wood burning steam generator

[pintoshine]

Has anyone of you built one of these. I have lots of free wood and wood chips available to me and would like to build a steam generator to "heat my shop" :laughing-rolling:

[maheel]

i was having a look at the turbo gasification stoves and thinking about ideas for steam generation etc
but here in QLD we dont need "extra heat" very often and in the end plug it in or LPG is just easy

if i lived on a farm / rural i would be playing with them a lot more for hot water and fun and games :)

i have a few industrial / commercial coffee machine boilers and have thought about using one with the sari pressure stat to build a good steam generator for mashing

[SBB]

Ive never tried to use steam for heating but have used something similar to what is in the picture below. Mine only had a single drum and worked extremely well to heat a large un-insulated steel shed. The addition of a second drum will get you even more heat from any given quantity of wood. These stoves / heaters dont need a fire grate as such.....just put about 4 inches of good clean sand in the bottom of the drum.

[pintoshine]

I bought the fitting for one of those a few years ago but never built it. Sand, what a brilliant idea. Ok now I have a goal. I could put a black pipe serpentine in the bottom and I have a steam generator.

[SBB]

Pint Im not that sure that a coil in the sand on the bottom would work......if thats what you mean. The point of the sand is to keep the really fierce heat away from the bottom of the drum,so that it doesnt burn out. Heat rises, and sand , while not the best of insulators can and will work to some degree, When I bought my kit to build one of those drums the manurfacturer suggested sand be used to stop the bottom of the drum from getting to hot.
I think you would be better off placing a coil near the top of the drum....or better still.....a really long coil up the chimney .....kill two
birds with one stone...heat from the drum and steam from the coil.
Had a few rums so maybe im talking shit :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:
SBB

[Modernity]

Pinto,

I would be looking around for an old slow combustion log heater with a wetback for heating hot water. By adding a little water to the inlet of the wetback and not caping the outlet you will get lots of steam. When I was growing up a wetback was the main source of hot water in the house. You could have it setup with a small hot water cylinder to keep it from not burning out when you are not making steam with it. We had log heater setup outside to make water for the outdoor spa.
Providing you don't leave the wetback dry with a big fire going it should work a treat.

[pintoshine]

after doing a bit of research over the past two days I have decided to just bite the bullet and build a Scotch Marine Boiler. I ordered a level switch and will hook it to the tap for keeping the level up. I also ordered a Honeywell pressurtrol control and the appropriate valve for LPG so I can experiment with gas on a smaller unit first.
I'll keep you posted.

[Sam.]

after doing a bit of research over the past two days I have decided to just bite the bullet and build a Scotch Marine Boiler. I ordered a level switch and will hook it to the tap for keeping the level up. I also ordered a Honeywell pressurtrol control and the appropriate valve for LPG so I can experiment with gas on a smaller unit first.
I'll keep you posted.

Hows this worked out for ya? Anything to report?

[pintoshine]

I have most of the parts gathered but am lacking steel. I have been scavenging stuff but really hate spending that kind of money just to play.