The DIY Central Heating System - Burnable Fuel Source!

Watch Ryder

Garth, my relative has been working on this thing for a while, last year he got it working and warming up his stone cottage nicely. These three videos tell the tale of it being made and it's operation.

I am sorry but no video of the radiator and much of the indoor plumbing was filmed alas, as I was away from Europe at that time.

However the videos may be interesting to those keen on getting their heating needs taking off the grid from the rip-off power-companies.

This is Garth explaining the near-miss when he was test firing the system! LOL

The main thing is to have water in the thing as the back-boiler transfers hot water into it, thus heating it. Also you'll need some pumps and thermostats and non-return valves so your Header Tank doesn't get heated up. Above all, keep the air-locks to a minimum as they can, in extreme cases, lead to a boiler explosion (as one of the commenters to the third video says happened with his relative).

Enjoy and let us know your thoughts...

Mat the trasher

In one word, reckless!

Produce CO and unburned hydrocarbons and dump them into the atmosphere, not to mention it’s probably less efficient than an open fire and more awkward to use.
Is burning domestic waste at home not illegal in the UK?

Crazy behaviour.

catastrophy

Wow

Sh1tbag OToole

Mat the trasher wrote: »

In one word, reckless!

Produce CO and unburned hydrocarbons and dump them into the atmosphere, not to mention it’s probably less efficient than an open fire and more awkward to use.
Is burning domestic waste at home not illegal in the UK?

Crazy behaviour.

It's hard to get less efficient than an open fire, this fella made a decent attempt at limiting the airflow and it's well enclosed. More awkward yes, but unfortunately there is no avoiding having a door if you want efficiency

CO easily becomes CO2 which is reasonably harmless unless you are James Lovelock. I don't see this one being particularly prone to spewing out unburnt fuel either.

Feck it his tolerances might not be as tight as something you buy from a big factory that was opened by a smiling politician wearing a suit, and has a CE label and an Energy rating stuck to the side but it's not a bad job

sheesh

Thought it was quiet good.

very rough and ready but it works. He probably should have insulated the pipes coming in and out of the boiler. but for a one man effort quiet impressive. I like the way he has the burning done outside so it is safe from CO. the only other problem I can see is that the flames go well past the boiler so he is loosing their heat. He gets the chipboard for free he says so for him it is free heat.

lostboy75

i agree, nicely done. would be interesting to have seen a different design though that encased the pipes. not sure how to do that without building another structure around it again though. would need to be careful lighting it in cold weather in case pipes froze.

my3cents

sheesh wrote: »

Thought it was quiet good.

very rough and ready but it works. He probably should have insulated the pipes coming in and out of the boiler. but for a one man effort quiet impressive. I like the way he has the burning done outside so it is safe from CO. the only other problem I can see is that the flames go well past the boiler so he is loosing their heat. He gets the chipboard for free he says so for him it is free heat.

Have you ever burnt chipboard? I used to get tons for free but won't burn it anymore as the smoke stinks and is toxic http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9063.0
.

sheesh

my3cents wrote: »

Have you ever burnt chipboard? I used to get tons for free but won't burn it anymore as the smoke stinks and is toxic http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9063.0
.

fair enough ideally he would be coppicing trees.

Watch Ryder

sheesh wrote: »

fair enough ideally he would be coppicing trees.

He does that too!

Watch Ryder

my3cents wrote: »

Have you ever burnt chipboard? I used to get tons for free but won't burn it anymore as the smoke stinks and is toxic http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=9063.0
.

That's why you burn it in the countryside and where the fuel-burner is outdoors.

To be honest it's more toxic to be burning plastics than chipboard. A bit of glue is fck all to be honest and exaggerated as typical scaremongers like to do.

Watch Ryder

Mat the trasher wrote: »

In one word, reckless!

Produce CO and unburned hydrocarbons and dump them into the atmosphere, not to mention it’s probably less efficient than an open fire and more awkward to use.
Is burning domestic waste at home not illegal in the UK?

