"Bucket-A-Day" Stove Pre-Preheats Hot Water

"Bucket-A-Day" Stove Pre-Preheats Hot Water WOOD STOVES/FURNACES Wood Stoves/Furnaces (20L) 30-1-39 "I use it to pre-heat the water that goes into my 30-gal. electric hot water heater," says Tom Hicswa, Hammonton, N.J., about the "bucket-a-day" wood stove he uses in his basement. He calls it "bucket-a-day" because every day he uses two 5-gal. buckets of wood in the stove. Water is pumped from his well to a 30-gal. tank next to the stove. Water circulates from the tank to the stove and back into the tank. The water is pulled from the tank to the hot water heater as needed. Because the water is preheated by the stove, very little electricity is used. "I've been using my bucket-a-day stove since 1969. It saves me 30 to 50 cents a day," says Hicswa. "The stove pre-heats the water to between 100 and 200 degrees. If the water in the tank gets any hotter it blows the safety valve. Even if the water sits in the tank for a while before it's piped out, it's still at 70 degrees. It takes less electricity to heat up 70 degree water than it does to heat 52 degree well water so I still save money. "The stove was originally built in 1922 and was designed to burn either coal or wood to provide hot water. The stove has an ash pit at the bottom, which I clean out about five times a month." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Hicswa, 2169 Elwood Road, Hammonton, N.J. 08037 (ph 609 561-7623; hicksy@att.net).

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