I made a barrel stove.

[StagLefty]

If I remember correctly you have at least one daughter-are you putting up some kind of protection around it so no one gets burnt hands. I saw that in the video you linked.

[Irving]

No, she is big enough to know better.

I guess these stoves became popular in the 60's and 70's during the oil shortage.
Cofi, read the comments on the video I linked before putting one in your house. Probably not EPA approved and 1970's technology for sure. A lot less efficient burn and probably more creosote build up than in a newer wood stove. Creosote is what causes chimney fires.

[DFBrews]

No, she is big enough to know better.

I guess these stoves became popular in the 60's and 70's during the oil shortage.
Cofi, read the comments on the video I linked before putting one in your house. Probably not EPA approved and 1970's technology for sure. A lot less efficient burn and probably more creosote build up than in a newer wood stove. Creosote is what causes chimney fires.

and the camp fire taste when smoking bacon.

[Ah Pook]

I was looking a putting a double barrel stove in the garage but it took up too much room.

If you are trying to bypass the roof, use joints with 45˚ or less angles. It will make it easier to clean the pipes. You can add a topper on the pipe to keep critters out and catch some ashes.

Just reread post #28. If the pipe will exit out the CB wall, use 90˚ joints. I don't know what code would be for single wall pipe through an exterior wall. I don't see a problem but I'm not expert.

How close are you putting the stove to the brick (house) walls? I think the min is 16" but those stoves can put out some heat. You might look at adding an extra heat layer to the brick. Maybe something like aluminum sheet metal with 1" square tubing for mounting.

[Irving]

Closest the barrel would be to the brick on the house would be something like 5 feet. It will be in the opposite corner. Pook, what if you built a double barrel out of the 30 gallon drums?

So you guys with stove experience know, but for people who don't, let me tell you about the efficiency. I closed up the stove around 10pm last night. It was a little warm this morning to the touch when I left. I got home around 7pm tonight and the top of the barrel was completely cold. On the bottom though, it was too hot to touch for long. I measured 129*. So I opened the flue, opened then door and everything just looked like cold ashes. I stuck a shovel in and stirred everything up. In two minutes the top of the barrel was reading 150*. In five minutes ALL the coals were burning and the stove was back up to 330+ degrees. All you had to do was set a log in there and you'd be good to go. I'm trying to cool everything off so I can clean it out to paint it, so I didn't relight it. I really have to imagine that people who heat with wood probably only light approximately one match a season.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Closest the barrel would be to the brick on the house would be something like 5 feet. It will be in the opposite corner. Pook, what if you built a double barrel out of the 30 gallon drums?

So you guys with stove experience know, but for people who don't, let me tell you about the efficiency. I closed up the stove around 10pm last night. It was a little warm this morning to the touch when I left. I got home around 7pm tonight and the top of the barrel was completely cold. On the bottom though, it was too hot to touch for long. I measured 129*. So I opened the flue, opened then door and everything just looked like cold ashes. I stuck a shovel in and stirred everything up. In two minutes the top of the barrel was reading 150*. In five minutes ALL the coals were burning and the stove was back up to 330+ degrees. All you had to do was set a log in there and you'd be good to go. I'm trying to cool everything off so I can clean it out to paint it, so I didn't relight it. I really have to imagine that people who heat with wood probably only light approximately one match a season.

Thats pretty impressive.

[OtterbatHellcat]

I asked Irving before I posted this about the barrels in his thread...

I said "new", meaning they're not beat to hell, and held either LV tranny fluid, or 5-20 motor oil one time. The barrels I have now are spoken for, and we generate about one barrel a month. Unfortunately, several of them have been shot up before Irving made them something folks were looking for.

We drain them the best we can, and if you're interested in a free barrel, pm me...and a short waiting list is already beginning to grow.


Irving, I think it's a cool project you're going through, and I'd like to see how you have it all turn out for ya, thanks for sharing your experience with it...

[Ah Pook]

I ended up finding a double wall cast iron fireplace insert that accepted a blower.

What are you burning?

[Irving]

So far, I've burned very little good wood. I mostly burned the dead trimmings from my grape vine that I cut out at the end of last winter. I had some Sumac that we pulled out of my yard around this time last year, some scrap dead wood that had been laying around and some scraps from projects that have been building up in my garage. I also burned some card board I had around taking up space. I have some firewood that I brought from my last place, but haven't had a place to burn it yet. Now that I have this stove, I will probably start collecting wood again.

[Irving]

Update: I've fininshed painting it. I used the cheap high heat stuff I got from Home Depot for about $4 a can. Took me two cans. Says it is good up 1200* and has a picture of a stove on the front. I found some woodstove rope gasket on Amazon for $6 per 6 feet. This will replace the rubber gasket that was between the lid and barrel. I don't plan on sealing the lid, in case I want to take it off later for maintenance or something.

Before I put the lid back in, I need to decide what to do for the inside as far as using firebrick, sand, or making a grate. My neighbor offered to help me make a grate out of scrap angle iron if I go pick it up. I like that idea as lifting everything up will help get air under for a better burn.

I haven't decided if I'll fashion a cover for the large bung or not yet. I like what Wranglerstar did a lot. I also saw another video where a guy slides a pipe into the barrel, with air holes drilled into it. This would greatly help getting even air into the stove. I think I could actually do both. My debate is how much time to spend on something that will get occasional use, and already works well enough for what I want. On the other hand, it won't take much more money to implement these ideas, and I'm really learning that it pays to take the time to do stuff right.

I found a great deal on stove pipe on Amazon as well. A 5-pack of 6" x 48" single wall for under $55. I don't need 20', but the next best deal is 6" x 24" for $9.99 a pop. If I buy 8', that will run me $40ish. So might as well have 12' extra laying around for the ten dollar difference. I also decided to just go straight up through the corrugated roof. A lot more simple that way. I can just lay down another sheet when I move.

Finally, both the flue and the door have 8-12 holes for mounting. It was a major pain lining the holes up on the door and I didn't do all that great. By the time I got to the flue, I realized this isn't a hurricane stove, and I really only need 4 holes. I realize so many holes means more bolts to keep the thin metal sealed tight. The flue is small and will be fine. As for the door, I am going to just use the four corners and put more gasket along the edges to seal up the extra holes. Also, I am going to take the damper out of the flue, and relocate it up to the first joint in the stove pipe. The original location being so close to the barrel, I hear that it will fail almlst right away (see last picture).

Any thoughts?