any body make a lage wood stove out of a 275 gal oil tank im thinking of making one i know you could probably puy 10 wheel barrel loads of wood in one of them for long hot burn would that be safe
I'm not well versed in stoves, let alone making them. But to me, it sounds like it would require some serious engineering to be safe or useful That's gonna be mighty thin steel. And I sure wouldn't load 10 wheelbarrow loads in it
It's been done, I saw it somewhere, whether or not you burn the building down depends on where you going to put it. Google it you'll probably find some information
I've built several over the years, round& oblong tanks. one thing I will say is you need at least an 8" flue. the ones I built worked good & served there purpose. two of them are still being used. It's scary how much wood you can put in one!
I will add...It's not how much wood you use, it is all about how efficient the burn is and how you harness the heat.
My folks used one for about 30 years heating their home. Get an old tank, the newer ones are beer can thin!
A propane tank or piece of 30" pipe will be thicker wall and last longer. I have seen hog cookers made from old oil tanks but never a wood stove.
I talked to a guy a few years ago that made a boiler out of a large propane tank and lined it inside with brick. Worked really well for him. It can be done, insulation like brick would help a lot.
A guy I worked with built several from 2 propane tanks. Sit one vertical for water storage and then cut a hole and slide the other in horizontal. Line with fire brick on the bottom and weld a 3/4" plate below the 8" exhaust pipe. He used schedule 40 or 80 depending on what he had laying around at the time. I think he said it give him almost 300 gallons of water capacity.
There are a couple around here, in tool barns/shops. They both work well and have been in use for a long long time. The one the guy welded blower tubed thru it along the top with an air deflector to help the air into the tubes. The other one I know of has a funnel in the top and they drip used oil in it to aid the burning of bigger wood chunks. I've been around when both of 'em are roaring and they seem to be up to the task,,
Good discussion here: http://www.weld.com/index.php/weekendwarrior/wood-burner-out-of-a-oil-tank-1 and videos of some others:
I made a wood stove out of a 55 gallon drum. Step 1 was to cut a large hole near the bottom. Step 2, throw all kinds of leaves, wood, cardboard etc into it, light it up and stand around it drinking beer with my buddies. It works amazingly well. It is referred to as a Bum Drum.
For Efficiency make sure you put in a baffle plate and use black pipe to inject secondary air up just under the baffle plate. Route the pipe so the pipe receives its air at the back of the stove down towards the bottom of the stove close to the floor. Then the more length of pipe you use to have the air travel till it gets to the top of the stove just under the baffle plate then the air has a longer time to heat up. The pipe then should tee off in several locations up under the baffle and have a pipe at each location that has lots of small holes drilled in it to mix that hot air with the smoke. Like this picture I am posting. And have a air control for the secondary air thats coming thru the pipe. Some people use a metal water valve.
