Old Hot Water Heaters Make Good Wood Stoves

Old Hot Water Heaters Make Good Wood Stoves ENERGY Wood Burners (65) 9-2-27 Old hot water heaters don't burn through or deteriorate as fast as 55-gal. drums, according to a Geyser, Montana farmer who made a "water heater" stove to heat his shop. Bob McCray, used an old 22-in. dia.by 48-in. electric heater for the bottom firebox and an old 16 by 48-in. gas model for the upper, secondary burning chamber. The gas water heater had a flue running up through the center. "The top heater helps get more heat from the fire before it escapes up the chimney. I left the flue in the center of it to catch more heat," says McCray. "The door is a double thickness of 14 ga. steel. I cemented a fiberglass gasket around the inside of the door to seal it. The hinges, latch and legs are made from scrap. The draft, below the door in the lower tank, is a piece of 3-in. pipe controlled by a ¢-in. threaded bolt attached to the damper. For added heat protection, I lined part of the bottom heater with fire brick." Smoke passes up a flue at the rear of the bottom heater to the upper tank and then out a chimney at the opposite end. McCray says he can burn logs up to 36 in. long and keep a fire burning all night. "It comfortably heats my shop, which is 40 by 30 by 10 ft. in size." For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Bob McCray, Box 26, Geyser, Mont. 59447.

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