Gas cylinder oven with water circuit

Construction of a potbelly stove with a water circuit

What is a potbelly stove with a water circuit?

In fact, a potbelly stove equipped with a water circuit works by heating the liquid. More precisely, water evaporation washes the boiler from all sides. It turns out that the walls of the heating chamber warm up and a comfortable temperature is maintained much longer. The system, due to the water jacket and radiators, is capable of heating a small residential building or cottage.

Water, heated by hot flue gases, is supplied to the radiators, gives off its heat to them and returns to the tank

Advantages and disadvantages of a potbelly stove with a water heater

If you decide to build a potbelly stove with a water circuit, you should know about its main advantages:

High efficiency. The cost of such a unit is significantly lower than that of similar devices. And when using available materials, the cost is completely minimized. At the same time, the oven heats up quickly and retains heat for a long time.
Available types of fuel: coal, peat, firewood and other plant waste.
No connection to the power grid. The work is based on the natural circulation of the coolant.

Disadvantages common to any wood-burning stove:

Metal stoves, even with a water circuit, are inferior to modern heating in terms of efficiency, because some of the heat still escapes along with the smoke into the atmosphere.
A house heated by a potbelly stove may warm up unevenly.

The stove can only heat those rooms that are directly adjacent to it. Therefore, it was often necessary to install an additional stove in parts of the building remote from it.

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Furnace and heat exchanger design

The main component of this furnace is the heat exchanger. It is located in the combustion chamber and connected to the heating network. To create a heat exchanger, hollow steel pipes and sheet steel 5 mm thick can be used.

A furnace with a water circuit can be created on the basis of an already existing thermal unit. In other words, the water circuit is introduced into an already existing furnace. The main problem with this solution is related to the limited volume of the combustion chamber. In addition, there is a threat of overheating of the circuit, so when performing installation work it is important to comply with certain requirements for all components of the system:

Circuit. The best option is to purchase a ready-made register or order it from a special workshop. The technician will take the correct measurements and make a suitable circuit for your stove.
Pipes. For the heat exchanger, it is better to use pipes with a thickness of at least 3–5 mm. This size is optimal in terms of strength and durability and prevents the system from overheating.

The water circuit is made of thick-walled steel pipes and is erected directly above the firebox

When a heat exchanger is installed in the firebox, it reduces its working volume. This is not so critical if the furnace is being built from scratch. And when a wood-burning stove is converted to water heating equipment, this factor must be taken into account in all calculations, because it dramatically affects the total volume of fuel contained during one load and the overall performance of the system.

Photo gallery: options for self-made potbelly stoves

Making a potbelly stove with a water circuit with your own hands

To make a potbelly stove yourself, you will need skills in working with metal products and the ability to use a welding machine.

Determination of furnace parameters

When it is intended to use large firewood, the loading hole in the combustion zone is made 40x40 cm in size. If small pieces of wood or coal become fuel elements, then the acceptable hole parameters are 20x20 cm.

A small stove can be heated with large wood if the combustion chamber and loading hole are made of appropriate sizes

When welding metal plates onto the walls of a potbelly stove, the area of the heat-transmitting surface increases

If the stove is lined with brick, it will retain heat longer and release heat better

Video: project of a stove-stove with a water circuit

Required materials and tools

The oven shape can be:

In the first case, a pipe or metal barrel is used. Its minimum diameter is 30 cm, and the wall thickness is 5 mm. For rectangular and square ovens, sheet metal is used. For the chimney, a pipe with a minimum diameter of 10 cm and a thickness of 1 mm is used. A smaller thickness is needed here because the temperature of the gases removed from the furnace is much lower than in the combustion compartment.

To make a round potbelly stove, you can use an old gas cylinder

To work you will need the following set of tools:

Welding machine. The minimum current is 200 A.
Hammer.
Hard metal brush.
Grinder with a circle diameter of 12.5 cm.
Pliers.

Making a potbelly stove

Before marking, welding and installation, you must change into a work uniform to avoid burns or abrasions. Next, let's get to work:

Before cutting, it is important to determine the thickness of the walls of the intended potbelly stove. If you intend to use sheet metal, then first the bottom of the planned furnace is fastened to all its walls except the front. The bottom is set at a minimum height of 25–30 cm. This reduces the chance of heating the floor.

All walls except the front are sequentially welded to the bottom

Instead of slits in the bottom of the combustion chamber, you can cut a rectangular hole and place the finished grate in it

Installation of the water circuit

Typically, the composition of the water circuit is as follows:

Expansion tank.
Pipes.
Heat exchanger.
Radiators.

The water, having increased its temperature in the heat exchanger, flows through the pipes to the radiators. There it cools down, and the sweat is again sent to the heat exchanger.

Sequence of installation of the water circuit:

Installation of radiators.
Connecting pipes leading from the stove to the radiators. At the exit and entrance areas, fittings for adjustment are installed.

