[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Re: Batch Water Heater Tanks?

Mon Feb 25 17:23:37 CST 2008

An old gas water heater has a handy 3" chimney up the middle.  Inside
this chimney is a spiral piece of metal that makes the gases in the
chimney stir enough to exchange heat efficiently with the water.  

So we took two of these old dead water heaters, and stripped off the
insulation, controls, jackets and so forth.  We welded up a steel box
out of some scrap, and cut two water-heater-sized holes in the top with
a sawzall.  Welded the water heaters down to the top of the box, and
made a homemade door, later replaced by a Sotz drum stove kit door.   So
the firebox was directly below the water heaters, smoke has to travel
through the center  chimneys.  We added a length of 3" pipe to the tops
of the chimneys to increase draw.  The thing stuck out the side of the
bathroom, we eventually made a little roof over it and stuck some
fiberglass around the tank.  That seemed to be enough to keep things
from freezing up, and if it did, firing the tank would thaw it quick.
The wood door opened into the bathroom, so it warmed the bathroom up
some as well.  In a rather chilly, uninsulated, and wood-stove only
heated house that was a plus.  

We'd usually fire the thing with building scraps, since me and my
roommate worked construction jobs.  So the hot water was essentially
free.  

Two tanks was overkill, but we could get two baths in a row out of that
and also wash dishes.  You had to watch the temperature, the water could
come out scalding very easily.  Usually took about 20 minutes to heat up
from dead cold.  

We could have used a drum stove kit, and cut a couple of 18" diameter
holes in the top of the drum to weld the water heaters into, but the
compound curves involved would have been interesting.  Easier to cut a
circle in a rectangular box.  

I can't claim this was a practical, or beautiful project, but it was
great fun to make and used scrap materials destined for the dump instead
of adding carbon to the planet's burden.  

Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP

Project Solutions Engineering

________________________________

From: CEED Centre [mailto:frainfo at telus.net] 
Sent: Monday, February 25, 2008 12:28 PM
To: Lawrence Lile
Subject: [BULK] Re: [Greenbuilding] Batch Water Heater Tanks?
Importance: Low

Lawrence, 

I am interested in your description of the wood fired water heater but
didn't quite understand the configuration. 

If I understand correctly, you use the drum with a door kit as the fire
chamber. I don't understand how the old gas water heater tanks join the
barrel or each other. 

Would you mind explaining a bit further? 

Christian 

On Tuesday, February 12, 2008, at 02:04 PM, Lawrence Lile wrote: 

	Simple - a used hot water heater does the trick. Pick them up
off the 

	curb. Price is right. Strip off all the insulation. You'll need
a 

	shortie to fit inside a refrigerator. 

	We've done things like this with old gas water heaters with dead

	controls. 

	Often old water heaters are thrown out for leaking, and those
you don't 

	want to mess with. Many are thrown out just because the electric

	element burned out. 

	An old water heater might be full of calcium, and there isn't a
good way 

	to get rid of heavy deposits. We never worried about this unless
the 

	water ehater was really full. 

	We made a great wood fired water heater by welding two old dead
gas 

	water heater tanks onto a big drum with a wood stove door kit.
We'd 

	fire it with scrap wood, the chimneys running up the center of
the tanks 

	served as a chimney, worked pretty well. 

	Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP 

	Project Solutions Engineering 

	-----Original Message----- 

	From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org 

	[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of 

	wmdorsett at sbcglobal.net 

	Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:45 PM 

	To: Greenbuilder list 

	Subject: [Greenbuilding] Batch Water Heater Tanks? 

	An old friend who has little money wants me to build a batch
solar water 

	heater for her using the ol' tank in the refrigerator trick. You
plumb 

	it in series with the regular water heater, face it to the sun
and put a 

	piece of glass over the door opening. On extra cold nights, you
close 

	the door preserving the heat. 

	The question is what do you ask for to get an uninsulated 40
gal. glass 

	lined tank? For an upgrade on the tank, what do all of you
recommend as 

	a non-corrodible tank for this application? It has to handle
line 

	pressure. 

	Thanks for your thoughts 

	Bill Dorsett 

	Sunwrights 

	Manhattan, KS 

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