Wood Fired Boiler For Heating Water

[Phil Slaton]

Anyone know of a good one that can be fould in NW Washington??

 

Thanks, phil

[Michael Silberstein]

There is nothing I have found that is cost effective. But there are a few really nice ones on the market. But you can build one from a oil storage (house type for heating oval) and a few steel tubs. Making a double barrel stove inside the oil storage. Water inbetween the two. Cost to build about 600. Just saying

[Phil Slaton]

Yeah, cost effective is the kicker.

[Rick Stillwagon]

I am putting together a greenhouse soon that has a wood fired water heater.  Boilers are a little more tricky due to permit issues.  The one I am using is about 200 gallons with a firebox that will accommodate almost 3' long pieces of firewood.  They are quite simple to fabricate from salvaged steel tanks. 

We will be using it to heat a greenhouse through a hydronic heated beds and tanks. I will post pics of it soon. 

How much water are you trying to heat?

[Phil Slaton]

Was looking to heat 6-1200 gallon tanks for Tilapia.

[Rick Stillwagon]

A simple alternative might be a Chofu heater or a snorkel stove.  The Chofu could be worked with solenoid valves to avoid overheating the tank.  The snorkel stove could be used to heat a tank directly or a secondary body of water then circulated hydronically.  Both stoves heat pretty efficiently.  They both also require attendance, as they are wood fired.

[Phil Slaton]

Thanks Rick.  Always can depend on you for the straight dope.

[Jim Fisk]

Just wanted to clear this "Boiler" issue up. I can safely say that none of the wood fired "boilers" are actually boilers. They all work at atmospheric pressure and are carefully designed to never actually boil. Just an old misused term. I have purchased and installed and built my own and they typically cut off at 180F. The outdoor boilers come in 2 classes: plain old wood fired dirty smelly and a pita to the neighbors who get smoked out of their homes and the newer wood gasifiers that are twice the $ but burn very clean by efficiently burning off the wood gases rather than sending them up the chimney unburned like most woodstoves tend to do.

If you are running a commercial op then that would be the way to go. They run from $8k to $12k and while that is very pricey for a home AP system it is not at all out of line for a commercial system and they come in many sizes and can be easily matched to any system size. They burn from 12hrs to a few days between loading and generally have ss water jackets to last for many years.

On a smaller scale I would recommend building your own as I do and have since the 70's. My GH is heated by my own wood fired stove that uses ss coils in the firebox rather than the much more involved water jacketed styles. That way I can heat the air in the GH as well as the system water in a balanced approach. I also use an automated solar collector which brings up the system water 2500 gals about 4F on a sunny cold Winter day. A multi faceted approach works best.

My stove designs use heavy 55gal drums with carefully designed easily replaced heat sheilds and firebricks and if a firebox does get rusted from condensation (due to running the ss coils too cold) it takes very little effort and $ to replace. Double layered water jacketed stoves will rust out just as fast and are nearly impossible to repair when they do and are far more costly to fabricate. My designs are based on Ben Franklin's work and have always been wood gasifiers since I started building them in the 70's and burn efficiently and smoke free once fired up. They take 30" logs and run a good 10 hrs in the coldest weather between fills. My latest design is in progress and will go on line this Fall. (I never build them the same way twice) If you have more time than cash, as most of us do, I highly recommend building your own if you have the tools and expertise. Nothing like firing that baby up on a cold Fall day and being able to say "I built that"

Rick Stillwagon said:Boilers are a little more tricky due to permit issues.  The one I am using is about 200 gallons with a firebox that will accommodate almost 3' long pieces of firewood.  They are quite simple to fabricate from salvaged steel tanks.