The simplest option for shut-off valves at the radiator inlet and outlet is a ball valve

Photo gallery: heat exchanger manufacturing options

Video: wood-burning stove with water cooling

Manufacturing of a two-chamber pyrolysis stove

The photo above shows a potbelly stove made from a gas cylinder. This version of the potbelly stove is more compact and economical. Instead of two 50 liter propane cylinders, we will need 1 24 liter propane vessel and 5 pipes with a diameter of 57 mm and a length of about 400 mm.

The operating principle is as follows:

The first propane cylinder is similar to the previous option. The only difference is that instead of grates, there are slits cut on top of the cylinder itself.
There is an opening on top of the cylinder. 5 heat exchanger pipes fit there. Through these pipes the smoke rises into the secondary chamber. Following this path, the heated air releases some of the heat into the room.
Additionally, warm air is supplied to the secondary chamber through a separate channel. A pyrolysis effect is created - the smoke burns out in the fuel chamber and releases additional heat. And only after that they finally come out.

The power of such a horizontal stove can reach up to 5 kW. This is enough to heat 50 m2 of usable area.

Making a pyrolysis (long-burning) two-chamber stove is not much more difficult. It is more compact, but has less power. In the same way, we will prepare tools, materials and you can make the necessary drawings.

Materials and tools

You will need the following materials:

electrodes
cutting wheels
1 gas cylinder 24 liters
sheet 2 mm thick
corner for making “legs”
fittings with a diameter of 20 mm
pipe diameter 57 mm
pipe diameter 20 mm
other

You will need the same tools:

portable welding machine
"Bulgarian"
drill
drill
other tool.

Below is a drawing of a potbelly stove made from a 24-liter gas cylinder.

Step-by-step instruction

Diagram of a two-chamber pyrolysis stove

Your actions should be like this:

We cut a hole for the stove measuring 260x200 mm in the bottom of the propane cylinder.
Make an ash pan and weld it to the bottom. Weld the supports.
Make a grate.
We make a heat exchanger according to the drawing above. We cut the pipes in a checkerboard pattern. It is critical to maintain all distances.
We weld a pipe with a diameter of 20 mm for an additional supply of warm air, having first bent it at a right angle.
We cut a hole in the cylinder and weld the heat exchanger.
Now let's make a secondary chamber with a chimney.
We use a blank cut from a cylinder as a cover for the chimney. It is needed for longer burning.

Operation of a water-cooled potbelly stove

It should be noted that when installing a heat exchanger in a furnace in a water circuit, the liquid may boil directly during the process of heating the room. To prevent this, circulation equipment must be installed. Thanks to it, heat will be distributed evenly throughout the house. In addition, you will need to install two additional devices:

Uninterruptable power source. It is needed to power the pump during a power outage.
Bypass. This is a piece of pipe that allows water to flow directly, bypassing the heat exchanger. If there is an electrical outlet next to the stove, you can use an automation system that will turn the flow through the bypass on and off depending on the temperature of the coolant. Otherwise, they install shut-off valves and operate them manually.

About the principle of top combustion

Today, there are 2 types of heaters that use this principle - homemade Bubafonya and boilers from the Lithuanian brand Stropuva. The bottom line is this: solid fuel is loaded inside a combustion chamber made in the form of a vertical cylinder, and then ignited from above. From there, air is constantly supplied to the combustion zone through a vertical pipe ending with a disk weight with air flow distributors.

Reference. It is not known which top-combustion unit was invented earlier - a Lithuanian boiler or a Russian stove. But many domestic manufacturers picked up the idea and began to produce heat generators operating on this principle, equipping them with automation and even forced pressurization.

Actually, the traditional Bubafonya stove consists of only 3 parts, shown in the photo:

a cylindrical body with a chimney pipe, installed vertically (available with or without grates);
top cover with a hole cut in the center for the air duct;
piston - a pipe with a welded “pancake” equipped with ribs at the bottom - air diffusers.

As already mentioned, the chamber is filled with any solid fuel - firewood, sawdust, wood chips or coal. The filling is pressed down by the weight of the piston, and a lid is placed on top of the pipe. The stove is ready for use. Now let's learn more about how it functions:

After ignition and installation of the weight with the lid, air is sucked into the combustion zone through a vertical pipe due to the draft of the chimney. Coming out from below, under the “pancake”, the flow spreads in all directions thanks to distributors made of steel strips.
Flue and pyrolysis gases go around the edges of the disk and rush to the upper zone, to the chimney opening. Secondary air also enters here, penetrating into the gap between the cover and the pipe (it is not specially sealed). As a result, flammable gases emitted by wood or coal are burned.
As the logs burn, the piston lowers until it reaches the bottom or grate, after which a new load of fuel is required.

Scheme of upper combustion of solid fuel

It has been tested in practice that one load of firewood into a firebox made from a standard gas cylinder lasts for about 5 hours, and coal for 10-12 hours. Therefore, Bubafonya is rightfully considered a long-burning stove.

