Gas bottle wood / coal burner

[bloobloo]

I have been toying with th idea of making one of these for a while, well I finally did it, I made the MK1 prototype lol.
I have no pics during construction, just the nearly finished piece. I have another bottle waiting to be vandalised in the garden at the moment, on this one I will take pics from the start and make a few adjustments to the design.

I used bits and bats of steel i had lying around the garage, EG:- the chimney is made from an old Acro prop, the rest is self explanatory!

 

[vin]

fire

luv it, what did you use as a fire basket

 

[bloobloo]

I cut six 5" lengths of 1x1" angle to form a hexagon around the inside of the bottle, welded in place about 4" from the bottom, then cut various lengths of angle that lie accross the inside of the bottle from one side to the other. (i put mine front to back) and tack welded the outer 2 on each side in place, the middle two i put a piece of scrap underneath and tacked it in place to keep them the same distace apart and just placed them in the middle with no welding so that i can lift them out when i need to clean the ash out of the bottom.

i would describe this as a slow burner due to the fact that i have not included an air door below the main fire door, even though i have put air vents in, for me it still does not drag enough air through. this becomes apparent when i open the main door when burning and the fire starts to roar. this then leads to another fault, the chimney design is not wide enough, as the smoke can not get out fast enough and a bit of smoke will flow out of the door instead of the chimney (not good when the garage door is closed!) All in all it gives out a fair bit of heat But the MK2 will be different.

 

[migmag]

Love it when you get em stoked right up and the hole bottle glows orange .....

Fantastic.

 

[knoba]

Well done! They can get really hot and are excellent for slow cooking a nice winter stew.

Here's one I made for my luton when I was travelling a lot;

 

[bloobloo]

Got to agree about the cooking side of things!, my mother in law sorted out her freezer and brought some meat over for us. she wasnt sure whether it was this years date on the pack or last years! not wanting to take the risk i decided to get out a small roasting tin and put the meat in it wrapped in foil then put it in the burner on top of the coals. when cooked it looked and smelled absolutley fantastic. that was the best dinner the dogs have ever had! i kept looking at it thinking should I? shouldn't I? the dogs never complained though!

after looking at yours though, i see i seriously need to upgrade the chimney.

 

[Archie]

Here's one a friend of mine has. The guy who makes them has done all sorts of variations including a stainless water tank that boils the water.

This one just gets used as an incinerator.

 

[knoba]

Boy... a mushroom & beef stew slow-cooked for over 6 hours ...amazing!

I cut and shut an Mk1 Escort starter motor housing for the flu to burner joint. I read up on it, some, at the time and, on looking at all the retail flu's, there are no flu bends greater than 60 degrees for wood burners. Also the 4" stainless flu had to have a minimum thickness of 2mm (retail set-ups are double walled).

The (rustless) metal they use for the gas bottle is some sort of m/s / zinc alloy and the fumes from welding it are (I think) poisonous. I found some v.similar 6mm x 25mm on the waterbars often used for threshold strips on exterior door linings. Comes in handy for making the door shuts and hinges etc.

That's a very nice job you made of yours. You're going to well toasty in your workshop bloobloo, and well fed too by the looks of things...

 

[bloobloo]

that stew sounds amazing! ill be of to tesco's later to make the wife jealous

Not sure about the type of metal used in the construction of the bottle, but luckily im still here, scary thoughts making sure the bottle was completely empty before drilling it though. but then i learned that the smell is actually just that! apparently gas when produced has no smell, so they put an agent into it so it does smell, this agent sticks and clings to anything for ages and that is what i could smell once i had opened it, even though it had been filled with soap & water for a week, and then vented for another week before filling with water once again for another week!

the threaded bit at the back is part of the acro prop, i made it like this so i could remove the burner and leave the chimney in place, the thread surprisingly gives a decent seal! no leaks so far anyhow.

 

[Wozzaaah]

Gas cylinders are made of ordinary mild steel and galvanised on the outside so easily weldable provided you remove the galv.

 

[knoba]

Ahhh... thanks Wozzaaah! ...that'll be the blue flame that the ark gave off then!

I tried, but, I could never get baked potatoes to do well in it!

There's nothing like watching a real fire. The TV just doesn't compare...

 

[andypocock]

Brilliant idea. I'll grab a big calor bottle when I'm next at the tip.

Andy

 

[knoba]

With my van I had to take of the flu cap every year to get it in the MOT bay ...anyway, within the first year, I found a 3/4" thick lining of this hard black stuff in the flu. It worried me for a time but it always stayed the same thickness. "I believe" it continuously burnt off and fell back into the burner. Damn hard stuff! (carbon?)

Be careful if using under a 4" flu. The fumes can be quite nasty if the flu gets blocked!

 

[katluke]

There was a good link on how to build one of these stoves on a survival type site.I will see if I can find it.
heres part 1 http://www.ludlowsurvivors.com/stove.html

heres part 2 http://www.ludlowsurvivors.com/stove2.html

 

[Damaged]

Superb,

Would love to build one of those for my garage

Any pointers on how I would seal the area where the flue went through the roof?

Roof is 8" x 4" joists with kingspan panels.


Many thanks,

Mick.

 

[Justme]

i would describe this as a slow burner due to the fact that i have not included an air door below the main fire door, even though i have put air vents in, for me it still does not drag enough air through. this becomes apparent when i open the main door when burning and the fire starts to roar. this then leads to another fault, the chimney design is not wide enough, as the smoke can not get out fast enough and a bit of smoke will flow out of the door instead of the chimney (not good when the garage door is closed!)

I think your problem is the small bore of your flue. You realy need 4-6 inches. Also for wood burners you dont need a air vent low down under the fire bed but above it, solid fuel burners need air under the grate. Wood needs to sit on a bed of ash to burn well whilst solid fuel needs the ash to fall away under it or it smothers.

The inner flue should be single skined to allow more heat into the room & the outer flue should be double skinned to conserve heat so the flue gasses keep rising & dont condensate on the flue. Minimum flue hight from the ground should be 4.5m & possible more if you dont get a good draw.



Justme

 

[bloobloo]

Superb,

Would love to build one of those for my garage

Any pointers on how I would seal the area where the flue went through the roof?

Roof is 8" x 4" joists with kingspan panels.


Many thanks,

Mick.

Cheat like i did Mick, Go through the wall instead of the roof !

 

[classic2cv]

could i make one that runs on waste oil ?

 

[bloobloo]

Its not Waste veg oil is it 2cv?

 

[classic2cv]

no i was thinking of waste motor oil