Do-it-yourself wood-fired boiler. Do-it-yourself drawings of solid fuel boilers

Long-burning devices differ from conventional ones in that the fuel in them does not burn, but smolders. Most of these devices have two modes of operation − intense and prolonged burning.

Structures are ignited in the intensive burning mode, and the room is heated in the long-term mode.

Features of heating boilers for wood

Wood burning boilers not very different from each other: dimensions of the combustion chamber and materials of manufacture.

Heating appliances are made of steel or cast iron. Each boiler has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Cast iron heater Works stably, heats up for a long time, but also cools down for a long time. Such devices work at least 20 years. The disadvantages include the fact that with irregular operation and sudden changes in temperature, cast iron is destroyed.

steel boiler will serve no more than 15 years. At the same time, steel is a more heat-resistant material, and therefore will not break down with frequent changes in temperature. Steel boilers are susceptible to corrosion, so they must be installed in a dry room.

Advantages

environmental friendliness, since carbon monoxide released during the combustion of fuel is processed and used to produce combustible gases;
combustion control firewood with air supply;
high efficiency;
possibility of using various types of solid fuel;
heating of premises for any purpose;
offline work.

Flaws

the need to control fuel moisture;
selection a large amount of soot and ash;
extra space available for fuel storage;
uneven heating coolant;
the presence of a chimney.

Instrument design

The design of a long-burning boiler is not too complicated. The heating device consists of:

Closed cylindrical tank, where there is a hatch for laying firewood, a blower and a hole for a chimney.
air distributor located inside the tank. The distributor creates turbulences of air streams and combustible gases.
heat exchanger built into the top chamber. It reaches its maximum temperature.

To adjust the air supply and therefore the intensity of combustion, the boiler is equipped with a regulator, which overlaps as soon as the firewood begins to burn intensely. The boiler is switched to the continuous burning mode.

Firewood smoldering in the lower chamber. At the same time, combustible gases rise up and burn out already in the upper chamber, heating the heat exchanger.

Photo 1. Scheme of a heating boiler for long burning on wood. The arrows indicate parts of the structure.

Principle of operation

The principle of operation of a long-burning wood-burning boiler is based on to regulate the air supply to the combustion chamber. Due to the limited amount of oxygen, the combustion and smoldering of the fuel slows down, which makes it possible to lay firewood less often.

Due to the fact that smoldering occurs in a large volume, carbon monoxide is formed, which has a high calorific value. Gas enters the combustion chamber through a fireproof nozzle and ignites.

Such boilers not only save fuel, but also burn a large amount of harmful compounds and only non-flammable smoke that does not pollute the environment enters the chimney.

The fuel in the heating device begins to burn from the top layer, then smoldering gradually descends to the lower layers of firewood. This way slows down the combustion of fuel, while increasing the heat supply.

Wood-burning long-burning boiler with a do-it-yourself water circuit

To create a long-burning boiler, you will need:

Steel pipe or barrel diameter at least 0.3 m and wall thickness 3-5 mm. Thin-walled containers will quickly burn out and the heating device will become unusable.
Pipes with a diameter of 5 and 10 cm.
Sheet steel thick 4 mm.
Welding machine.
Bulgarian.
Hand tools.

A boiler body is formed from a pipe or barrel. The height of the device is determined depending on the size of the combustion chamber and the desired amount of firewood in one tab. Optimal height counts 1m.

Important! Do not make too high a cauldron. When a large amount of fuel smolders, a lot of pyrolysis gases are released, which may cause device malfunction.

Conventionally, the entire installation can be divided into three zones:

combustion;
burning;
downloads.

The last zone decreases as the fuel smolders. One of the main elements of the boiler is the distributor. It is made of a steel sheet, in the middle of which there is a pipe for supplying air to the fuel chamber. As the firewood smolders, the distributor gradually lowers.

Used for air supply pipe with a diameter of 5-6 cm. Wherein hole in the air distributor should not exceed 2 cm to avoid oversaturation with oxygen. To adjust the draft, a movable damper is installed in the upper part of the pipe.

Photo 2. Homemade long-burning heating boiler made from a metal barrel.

A water heat exchanger pipe is carried inside the combustion chamber diameter 10 cm. In the tank itself, the water is heated by a coil, which is connected to a pipe.

Connection to the heating system

Long burning boiler connects to the heating system in two ways:

Water is heated inside the combustion chamber by a coil to which a heat exchanger pipe is attached.
Water is heated in an external tank through which the chimney pipe passes.