How to make a stove from scrap materials

To make the case, you can take any metal product that has a cylindrical shape:

propane tank;
receiver from a railway car;
regular barrel with a volume of 100 or 200 liters;
pipe with a diameter of 300-500 mm.

Bubafonya stove from a large barrel

Note. The Bubafonya stove, made with your own hands from a barrel, does not last too long due to the thin walls that quickly burn out. The problem is solved simply - the unusable barrel is replaced with a whole one. The operation will take literally 30 minutes, which is required to weld the chimney pipe.

The piston is welded from a steel pipe, the diameter of which depends on the size of the fuel chamber. For a diameter of 300 mm (like a cylinder), a pipe of 57 x 3 mm is sufficient. A two-hundred-liter barrel needs more air, so the diameter of the air duct increases to 76 x 3 mm. The cross-section of the chimney pipe is selected accordingly, in the first case it will be 10, in the second - 15 cm. A steel sheet 1 cm thick will do for the load; a strip of 40 x 4 or 50 x 4 mm will be used for the distributors.

The most common design shown in the drawing is made from a gas cylinder in the following order:

Unscrew the valve of the cylinder, fill it with water and cut off the cap with a grinder, focusing on the factory weld. Cut a hole in it with a diameter of 60 mm, and weld a shell made of steel strip along the contour for a tight fit to the end of the body.
Cut holes for venting gases and cleaning the ash pan, as shown in the drawing. Make a grate from 18-22 mm reinforcement and place it on two corners welded at the bottom of the firebox, as shown in the photo.
Install a door or cleanout hatch and weld the smoke pipe.
Cut a disk out of thick metal, make a hole in the center and attach the pipe by welding. The diffusers are made from bent strips, welding them to the back side of the load. To regulate the flow, install an eccentric valve at the second end of the pipe. That's it, the stove parts are ready.

Advice. It is very important to make distributors from bent strip. Their arrangement promotes fan-like dispersion of air in the firebox and uniform burning of wood.

Installation of Bubafoni and its connection to the chimney is carried out according to the standard scheme, as seen above in the picture. If you did not make grates and an ash pit door, then it is better to place the body on fireclay bricks so that the concrete in the garage does not crack due to heat. The lifting height of the chimney pipe is at least 4 m, and preferably 5 m. To get more visual information about the design and operation of the stove, we suggest watching the video:

Do-it-yourself three-way potbelly stove

A three-way potbelly stove (pictured above) is two 50-liter gas vessels welded to each other at right angles. The operating principle is as follows:

The first is the actual horizontal potbelly stove made from a gas cylinder using wood. It is equipped with all the details characteristic of a stove: a ash pan, a loading chamber for firewood, and grate bars. Firewood is loaded here and ignited.
The second vessel is a unique design in its simplicity and genius. It is divided by internal partitions in such a way that smoke from fuel combustion, passing through it, changes its trajectory three times. The speed slows down and the oven body gives off more heat. Eventually, through the outlet pipe, the smoke comes out.
To increase the heating surface, additional fins are used..
As in a traditional oven, the air supply is regulated through the ash pan.

It is quite possible to cook food on such a potbelly stove made from two gas cylinders.

Before we begin production, we will figure out what materials and tools we will need and prepare the necessary drawings. It is very good if you have welding skills. If not, then any specialist using ready-made drawings will bring your project to life. A video that can be easily found on the Internet can also help.

Materials and tools

We will need the following tools:

portable welding machine
"Bulgarian"
drill
drill
other tool.

Maintaining a welding machine is not cost-effective, so it can be rented if necessary. The rest can always be found by a home craftsman.

There are also few materials:

electrodes
cutting wheels
2 gas cylinders of 50 liters
sheet 2 mm thick
corner for making “legs”
fittings with a diameter of 20 mm
other

Step-by-step instruction

Scheme of a three-way potbelly stove

We make metal blanks according to the drawing above.
We cut out the necessary holes in the cylinder. One is for the stove, the second is for the smoke to escape.
Cut off the bottom of the second cylinder. At the end we cut a hole for a pipe with a diameter of 100 mm. We cut the balloon so that it fits tightly onto the first one, as shown in the drawing above.
Make a grate.
We make a blower. We weld the legs, hinges and door frames.
We make doors. We seal all junction points.
The scraps from the cylinder should be used for partitions in a vertical cylinder.
Weld one cylinder to another, weld the chimney.
Weld additional fins to increase the heating area.

