Batch heater and boiler update

[Dan Bloomquist]

So Friday, I pretty much finished up a batch water heater for a friend
that lives off the grid. Here is a front and back of the box:

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/BH_alum.jpg
http://lakeweb.com/boiler/BH_back.jpg

The box is light so gets hung on the tank. You can kinda see the
brackets. The tank is hung on the wall of the house by that tube
sticking off. Here it is ready for wire brushing and painting.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/BH_tank.jpg

The glass cover is double paned, The frame and box are made 100% from
ripped 2x4s.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/BH_glass.jpg

Now that I've gotten that out of my shop, it is back to work on the
boiler. This morning I made the plenum from the exhaust gas. Here I am
checking the fit before completing the braze of the seam.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/plen_fit.jpg

It fits into a door space on the side so I can easily run a brush
through the boiler tubes to keep them clean.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/cleanout.jpg

Braze it up.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/plen_bench.jpg

Check it and it fits like a glove.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/plen_inplace.jpg

Then I finished up the intake on the bottom of the door and got the
mounting holes drilled. First look at the front in place.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/door_open.jpg
http://lakeweb.com/boiler/door_closed.jpg

[EskW...@spamblock.panix.com]

In misc.survivalism Dan Bloomquist <publ...@lakeweb.com> wrote:

Very cool. Do you have a sketch of how it all goes together?

Please post more photos as the assembly progresses.

[Dan Bloomquist]

EskW...@spamblock.panix.com wrote:
> In misc.survivalism Dan Bloomquist <publ...@lakeweb.com> wrote:
>
> Very cool. Do you have a sketch of how it all goes together?

Thank you. Nothing suitable yet.

>
> Please post more photos as the assembly progresses.

I plan to put a page up and detail the construction and operation. But
for now, I'll just snap pictures. There are more photos there.

http://lakeweb.com/boiler/

I am hoping to get the shop heated pretty soon. It will be direct steam
heat. I'm using a walk in freezer evaporator for the condenser. The shop
is insulated but 1300 feet with ten foot walls. I live at 7000 feet in
AZ so we don't need air conditioning. We just open all the windows in
the summer. But we do need heat in the winter.

The plan for the house is a little different. I've built the tank and
heat exchanger, and bought 3000 lbs. of hurricane wax. I should be able
to keep an efferent fire going for some hour and a half a day to store a
day worth of heat in the wax. We have a national forest in our back yard
and cutting permits run like $5/cord. Because I won't have to throttle
the fire like you would with an in house stove, I'll be able to burn
pine like most can't. It also means the house is warm in the morning
without building a fire first!

I've been working with the msp430 and plan to make one or more of these
the brains for this project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TI_MSP430

Best, Dan.

[Bill Ward]

Nice website, Dan. Good luck, and keep us posted.

Bill