Second way more difficult in design, but much more efficient.

Chimney and reflector

The walls of a long-burning boiler will constantly heat up and radiate heat. If the room for installing the boiler is small, then around it reflectors are located, distributing the flow of thermal energy and directing it inward.

The chimney is made with a minimum number of elbows - 2 elbows at 45°.

Reference. Chimney make collapsible to make it easier to clean.

Installation

The boiler will constantly heat up, which can lead to a fire. To avoid this, the device installed on a brick or concrete foundation.

If it is not possible to build a foundation, legs are welded to the boiler from below.

In this case, the heating device can be installed on a thick steel sheet. The sheet must protrude beyond the boiler not less than 20 cm on each side.

Useful video

Watch the video, which tells about the features of long-burning wood-burning boilers, their principles of operation.

Summing up

Creating a long-burning boiler with your own hands will save not only on the purchase of expensive equipment, but also during operation. You can use this heater in living quarters, garage, workshop, etc. The heating device will provide highly efficient heating at minimal cost.

Attention! After making a long-burning wood-burning boiler with your own hands, it must be properly connected. Otherwise, all your efforts to reduce costs will be in vain.

A properly functioning heater will save you money and time during operation. It will be necessary to lay firewood 2-3 times a day depending on the size of the fuel chamber. The smoke coming out of the chimney must not contain harmful compounds. If the device is not properly designed or connected, then you can become the owner of a very capricious device. Signs of malfunction long burning wood burning boiler relate:

The heater begins to “eat” firewood in large batches, and one download is enough for 2-3 hours.
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Heating systems and equipment are quite expensive. Not every family can afford to purchase a new boiler for installation in the country. You will have to spend a significant amount on its purchase and subsequent installation. However, if you wish, you can always make a wood-fired boiler with your own hands, capable of heating the living area.

According to their design, home-made wood-burning boilers can be different. Heating efficiency and ease of operation depend on their device. Having decided to do everything with your own hands, you should first pay attention to the simplest design. Pyrolysis wood boilers require certain knowledge and skills. Although their efficiency is much higher.

ordinary boiler

First, let's look at how to make a simple wood-burning boiler with your own hands. The model consists of two cylinders placed inside each other. The first is used as a firebox. With a horizontal arrangement, it can be lined with refractory bricks from the inside.

The second acts as a convection carrier or is used to heat the coolant. Firewood is loaded directly into the firebox.

improvised materials

To reduce the amount of welding work, you can use a thick-walled pipe or barrel. It is also possible to use other improvised materials.

A rectangular firebox welded from a thick sheet can be easily placed inside a cylindrical container.

Design features

The wood-fired boiler is provided with a blower for the influx of fresh air and a chimney for exhaust gases. The blower is located at the bottom of the pipe and allows the bottom row of firewood to smolder, generating additional heat. Firewood is loaded into home-made boilers through the top. For this, a special hatch is being prepared.

In order for each pile of firewood to burn as long as possible, a special load is often provided, made in the form of a disk with blades and a hole having a diameter of 20 mm. When the load is pressed, the burning fuel is compressed. At the same time, the volume of incoming air is significantly reduced, since it can only pass through the existing opening.

Connection method

Such a boiler can be connected to the heating system in two ways:

ramming pipes with water directly into the barrel. Circulating between the pipes, it will heat up, so that when it enters the heating system, it heats the radiators;
cutting the chimney into the tank with the coolant. Exhaust hot gases will enter the tank, gradually heating the coolant.

pyrolysis boiler

The principle of operation of solid fuel pyrolysis boilers operating on wood is based on the destruction of wood under the action of high temperature at a low oxygen content. They are used for long-term heating of premises for various purposes.

Such a boiler consists of two chambers. The first is used to load fuel. The second one receives exhaust gases and secondary air for long-term combustion. Making such a unit with your own hands is more difficult than a regular one, but it is possible.

Main elements of the device

The wood burning boiler is made from a metal barrel. Preferably with a capacity of 200 liters. The lid of the barrel is cut off and a side is welded to it. A round piston is made from a massive billet or any other weighting agent. Its diameter should be slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the barrel.

A hole is cut in the cover for installing an air pipe with a diameter of 100 mm. In height, the pipe must be at least 20 cm higher than the barrel. A chimney pipe is welded into the barrel from the side. It also uses rolled products with a diameter of 100 mm.

