Homemade Camp Stove

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Okay,.. the actual size of the tank part of the stove is 16.5" diameter and 21" deep. We now have a vent cut under the door which is 1.5"x5". I still have to set up the actual sliding door for it. ( The funny part is that part of the vent opening was cut out with a grinder,.. and the small uprights were "torched out" which obviously heated the metal up. The stove stayed warm from the torch action for almost an hour. LOL )

I'll try to post another pic this weekend.
 
Pat10 said:
madrone said:
ColdHunter said:
Regarding the brazing,.. it was brazed with brass and the melting point is 1660 F. That doesn't solve the pipe issue however.

True, but any metal can fail at temperatures below the melting point. I don't know exactly what that would be for brazing, but I know that it's much lower than steel. I really don't think it's likely to be an issue, but if there ever was a project worth over-engineering it's a box full of fire.
not necessarily so with a non-epa stove which has no uncontrollable secondary air intake

unless your brazed joint becomes an uncontrollable secondary intake.
 
weld that sucker and you can forget about it forever. My buddy has a camp stove with the vents on the bottom got some kind of screen over it. Ive had old stoves with the intake on bottom with no screen ive never had or seen a problem. Werent all the old stoves bucks and such air intake on the bottom.
 
My oldest (13 yr old) is still nervous to shoot a rifle. Pretty sure next year is her year.

I will be shopping for the right size piece of pipe to replace the starter I have on it. I have time. I will have fired this thing up at least two dozen times before I even bring it up to my camp. Don't be overly concerned about the brazing gentlemen. I will make sure the unit is safe. I have to have faith in it for not only myself, but my wife and kids too.

I also called a glass supplier around the corner and found out he could cut me a piece of the glass that I could cut into the door. (Yes, it is the right glass and I would make sure it is installed correctly). It would be neat to see whats going on inside the stove, which I can't do at the moment.

It's been a fun project and I will probably be "tweaking" this thing all year long and adding stuff to it and making changes, (much to my wife's dismay, LOL).

I will post an updated picture in the next day or so.
 
It will be difficult to see much through that glass unless you fabricate an airwash system for it, and that's when you're nearing the "uncontrollable secondary air supply" issue previously postulated in this thread.
 
If i remember he said that the air is coming in through the door. No reason he couldn't put a "shield" on the inside of the door to help direct some of that air over the glass perhaps?

(We'll have him building a baffle and 2ndary burn tubes in this thing before next winter yet! :) )

pen
 
pen said:
(We'll have him building a baffle and 2ndary burn tubes in this thing before next winter yet! :) )


That was going to be my very first reply to this thread, but I wanted to know the thickness of the steel before telling him to skyrocket the temps. The steel sounds like it's probably thick enough, but for a home job I would want it to be thicker to err on the side of caution and longevity.


Now, if he was going to fab/install a round skamol liner to the interior of this thing, I'd be totally behind it. He could also break out the mortar and stones and add some thermal mass..... :coolgrin:
 
Pat10 said:
pen said:
If i remember he said that the air is coming in through the door. No reason he couldn't put a "shield" on the inside of the door to help direct some of that air over the glass perhaps?

(We'll have him building a baffle and 2ndary burn tubes in this thing before next winter yet! :) )

pen
the air coming in from wherever wants to go to the flame due to buoyancy factors. with epa stove the Airwash air comes in from over glass & in spite of the chimney draft being proximal it dives down across the glass & results as the airwash as it flows to the flame. THIS IS TOTALLY DUE TO THE BUOYANCY FORCES


Airwash air comes from above. Primary usually comes in from the front bottom doghouse.
 
Wow,.... for me, you guys started talking greek 6 posts back. LOL. Once again, the vent I cut is about 1 inch below the door. If I put a small 6x6 glass in the door, wouldn't the natural intake flow of the air help keep the smoke a little off the glass for me to see inside? And keep in mind, at the peak of winter and hunting season, this thing might only be fired up two or three times a weekend. There is electricity,.. this will be for enjoyment and additional heat for convenience and when/ if necessary. (Unless I REALLY get to enjoying it and see it does a better job anyway. :) )
 
ColdHunter said:
Wow,.... for me, you guys started talking greek 6 posts back. LOL. Once again, the vent I cut is about 1 inch below the door. If I put a small 6x6 glass in the door, wouldn't the natural intake flow of the air help keep the smoke a little off the glass for me to see inside? And keep in mind, at the peak of winter and hunting season, this thing might only be fired up two or three times a weekend. There is electricity,.. this will be for enjoyment and additional heat for convenience and when/ if necessary. (Unless I REALLY get to enjoying it and see it does a better job anyway. :) )

absolutely, you'll just most likely have to clean the glass more often, that's all.

pen
 
Okay,

I brought it out in the sun and took some more pics. I stuck a cup on it in one to give you guys a better idea of the size. I put a handful of kingsford charcoal bricks in it and lit it up. 5 minutes later you couldn't leave your hand on the top plate. 30 minutes later, the latch was still cool to the touch. The face of the stove remains considerable cooler than the sides and the top. Thats actually a relief. You will notice the grating that I spoke of in my previous post. One hour later, the bottom of the tank was still cool to the touch, (very weird). I also noticed that the charcoal was making almost no smoke whatsoever. I was trying to watch the flow, so I had to add leaves just to make some smoke to see. I hope to make the door for the vent this weekend.
 

