 PM
petemoss,  That looks awesome.  I built one just like that.  My next one that I build is going to be for my cousin.  It is a lp tank off a delivery truck.  I am going to build it and keep it pressurized
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on February 17, 2012, 08:37:29 PM
Thanks NFR, that propane tank should work out real good. any idea how many gal. that would be ? I'd like to build one around 10,000 gal. have any pics of yours ?     :thumbup:
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: rogeroverout621 on April 03, 2012, 01:18:15 PM
Petemoss,

Nice project!  I am very interested in building something similar but don't quite understand the Garn process of adding heated air to the fire box and/or secondary chamber to achieve gasification.  Could you (or anyone else) help me out with that?

Any chance of getting picture of the nozzle for your stove?

Thanks for your time
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: jackel440 on April 29, 2012, 07:05:31 PM
Petemoss,
   Very nice unit!I love the large amount water storage as that is the key to this whole heating operaton.
I am going to have to go back and recheck this thread when i got more time.again awesome work :thumbup:
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: jthornton on March 01, 2013, 04:46:14 AM
That is an impressive build for sure. Thanks for linking me to the thread.

Is there a connector pipe between the two lower pipes near the front? The rest makes sense but I can't see that in any of the photos.

Thanks
John
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on March 01, 2013, 07:08:13 AM
Yes there is a tee about 10" back that connects the two pipes.
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: jthornton on March 01, 2013, 11:06:45 AM
Thanks for the photo, that makes complete sense to me now.

John
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: WoodMOJoe on March 02, 2013, 06:28:50 AM
Great job Larry, nice to see some good ol' Show-Me State ingenuity here on the forum.   8)

I am located near Mt. Vernon, got a 100 acres with more than my share of hedge on it, if you run low.   

You got to take the thorny black locust too though.   >:D
Title: Re: My homemade boiler
Post by: petemoss on March 02, 2013, 07:04:45 AM
Great job Larry, nice to see some good ol' Show-Me State ingenuity here on the forum.   8)

I am located near Mt. Vernon, got a 100 acres with more than my share of hedge on it, if you run low.   

You got to take the thorny black locust too though.   >:D
       
   Thanks WoodMOJoe , This hedge is some fine firewood for sure. But that thorny locust is a mess around here.