The air pipe is welded to the piston. At the upper end of the pipe, a damper is provided that regulates the amount of incoming air. Ribs are welded to the bottom of the piston, used to compact the fuel mass.

During the operation of the boiler, firewood is loaded directly into the furnace and ignited. A piston cap is installed on top. As the fuel burns, the piston will move down, building up pressure in the lower chamber. Due to this and the minimum amount of oxygen, the firewood will slowly smolder.

The gas released during pyrolysis will enter the upper chamber, the temperature in which can reach 900C. Through the chimney, the residues of combustion products are removed into the atmosphere.

Such home-made boilers, made according to all the rules, are able to work on one tab for more than a day due to long burning.

We prepare material and tools

When starting to make a wood-fired boiler with your own hands and trying to complete everything in the shortest possible time, you should take care of the availability of:

schemes of the future boiler;
steel pipes of various lengths, diameters (400, 500, 100 and 150 mm);
steel sheet with a minimum thickness of 4 mm;
rolled products for the manufacture of legs;
two hundred liter barrel;
heat-resistant mixture used when laying stoves and fireplaces;
welding machine;
electrodes of a suitable brand and size. As a rule, electrodes with a diameter of 3–4 mm are used for welding;
Bulgarians.

Assembly process

The process of creating a boiler includes several stages. In the manufacture of each element, it is worth considering the special operating conditions of the manufactured product.

We cut off a segment from a thick-walled pipe with a diameter of 100 mm, the length of which will be equal to the height of the furnace. Weld a bolt to the bottom. From the steel sheet we cut out a circle of the same diameter as the pipe or larger. We drill a hole in the circle, sufficient for the passage of a bolt welded to the pipe. We connect the circle and the air pipe by screwing the nut onto the bolt.

As a result, we will get an air supply pipe, the lower part of which can be closed with a freely moving metal circle. During operation, this will allow you to regulate the intensity of burning firewood and, consequently, the temperature in the room.

Using a grinder and a metal disk, we make vertical cuts in the pipe with a thickness of approximately 10 mm. Through them, air will flow into the combustion chamber.

Housing (furnace)

The case requires a cylinder with a sealed bottom with a diameter of 400 mm and a length of 1000 mm. The dimensions may be different, depending on the available free space, but sufficient for laying firewood. You can use a ready-made barrel or weld the bottom to a steel thick-walled cylinder.

Sometimes heating boilers are made from gas cylinders for a longer service life.

Chimney

In the upper part of the body we form a hole for the removal of gases. Its diameter must be at least 100 mm. We weld a pipe to the hole through which exhaust gases will be removed.

The length of the pipe is selected depending on the design considerations.

We connect the case and the air supply device

In the bottom of the case, we cut a hole with a diameter equal to the diameter of the air supply pipe. We insert the pipe into the body so that the blower goes beyond the bottom.

The air supply pipe should end a few centimeters before the start of the chimney.

From a metal sheet with a thickness of 10 mm, we cut out a circle, the size of which is slightly smaller than the diameter of the body. We weld to it a handle made of reinforcement or steel wire.

This will greatly simplify the subsequent operation of the boiler.

convection hood

We make a cylinder from sheet steel or cut off a piece of pipe, the diameter of which is several centimeters larger than the outer diameter of the furnace (body). You can use a pipe with a diameter of 500 mm. We connect together the convection casing and the firebox.

This can be done using metal jumpers welded to the inner surface of the casing and the outer surface of the furnace, if the gap is large enough. With a smaller gap, you can weld the casing to the furnace around the entire perimeter.

From a steel sheet we cut out a circle of the same diameter as the firebox or a little more. We weld handles to it using electrodes, wire or other improvised means.

Considering that during the operation of the boiler, the handles can become very hot, it is worth providing special protection from a material with low thermal conductivity.

legs

To ensure long burning, we weld the legs to the bottom. Their height must be sufficient to raise the wood-burning boiler at least 25 cm above the floor. To do this, you can use a different rental (channel, corner).

Congratulations, you have made a wood-burning boiler with your own hands. You can start heating your home. To do this, it is enough to load firewood and set it on fire by opening the lid and the heat-dissipating disk.

After buying a country house, people are increasingly wondering how to install a wood-burning boiler. In this case, we are often talking not about heating, but about heating water for domestic needs. Agree, it is hardly advisable to buy expensive equipment for this, it will be cheaper to build a wood-burning boiler with your own hands.

