Video demonstrates a “water heater out of used parts and a Stovetec Rocket stove to start the thermo siphoning process.” Obviously you could make your own rocket stove for practically free. You could also use a sawdust stove like we discussed the other day.
YouTube
Engineer 775 YouTube channel
Related:
Hot Water Jackets for Wood Stoves
Rocket Stove Water Heater
StoveTec home page (high quality commercially made rocket stoves)
You could use a compost pile . And have compost to put in your garden after it is done cooking. Although this is not a video I produced, I have heated water with a compost pile, the water was so hot that I needed to mix it with cold to be comfortable in the shower. Jean Pain managed to get 18 months of water heating out of one pile.
Not a particularly efficient way to heat water, but effective.
The very concept of “endless” anything, including hot water, tends to promote wasteful behaviors. Too many of us, myself included at times, take resources for granted, and when something appears endless at the user interface, we assume that we can use all we want of it without any consequences. Almost everyone knows that nothing is ever truly “endless,” but when it is made to appear that way, it’s too easy to act as though it really is endless.
There is something to be said for a water heater that can run out of hot water, because it encourages bathers to hurry up and stop using water, and stop using energy to heat it, no matter what energy source is being used to supply that heat.
Nothing wrong with simply taking a standard Gas powered water heater, that has a flue that runs up through the center of the water tank, and removing the gas burner, and planting the whole thing on top of a wood stove such that the chimney of the stove runs through the water heater tank flue. Simple and effective. It’s not endless, but it’s cheap and easy if you find a salvage water heater that has had the burner go dead, and the tank is still in good shape. It also is already plumbed with all the standard connections and over pressure safety systems needed.
(Lots of those simply designed wood fired water heaters on YouTube also.)
I’m not trying to rain on this particular heat exchanger tube idea, as much as I’m attempting to draw attention to the various options and encourage thought.
If you are lucky enough to have a clean water supply that is effectively endless, and a wood supply that is also endless, and want to take 3 hour showers… this may be the way to go.
Most of us in the real world need to live on a budget, not just financially, but in the stuff we use on a daily basis so that we don’t run out of something.
It’s something to consider at least. Make up your own mind.
Yes, but keep in mind large families, families who do lots of canning, home-based businesses, etc. that need lots of hot water.
Update: Just because the hot water is available doesn’t mean you have to use it. It’s nice to have some in reserve just in case.
I grew up in a decent sized family, and I remember the battles for the bathroom.
My sister and eldest brother both would stay in there until as long as possible. Only when the hot water ran out on them, would they finally decide to leave and let someone else take a bath.
Yes, our family’s limited water heater made it possible for others to get into the bathroom.
It’s a good thing too. My eldest brother might still be in that bathroom today, decades later, shriveled up like a prune still taking a shower if the hot water was “endless.”
Very cool idea! This is an excellent way to really help you to live comfortably “off the grid” Thanks Doc.
I saw another video where they added thick insulation around the hot water tank that allowed them to keep the water hot for up to three days. There are numerous alternatives available and yet most people pay for hot water. In the case of the sawdust stove, you could put the copper tubing around the stove pipe and capture the heat going up the stack or chimney.