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Here it is, ugly welds and all. Click a picture for a larger image, then use your browsers back button to return to this page.
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stove.jpg
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Here is side view of my stove. Notice the cobbled together construction. I picked up the 30 Gal. drums for $3 each, the primary and secondary burn chambers are welded together from scrap steel and some purchased pipe and steel bits. The scrap steel cost me $7 and I've still got quite a bit left. The actuall burn chambers are contained within the 30 Gal. drums, with vermiculite insulating between the two.
Currently the whole unit is sitting on an oak platform, on 4" casters. This makes it easier to move around while things are still under construction, but makes it difficult to secure the stack.
It is easy to see that I did not fit the barrels together as well as could
be done. I've used flashing to fill the gap on the top of the left joint and good ol' duct tape on the other joints. The duct tape is not holding up well as the exterior of the barrels gets far hotter than I'd expected, and is melting the duct tape.
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Not Shown.
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The primary, air to water, heat exchanger. This has not yet been built, but it will sit on the barrel to the right in the above picture. It will consist of 240' of 1/2" ID copper tubing coiled into "pancakes" stacked one on top of the next.
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Not Shown.
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An air to air heat exchanger may be constructed and placed above the air-to-water exchanger, this would be used to pre-heat combustion air. A blower would be added to this to increase control over the combustion air supply. Ofcourse ducting would be needed to carry the preheated air into the combustion air inlets.
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Not Shown.
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A damper should be placed in the flue, above the heat exchangers to provide additional control and allow the whole thing to be shut down and prevent convection of cold air through the heat exchangers and combustion chambers, when the unit is not in use.
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1st_air.jpg
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Here's a top down view of the fuel chamber lid and primary combustion air inlet. I used 2" pipe for the inlet and an end cap to damper it. I cut notches in the pipe to allow some air in. Screwing the end cap further on decreases the amount of air allowed in, while opening it further increases the avaliable air.
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2nd_air-n-ash_clean_out_door.jpg
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Here is a view of the front of the stove. The door is hollow and filled with vermiculite for additional insulation (I think this was unnecessary, as the steel conducts heat well enough to make that a non-issue. Again, I've used a 2" ID pipe with crenelations for the air inlet, and another end cap to damper it. In this case I've found that the 2" pipe is barely adequate and I rarely use the end cap. I'd like to add a blower to increase the air flow. I'm also looking at building an air to air heat exchanger to pre-heat the combustion air, from flue gas, after the primary air to water heat exchanger.
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2nd_combustion.jpg
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This is a close up view of the secondary air intake, showing the flaming gasses inside the secondary burn chamber, this is across the bottom of the unit, before the flue starts up.
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Not Shown
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I am planing to build a babington burner that can be attached to the secondary combustion inlet. This would allow for greater fuel flexability, and for pre-heating of the secondary burn chamber, before solid fuel is used.
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I need to take some pictures inside the burn chambers to show the scale that is forming. Steel is not a good choice for the lining. It does not withstand the heat well, and it takes a very long time to heat up to combustion tempuratures. I knew I would have these issues when I decided to use steel, but it was readly avaliable, where as I have had trouble finding refractory cement or brick at good prices. (Good is a relative term and I'm a cheapskate ;))
I am already planing my next attempt. For it I will get some sort of ceramic material, that will provide better insulative properties and be better able to withstand the tempuratures.
There is probably more I should add, but for now, this is a start.
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