How it all works

A wood-burning boiler is a modern, somewhat improved analogue of an ancient and well-known wood-burning stove. Therefore, the principle of operation of this boiler is extremely simple.

Firewood is placed in the combustion chamber, burns there and transfers the resulting heat to the heat exchanger built into the device. Pipes are connected to the latter, transporting hot water to a common heating network. When fuel is burned, not only the coolant is heated. Both the chimney and the boiler itself also participate in heat exchange, but only in the room where they are installed.

To remove the smoke that appears during the combustion of fuel, a chimney is installed. Soot also settles in the chimney - another product of burning wood. If there is too much of it, then the traction will deteriorate significantly.

Important! For timely cleaning of the chimney, special openings are left in it, closed by dampers. Cleaning is done with long brushes.

It is worth noting that today, along with fuel, special substances are often loaded that help clean the chimney during combustion.

About modern wood boilers

Today's heat generators of this type are almost ideal. After all, technologies are developing and heating equipment, accordingly, has undergone significant changes. Here are the main types of wood-fired boilers:

pellet:
pyrolysis;
open fireplaces.

Separately, it is worth talking about pyrolysis devices, which, during operation, burn not only wood, but also the gas generated during the combustion process.

Pellet boilers use waste from the woodworking industry, compressed into special pellets. If we talk about fireplaces, they are more of an aesthetic load.

Where are they used

Wood boilers are used mainly in settlements located far from gas mains. It may seem that in such cases it is possible to heat the house with electricity, but in reality this energy resource is expensive and unstable.

Also, wood-fired boilers are popular with summer residents who live in areas only on weekends. Home saunas and baths are also not complete without such boilers.

Important! Due to their low power, it is not advisable to use such heat generators for heating industrial facilities, but it is quite enough to create comfortable conditions in a small private house.

Pros and cons

Wood boilers, like any other, have their strengths and weaknesses. The benefits include:

autonomy from electricity - the owner may not be afraid of power outages or power surges;
ease of installation and operation;
durability;
environmental friendliness, because wood is a clean product that, when burned, does not emit any harmful and even more toxic substances; although carbon dioxide can be poisoned if fire safety rules are not followed;
low cost, which can be further reduced if the equipment is made independently;
availability of raw materials - for people living near forest areas, wood is a free fuel.

It is also worth noting that along with firewood in boilers of this type, organic household waste (only solid, of course) can be burned.

But such equipment also has disadvantages, including:

Obviously, all the shortcomings described are very significant, but among them there is nothing about the preparation of firewood. Firewood needs to be found, brought to the site, chopped, found a place for storage and constantly brought to the boiler, because one portion is usually enough for two to three hours. Of course, if you wish, you can buy firewood, but again, this is an additional cost.

Instructions for making a wood-fired boiler

It is quite easy to make an ordinary wood-burning water heater even without the use of sophisticated equipment. The main task in this case is to convert fuel combustion into smoldering, which allows increasing the frequency of refueling and, as a result, reducing fuel consumption.

For harvesting, it is advisable to use a metal 200-liter barrel with thick walls or a small (1 m long) piece of pipe with a diameter of 70 cm. It is not recommended to use stainless steel elements, since the thermal conductivity of this material is quite low: more wood will be required for heating.

As a bottom, a metal circle of the appropriate diameter with a minimum thickness of 5 cm is used. For supports, 3-centimeter pieces of reinforcement with a diameter of 12-14 cm are taken. You will also need a blank for the grate - it can be a thick steel circle with longitudinal slots necessary to supply air to the combustion chamber and ash fall. You will also need a third circle 1 cm thick, which will serve as a boiler cover.

So, for the construction of a wood-burning boiler, it is necessary to prepare the following materials:

Now you can proceed directly to the manufacturing process.

Procedure

The manufacturing technology of a wood-burning boiler, as mentioned earlier, is extremely simple.

Stage one. Foundation

A solid foundation must be laid out under the wood-burning boiler. For this, only fireclay bricks are used.

Stage two. Support

Then reinforcement bars are welded inside the tank. The rods must be placed in a horizontal position parallel to each other so that three levels are formed.

Level No. 1 is the bottom of the heater.
Level #2 is above the blower door.
Level No. 3 should be placed no closer than 20 cm from the cover of the structure.