Crazy behaviour.

An open fire does not heat up a whole house unless you are living in a one-room shack.

This system gets 4 radiators in four different rooms blazing with heat, glorious heat.

Not illegal to burn domestic waste in the UK, although some councils don't like it.

Flood

Garth is my new hero

Watch Ryder

Flood wrote: »

Garth is my new hero

Garth says thanks and wants to show you his lumberjacking skills.

Got plenty of wood from this baby..

Flood

Garth would want to put down the chainsaw and his you tube videos, a quick google on Garth found this.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93368482

Watch Ryder

Flood wrote: »

Garth would want to put down the chainsaw and his you tube videos, a quick google on Garth found this.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93368482

LOL.

I know, I was the one that posted it! He can handle himself, a kind of skillful and fortunate destiny seems to favor him. That's how he rolls. He is the last of the old school heros showing the young pups how to, get 'err' done!

monkeynuz

A perfect example of why some people shouldn't be allowed to operate machinery....and not even much of a tree.

Watch Ryder

monkeynuz wrote: »

A perfect example of why some people shouldn't be allowed to operate machinery....and not even much of a tree.

I'm all for personal responsibility, people learn as they go along, it's the best way. Just like riding a bike.

Flood

Watch Ryder wrote: »

LOL.

I know, I was the one that posted it! He can handle himself, a kind of skillful and fortunate destiny seems to favor him. That's how he rolls. He is the last of the old school heros showing the young pups how to, get 'err' done!

I am going to practice his ladder technique on cutting the tree tomorrow very insightful.

Watch Ryder

Flood wrote: »

I am going to practice his ladder technique on cutting the tree tomorrow very insightful.

LOL.

I wouldn't, that was a reckless vid, but I'm all for the spirit of independence and get 'err done though.

Kevhog1988

Would be perfect in a external shed/workshop attached to the house

anvilfour

Watch Ryder wrote: »

LOL.

I know, I was the one that posted it! He can handle himself, a kind of skillful and fortunate destiny seems to favor him. That's how he rolls. He is the last of the old school heros showing the young pups how to, get 'err' done!

Watch this is amazing! Just the sort of thing I want for my log cabin (in the plannin stages right now!)

I have spent the past few days looking at Geothermal energy but aside from requiring a fair amount of land to lay the piping, I am put off by the initial upfront costs... this is a great idea, your buddy I imagine can burn logs or any other combustible fuel?

Dtp1979

I just came across this thread by chance. I have to say, as a plumber with nearly 20 years experience, that homemade system is one of the most idiotic and reckless pieces of plumbing I've ever seen.
It's literally a ticking bomb waiting to explode. There's so many things done wrong in that system that it's almost funny.
Any idiot can make a boiler heat radiators, but this idiot has done it so dangerously that it's scary. Tell that lad to get a plumber in who understands the basic principals of piping a solid fuel appliance

monkeynuz

Dtp1979 wrote: »

I just came across this thread by chance. I have to say, as a plumber with nearly 20 years experience, that homemade system is one of the most idiotic and reckless pieces of plumbing I've ever seen.
It's literally a ticking bomb waiting to explode. There's so many things done wrong in that system that it's almost funny.
Any idiot can make a boiler heat radiators, but this idiot has done it so dangerously that it's scary. Tell that lad to get a plumber in who understands the basic principals of piping a solid fuel appliance

Save your breath dtp, people like that won't listen to those that actually know what they're talking about, "that's how they roll"

my3cents

anvilfour wrote: »

Watch this is amazing! Just the sort of thing I want for my log cabin (in the plannin stages right now!)

I have spent the past few days looking at Geothermal energy but aside from requiring a fair amount of land to lay the piping, I am put off by the initial upfront costs... this is a great idea, your buddy I imagine can burn logs or any other combustible fuel?

It would be possible to do something similar and for a log cabin the plumbing could be quite simple provided you can supply water on demand to a header tank but I can't see the point of putting the fire outside.

