Hot Water From Your Wood Stove

"Survival Doc" finds a previously owned stovepipe water heater at an estate sale and demonstrates how to make an energy-saving wood stove water heater.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• wood stove
• water heater
• stovepipe water heater
• survival energy
• wood burning stove
• survival hot water

[beastlyjamie]

old propane tank wwould work well for a resivour

[thenewsurvivalist]

@beastlyjamie the old water heaters have some very important advantages: They are already two-walled with insulation, and they already have the inlet and outlet pipes in the correct places and with the correct sized pipes and the threads to fit standard water pipes. Although you can insulate any tank, those pipe characteristics are serious disadvantages of propane tanks, so much so that for most people they will not work at all.

[squatchman22]

do you have the video of this bad boy installed yet doc?

[thenewsurvivalist]

@squatchman22 No, still working on it. I've secured a 10 gallon water heater that is perfect, but I am considering how I want to hook this up (integrate it with the house water system or make an entirely different independent water system for when the municipal water goes dry. I am leaning toward the latter.)

[Mrphatbastard1]

Hi Doc, I have a question regarding your hot water heater, if you cool the smoke too much would you lose the natural draw, especially in a horizontal pipe and would the particulates begin to coat the inside?

[thenewsurvivalist]

@Mrphatbastard1 The smoke isn't cooled nearly enough to affect the draw. I take this apart about once a year and run a brush through it to make sure creosote isn't building up to a dangerous level.

[thenewsurvivalist]

@civildisorder44 I could not find a name on it. It certainly doesn't look homemade. I think it is just very old, probably made 50 years ago. They were probably discontinued because the Nanny State doesn't think that the American people can be trusted with anything that might be dangerous.

[thenewsurvivalist]

@gazaking765 Gravity feed from a barrel on an upper level.

[UnforgettableFireLLC]

Dear Sir...as an industry professional of 27 years I must tell you that this is VERY dangerous. If a chimney fire strikes you are in serious danger, which is why this type of install is highly illegal. While I do applaud your desire to get more heat out of a piece of wood, I would like to show you a different way. Please take a look at Kmberly stoves on you tube. Thanks, and be careful.

[jjsjeffjjsjeff]

If you decide not to heat water in your house for normal use I'm sure you can thermosyphon to a radiator to heat your house.

Not a bad find.

[shiblib]

i make these type of water heaters, but they are 44" long with 30' of 3/8/ ID, 1/2 OD copper tubing. it takes about 3 nights after work to build them. if interested i can sell them for $400 each, or make a custom one.

[Mrphatbastard1]

@thenewsurvivalist Thanks Doc, when I was about five my mom had a wood cook stove that I had to keep stoked at all times in the winter unless I was in school. I remember it having a set of tubes winding around the firebox that fed an insulated hotank that use to shake, rattle and roll. Scary when your just a kid, but effective enough for a warm bath after diner. Just want to express how much I enjoy your videos, I'm always looking forward to the next one. Thanks again...