Stage three. box

One of the most important elements of any solid fuel boiler is the box. This box is divided into two parts (horizontally) - the first will serve as a soot collector, and firewood will be loaded into the second. To mount the box in the body of the device (namely, on the side), a hole is made.

Important! The essence of the installation of this box is as follows: with its help, you can melt the boiler from the adjacent room, which is especially convenient for a bath. In this case, the width of the box must be made at least the same as the thickness of the wall through which it will pass.

Stage four. Blew

Next, you need to equip the blower. It is desirable to make it in the form of a retractable drawer - then installation of a door is not required. Moreover, with such a box it will be easier to clean the boiler from accumulated ash and soot.

Stage five. Interior arrangement

The bottom of the structure with a grate is welded to the lower part of the device body. The grate must be installed at the same level as the upper wall of the box. Then a chimney hole of the appropriate diameter is made in the furnace cover. The lid itself is also welded to the body.

Stage six. Water heating tank

The water heater is attached to the wall at a height of approximately 35 cm from the wood boiler lid. Heating of water in the tank will occur from the chimney pipe passing through it.

If the heater is installed in the house, but it requires hot water supply to other objects on the site (both residential and household), then a pipeline can be stretched to them.

Important! This pipeline should be covered with thermal insulation material to avoid heat loss.

Stage seven. protective screen

To prevent all sorts of tragic consequences, a home-made boiler must be protected with a special protective screen. For the construction of such a screen, several carefully planed wooden boards are taken, which are nailed to the bars in a horizontal position. There is another option - to build a fence one meter high from a brick laid "on edge".

Such a screen is necessary to protect the hot body of the device from possible touches. Moreover, this is a good design decision that can be used for a purely aesthetic purpose.

The amount of soot accumulated depends on the fuel and operating conditions. So, coniferous trees give more soot. The use of damp firewood, as well as poor-quality thermal insulation, leads to the formation of condensate. Ideally, you need to drown exclusively with dry aspen logs.

Video - Making a wood-burning boiler

Unlike natural gas, diesel or electricity, firewood is a shared resource. In regions with significant forest resources, the cost at which you can buy firewood is sometimes determined only by the complexity of their delivery to the consumer, and the price of a kilowatt of thermal energy obtained in the process of burning firewood is much less than the cost of the same kilowatt obtained from burning gas, fuel oil, diesel fuel, or by electric heating. And this state of affairs is typical for almost the entire territory of our country.

Under these conditions, the use of wood-burning boilers for heating becomes not only possible, but also beneficial in terms of cost reduction. One of the types of wood-fired boilers are long-burning boilers with a water circuit. The use of such boilers allows the most efficient distribution of heat throughout the house using a water heating system.

Cast iron wood-burning stoves, fireplaces and wood-burning boilers for heating water have been used by man for several hundred years. But the features of cast iron as a material did not allow the formation of effective water heating systems on the basis of such boilers. Cast iron products are quite difficult to give a complex shape, and the material itself is so sensitive to rapid temperature changes that it can suddenly crack, making the operation of cast iron heating boilers difficult and dangerous.

What other types of heating systems are used to heat a house?
you can learn about the advantages of the construction of a brick oven with a water circuit.
Here is a description of how heat pumps work.
And here is how to create the most efficient potbelly stove with your own hands:

Current state

With the development of steel welding technology, it became possible to manufacture wood-burning boilers and fireplaces from refractory steels with a complex internal structure. This opportunity allows us today to buy and install with our own hands at home boilers of complex shapes, with efficient internal water circuits, or a system of pipes - heat exchangers. The efficiency of such boiler systems has increased significantly, the service life has increased, and the unpretentiousness and reliability in operation have become an order of magnitude better.

At the same time, modern wood-burning heating fireplaces, boilers and steel stoves that can be bought on the market do not have complex electronic systems for controlling combustion and ensuring the operation of equipment. If, in some models, electronic control systems are present, then in the minimum amount necessary to ensure safe operation. Of course, this moment has a positive effect on the price of such heating boilers.

On the basis of a wood-fired boiler equipped with a water circuit, you can make a very high-quality heating system for a country house with your own hands.

Boiler design

combustion chamber
grate
chambers for collecting combustion products (ash chambers)
heat exchanger (water circuit)

combustion chamber- this is the heart of a wood-burning boiler, or fireplace. It burns wood and releases heat. Volatile combustion products enter the chimney from the combustion chamber, leading them outside. The intake of air necessary for combustion into the combustion chamber is carried out through the lower blower (ashpit), or through adjustable shutters in the combustion door. Also, the combustion chamber is equipped with a door for loading fuel. It can be made both from the materials of the boiler body and from glass, as, for example, by the fireplace.

