Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
Outdoor Furnaces - Manufacturers with NON EPA-Certified Models Only => Home Made => Topic started by: Jd79 on March 20, 2014, 11:13:06 AM
-
Anybody have any drawings of how they built their door? Been thinking about this a lot lately. Can't decide if I want the blower mounted on the door, or if I want to torch out an opening and pipe the air in under the door to prevent the fan from being exposed to heat. Pictures, drawings or suggestions on how-to are appreciated. I already have the pipe if I decide to locate the fan in a box away from the door, so that is a possibility and is the direction I am leaning in. Thanks!
-
Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, check out several commercial units, find one that you like, then check if their is any complaints about the design on this site and others, then use that for yours.
-
I purchased a door from a company that builds OWB's. I just felt that it was worth paying for the easier and faster way to go for my first build. It also had the blower built into the door so that solved dealing with that. Now that I have a good pattern I would just copy it.
As mlappin said look at a bunch of commercial units and copy them. Take lots of pics and it shouldn't be too hard.
When I was considering building my own I was going to use my cut out for the door opening and weld it to about a 1 1/2x 1 1/2 x 1/4 frame for the door itself. I was having trouble with wanting to deal with the hinges and latch system so I bought one though.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3725/12136522255_086d0fc8fa_c.jpg)
-
Thanks. I will be attempting to come up with a design over the next few weeks based off of a few pictures I have.
-
If I were doing another build for myself I think I would remote mount my blower and run a couple of 2" pipes into the fire box a few inches below the door opening. I would run the pipes in about 4-5" and cut the ends on about a 35-40 degree angle with the long point towards the back of firebox and slightly down to get air flowing back and out to the sides some.
The only thing I am not sure about is how to keep the door from warping. I am not sure if this is the best way but I would like to see.
Here's a couple more pics of the door hinge and latch that mine has. Pretty simple really just heavy angle welded to the door frame on the hinge side with 1/2" bolts and double nuts holding the hinges. the double nuts allow you to adjust the hinge side in or out for best seal.
On the latch side a couple of square u bolts act as catches for the closer tabs. The u bolts adjust in and out for sealing.
The one thing I found out when I built my little ash door(which I'm not using anyway) is not to make the actual door too small. I just made it slightly larger than the door frame and when mounted to the hinges I made it had trouble clearing the edge of the door frame while swinging open or closed. I had to grind a bevel on the door frame and take some material off the edge of the little door.
The ash door you can see in the pic in my other post, these pics are a friends unit but the same door.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3796/13492321005_1e8e148afe_c.jpg)
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3733/13492439423_fdbcd18a99_c.jpg)
-
I appreciate the pics and advice. I built the door, but I too am having trouble with the door overlap on the hinge edge hitting the door frame when trying to open. I will be trimming down the flange now that I have my rope gasket (just got it yesterday) and as soon as I get another day off work I will be re-configuring the hinges so that the door will open freely. Does your door have insulation in it, or just a baffle that directs the air to flow through to cool door when the fan is on? I can't decide if I want to try to put the fan on the door or if I should just run it underneath the door through a 3" pipe I have. If I do that, I will just use firebrick to insulate the door with an expanded metal tacked over it to hold the firebricks in place and mount the fan underneath the boiler with a pipe running up from its enclosure.
-
Skorpyd the metal work looks great