Build a Base Burner Stove

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Fri. Mar. 14, 2014 5:58 am

franco b wrote:
LoschStoker wrote:You have a point to a certain extent, but then why do all the other MFG's make theirs a lot heavier.
Aren't they wanting to save money and transfer that heat more efficiently?
I think it depends on the feeling of the designer as to what is appropriate. These things haven't gone through the extremes of testing and material selection that would be common for a space shuttle. I would much rather have a baffle made from 1/8 stainless steel than one made from 1/4 inch mild steel. Sloping sides on a tank are more effective than thickness alone. Bridges today are probably half the weight as early ones yet much stronger.

Of course the proof of the pudding is in using it and durability testing needs time. Light weight often means inadequate and shoddy but not necessarily so and weight alone sometimes means it would make a good boat mooring. User reports over time is probably best.

Yes , but the shape of that light gauge metal becomes more critical. If you notice, the sheet metal of the "barrel stoves" that have lasted over 100 years are barrel shaped. That shape handles uneven heating much better than a flat sheet can.

And the horizontal raised beads rolled into them are not for decoration. It adds additional stiffness and stability to the shape. You could not build a stove like that with flat sheets of the same light gauge and not have it warp.

They did the same with the edges of car fenders starting in the 1920's .

Paul

ddahlgren · Post by **ddahlgren** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 1:47 pm

At some point I need to learn Solidworks for business this might be a good excuse to start cracking the books. A lot of it would be fairly simple geometric shapes so it is all the basics they use for examples to start learning to make.

On the thermal properties there is nothing in any of the math I have seen that show a difference in material thickness but as mentioned that is more about response rate. If you think of a coal stove as light once per season rather than a temporary heater in a cabin response rate is of little concern in my mind. Yes it heats faster but it also cools faster as well. The company that made them light for the control system was not trying to fool anyone as a closed loop control that gives feedback quickly is easier to settle into steady state without oscillating in long slow waves.

I have often wondered about using something like a 22 gallon drum as a starting point to build a round body stove for the vertical round section and top.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 2:49 pm

if it were me, i'd go ahead and use a 55 gal. drum as the barrel and size the bottom pieces, fire pot, grates, base etc. accordingly. the doors and frames you can probably salvage.

a full size stove won't be any harder and not much cheaper than a 22 gal. stove.

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 3:03 pm

Or, a 30 gallon oil drum.

The 30 gallon drum I use as a shop trash can, is close to the diameter of the barrel of my 118 Modern Oak. And it has the beads already rolled in.

And it may be a closer size to using off-the-shelf new triangular grate bars and frame for a 118., or other round firepot stove.

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 3:54 pm

good point on the 30, pics of stoves always look pretty big to me.

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 4:29 pm

KingCoal wrote:if it were me, i'd go ahead and use a 55 gal. drum as the barrel and size the bottom pieces, fire pot, grates, base etc. accordingly. the doors and frames you can probably salvage.

a full size stove won't be any harder and not much cheaper than a 22 gal. stove.

A 55 gal drum size would be a very powerful stove, I have no idea where you could run it.

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 4:36 pm

kind of depends on how much pot and grate you had in it , with that much surface it wouldn't have to be much.

scalabro · Post by **scalabro** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 4:49 pm

Yup, but why go through all the trouble to build one and then limit it by doing that ?

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 5:22 pm

Gekko wrote:
KingCoal wrote:if it were me, i'd go ahead and use a 55 gal. drum as the barrel and size the bottom pieces, fire pot, grates, base etc. accordingly. the doors and frames you can probably salvage.

a full size stove won't be any harder and not much cheaper than a 22 gal. stove.
A 55 gal drum size would be a very powerful stove, I have no idea where you could run it.

I posted this pic in another thread a few weeks ago. The barrel of this 7 foot high Dowagiac stove is about as close as I've seen to a full-sized 55 gal drum.

One of my brother-in-laws-to-be got it from a local church and heats his entire house with just this monster. It takes 2 foot long logs. Oh my aching back !

Paul

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 5:25 pm

KingCoal wrote:good point on the 30, pics of stoves always look pretty big to me.

After picking up the barrel, or the firepot and ash pit of my 118, . . . believe me, . . they sure can be !

Paul

dlj · Post by **dlj** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 6:51 pm

KingCoal wrote:if it were me, i'd go ahead and use a 55 gal. drum as the barrel and size the bottom pieces, fire pot, grates, base etc. accordingly. the doors and frames you can probably salvage..

Ah, a 55 gallon drum - perfect for an Alaskan wood stove! Lay it flat, put four steel pipes under it for legs, cut a square door in the font, make a simple stove pipe connection off the back and voila! Ya got a wood stove! They heat like the dickens too! We used to make them for cabins and such in remote areas years back.. You can throw one together in a few hours if you have the parts...

Heck, put some grates running the length of that baby to run coal and tend it once a week!!! You'd have to get a little fancier with your air feeds...

dj

Sunny Boy · Post by **Sunny Boy** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 7:38 pm

dlj wrote:
KingCoal wrote:if it were me, i'd go ahead and use a 55 gal. drum as the barrel and size the bottom pieces, fire pot, grates, base etc. accordingly. the doors and frames you can probably salvage..
Ah, a 55 gallon drum - perfect for an Alaskan wood stove! Lay it flat, put four steel pipes under it for legs, cut a square door in the font, make a simple stove pipe connection off the back and voila! Ya got a wood stove! They heat like the dickens too! We used to make them for cabins and such in remote areas years back.. You can throw one together in a few hours if you have the parts...

Heck, put some grates running the length of that baby to run coal and tend it once a week!!! You'd have to get a little fancier with your air feeds...

dj

If you only wanna tend it once a week - stand it up on end. Take it from one with a shallow fire box - depth, not width makes coal go the distance.

Paul

KingCoal · Post by **KingCoal** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 7:50 pm

Gekko wrote:Yup, but why go through all the trouble to build one and then limit it by doing that ?

well...............that's kind of the point of the base heater isn't it ?

if you have enough radiant surface you don't need the largest pot and grates out there.

esp.the suspended pot stoves I've seen, tend to be 15" dia. or less and more like 12 - 16" deep.

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 8:43 pm

KingCoal wrote:if you have enough radiant surface you don't need the largest pot and grates out there.

So forgetting about esthetics, why not pipe the flue gases of a standard stove through two or three baffled 55-gallon drums on their way to the chimney? Add a draft inducer if necessary. That should get all the goodness out of each pound of coal burned. Think of what neat experiments we could do if we didn't have wives providing adult supervision!

wilsons woodstoves · Post by **wilsons woodstoves** » Mon. Mar. 17, 2014 9:02 pm

how about just take a 30 gal drum put it behind a direct draft stove of any kind run the pipe in one end and out the other into the chimney. If you can strip enough heat before the chimney you don't need a base heater, but then your not getting the heat on the floor where you really need it,

Build a Base Burner Stove

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