This project goes into the build of an outdoor wood boiler for heating your garage using an old barrel and a car radiator. The first step is to make a wood burning stove out of an old barrel . Here we are converting the barrel into a stove using a Vogelzang stove kit.
STEP 1 : PREPARING THE BARREL
We start by cutting a hole for the door using the door accessory from the kit as a guide. Place the door on the side of the barrel and mark the four corners. Start cutting the hole using a grinder, reciprocating saw or a plasma torch.
STEP 2 : INSTALLING DOOR AND LEGS
Align the door with the hole and drill holes for the screws. The door is now secured in place.
The Next step is to install the legs that came with the kit. Place the barrel on the legs and align them so that everything is level. The spots are marked, holes drilled and the legs are bolted in place.
STEP 3 : INSTALL THE FLANGE
To control the airflow and how hot the stove burns, we install the flange and the damper within the chimney area. Center the flange that comes with the kit near the edge and make a circle for cutting the hole. Also ,mark holes for the bolts using the flange as a guide. The flange along with the damper is then screwed down securely.
STEP 4 : CONVERTING INTO WATER HEATER
The next step is to convert this barrel stove into a hot water heater. Begin by drilling two holes across both sides of the barrel and inserting a couple of three-eighth inch threaded rods across the sides. This creates a base where 30ft coiled copper tubes are inserted to circulate the warm water.
A 30ft half inch copper coil with the input and output straight end is placed inside the barrel on top of the two threaded 3/8th rod base which we have installed previously. Two holes are drilled at the back of the barrel so that the input and the output ends of the copper coil can be connected to a pipe or flexible hose.
STEP 5 : EXTENDING THE COIL CONNECTION
The input end of the copper coil coming out at the back of the barrel is further connected to another loop of copper coil outside the barrel . The coil is wound across the barrel so that incoming water is preheated using the outside coil before it goes into the barrel and gets further heated by the coils inside .
STEP 6 : CONNECTING THE PIPES TO THE GARAGE
The ends of the coils are connected to two pipes, the outgoing and the return. These pipes are then insulated using half inch pipe insulation foam to prevent any leak. A small trench is dug and the insulated pipe is extended to the garage.
STEP 7 : INSTALLING THE CAR RADIATOR AND SUBMERSIBLE PUMP
The water circulatory pipes are now connected to an old car radiator inside the garage. The incoming hot water pipe is connected at the top of the radiator and the return is connected at the bottom.
To circulate the water,we use a cheap submersible pump. The pump is submerged in a bucket. The pump will pump cold water out through the heater, the hot water circulates through the radiator, cools down, and is collected in the bucket and it is again recirculated.
Two holes are drilled on the top of the bucket. One for the pipe coming out from the pump and another for the pipe coming back from the radiator. The inch and quarter radiator hose are adjusted to connect to the pex hose piping with the help of a PVC poly tube with a threaded end.
The other side of the polytube with the threaded end is attached to a PVC adapter and a slip fitting with a bushing. This helps us to connect the pex pipe to the radiator. To prevent the water from boiling an antifreeze solution is mixed.
A window fan is used as a back fan for the radiator. Placed right behind the radiator, this blows the hot air through it and into the garage.
Image Credits : SSLFamilyDad | Youtube
