first post. my water boiler build

[avarageerod]

I've gotten a lot of great ideas from this site, so I thought I would post up my OWB build.

So I acquired this old air compressor and thought it would be a good candidate for a OWB

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First I needed to get it off my trailer since I used it often. I put it on this old farm trailer I have to keep it mobile and out of the garage while I worked on it.

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Step one was to cut the end off

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Since the trailer was kind of large to be in and out of the garage often and I found it hard to work on the trailer, I found a boat trailer for free and repurposed it. It doesn't look great, but it works.

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So that is where I am currently at. I have a 60 gallon air compressor tank I'm going to use as a fire box. Hopefully I will have more pictures soon. I am open for comments and suggestions since I really have no idea what I'm doing, I'm just guessing my way through this

 

[ovendoctor]

this looks like its gona be a lot of fun
nice control cabinet on it too

Doc.

 

[arbutus]

I'm new to wood boilers as well.

There are some good build threads here.

Research how a Garn works.
Search for the build and picture threads by Allan.

 

[Hobartian]

I don't want to spoil your fun but I think you are heading in the wrong direction if you are considering using the sixty gallon tank for a firebox. I would suggest you read the report of Professor Richard C. Hill on how to build a stick fired wood boiler. The primary burn chamber needs to be relatively small, highly insulated and have a forced air draft with high turbulence and most importantly of all not be in close thermal contact with the water you are trying to heat.

This is the link for the report:
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My working unit can be viewed on this site.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-on-the-design-by-richard-c-hill.68593/page-5

It is better to thoroughly research your design before starting to build otherwise you will be wasting your time and money.

Best of luck

 

[avarageerod]

I don't want to spoil your fun but I think you are heading in the wrong direction if you are considering using the sixty gallon tank for a firebox. I would suggest you read the report of Professor Richard C. Hill on how to build a stick fired wood boiler. The primary burn chamber needs to be relatively small, highly insulated and have a forced air draft with high turbulence and most importantly of all not be in close thermal contact with the water you are trying to heat.

This is the link for the report:
(broken link removed to http://hotandcold.tv/wood%20furnace.html)

My working unit can be viewed on this site.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads...-on-the-design-by-richard-c-hill.68593/page-5

It is better to thoroughly research your design before starting to build otherwise you will be wasting your time and money.

Best of luck

that is a great read from Professor Richard C. Hill. I haven't seen that before. Thank you for posting. As much as I would like to build something more efficient than a tank in a tank boiler (more of a water stove than boiler) my plans for this unit are short term. so far I have $0 in it, and don't plan on having much more than that when finished. I would much prefer a fire tube unit, but the funds are not there for it right now. my plans are to complete this tank in a tank water stove, use it for a few years, and replace it with either a more efficient home built unit or a Portage and Main unit.

 

[avarageerod]

so I got a little work done today, not much but it's progress

I cut the top off cleanly incase I want to use it as the door. I am glad I did, I think I'll use it as the fire door. I can insulate easily it to keep it from warping and it will leave me with the full size of the tank as a fire box.

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I didn't take as good of a picture of the 60 gallon tank as I should have. There are two 2" holes on the now bottom of the tank. I think I will face those down on the c-channel. Those will be for my forced air to come in through the bottom. The c-channel runs to the back of the tank to cover both 2" holes. The angle is just laying in there. I think that would be a good diffuser for the air without having to make a ash pan since I don't really have room.

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[avarageerod]

so I got some more work done on my tanks.
I welded the ends onto my C-channel, then welded the channel to the tank

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the tank is upside down right now, but this will be where the air is forced in the tank. I welded a pipe nipple to a piece of flat and then threaded the c-channel so I can remove it when needed

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here is a close up of my cover pass. I hope it holds since it will be on the water side

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I found this 1/4" angle at the scrap yard. I think it will work great as a diffuser

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[WireNut]

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For a second, I thought you had the bucket balancing on your dog's head.