In the lower part of the combustion chamber there is a grate. Through it, the coals and ash remaining from the combustion of wood enter the chamber for collecting solid combustion products.

In the ash chamber a door is provided, which is used to clean it from unburned residues and to adjust the intensity of combustion by increasing or decreasing the flow of fresh air into the lower part of the combustion chamber. You can do this with your own hands and with the help of a special mechanical thermostat that regulates the flow of fresh air into the combustion chamber, depending on the achievement of the specified temperature of the liquid in the water circuit.

heat exchanger can serve as a water circuit, which is, as it were, the second body of the combustion chamber. In this embodiment, the liquid heated by the boiler circulates around the firebox, isolating it from the outer casing of the wood-burning boiler. Such a heat exchanger is very effective from the point of view of the rapid heating of the liquid and the reduction of untargeted heat losses, but if it is damaged for any reason, the repair of this circuit can be very difficult.

Also, a system of pipes passing in the internal space of the boiler in the places of the most efficient heat transfer by the combustion chamber can be used as a heat exchanger. Such a system is more convenient to repair than a continuous water jacket system, because each pipe, or the entire pipe system, can be easily pulled out and replaced with a serviceable one.

Boiler interior

The combustion chamber, a system of heat exchangers, is isolated from the outer casing with non-combustible materials with a low thermal conductivity. It can be asbestos, mineral wool, chamotte clay, ceramic filler, etc. materials.

This insulation serves two purposes:
- firstly, by reducing the heat transfer of the boiler body to the surrounding space, the efficiency of the boiler itself increases significantly, in terms of the efficiency of heating the working fluid;
- secondly, the safety of operation of the boiler itself increases when it is installed in a room with fire-prone materials of the structure of the house.

Heating a modern house with a boiler

Both with his own hands and with the help of a contractor, today every homeowner has the opportunity to buy and organize a heating system for a country house based on a wood-burning boiler. At the same time, a boiler, or a fireplace, with a water circuit, located in one of the premises of the house, or even in a separate building of the boiler room, will effectively heat the rooms of the house isolated from each other by walls and ceilings. A boiler designed specifically for heating water is able to reliably cope with heating tasks over many heating seasons.

In this case, the system can be organized both with forced pumping of the coolant, and with its natural circulation, which does not depend on an external power source.

Systems that do not depend on an external power source, at first glance, seem more attractive, primarily due to the complete autonomy of use. But with this type of system layout, it is very difficult to achieve uniform heating of all rooms. Almost always, in such systems, in some rooms it will be excessively hot, while in others there will not be enough heat.

For a system with forced circulation of the coolant, of course, an external source of energy is needed to operate the pump that pumps the coolant, but the energy requirement of such a pump is very small, and, in the event of an external power failure, can be easily compensated by using backup power sources. In any case, emergency generators and backup power sources are necessary in every house in case it is disconnected from the mains, and it will not be difficult to power the circulation pump from them in an emergency. On the other hand, the uniform circulation of the coolant will allow maintaining a comfortable temperature in all areas of the house, which, of course, significantly affects the convenience and comfort of living in it.

One of the options for water boilers for heating a house is the so-called boilers. prolonged burning.

These can be pellet boilers that use not ordinary wood as fuel, but specially prepared wood pellets, which are products of sublimation of waste products from industries that use wood in their cycle.

In addition, long-burning boilers are also created for ordinary firewood. In this case, a complex system of internal chimneys makes it difficult and suppresses the rapid combustion process, increasing the intervals between loading the next batch of firewood into the furnace and allowing you to increase the efficiency of the boiler due to a more rational use of the energy released during the combustion of firewood.

Before you buy a boiler for your home, some preparation of the premises is required. The heavy weight of the boiler allows installation only on a specially prepared base. A special concrete platform can serve as such a base. Under the boiler itself and in front of it, it is advisable to lay a sheet of thick metal in order to exclude the possibility of spilling smoldering or burning fuel onto objects that can ignite, located below the boiler. The walls and ceiling of the boiler room located near the boiler must be reliably insulated from the thermal effects from the boiler. The room must be provided with a reliable exhaust system and a fire alarm system in case of smoke in the room.

