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[whlpny]

Well I have made it through building my own owb and have been running it for 5 days now and just can't believe how well it is working to start out with. I was wanting to purchase a Shaver, but after thinking about it, and researching- I realized that I could build my own way cheaper. I decided to copy thier unit basically. I didn't know at the time that they had issues with them or I had probably changed my mind. But I guess in the end i am so happy right now to see it work I may have made the right decisions- time will tell. I used a 36 in diameter air tank cut in half to 45 in long- has a 1/4 wall. I used .120 for the outer jacket- all mild steel on the unit. I wanted to use 1/4 but the cost factor held me back. I had 2 sheets broke and welded them into the box so it saved me 2  4ft long welds. I did weld everything inside and out with the exception of the front panel which I installed last and could only do the outside. Total capacity 203 gallons. I ended up using a 75 cfm dayton blower- turned so the fan inlet pointed to the ground. I jb-welded a dryer vent onto pVC then to the fan housing. I drilled 5- 3/16" holes above the vent in the pvc adapter to use for draft while in idle mode. I figured I could adjust by putting a #10 screw in them and plugging if needed. Inside I ran my hot "out" lines into the bottom and all the way up front staying about 3 inches off the bottom and about 12 inches from the front. The returns dump in at the top in rear. I am pulling the water out of lower left front corner and dumping back in top right rear corner. I used a Grundfos 3 spd pump at the outlet on the tank. Ended up with a Ranco controller with the sensor going into a well in the top center of unit. My lines are buried closer to 5ft deep- wrapped in the foam pipe wrap and placed in 4 in pvc. I have 2 sets- each run to the house- one set for house hotwater and forced air exchanger, the other will run on to my polebarn through my basement and run a future hotub and existing polebarn. I  alos used a sidearm water heater exchanger - bought one that has the roll threaded inner tube- seems to be keeping up fantastic. Thanks to you guys for your help and suggestions- I managed to find my furnace schematic and get the blower wired to rn just my exchanger and that was it- I was into business! Now- let me see if I can add pics into this post - I'll try just a couple first......http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=8524&id=100000268149132

[whlpny]

Ok guys- sorry it won't take my uploads- all my pics are on my Facebook photo album- try the hyperlink but you may have to be a friend of mine on facebook to see them- let me know if it works or not please!

Thanks, Bob

[willieG]

link worked perfect! looks good, nice job

[whlpny]

Wow- thats great thanks willie- and thanks for your help !

[whlpny]

Thankyou- yes its a great feeling! Thanks for your help also!

[rosewood]

 nice job!  the pictures look great ..really shows your skill.  love to here how its been going after a few weeks, keep us posted.

[whlpny]

Well its been a month or so of burn time now and I have to say I am very happy with the burner! It has been trouble free so far. I am getting an easy 12-14 hr burn time out of it running all different kinds of hardwoods. I also have been mixing in at least one log of pine from a pile that I need to get used up everyday. I fill up in the morning before I leave for work at about 6am and refill at nite again at 6pm. Its really fun going out to fill and seeing just what it has used for the cycle- has given me something to do for a few spare minutes in this cold crappy weather!

[koutsman]

It looks as though you did a great job building this boiler and it sounds like it is working really good also!  Do you have an idea of how much time  and expense you have in building it ?  It looks as though  you have been a corn burner in the past.  I have been that route also. I had a outdoor corn boiler, not a real good experience.
So Congradulations on a job well done!!!!
                                                                       Mike

[juddspaintballs]

Very neat.  Inspiring.

[whlpny]

Kouts- I have pretty close to $2500total investment into the set-up- thats built, and complete parts and installation. As far as time - I didn't really keep track of the hours closely but  I would say approximately 40 hrs into the build.
  Yes I have burned corn very successfully for the last 6 years - the Superior furnace has been trouble free. My only fear was the open flame in the house.  That was one reason to switch to wood outside and the other was the corn furnace wasn't able to heat my water and my polebarn.  I have nothing bad to say about that old set-up and am re-thinking keeping it as a back-up source.

[koutsman]

Whipny- You guys in the Home Made are so talented and fortunate!!! You can save yourselves alot of money, and we can learn alot from you.  I wish I was so talented.  I was hoping that I didn't step out of bounds by asking you that. I didn't really think about it until after I asked.
I had a Burns Best outdoor corn boiler and they went out of business 4 months after I bought it, so there went my warranty and my sanity. It lasted about 3 heating seasons.  I put so much money into it, it just wasn't worth it anymore. So I still had all the plumbing in place from the corn boiler so we decided to go with the wood boiler and it has been a great decision so far.   So much simpler.
I have a friend who has the Superior furnace out of Michigan, he has had it for quite some time also.  He likes it alot. It serves his purpose, but he doesn't heat his water or his shop of course.
When I bought my corn boiler you could buy corn for around 2-2.50 a bu. that wasn't so bad, but that didn't last either, so I'm happy with my decision to go to wood.

[whlpny]

Well I finally have a power bill for electricity in my hand for a full month using water heat on the hot water and it has gone from $175-$200 a month down to $87!!! Wow- what a great feeling! Now I am wondering if I could utilize a solar water heating /exchange panel on the roof of the building that houses it. I am wondering if I could drop directly down and use the boiler tank in the summer months when its not burning wood as the storage tank. Anyone have experience in this? I have been reading up and looks like most people use a solar panel going into a storage tank  with an exchanger inside it. Just wondering if I can drop into my tank and pump on into house as it does when its working with any kind of good results???

[rosewood]

 thats ironic ..i have been thinking of the same. a friend has solar water panels to heat his pool and has good results. if i could find used i will try.  thinking i would put  some valving to switch return water to solar panel then back to tank for the summer.and switch back for winter.  i dont see why it wont work i have 1200 gals of water in tank so dont think it would over heat  to a boil.  at the minimum it would decrease  the amount of times i would have to start a fire.. maybe every couple of weeks?

[willieG]

years ago a friend of mine had an 18 x 36 above ground pool that was 4 feet deep, he put a 200 foot coildof 1 1/4" black pipe on his low sloped roof and ran his pool water through it . In July he had to throttle it back and not let it all go through this pipe as it overheated his pool. He told me in July his pool got up to 120 degrees. this might be worth a try as i think it would be a lot less money than solar panels. I have read that a good solar heating system for your domestic water is exspensive?

[whlpny]

Thanks- food for thought! If anyone has time theres some good reading here -  http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/WaterHeating/water_heating.htm#1KSolarWater

Some of the ones I'm looking at are less than a couple hundred dollars to build. I think it may be worth a gamble- I have to keep on reading!