Bubafonya with a water jacket

Many home craftsmen make this stove with a water circuit, turning it into a full-fledged long-burning boiler for water heating at home. If you want to follow their example, we suggest studying the drawing of a heating unit made from a pipe with a diameter of 40 cm:

During assembly you will encounter one difficult moment. At home, it is impossible to roll a steel sheet 2 mm thick and give it a cylindrical shape; rollers are needed. There are several ways out - take a larger diameter pipe or bend the metal at different angles. How you can make a square and hexagonal water jacket for Bubafoni is shown in the diagram:

Step-by-step manufacturing guide

Before proceeding with the actual creation of the heating device, it is necessary to release all gas and condensate. In order to check how free the cylinder is, smear the outlet hole on the valve with soap or concentrated detergent - as soon as it stops bubbling, you can proceed.
If the valve is removable, carefully remove it. If not, make a hole in the bottom with a drill and twist the valve. However, please note that even if all the gas escapes, there is still a risk of explosion. To protect yourself, try not to press the drill too hard while drilling and constantly pour water on the drill.

Photo 2 Drill a hole in the bottom with a drill and unscrew the valve

After the valve is removed, fill the cylinder with water and leave it for a few minutes to completely remove all gas elements.
Cut two holes on the cylinder, as shown in the photo. Width – within a third of the diameter of the cylinder. Make the first opening 20 cm high, the second 40 cm, the jumper between them is at least 5 cm. So you have an improvised combustion chamber where you can even use solid fuel.

Photo 3 Cut two holes in the cylinder

Now you need to separate the combustion chamber and the heat exchanger. To do this, cut a circle from a 4 mm sheet of metal according to the diameter of the cylinder (standard – 2.95 cm). Next, in the center of this circle, cut out another one with a diameter of 10 cm, which is needed for the burner.

Photo 4 Cut a circle from a sheet of metal

Making a burner. Take a pipe with a diameter of 10 cm with a wall thickness of 4 mm and a height of 20 cm and drill several holes around the perimeter. The diameter is arbitrary – 1.5-2 cm.

Photo 5 Making a burner from a pipe

Be sure to clean all holes of burrs. If this is not done, over time the settling soot will lead to their narrowing and deterioration of the characteristics of the furnace when working from a propane cylinder.

Place a membrane on the burner and hot weld it exactly in the center.

Photo 6 Membrane for burner

Insert the workpiece into the cylinder and weld it around the entire perimeter. If you weld a pipe along the lower border of the partition, it will be possible to fill the furnace during exhaust not only with waste oil, but also with solid fuel - wood chips, briquettes, pellets, etc.

Photo 7 The coupling is installed in the cylinder

Prepare the evaporator bowl. Since we are talking about a garage or auto repair shop, a brake disc is ideal for this purpose.

Photo 8 The evaporator bowl is ready

If you don’t have one at hand, make the thicket from any heat-resistant metal that will not deform due to temperature changes.

Weld the bottom and lid, leaving a wide hole where the used oil will flow. This is a rough version of the stove, which, however, is the most popular (watch the video).

Photo 9 We brew the bottom and lid

Video 1 Starting a waste oil furnace

You can improve the design by welding a pipe onto the lid at an angle of up to 40 degrees and cutting it to form a “spout.” This is done to make it convenient to pour oil.

Photo 10 Pipe for more convenient oil filling

And if you screw a regular ball valve onto the pipe (see photo), the design will also be safe. Because it will allow you to shut off the fuel supply in case of problems in the tank.

Photo 11 Installation of a ball valve

A pipe with a diameter of 10 cm, which enters the housing strictly horizontally, also acts as a heat exchanger.

Photo 12 Heat exchanger inside

Photo 13 Heat exchanger outside

To concentrate hot air, a heat-reflecting screen made of 4 mm metal sheet can be welded to the end of the pipe.

Furnace design with water circuit

This option is an improved model of a homemade stove using waste from an oxygen cylinder, which, if necessary, can even heat a living room. To do this, it will need to be integrated into the general heating system of the house.

Why the stove smokes - operating features

Along with the important advantages that contribute to its popularity, the Bubafonya long-burning stove has a number of significant disadvantages:

requirement for good draft in the chimney, without which it smokes into the room during heating;
impossibility of reloading firewood until the previous portion burns out;
in the slow smoldering mode, little heat is released, while the chimney quickly “overgrows” with soot;
a burning firebox cannot be completely extinguished, since air will still penetrate through the gap between the pipe and the body.

This suggests a conclusion: during operation, the stove requires constant supervision, and the chimney must be periodically cleaned or burned at maximum mode and with high-quality fuel.

Important point. Bubafonya can smoke for one more reason - reloading with fuel. That is, when the user, for the sake of burning time, stuffs firewood into the firebox at the very top, which should not be done. Loading height – 5 cm below the edge of the smoke hole.

Reviews about the stove on the forum pages

The craftsmen who have made and use a top-burning stove speak mostly positively about it, but with caution. Here are some reviews from real participants of the famous forum:

Andrey, Naberezhnye Chelny, Russian Federation.

I made such a stove to heat a 6 x 6 m box in 2 days. I'm happy with the result; it burns on waste chipboard for 6 hours. What improvements are needed: an air casing and a blower, then the room warms up completely and quickly. Second: you need an ash unloading hatch; turning the body over is very inconvenient.

