my 1st shot

[sandancer]

hello, i have got my welder and i have done what yous have said, i have had a go and started with this, it is not quite finished yet, but i have one question
i am going to put this in my workshop for them cold winter nights, i would like to run a couple of radiators from it, so what do you think of using a rad welded to the back of the woodburner as a back boiler, coz my welding is not good enought to make a waterjacket

 

[Normsthename]

Not sure about the radiator question, but I think you will have trouble with the hinge seizing up once you have used it once or twice.
I did the same thing on my wood burner and the hinges seized solid after using it
Look at professional stoves and they are all like that for a reason!
I will be interested in the radiator answers because I had a similar idea with mine!

Andy

 

[sandancer]

cheers Andy
i will take onboard the advice about the hinge

 

[rkde]

get hold of a back burner tank and then fix it into the gas bottle / burner, run to a pump and then connect to the rads. should be quite simple, I would advise steel pipes from the boiler and then connect them to copper or plastic about 1m away from the boiler then run to the pump and rads.

If you can get hold of a plumber ask for the parts when he does a full install, there are loads been done now, you should be able to pick up rads and pumps for a drink

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Perhaps you could try ....
Tack on some steel support brackets to the outer upper face of the burner and wind on 25 mtrs of 15 mm copper tube on the outside of the burner then use a thermo syphon or pumped system to supply the rads .. you must use a header tank and have an over flow for any boiling water to escape through safely .. dont make the system a closed and pressurised one.

Once you are 2 mtrs out from the boiler in copper tube it may be OK to use acorn type push on plastic pipes and fittings to the rads but you might have to make a heat shield to protect the plastic ..as those burners can glow red hot.

Obviously fixing the burner to a fixed position on the floor and wall will enhance your safety as well . Don't forget about expansion of the copper tube ..you may need to put in a compensating bend / hoop

 

[sandancer]

sounds like a brilliant idea but how do you bend the copper pipe aroung the bottle, without kinking it
cheers

 

[pedrobedro]

Once you are 2 mtrs out from the boiler in copper tube it may be OK to use acorn type push on plastic pipes and fittings to the rads but you might have to make a heat shield to protect the plastic ..as those burners can glow red hot.

If the burner is getting to red heat it is badly designed. The air intake should be cut down to reduce the temperature if it is going to be used inside safely. 8mm or 10mm microbore tubing would be a lot easier to work with for the coil, you can buy it in coils and bend it by hand with no need for tools and compression fittings are readily available to link to bigger pipe.

 

[SwissTony]

sounds like a brilliant idea but how do you bend the copper pipe aroung the bottle, without kinking it
cheers

Plumbers pipe bending springs would do it.

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

Plumbers pipe bending springs would do it.

What through a continuous length of 25 mtrs or so !

Lay the whole coil over the cylinder or a slightly smaller diameter and gently re coil it a bit tighter.
Then slide the new coil over the cylinder into the supports( previously suggested ) .. pack with fire resist material so it can slide around the supports a bit.

 

[Prodigalson]

sounds like a brilliant idea but how do you bend the copper pipe aroung the bottle, without kinking it
cheers

Hi sandancer. If you heat the copper to a nice cherry red, & then quench it. It will be soft enough to bend by hand. You should be able to achieve the radius that you want without any kinks in the tube. But, if it does start to kink, then just pack the tube with sand after heat treating. (make sure the sand is dry, otherwise its a ****** to get out of the coiled tube.

 

[SwissTony]

What through a continuous length of 25 mtrs or so !

You can get external springs for bending, internal ones would be tricky.

 

[sandancer]

thanks for all the advice,
i should be getting a back boiler tomorrow so i will have a go with that first and see how it goes
cheers

 

[pidgeon chit welder]

You can get external springs for bending, internal ones would be tricky.

Thanks for that Tony ,
I have never heard of them.. will play google etc and learn.


Educated :- after the first search of " external bending springs " ... saw some external springs up to 22 mm ... wouldnt like to thread 12.5 mtrs of tube down the spring though.

I have a simple hand bending tool 8 to 15 mm by Draper.

 

[zardoz]

Not sure about the radiator question, but I think you will have trouble with the hinge seizing up once you have used it once or twice.
I did the same thing on my wood burner and the hinges seized solid after using it
Look at professional stoves and they are all like that for a reason!
I will be interested in the radiator answers because I had a similar idea with mine!

Andy

Good point Norm. Do we have any pics of well designed heat bearing hinges here, anyone?

 

[pedrobedro]

These are the hinges on our front room stove which should be easy enough to duplicate with some 2mm or 3mm strip. The pin is about 8mm and just drops in so the door can be easily removed. The door swings out as it opens and compresses the rope as it closes to help the seal.

 

[sandancer]

i have got hold of a back boiler, i have cut a hole in the back of the gas bottle and welded the boiler in, i have welded a secondary plate on the back of the boiler and it gets the water nice and hot, i will add the pipework and the radiators soon, i will let you know how it turns out

 

[sandancer]

Did the pipe work to night

 

[NeilH]

did you follow any plans to make that?

ive seen some on the internet somewhere before, and now im interested in making one after seeing yours.

 

[Welderpaul]

Not quite sure on how this lot works, but that welding wants looking at before its put to work.......

 

[sandancer]

well i am just learning to weld, and i had to weld a filler plate between the boiler and the fire, i have done a smoke test on it and nothing came out from the back, i could have ground it down to look nice, and how it goes together is easy as i am a heating engineer, and have done lots of back boilers, the vent pipe should have been in 22mm but it will work just as well in 15mm, i am going to put 4 rads on it with a central heating pump, and i will let you know how it goes