The chimney system for your future boiler must be properly designed and executed. Proper insulation of chimney pipes from the wooden structures of the room is very important. The temperature of the combustion products that enter the chimney during intense combustion reaches many hundreds of degrees, and improper thermal insulation of the chimney pipes can lead to a fire.

A properly organized chimney is very important for the efficiency of the boiler itself. If the end of the chimney pipe is located too low, insufficient draft may form in the boiler furnace, and the combustion process will differ from that which was structurally laid down by the boiler manufacturer. The end of the chimney pipe must be located above 50 centimeters above the level of the roof ridge. In this case, under any weather conditions, the correct draft in the chimney will be ensured.

At the bottom of the chimney, it is imperative to provide and make a collector for condensate, which forms inside the chimney pipes when they cool. If this is not done, excess moisture will enter the boiler and cause corrosion, which, of course, will reduce its service life.

In general, there is nothing complicated or special in the heating system of a house based on a water boiler. It can be easily designed and assembled by hand. In this case, it is possible, without significant costs (since the installation price is low), to embed the boiler into an existing heating system, using it as a spare, or even as the main source of heat in the house.

Control and security

Of course, every heating system needs controls and automation. This is especially important if you make this system with your own hands and it is located inside the house, where any malfunction can cause a fire that can lead to loss of property and even human casualties.
Complex multi-level combustion control systems that can ensure maximum safety of a boiler or fireplace exist, but the equipment on which they are used is usually expensive and not everyone can afford to buy it. But even simple and inexpensive wood-burning boilers have protection and control systems.

The simplest system, which has already been mentioned above, consists of a simple thermostat that measures the temperature of the coolant in the working circuit of the boiler and regulates, through a mechanical transmission, the damper responsible for the process of accessing fresh air to the furnace. When the temperature of the working fluid reaches the set value, the draft of fresh air is reduced and the combustion process slows down. When the temperature drops below a predetermined limit, the damper opens slightly, and the burning of firewood in the furnace becomes more intense. Such a system makes the operation of the boiler not only safer, by adjusting the temperature of the coolant and eliminating the possibility of its boiling in the heating circuit, but also allows for more efficient use of fuel, reducing its unnecessary consumption for excessive heating of the working fluid.

In some boilers, with a more sophisticated control system, the combustion process is regulated by a supply fan that blows air into the furnace and smoothly regulates the combustion process in accordance with the specified parameters. Such an automation system not only makes the combustion process smoother and safer, and the heating of the house more uniform, but also makes it possible to load firewood into the boiler furnace less often.

Features of the operation of such boilers

low price (every homeowner can afford)
long service life
reliability (with proper operation there is simply nothing to break)
availability and low cost of fuel
do-it-yourself setup and maintenance (does not require high qualifications)
relatively low efficiency (compared to gas or diesel fuel boilers)

As you can see, such boilers have both their pluses and minuses. However, the fact that they are ubiquitous in our country suggests that the use of such equipment for heating a house in winter is very effective.

Solid fuel boilers are not only a way to provide autonomous heating at home, but also save on energy resources. Is it really so profitable to make a solid fuel boiler with your own hands? Or is it better to buy a ready-made unit from a reliable manufacturer? Let's figure it out together!

Ready-made solutions - which boiler to buy?

Frankly, a home-made long-burning boiler is unlikely to be cheaper than purchasing a ready-made version. You need to take into account not only the cost of materials, but also the time spent on creating the unit with your own hands. Plus, few people manage to do everything right on the first try - errors will certainly pop up during operation that need to be corrected, which is fraught with new costs.

It must also be understood that many of the technologies used by boiler manufacturers are inaccessible to ordinary people and there is nothing to replace them with. For example, in everyday life without expensive equipment, it is impossible to repeat the powder coating of boilers, which significantly extends their service life. The accuracy of parts, the quality of welding - all this differs significantly in home-made and purchased versions. For these reasons, the majority prefers to purchase ready-made options, moreover, there are more than enough offers today.

Today, Lithuanian-made long-burning boilers Stropuva (Stropuva) or Candles (Kandles) have proven themselves to be excellent - these units are able to work on one load of firewood up to 40 hours, and when loaded with coal - all 5 days. Wood-burning models are marked with the letter S, while coal-fired models are marked with the letter U. The efficiency of such boilers is up to 90%. In the design of these units, burning goes from top to bottom - the fuel burns according to the principle of a candle. Due to the fact that the flame is from above, firewood and coal burn through much better, so you will have to clean the boiler much less often.

