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[mikemike]

i guess i misread the question i thought he wanted to run a copper coil in a stove without a water jacket.the only reason i answered i have played this game with my pool water running a coil over a fire  and it works great until you get the fire too hot    Copper will melt with water in it well if u have an air lock

[capitalpyro]

my question is can I build a unit with a coil in the firebox to travel 10' underground and 30' in crawl and basement to an existing oil boiler that already uses circulator pumps to 2 zones of water/air heat exchangers.  Sure this can be done. Is it as simple as one might think? I doubt it. Are you capable of doing it yourself? Only you can answer this.

I see far fewer threads and replies about 10+ years of no rust out units than the number of first and second year complete rebuilds and warranty fails.  In my opinion, whenever you read reviews or complaints on the internet you have to keep in mind that the majority of happy users/consumers of particular products will never write a review. They make a purchase, they use the product and never look back. Now take a person who buys something and they have problems or aren't happy, they go all over the place telling everyone of their dissatisfaction. This is especially true if they reached out to a company for support and got none OR the answer they get is not the one they want to hear. I know people who have several different models of furnaces and have had them for years without major trouble, they have never heard of this forum and most don't own a computer. My point is - for every leaking water jacket you read about there are probably 50 (or 1000) you never hear about because they are happy and have not sought out forums to display their dissatisfaction.

and I am in the camp that used units are for sale for a reason so,  - I would agree. The trick is finding the person who's reason is because they can no longer physically cut wood, got divorced, moved, etc.... I bought my used owf from a guy who built a new house and installed geothermal. It works great and I couldn't be happier.

Good luck to you no matter which direction you decide to go

[fryedaddy]

Check out youtube, a guy has done exactly what you are speaking of.

I could only imagine it would be very inefficent but I'm not an engineer.
Hey if you're not paying for wood??

Here's the link:
Making an Outdoor Wood Furnace with Bob - Part 2
 

[fryedaddy]

I think he had a little something in that pepsi.

Just saying

[farmboythegreat]

is he going to pour cement around it ??

[capitalpyro]

Part 3

Making an Outdoor Wood Furnace with Bob - Part 3

[Sprinter]

There's all kinds of home built versions do I think you can do it ......NO. And especially NO to the coil in firebox idea. That idea might heat a small room inconsistently but you would get some heat out of it. Too many possible problems that can go wrong with that design.

I'm not against anyone building there own at all. I'm just stating an opinion from what I have seen more often than not. Unfinished projects, or bad designs that are pushed to the side cuz they don't work like they thought it would.
I assume since he's asking about the coil idea , is because doing a barrel in barrel design is beyond his abilities.
Like I said material cost, he says he only has to buy the copper coil. Well if he plans on heating any sizable space larger than a 10x10 room, he will be spending lots on the copper. It was $600 for type K 3/4" coil from lowes. I'm sure there might be cheaper, but now he has to form it without kinks and fit it in a 80 gallon or larger sized space to get 75-100kbtu out of it plus pump and stats.
There is a Tarm MB55 160kbtu in the north Chicago area for 500.00 , now what would be the cheapest route. If he hates it he can still sell the Tarm for $500 to $1500, who will buy the home built.

I love fabricating, but in the end, rarely do I end up cheaper than buying new or used. Good luck either way

[cdie]

thanks for all the feedback guys. you are certainly helping me narrow my choices.

[cantoo]

I also considered building my own, I have enough skill to build one but putting a price to all the pieces it just wasn't feasible. I ended up buying a used one from a guy who bought it to heat a huge shop, he never ended up building the shop so I got a good deal on it. I do build tons of stuff from scratch and it very seldom ends up being cheaper than new. It's also better built and usually customized for a need that I have. I've built at least 30 trailers and currently have about 15 that we use on a regular basis in the summer. Each one serves a purpose, in my mind anyway.
 Build it if you want but building one at a time will very seldom save you money over a commercial unit or a used one, especially if you put a price on your time. Then again burning firewood is usually a losing proposition if you put a value on your time too. Sometimes it's about personal satisfaction.

[ITO]