Valentin, Saransk, Russian Federation.

Bubafonya is good for garages and other similar premises; it cannot be placed in a house. It smokes when there are gusts of wind outside and when reloading with firewood, and with a water jacket it quickly becomes clogged with soot due to the drop in temperature. I made conclusions after a year of testing and modifications to the design. You can also heat with damp wood, but then the heat is much less, which is natural.

Yuri, Vytegra, Russian Federation

I made Bubafonya from an old sauna stove - 500 mm pipe and 8 mm wall, height - 1 m. After launch, the result was pleasantly surprising; it burned on birch logs for almost 9 hours. Only it takes too long to warm up, but in my case the reason is clear - the metal is too thick, you need twice as thin, then the efficiency will increase.

Vitaly, Grodno, Republic of Belarus.

This device was installed at the dacha, the initial goal was to heat at least one large room. Everything turned out better than I expected, the room is very warm, and you load firewood twice a day. Next winter I want to do it with the water circuit and connect the old batteries in the adjacent rooms.

Features and types of homemade stoves from a gas cylinder

All solid fuel stoves made from a gas cylinder have common design elements:

A housing in which holes are cut for the door, vent and exhaust pipe.
Blower.
Exhaust pipe equipped with a throttle valve.
A grate located low above the bottom of the stove. Fuel is placed on it and its combustion occurs.
Internal walls that form the flow of combustion products.
Legs.

Through the door, fuel is loaded and ash and slag are removed from the grate space. An air flow enters the combustion chamber through the blower and the combustion mode is adjusted. The blower is made as a structural part of the door or is made in the form of a separate hole with a damper. A throttle-type damper is installed into the exhaust pipe, which also regulates the combustion mode. Gas cylinder stoves are available in vertical and horizontal versions. A horizontal oven is easier to implement, but takes up a lot of space. The vertical one can be placed in any corner of the room; it has significantly better draft and fuel combustion efficiency.

In liquid fuel furnaces (they are also called oil or drip furnaces), instead of a grate, a burner of one design or another is fixed and a fuel supply pipeline is installed. The door is much smaller - it is not needed for loading fuel and removing ash and slag, but only for adjusting the air flow, as well as for installing and servicing the burner.

To the basic configuration of a gas cylinder stove, a home craftsman can add various improvements: a burn-protection guard, burners for heating and preparing food and drinks, hangers for drying clothes and shoes, etc.

Job

A stove of this type, like any heat generator with top combustion, does not stop working with the highest heat output only when the chimney is perfectly heated. Therefore, before loading a key portion of fuel into the firebox, the device must:

warm up the chimney perfectly. For these purposes, you can use any quickly flammable fuel, for example, paper lumps, sawdust or shavings. It should burn not in the combustion chamber, but in the ash pit. The level of heating of the chimney can be judged by the attenuation of the sound or a change in its tone. Next we proceed to loading the key fuel into the combustion chamber. There is no need to light it at all; it should flare up from the coals remaining from the burnt “fast” fuel;
manually adjust the flow of air into the combustion chamber. A rocket stove in a car garage cannot independently adjust to changing environmental conditions and the best fuel characteristics, so it must be adjusted manually. After loading the key fuel batch, the ash door must be fully opened, and when a characteristic hum appears in the furnace, it must be closed so much that the tone of the sound in the furnace is reduced to a rustling sound. As the wood burns, the door must be closed more tightly, achieving the same rustling sound. If this is not done, then excess air will enter the combustion chamber and cool the transition gas mixture. In this case, the pyrolysis process ends immediately and the oven begins to produce a roaring sound

Only dry wood can be used as fuel for such a stove, since the appearance of excess moisture when igniting wet wood provokes reverse draft and becomes an obstacle to creating the temperature necessary to start the pyrolysis process.

To ensure the safety of clients when working, the following rules must be followed:

do not use liquid fuels for kindling and do not add them to the stove during combustion;
beware of contact between open areas of the body and the surfaces of the furnace, since the cylinders and other metal parts will become very hot in the combustion chamber;
Do not place the device near flammable surfaces;
Clean the chimney at least once a week, and preferably after any use of the device.

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A rocket stove made from a gas cylinder is considered a practical device for heating non-residential premises of a modest area. You can create this device with your own hands. Gas cylinders are made of very high quality steel alloy, resistant to high temperatures and corrosion. Thanks to this, such a stove will be able to last a long time, and the process of its manufacture does not take enough time.

How to choose a cylinder

A 5 liter household gas cylinder is too small to heat the room. And fuel can only fit in it in the form of briquettes or wood chips. A 12-liter cylinder will allow you to develop thermal power up to 3 kW. This stove can warm a small lodge or tent. Gas cylinders of 27 liters provide up to 7 kW, we can talk about heating a small garden house, greenhouse or garage.

