Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.......and counting

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Well we have the plans, and they are a little difficult, there are several sizes and the directions give a generic view, with side notes on the bigger units. So after several weeks of notes, re-reads, and "talking it out", we think "this just might work?"

The game plan is to have the stove heat the water that runs through the furnace and into the water heater. Hopefully resulting in the furnace not having to run much...... if at all. The furnace will be in the garage, heating that as well. We are running pipe underground about 200 feet to the house. "This just might worK"

78 holes drilled and bored today.

P.S. This just might work......is a daily statement at the garage.

 

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[Hemisteve]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Thats great
No matter what you guys do, if you can capture the wasted heat from any appliance and transfer that energy to another you are going to save money generating BTU's. From the pic it looks like a heat exchange unit but if you are transfering the heat underground, be sure and insulate the underground piping with as much pipe insulation as possible and don't backfill the trench with common dirt. Use at a minimum of 12" to 24" of 30 mesh sand in the trench around the pipe to protect and store the heat generated during the high cycle time.
One of the easieast ways to save money is to wrap the cold water feed to the water heater around the exhaust of any wood stove using 1/2 or 3/4 inch soft copper tubing. In my last house I built a 4' X 4' niche to house the wood stove and veneered the whole area with natural river rock. In the ceiling of the niche i installed a return air duct to the furnace and installed a thermostat to control the fan and circulate the stored heat in the niche area to the whole house. The key to having a woodstove in a home is to circulate the warm air to all areas of the house.

Keep us updated to the progress

 

[ronwoodcraft]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Looking forard to seeing your finished project. Im sure y'all will complete it and do a good job.

I had a friend that had a heating element go out in his water heater. He routed his cold water through a coiled copper pipe attached to the side of the wood stove then into the heater. He said his family of four never ran out of hot water that winter, and it cut his electric bill in half. (He did replace the heating element when the weather warmed up)

 

[Old Dog]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Kim,

My problem with mine was that my home is all on the ground level.
What I did was to take a $9 box fan and put my stove in the farthest back room of the house.
The box fan blows the cold air across the bottom of the room into the space where the stove is.
the hot air travels into the space that is vacated by the cold air (across the top of the room)
this way the coldest air is always moving into the warmest area and the warm air is moving in to replace it.


Thom

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Hemi, We will burry the insulated pipe 4' underground, pretty sure there will be a layer of stone under the pipe, Hubby is a heavy equipment operator, so the ditch is the easy part. Now that stone niche is a project he would love to tackle, thanks for the idea! As a matter of fact the granite rock wall is close to where the stove will go, so he could already have most of the back wall done. I'll run it by him.

Ron and April, the hot water heater runs off the furnace thankfully, actually it's an 80 gallon storage tank. But a great idea if your stove is close enough to the wood stove.

Thom, the box fan is a great idea. They make a heat exchanger that goes in the stove pipe above the stove, (around $159-$199) it saves alot of the heat from escaping out the chimney and circulates even more air with the built in fan. I think we got ours from Northern tool. Here's a picture of half of it.

 

[Cynangyl]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

I can't wait to see how it all turns out sis!! Too cool!

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Trial 90 degree bends tonight, after a 10 hour work day. Yesterday was a short day due to rain. Two diffrent pipes bent two different ways (Think I'm kidding? ) 39 pipes to bend! This just might work!

 

[Cynangyl]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

ya know...this just might work!!

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Kim, that is a terrific project, bet you and your hubby were Mother Earth magzine subscribers in the past!

Don

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Kim, that is a terrific project, bet you and your hubby were Mother Earth magzine subscribers in the past!

Don

Thanks Don! We weren't...............but we are now! 6 issues for only $10!

 

[Don in SJ]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

We subscribed back in the late 70's thru the 80's I believe and had all the issues stored downstairs, when we had our fire in 1995, they kind of got damaged by water and smoke so I had to trash them all. It was one of the most imformative magazines out there for home self sufficiency projects and the simple way of life..........

Don

 

[Cynangyl]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

oy! that would be a magazine I would actually read!!

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

Sis, I checked it out online, browsed the articles, decided there were things we ALL would enjoy reading, $10 special offer.......Why not? Thanks again Don.

 

[wesfrye53]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

OK...let me see if I follow this correctly:

1. Build a stove to heat water in pipes.
2. Run pipes through furnace (or are pipes already in furnace to run through radiators?)
3. Run radiator/stove water into hot water heater.

Questions:

1. Does water circulate or stop in hot water heater?
2. Does the stove burn wood, coal oil, or corn?
3. Why not increase efficiency and run water through solar panels too?
4. It's late in the day and I'm so confused....Can you add a diagram Kimmie?

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

OK...let me see if I follow this correctly:

1. Build a stove to heat water in pipes.
2. Run pipes through furnace (or are pipes already in furnace to run through radiators?)
3. Run radiator/stove water into hot water heater.

Questions:

1. Does water circulate or stop in hot water heater?
2. Does the stove burn wood, coal oil, or corn?
3. Why not increase efficiency and run water through solar panels too?
4. It's late in the day and I'm so confused....Can you add a diagram Kimmie?

The Following.......
1. Correct.
2. Run pipes through furnace that heats the hot water (we have an 80 gallon storage tank, with an on demand system. IE: If we need heat more than hot water it goes to the forced hot water system. And vice versa) Make more sense?
3. The water will run through the furnace system, through the stove and back again 24/7. Pressure relief valves, will be installed in case the water gets too hot?

Answers...........
1. Circulates 24/7
2. Yup. We can mix corn with the wood if it gets real cold, corn burns HOT. Coal if we wanted (I find enough detecting the yard! ) No oil in the stove unless the fire goes out and needs a kick start.
3. No diagram, way to confusing, you'll just have to wait for pictures.

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one-three.

One of the things I like the most about these projects is the diffrent tools you get to use. Old tiime tools still work the best on some things, even if you have the modern stuff to do the job. They just don't build things like they used to.

 

[sniffer]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

I'm watching this one, I'd like to see this in the end

 

[COUNTRY GIRL]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one-three.

It will have some frustration.......the rest of the black iron pipe may or may not be in for the weekend....start another step and risk an error.....or hurry up and wait? This just might work!

 

[sniffer]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one-three.

I think it will, I Think It Will, I THINK IT WILL

 

[Magic Fingers]

Re: Can we build it? Wood furnace day one.

We subscribed back in the late 70's thru the 80's I believe and had all the issues stored downstairs, when we had our fire in 1995, they kind of got damaged by water and smoke so I had to trash them all. It was one of the most imformative magazines out there for home self sufficiency projects and the simple way of life..........

Don

I got them during the same time...it was a great magazine.
We had high hopes of being self sufficient!