I'm building a homemade boiler

Thanks for all the compliments everyone.

I got my trench backfilled today after work. I leveled out my area where my pad is going tomorrow morning I'm going to start forming to get ready for concrete.

Concrete forms are up, hopefully tomorrow I can get the crete on the ground after work. That will be one more big part done.

Today after work I got my concrete poured. Tomorrow I'll pull the forms off and maybe get going back on the finish work of the boiler.





We had to put my son's boot prints in the pad.

So progress has slowed a little the past few days. Another project came up that has taken priority. But I do have my shed siding on order, it should be in next week. And the roof frame pieces made at work.

I have a question on my shed build though. What problems will I face if I don't insulate the inside of my shed? My budget is getting streched pretty thin on my install and the spray foam that I wanted will pretty much kill it the rest of the way.

So, if my boiler itself is fully insulated, R15 front and back R30 top, bottom, and sides, will I need to insulate the shed this winter or can it wait?

That's what I was assuming I just thought I'd ask to make sure. Thank you.

My other project is done so now I can work on this project again. This morning I put a second coat of paint on the boiler and doors. And started wiring my control box. I'll get pics of the boiler when it's back together.

This box will be mounted in the back of the boiler shed. I wish I would have picked up a bigger box for my controls. This one will do but it's filling up fast. I still have a few things to wire in here yet but here's how it looks right now.



This switch is in unison with my float switch in the water jacket. If the float switch reads "low water" it will shut off my fan and my circulater pump so it doesn't start sucking air into the lines.



Here's my other control box. This one will be mounted in the front of the shed. The indicator lights are green for "good water level", and red for "low water/system off". The switch is to bypass the aquastat control on the blower fan when loading wood.

I've started putting things back together. The 3 clean out doors are on, valves put in place, blower fan mounted, sensor well installed, float switch installed, and the shed frame is going home with me today from work.

I picked up my shed siding the other day. So hopefully this weekend I can start putting that on.



I also tossed in my ash pan and my fire grate.

I haven't been taking many pics lately but things are getting done. I've got some more wiring done, almost ready to pour my refractory in the fire box, i'm hoping to get the shed siding on this weekend. Then I will get the shed insulation sprayed in. The shed doors are painted to match siding.

Just a few pics of progress.

The front insulation retainer.



The rear retainer didn't turn out quite as nice as I'd hoped but it's holding the stuff on there. I had interference issues with the valves so I had to change things up.



Shed door paint job.

The shed frame is on the pad and anchored down. Should be doing siding tomorrow morning. I have also started building my chimney flashing back at work.





The chimney flashing. I rolled a piece of aluminum into a cylinder then welded the seam. I need to weld on the mounting plate for the cylinder yet. The chimney will pass through the cylinder out the roof. I have also rolled the stainless pieces into collars for the rain cover over the aluminum cylinder. I will weld tabs on the stainless pieces to bolt them tight to the chimney sections.

Progress on the shed siding. I still need to do the other side of the roof where my access opening and chimney flashing will go, and the trim pieces around the corners. Hoping to get the spray foam done this weekend, fingers crossed.

Chimney flashing parts. I still need to make my plate for the aluminum cylinder which will screw down to the roof. Then the "cone" collar will be the weather cap over the aluminum cylinder. The other collar will be for support cables if I decide to go up higher with the chimney.

I've kinda shot Halloween in the butt. I don't think it's doable with the amount left. Once I get the shed foamed and boiler in it things will pick up but I still have alot left.

Spray foaming was cheaper to pay someone else for it. Somebody local does it so I called them and got a pretty good price.

Had my buddy come over with the skid loader to set the boiler in the shed. It fit but it's tight. I will need to get the roof done the rest of the way and get the chimney flashing and access panel done before I can foam the inside. Then off comes the front wall, again, and out the goes the boiler for room to foam the shed walls.

So quick question here. My boiler is sitting in the shed, shed is not insulated yet, boiler has insulation on front and back but not sides or top. I have 1 piece of 3 feet long class A chimney on the boiler with a bucket on top of it. Is it possible that condensation is building up inside the chimney section just from temperature changes from night to day? There was some water in my HX right under the chimney.

How do I prevent this from happening in the of shut down months through summer? Will getting everything insulated properly help out?

As of now my setup doesn't have any remote read outs. To see what's going on I will have to open the shed door and check my aquastat. I plan in the future to run some remote sensors into my garage so I don't always have to open the back door of the boiler shed to check temps of things. I believe any remote readings that are added to any boiler system (especially homemade) are up to whatever the owner wants.