My home made owb build

Hello, fellas this was my first attempt at a owb.
Well this is what got me into these chainsaw things. Now before you rip me a new one. I was only 22 when I built it. Nov 2013. BOOM! JK!

Part 1 of many....

 

IdleFull bore 4ftx4ftx1/4"water jacket 38" dia firebox 40" deep 3/8" holds just over 300gallons of water. Any questions?[/QUOTE]

Just finished the 3rd season, before next season it is getting retrofitted with a forced air blower in the door. With 2 90's in the flue, and only 6" it can't pull enough heat to keep the creosote down in the flue.

I know I know I need to work on seasoning my wood, but I only have 3/4 month to gather wood a year, and I travel for work. So I make the best I can with what I have.

 

Keep cutting cookies, those season fast!

Good looking build, does it heat DHW as well? How many cords a year for the hungry fella (or is it a she?)

 

Not heating the hot water, just the house and barn (kind of). Pumps through the barn 24/7 but only turn the fan on when I'm working.

Best I can figure 8 ish full cord.

Little load of ash



Little bit better load of oak.

Used 4 trailers + some I had leftover in the shed. Less than a face cord. Burned from nov-april

 

Thank you.

Figure the more pics I post, the less I have to type

 

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Hopefully this fall I will be able to start working on version 2.0, have a few different thinks I want to try. Mainly better insulation, and larger capacity wood/water.

 

nice, BEEFY!
is you firebox lined with brick? do you have damper controlling air intake now? what temp loss do you see in underground piping? do you run circ full time to heat exchanger in house? with the stack reaching that far into the firebox do you get any flashback when you open the door?
consider a cleanout on your outside 90 next time. be careful with larger water capacity. wicks a lot of heat away from the fire and prevents it from burning efficiently.
sweet trailer too!

 

Thank you,

The fire box is not lined.

I have a solinoid to open the damper, controlled by a ranco aquastat 170 on 185 off

Only have a 60ft run, with my homemade lines maybe 2-3 degree and a 20* drop out of the exchanger.

Circ pups run 24/7 365 haven'tunplugged them for 3 years now.

Only time I get a flash is if opened on a burn cycle.


I have a cleanout on the stack, just being uninsulated it clogs up bad.

 

might wanna try lining the bottom half with firebrick. that allows the fire to get hotter and burn more woodgas. as is, the sides of your burn chamber dont get much hotter than 200*. it wont burn more wood, but you will get more heat AND higher stack temps to help combat creosote in stack. downside is slightly less usable volume in firebox. additionally, the bricks continue to give off heat if you are not around to reload.
2-3* adds up to be quite a bit of BTUs if circ are running 24/7.
that being said, you are doing really good heating with only 8 cords/year! is that 3yr avergae or just for last year?

 

I have thought about lining it to the ash line, just never got around to it.
I know I should have just bought the foam filled lines, but it wasn't in the cards at the time.

I would say avg 8 cord a year. Normally 12-18 days on a tossed 8ft truck load. 30* days.
As I mentioned above I haven't been able to get a head with my wood pile lol.

 

I have thought about lining it to the ash line, just never got around to it.
I know I should have just bought the foam filled lines, but it wasn't in the cards at the time.

I would say avg 8 cord a year. Normally 12-18 days on a tossed 8ft truck load. 30* days.
As I mentioned above I haven't been able to get a head with my wood pile lol.

 

i am sure you have done your homework with as far as you have gotten. best of luck with it!

 

Ya done good, 22 years old or not

 

Smart young man. It should be interesting to see what you develop in another 20 yrs.

 

I'm curious why you turned the stack down inside the f/b?

 

Idea was to keep the heat inside the fire box. Works a little too well, hence the creosote issue.

Avg stack temp was in the 400* range during a burn cycle.