Gas cylinder options

And finally, the king of household gas cylinders is the 50-liter giant. This is the best option for creating a potbelly stove with your own hands, suitable for heating a country house. 40-liter industrial gas cylinders have too small a diameter and thick walls. It is better to cut and shorten them. Thick walls will take longer to warm up and retain heat longer. Such a stove will also last significantly longer.

How it works?

A potbelly stove is a primitive version of a metal wood-burning stove. This device works extremely simply: firewood is placed in the firebox, it burns, the stove body heats up and gives off heat to the surrounding air. Smoke gases are removed through the chimney, and the ash is poured through the grate into the ash pan, which should be cleaned periodically.

One of the main advantages of a potbelly stove is its simplicity of design. There are no strict dimensions here, the main thing is that the body can withstand heat and the chimney works properly. An experienced craftsman will make such a stove in just a couple of hours. And you can burn almost any dry wood in it: logs and sawdust. On our website there is an article with a detailed description of the process of making a potbelly stove with your own hands.

A potbelly stove is also heated with other flammable materials: diesel fuel, coal, peat, household waste, etc. If desired, you can cook quite successfully on such a stove. This point should be considered before the construction begins in order to create a smooth cooking surface.

But one should also take into account the disadvantages of such a heating solution. For starters, there is a high risk of burns and fires.

For the potbelly stove you need to choose a special place, decorated with fire-resistant materials. It is advisable for it to stand to the side, where no one will accidentally touch the body and get burned.

Such a metal structure weighs a lot, so we are not talking about any mobility of the device. It will be difficult to move a potbelly stove to heat different rooms.

Such stoves are usually used to heat utility rooms where there is no electricity or where it is supplied intermittently: garage, barn, workshop, etc.

Another problem is low efficiency, since part of the thermal energy during the combustion of wood literally flies out into the chimney. There are various ways to retain heat and modify your stove slightly to make it work more efficiently.

Finally, you need to take care of good ventilation of the room in which the potbelly stove is installed, since such a device burns a large amount of oxygen during operation.

So, a potbelly stove consists of a metal body, the role of which is usually “invited” to be an old gas cylinder. It is necessary to make two doors in the case: large and small. The first serves to load fuel, the second is needed as a blower, through which air enters from the combustion chamber to ensure the combustion process and draft.

Below, at some distance from the bottom of the structure, a grate should be welded. It can be made from thick wire or simply take a sheet of thick metal and cut long slits in it. The distance between the grate rods should be such that the combustion material does not spill down into the ash pan.

If the potbelly stove will be heated only with wood, the gaps of the grate are made larger, but when it is intended to use wood chips, the grate should be made more frequent.

The ash box can be welded from sheet metal or take a ready-made metal container of a suitable size and resistant to strong heat. Some people prefer to do without an ash pan altogether, simply scooping out the ash from the lower section as needed, although this is not very convenient. As a rule, the chimney for a potbelly stove is oriented upward to provide the necessary draft.

Technology for making a stove from a conventional gas cylinder

IMPORTANT! Before starting work with any gas cylinder, it is necessary to completely remove any remaining gas from it! To do this, the cylinder is filled with water and detergent, designed to rid the future stove of gas odors and mercaptan fragrances.

Next, mark the holes for the door, vent and exhaust pipe and cut them out with a grinder. You can purchase a ready-made cast iron stove door in a block with a blower. In this case, a frame of their corners is welded to the opening in the gas cylinder, and a cast door is bolted to it. If aesthetics are not so important, then the door is made from a cut piece of a cylinder. In this case, a more or less wide gap will inevitably remain. In the most primitive version, there are no grates and protrusions that form the flow of combustion products.

Vertical oven assembly process

A vertical oven is more difficult to manufacture, but requires less space for its installation and has better user qualities. The volume of the cylinder is used more rationally. The principle of operation of the furnace does not change, but is implemented with greater efficiency. In the vertical version, two doors are made - for loading fuel and for the ash tray. Grate bars made of reinforcement are welded between these doors.

In principle, the entire upper part of the furnace can be dedicated to loading fuel, which will ensure long-term operation on one load. However, the volume of the combustion chamber is often reduced to accommodate additional heat exchangers in the upper part. One of the interesting options is through metal pipes welded into the upper part of the gas cylinder, through which air is driven by a fan (necessarily heat-resistant).

The process of assembling a vertical stove from a cylinder

Such a device will significantly increase heat transfer and reduce the heating time of the room several times. If forced water circulation is established through the passage pipes, a water heating system can be installed.

How to increase efficiency?

To make your stove more efficient, there are several simple ways. First, you should insulate the chimney pipe to retain some of the heat that escapes with smoke gases. Various methods can be used to increase the area of contact between the heated metal and the surrounding air.

