Charcoal Heater

[ffiill]

There have been various recent threads re.solid fuel heaters.I recently made a drip fed diesel heater but it had a tendancy to misbehave so I decided to try out a charcoal heater.
It loosly follows the dimensions of the Pansy heater with the grate a little over 1/3 of the way up the tube.
The main tube is 4" dia.stainless exhaust tube about 16" long with the grate being a slightly ground down 4" cast iron round gulley drain cover.The chimney is on the side as it has to fit a specific enclosed space.The top and bottom lids are sections of 4 1/2" exhaust tube with a plate welded to it.
The lids are held down against a fire rope seal with a couple of lengths of stainless M6 studding and wing nuts.
If I had had an open space to install it in I would have left the main tube at its bought length of 500mm/20" and created a deeper bottom pan to collect the ash.
The main criteria determining its dimensions are size of grates available and similarly the size of stainless exhaust tube-both readily available on e bay.
The pic shows it with a temporary chimney and running half full of charcoal briquettes.
Its very hot and shows no signs of any leaks!

 

[jerrytug]

Good job,what type of welding did you use? And what size of boat is it heating?

 

[ffiill]

Its welded up using 2.5 mm stick rods at 60 amps-most of metal work is about 2mm thick.
I dont know how well it will heat my main cabin which is about 10ft long;8 feet wide and six foot high.
I could have used bigger diameter pipe but a restriction on space meant that I couldnt go any higher.
It will be situated almost in the middle of the cabin and if it space heats it in winter to a reasonable temperature I will be quite happy
It will have cost under £50 to make in total plus several days in my workshop.

 

[NUTMEG]

We'll done mate, proper PBO. I think you bulkhead needs a coat of varnish though

 

[Pleiades]

Fan mail

View attachment 35728
Impressive diy skills! Having few of the same I bought a Hampshire Heater - a great bit of kit. It replaced a Dickinson drip feed diesel heater. The Hampshire is much cleaner, simpler and safer.
Two suggestions:-
Use lumpwood charcoal - briquettes produce far too much junk in the ash pan.
Get an Ecofan - fan sits on top of the heater. Little thermo electric motor pushes the warm air out across the cabin - excellent.
Lived on the boat last winter and the Hampshire with the "little fanny" kept the boat (and crew) delightfully warm and dry.

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5

 

[ffiill]

View attachment 35728
Impressive diy skills! Having few of the same I bought a Hampshire Heater - a great bit of kit. It replaced a Dickinson drip feed diesel heater. The Hampshire is much cleaner, simpler and safer.
Two suggestions:-
Use lumpwood charcoal - briquettes produce far too much junk in the ash pan.
Get an Ecofan - fan sits on top of the heater. Little thermo electric motor pushes the warm air out across the cabin - excellent.
Lived on the boat last winter and the Hampshire with the "little fanny" kept the boat (and crew) delightfully warm and dry.

Robin
Pleiades of Birdham
MXWQ5

Stupidly I just bought some briquettes online despite already becoming suspicious of the amount of dust they produce!
By the way stove is currently attached to outside of my workshop hence the strange looking bulhead.
I never really understand why such stoves are so expensive apart from the cost of labour.If I can source a big enough combustion tube for under £20 retail!

 

[Paddingtonbear]

But as you said, several days in your workshop. Say for instance you spent 3 at say £150/day inc tools, consumables, electrickery and notional rent on premises plus your £50 for materials and then add a bit of profit, you are not far away from heaters that are commercially available. Great bit of work though and proper PBO as has been said