Rat potbelly stove

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

Told ya I have lots of pictures of everything....


Here's another one of my creations.


I had this hot water tank which I used to make an open fireplace for the backyard and camping.
Works really well, and burns heaps better than any 44 Gal. drum I've had in the past










I only used about 1/3 of the tank for it and I thought I'd better do something with the rest.
As usual things spiralled out of control and this thing got bigger and badder by the minute.

Got a new welder too so wanted to give it a good test run...


Here's the story of the twin stack fireplace....




First I had to make a top for it, so I cut some sections of the side, laid them on top and tacked them in place.









Cut triangles, shaped them to fit and filled in the gaps.













Then it looked like R2D2











Made a door.
Starting to look like something now.

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

Gave it a couple of runs, worked pretty well but not good enough.










Of course it needed a grate to keep the coals from choking the fire.
As I hadn't made one before closing it in, I had to make it in two parts.
Reo seemed like a good idea.
(It wasn't, more on that later)

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

The reo was way too soft and the grid warped from the heat.
Had to cut it in half to get it back out.
Still works for now though.



Anyway, made a third air intake to go under the grate to create more draw.










Noticed an improvement, but still not 100%.
Want it to work with the door shut.
Also, there's some smoke escaping through the door when it's open


I also cooked on it which was very satisfying

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

So it seemed there was enough air going in.
Held a lighter in front of the bottom vents and the draft put the flame out.



So if there's (sort of) enough going in, maybe there needs to be more going out....
???


Only one way to find out....

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

The tank is about 450mm dia, and the chamber about 600 tall.
The stacks are 110mm dia and the whole thing stands at about 1.9m.
There's also a chute down the bottom for emptying the ash out.











Dog likes.
He would have given it the thumbs up if he had the required opposable digits....

[

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

Twin stacks is the go!

It clearly needed to get rid of more smoke and hot air quicker, and this works really well now.
Given that they had to be directed around the gutter, this meant that the top had to be fairly light to stop the thing tipping over.
After lots of searching I came across these old solar garden lights at a mate's place.

Quite thin cheap stainless and was a bit tricky to weld, but I got there in the end.








A bit of tin downpipe at the end and it's all good to go.





And boy did it go!

Flames coming out of the ends...






Just need to make a new fire grate from something a bit stronger.


Next winter.....

 

[Dirty_Vinylpusher]

As I post more of my projects, it will become clear that I do everything the hard, complicated way.

It would always have been easier to "get one of those" or "use one of them" for the things I do, but I love making something from something I have laying around.

Once the idea pops in my head I HAVE TO see if it will work.

My long suffering partner of 17 years just shakes her head whenever I drag her in to the shed and I'm all bubbling with excitement (and beer) while explaining my new project.

"Yes dear, that's nice", is usually the response....

 

[Wildcat]

I'll bet a pot of chili would work great on that thing.

 

[Frankie plekhand]

Cool! Its always nice to see stuff being build from stuff laying around!

As I post more of my projects, it will become clear that I do everything the hard, complicated way.

It would always have been easier to "get one of those" or "use one of them" for the things I do, but I love making something from something I have laying around.

Once the idea pops in my head I HAVE TO see if it will work.

My long suffering partner of 17 years just shakes her head whenever I drag her in to the shed and I'm all bubbling with excitement (and beer) while explaining my new project.

"Yes dear, that's nice", is usually the response....

Well we've all been there i guess...
At least you got us for that!

Frank