Some experts recommend making the chimney not strictly vertical, but curved. This will increase the path of combustion waste and allow some of its heat to return to the room. But it should be remembered that the complicated design of the chimney can negatively affect the draft, so you should not get carried away with excessive bends.

Sometimes metal wings are welded to the body of the potbelly stove, for example, made from a corner or any suitable strips of metal. If the size of the stove allows, you can weld a horizontal sheet of metal on top and make an additional hole in it not for the chimney, but for a pan or kettle.

The hole is closed with a special composite lid made of several concentric circles. By removing or adding circles, you can adjust the degree of heating.

Another option for upgrading a potbelly stove is a brick case. The masonry is done around the stove, leaving a small gap between the metal body and the brick. The brick will absorb some of the thermal energy and then gradually release it to the surrounding air.

An alternative version of this modernization is a metal mesh around the chimney, into which pieces of brick or stone are placed. This is a popular solution for stoves installed in a bathhouse, a variation of a heater. But it should be remembered that only river “pebbles” of uniform color and without inclusions are suitable for this. If the stone is made up of layers of different types, it may rupture when exposed to high temperatures.

Long-burning stove bubafonya

A bubafonya-type stove made from a gas cylinder is a potbelly stove only in appearance. The design and principle of its operation are significantly different from a simple potbelly stove.

Scheme of operation of the bubafonya long-burning stove

Furnaces of this type are produced by several industrial enterprises, but they are not cheap. If you have an equipped home workshop and basic skills in welding and plumbing, a bubafonya stove from a gas cylinder is quite affordable to make with your own hands.

Selection of cylinder and materials

The furnace body is made from an old empty gas cylinder. For effective operation and high heat transfer of the structure, you need to decide on the size of the container. A small room can be heated using a five-liter cylinder. Small stoves with low power are constructed from containers ranging in size from 12 to 30 liters.

The industrial one (40 l volume) has thick walls, and the diameter of the inner surface is too small to accommodate a sufficient amount of fuel. The best option is a 50-liter propane container with a height of 85 cm and a diameter of 30 cm.

The cylinder is carefully prepared before work:

unscrew the valve and leave the container for a day to allow the remaining gas to escape;
then turn it over and drain the condensate into an unnecessary container;
the balloon is filled with water and kept for several hours;
pour out the water.

The remaining propane must be removed from the container, otherwise the cylinder may explode during welding. Additionally, you need to prepare some materials and tools:

chimney pipe;
steel sheets with a thickness of at least 3 mm;
reinforcing bars;
metal corners;
pliers, chisel and hammer;
welding machine;
Sander;
drill with drill bits.

Doors for the furnace are made from steel, and fittings are necessary to create grates. If it is not possible to make these parts for the stove from a gas cylinder with your own hands, then you can buy ready-made elements in specialized stores.

In this video, learn more about the potbelly stove from a cylinder:

Features and principle of operation

It implements the principle of long-term combustion, based on the physical and chemical phenomenon of pyrolysis - the smoldering of fuel with a lack of oxygen and the combustion of gases released during this process. One load of firewood is enough for 4-8 hours of burning. The design of the stove is different in that the air supply pipe with a damper at the end is located vertically and exits through the top of the stove with a small, non-sealed gap,

The pipe has vertical mobility. At its lower end there is a massive disk with guides for the flow of gases. The chimney is welded to the top of the stove on the side. Firewood is loaded into the oven vertically, the disk presses it against the grate. As the lower layers of fuel burn, the disk lowers and combustion air is supplied to the upper layer of fuel, which is subjected to pyrolysis.

Advantages and disadvantages

The advantages of the Bubafonya top combustion stove are as follows:

High fuel efficiency. Heat does not escape into the chimney.
Ease of manufacture and operation.

However, the design also has disadvantages:

It is impossible to replenish the fuel supply in the stove before it is completely burned.
It is impossible to interrupt the combustion process.
When the sand draft decreases, it smokes.
Not suitable for quickly warming up cold rooms.

Necessary materials for making a bubafonya stove

The necessary materials are the same gas cylinder, fittings for the grate, a 90-degree pipe, a metal pipe one and a half meters long and a heavy disk with a diameter slightly smaller than the internal diameter of the gas cylinder.

A self-made bubafonya stove made from a gas cylinder is suitable for heating a greenhouse or other uninhabited space.

Features of operation

During operation, it is important to remember the following: Firewood in layers must be of the same length, they should be loaded carefully and evenly, avoiding distortions

Diagram of a long-burning stove Bubafonya

For initial warming up and entering the pyrolysis mode, the stove requires an hour or more, and up to one fifth of the fuel is consumed.

It is also necessary to carefully monitor the position of the damper to prevent smoke from entering the room.

Furnace in production

A waste oil furnace operates as follows: a supply of oil is poured into the fuel compartment, it is ignited, and more or less air flow is supplied through the air damper, thus controlling the power of the furnace. Combustion products rise through a vertical perforated pipe and carry with them vapors of evaporating oil.