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After tinkering with my stove for a good deal this weekend, I found my next "dilemma". When I had it piled full of wood and a lot of smoke in the works,.. two small trickles of smoke emanated from the top corners of the door. Not a lot mind you,.. but enough to be a nuisance in an enclosed area. I think that the only issue is obtaining a better seal for the door. Since it is simply metal on metal right now, I'm sure it can be accomplished. I read this morning about a product called ceramic rope by "Cal Seal". They make it in all sizes, and the 3mm looks like it would achieve the seal I need. Everything I've read indicated it would work in this situation. Any thoughts?
 
I'd say the smoke was pouring out mostly because you have no chimney connected to the stove, and therefore no real draft.

I bet your door will be fine with an appropriate chimney on there which will pull the air through the unit. Right now, the smoke is fighting for a way out and air fighting for a way in.

pen
 
If the stove was drafting properly smoke wouldn't come from the door even when it is open. So a seal, while it may make a burn more controllable by making all air entering the stove come in through the air adjustment, it is not meant to keep smoke out.

pen
 
i had a homemade stove very similar using a 6 inch pipew/flue damper it was made from a heavy duty hot water tank with 1/4 plate face ,looked identical to yours.ate wood like candy with its limited control slide intake also it was hard to get wood going hot from a dead start because initial air needs introduced below the fire not at the same level, a grate helps some but for me i often found myself watching over it like a mischievous toddler and spent more time messing around with arranging and loading the wood than actually doing what i came out i n the shop to do, so i gave it away to a friend and got myself a Englander nc-13 epa unit on clearance (300 bucks)at lowes . way safer ,better control , half the wood use , twice the heat , along with twice the burntimes per charge .
 
I had also thought of water heaters when I first decided to pursue this. I just happened upon this water tank while I was a guest on another hunting lease. It was sitting atop a trash pile calling my name. LOL.

The only way I could get the air intake lower is if I installed it in the bottom. And actually, there is a 1 1/2" inlet underneath the front that did have me considering that. But I decided against it. I have a plug in it and prefer to think of it as a cleanout.

The dead start has been no issue whatsover. I had picked up a bag of kingsford charcoal a few weeks ago when I started testing it. With only 5 or 6 pieces, I can have it blazing in 15 minutes. The charcoal actually burns much cleaner than I expected, but I don't plan on relying on charcoal.

So far, this project has only cost me around 20 dollars, (and that includes the first bag of charcoal). Once I buy the remainder of the pipe, attachments to go through the roof, and fireboard to protect the walls and floor, I don't think I'll have more than $120 invested. I don't think that's too bad for a first timer wanting backup heat for an 8'X20' office trailer.

(and for those keeping up, the piece of glass I priced out (5x5) was $36, seems a bit steep. I can add that anytime, so I'll wait on that and see how the project turns out first).
 
ColdHunter said:
(and for those keeping up, the piece of glass I priced out (5x5) was $36, seems a bit steep. I can add that anytime, so I'll wait on that and see how the project turns out first).


You got neoceram/pyroceram, and not something like pyrex I hope?
 
I don't remember,.. I think they said it was Pyrex. Regardless, I'm going to put off getting that for now anyway. But, could you tell me why there should be a preference?
 
I don't think Pyrex is safe to use at the temps reached by a wood firing unit. Neoceram and Pyroceram are actually clear ceramics with a near 0 thermal expansion, meaning that even at 800 degrees, a glass full of cold water can be thrown onto the glass and it will not crack. Pyrex is great for appications such as baking pans where they aren't going to reach anything higher than 500 degrees, but I definitely wouldn't rely on it to keep a fire in a box around my family. I'm not quite sure on the pricing of the ceramic glass, but at $36 for a 5 x 5, I definitely wouldn't spend the money if it were regular pyrex. Stick a 10 dollar 8x8 glass baking pan in there for the same amount of protection.

http://www.onedayglass.com/neoceram.php

http://www.onedayglass.com/pyroceram.php
 
Well,... I finally made the air vent. I ended up having to use welding rods as spacers. The welding rods were tacked on to act like the guides, then I welded the flat bar in place and filled in the gaps. I then welded a nice big bolt on the sliding door to give me something to grip. The door slides good and is nice and snug.

I'll buy some more pipe this week so I can dispel the venting issue next.

It's getting there. Slowly but surely.
 

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cool to see your progress. keep the updates coming.
 
Burned it again this evening. I haven't bought the additional pipe yet, but wanted to see just what the vent would do. I didn't notice much smoke from the door corners, but did get a down draft or two with that short pipe.
 
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