Alternative options - gas generation and pellets

Long-burning boilers include and, as well as boilers operating on pellets. Pyrolysis (gas generating) boilers are loaded with firewood every 8–12 hours. At first, the starting ignition of the fuel takes place so that the temperature inside the boiler reaches 800 ° C. At this temperature, gas generation becomes possible - with the help of valves, the desired mode is set, namely, the access of oxygen to burning wood is limited. As a result, wood gas is released, which burns in a special chamber, and only then charcoal is burned. Ash and soot are formed in a minimum amount. The efficiency of gas generating boilers is about 85%.

The main advantage of pyrolysis units is economical fuel consumption. Thanks to this, the heating season will cost you two to three times cheaper than usual - this is how the high cost of such devices pays off. However, another problem will have to be fought constantly - a wood-burning boiler of this type works effectively only on very dry fuel or clean coal.

Pellet boilers with automatic fuel supply can work indefinitely, the main thing is that there is the right amount of fuel nearby. The structure of such units practically does not differ from conventional solid fuel boilers, with the exception of automatic fuel supply. Household boilers have a container where pellets are poured - one load is enough for several days. In general, it will take about 20 minutes to service the unit a week - this is enough to occasionally take out ash and add fuel to the bunker.

General overview of affordable design boilers

A feature of the design of boilers with top combustion is the air supply to the combustion site using a telescopic pipe. Making such a wood-burning unit with your own hands is not an easy task even for experienced craftsmen. For this reason, in most cases, home-made solid fuel long-burning boilers have traditional lower combustion, and the duration of the unit is achieved due to the increased volume of fuel and the connection of automatic regulators, which can be purchased separately and installed on any boiler. Fuel is loaded into such a unit through the upper hatch, and the lower hatch is intended for arson, through which combustion products are also cleaned.

Air is supplied to the fuel chamber through the blower and the grate, with the help of the blower chamber door, the air supply and the combustion force are regulated. Depending on the design, the units are made of sheet steel with a thickness of 3-5 mm or from pipes with a diameter of at least 300 mm. Regular steel is suitable, but it is better to purchase heat-resistant steel or use a double layer of material. The role of the heat exchanger can be performed by both the walls themselves and the registers, or a combination of both.

The main task when creating such a unit with your own hands is to ensure the largest area of \u200b\u200bcontact of the fuel with the surface of the heat exchanger, due to which the efficiency increases.

The simplicity of the design is ensured by the fact that the water circuit is in direct contact with the flame. However, it should be borne in mind that a large amount of heat will still fly into the chimney, so you can additionally create a water heater. For its arrangement, two pipes of different diameters and some sheet steel are needed. The larger pipe will serve as a container for water, and the smaller pipe will act as a chimney and heating element.

Mine type - more difficult to do with your own hands, but has a high efficiency. Such units consist of two chambers - the first serves as a compartment for loading fuel, and the second, located on the side, contains a heat exchanger. When the fuel is ignited in the adjacent chamber, the flame and hot gases enter the chamber with the register due to draft and heat the coolant inside the pipes. Since the smoke travels a long way from the place of combustion to the exit to the atmosphere, it almost completely gives off heat to the register.

Difficult but doable - burning fuel from top to bottom

Even using an ordinary match as an example, you yourself can see for yourself the efficiency of burning from top to bottom. A match in an upright position with a flame at the bottom generates heat, which is enough to heat the thermometer to 60 ° C. If the match is turned over, due to the long burning, the thermometer can be heated up to 120 ° C. On the scale of a heating boiler, this principle ensures uniform and long-term combustion of the fuel, however, in this case, a water jacket is required, which will cover the entire surface of the combustion chamber. Registers in such a design are not required, but their presence will add 5-10% to the overall efficiency of the boiler.

To make such a wood-burning boiler with your own hands, you will need a powerful grinder for cutting metal and another one for grinding. However, it is better to cut the metal when buying at a metal base, since when cutting with a grinder, there is a high probability of overheating the material at the cut point, which will make it too brittle. You also need a good welding machine. Choose sheet metal with a minimum thickness of 4 mm, preferably heat-resistant. You will also need several pipes, one with a diameter of 300 mm and a length of one and a half to two meters with a wall thickness of 3-4 mm and pipes with a diameter of 60 mm and 100 mm - the first for the air distributor, the second for the chimney.

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