This mixture is burned along the entire length of the pipe and enters the afterburner chamber, divided into two parts. In the first, oil vapors are burned, in the second, with a lack of oxygen, nitrogen compounds are split into oxygen and nitrogen. The resulting oxygen promotes afterburning of combustion products, ensuring constant temperature and energy efficiency.

Pyrolysis oil furnace

A pyrolysis oil furnace made from a gas cylinder has a very high efficiency - about 80%. The disadvantage of such a pyrolysis device is harmful fumes and an unpleasant odor. This stove is not suitable for residential premises or areas where animals are kept.

Recommendations for masters

When making a stove from a cylinder with your own hands, you need to take into account several nuances. It is necessary to adhere to the basic recommendations and operating rules:

the chimney should consist of broken sections, since all the heat will quickly escape through a short pipe;
fuel can be anything - coal, firewood, wood waste, household waste;
the efficiency increases with increasing chimney length, but straight and downward sections must be avoided;
heat transfer increases if another container is placed inside the main body, but of a smaller size. This way you can increase draft and prevent smoke from entering the room.

At home, you can make a stove from a gas cylinder for heating small spaces. This is an economical design that allows you to heat a small country house or quickly prepare food in a few hours.

More information about a wood-burning stove made from a gas cylinder:

How to make an oil stove from a cylinder

The gas cylinder exhaust furnace is made in a vertical design. The top part of the cylinder is cut off, into which the afterburner chamber is welded. There is a hole in the floor of the chamber that can be closed with a flap for adding oil. The outlet for the chimney from the afterburning compartment should be located as far as possible from its partition, at least 20 cm.

Oil stove for greenhouse

It is important to remember that oil should be added extremely carefully to a hot pyrolysis oven from a gas cylinder; it is better to wait for it to cool completely. In more complex designs, the oil pipe is removed through the top cover; oil can be added to such a stove without interrupting combustion. Making such a stove from a 50-liter cylinder is quite affordable for an average skilled craftsman

How to properly install a potbelly stove and chimney?

In order for the balloon furnace to work correctly and the efficiency to be maximum, it is important to carry out the installation correctly. Otherwise, the cold room may become smoky. All fire and safety regulations must also be observed.

Installation requirements:

Any combustible objects should be no closer than half a meter from the stove. Distances to fireproof objects are not standardized.
If you heat a greenhouse, do not place the stove close to glass or plants.
The wooden floor covering must be covered with a metal sheet. On the side of the firebox, a patch measuring 50x70 cm is also covered.
If the walls are made of wood, it is worth protecting them with fireproof material.
The potbelly stove is placed at a height of 200 mm.
Point a fan at the stove. Additional air flow due to convection will increase efficiency.
Clear the ash pit from ash in a timely manner.
Insulate the chimney. This will significantly reduce heat loss from the stove from the gas cylinder in the garage.

Read also: Tool for fastening profiles for drywall

Types of oil furnaces

Using waste oil, you can make the already discussed pyrolysis furnace. Another type of oil stove made from a gas cylinder is a dripper or long-burning stove. There is a brick at the bottom of the combustion chamber. Above it there is a tube supplying oil (or diesel fuel).

Using a valve with a poppet valve, the oil supply is adjusted so that approximately one drop drips per minute. To start the furnace, a small puddle of oil is poured onto the brick and set on fire, the brick becomes hot, and the next drops burst into flames upon contact with it. Combustion products rise to the top of the stove and heat it.

Conclusion

It’s up to you to decide which type of potbelly stove made from a gas cylinder you choose. She will become an indispensable assistant. Advantages:

The cylinder body has an ideal thickness of 4 mm. Due to this, optimal thermal conductivity is achieved. The dimensions of a standard 50 liter cylinder provide ideal efficiency.
Compact. Can be used in cramped conditions.
Available materials and elementary construction are used.
A wood-burning stove made from a gas cylinder allows you to install a surface for cooking.
Does not require making a foundation.

The disadvantages include:

Quite low efficiency
They operate only on solid fuel. Although, there is a modification of the potbelly stove made from a gas cylinder during testing.
The need for constant cleaning.
A wood burning stove made from a gas cylinder cools down quickly.
It is unprofitable to use as a source of constant heating.

As you can see, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Such horizontal stoves from a gas cylinder are installed in places where it is impractical to install a centralized heating system and there is no main gas supply.

When installing a potbelly stove, it is important to strictly comply with fire safety requirements.

Factory-made stoves are expensive, so it is advisable to make a stove from a gas cylinder in the garage yourself from scrap materials.

If you do not have welding skills, any specialist will make such a product for you according to the above drawings.

In many private households there is an old liquefied gas cylinder. From this object you can make many useful things, for example, a simple heating device.

If you have the desire and a welding machine, then you can make a potbelly stove from a gas cylinder with your own hands without any problems. Of course, you will need some additional materials.