We heat what is in effect a log cabin (wooden extension on a house) can cook and heat water with a multi fuel cooker with a small back boiler.

If you got a second hand cooker, new plumbing fittings and did it all yourself you could do a decent safe job of it for well under €1.500. iirc our stove new was about €3.5k and the rest of the plumbing about €500. Remember this is only a simple direct hot water system with no rads but it needs no pump and no electric to work. You still need a plumber that understands old solid fuel installations to advise on a safe design and to check it over before you first fire it. I have a next door neighbor who is a retired plumber and a mate who is a heating engineer and they helped me with the basics and checked my installation out.

You can still get replacement back boilers for some of the common old cookers (Waterford Stanley etc) or you can get new ones made up to fit, fire bricks are still available so provided the metal work isn't burnt out you can keep an old multi fuel cooker going for years.

anvilfour

my3cents wrote: »

It would be possible to do something similar and for a log cabin the plumbing could be quite simple provided you can supply water on demand to a header tank but I can't see the point of putting the fire outside.

We heat what is in effect a log cabin (wooden extension on a house) can cook and heat water with a multi fuel cooker with a small back boiler.

If you got a second hand cooker, new plumbing fittings and did it all yourself you could do a decent safe job of it for well under €1.500. iirc our stove new was about €3.5k and the rest of the plumbing about €500. Remember this is only a simple direct hot water system with no rads but it needs no pump and no electric to work. You still need a plumber that understands old solid fuel installations to advise on a safe design and to check it over before you first fire it. I have a next door neighbor who is a retired plumber and a mate who is a heating engineer and they helped me with the basics and checked my installation out.

You can still get replacement back boilers for some of the common old cookers (Waterford Stanley etc) or you can get new ones made up to fit, fire bricks are still available so provided the metal work isn't burnt out you can keep an old multi fuel cooker going for years.

My3Cents,

Thank you so much for taking the time to lay this out. My darling girl and I have been looking at AGA Stoves, though I am more of a Rangemaster man... I love the idea that you can put pretty much any type of fuel in there from logs to peat to coal and so on...

Do you mind if I ask if your stove has reasonable running costs? I appreciate it doesn't connect to rads but imagine it gives off enough heat to keep the room warm?

my3cents

You can't put any fuel in an AGA, they are very fussy, anthracite is the only thing or them really.

Take a look at the Waterford Stanley Errigal its the one we have. With the smaller boiler in it it will do hot water and a rad in the bathroom. If you are tight on a budget the old Waterford Stanley Super 8 is identical in many ways without the fancy extras and can be picked up quite cheap second hand and restored if necessary.

The Errigal unlike the AGA will burn anything (both now made by the same company AGA ownes them).

my3cents

One other point with solid fuel in any stove or cooker you really need to do the chimney and flue right. If you are sucking all the heat out of the fuel in a stove/cooker then there is none left to keep a traditional chimney clear of tar and soot so you need a stainless steel flue liner suitable for solid fuel. The liner needs much less heat to keep it warm enough to exhaust the tar and flue gases and minimise their build up. Also make sure any installation gives easy access to sweep the chimney, I've seen a good few that were "professionally" installed that are a nightmare to sweep.

anvilfour

my3cents wrote: »

You can't put any fuel in an AGA, they are very fussy, anthracite is the only thing or them really.

Take a look at the Waterford Stanley Errigal its the one we have. With the smaller boiler in it it will do hot water and a rad in the bathroom. If you are tight on a budget the old Waterford Stanley Super 8 is identical in many ways without the fancy extras and can be picked up quite cheap second hand and restored if necessary.

The Errigal unlike the AGA will burn anything (both now made by the same company AGA ownes them).

Thanks for this my3cents, my gf keeps joking I ogle stoves so much it's like porn...!

This is perfect... as you say you would need an experience plumber to install it and the radiators but you'd be home free after that.

Come the Apocalypse I am hoping logs won't be in too short a supply...

Kevhog1988

Have two sheds full of this free fuel