Homemade long burning boiler

Comfort and wellbeing during the winter months depend on keeping your house warm. But heating expenses can mount up quickly, particularly if you use traditional heating systems. This is where do-it-yourself long-burning boilers come into play, providing a reliable and affordable way to heat your house. A homemade long-burning boiler might be the solution you’ve been looking for, whether you want to lower your energy costs or your carbon footprint.

What precisely is a homemade boiler that burns for a long time? In essence, it’s a do-it-yourself heating system made to burn different kinds of fuel effectively for a long time. Long-burning boilers require less maintenance and can provide heat for hours or even days, in contrast to traditional boilers that need to be refueled frequently. They are therefore perfect for homeowners who want to enjoy consistent warmth in their homes day and night without having to take any active role in the heating process.

The versatility of a homemade long-burning boiler is one of its main advantages. Wood, pellets, and even biomass are among the fuel options for these boilers. Because of this flexibility, homeowners can select the option that best suits their needs and budget while also being the least expensive and ecologically friendly. In addition, a lot of do-it-yourselfers get satisfaction from building and altering their boilers to fit their unique requirements and situations.

Making your own long-burning boiler at home has the added benefit of potentially saving a lot of money. Over time, these systems can mitigate energy costs by optimizing heat output and utilizing easily accessible fuels. Their effective combustion processes also reduce waste and emissions, which makes them a more environmentally friendly option than traditional heating techniques. A well-thought-out and reasonably priced homemade long-burning boiler can give dependable warmth for many years to come.

While researching long-burning boilers that you can build yourself, it’s important to keep safety and legal requirements in mind. Although do-it-yourself projects are flexible and creative, they also need close attention to detail to guarantee correct functionality and local law compliance. Learn about building codes, safety procedures, and any permits or inspections that may be required in your area before starting any boiler-building project. You can take comfort in the advantages of your DIY long-burning boiler by putting safety and compliance first.

Materials Needed	Instructions
Steel barrel	Drill holes for airflow and chimney
Firebricks	Line the barrel with firebricks for insulation
Grate	Create a grate for airflow underneath the fire
Door	Attach a door for loading fuel

How to make a long-burning boiler on wood and coal with your own hands

When installing a solid-fuel heating boiler in their private homes, homeowners prioritize three factors: the boiler’s thermal capacity, cost, and amount of time it takes to burn one load. These factors are correlated: the heat generator will cost more the more power it produces and the longer it will run. You can make a long-burning boiler yourself for half the price, or you can hire reputable craftsmen to do the work for you. You can also study the process of making a homemade heater here, as well as pick up the design and drawings.

How to increase the duration of combustion of solid fuel

Many homeowners would like to install a solid fuel boiler so they won’t need to run wood every four to six hours. Profiting from this, producers and retailers of heating apparatus label all heat generators, including pellet generators that can operate on their own for up to seven days, with the prefix "duration of burning."

Classic boiler varieties featuring larger fuel chambers

Using the smoldering mode with a restricted air supply usually justifies the length of the combustion process. However, here’s why burning coal and wood in this manner is inefficient:

1. Wood and coal boilers reach their efficiency of 70-75% during maximum combustion. When smoldering, the efficiency of the unit decreases to 40-50% (as with a conventional bubbler).
2. Smoldering wood releases little heat energy. Who needs a "long-lasting" heat generator that does not fully heat the house?
3. Freshly cut wood of certain species (e.g. poplar, willow) and low-calorie fuels cannot be burned normally in smoldering mode.

Wood burns in a factory boiler’s larger fuel box from top to bottom.

All other things being equal, the only factor affecting the process duration in solid fuel long-burning boilers is their larger fuel chamber. The idea is straightforward: the longer the wood burns and releases heat in the furnace, the more wood there is.

There are various types of household boilers that can run for up to 24 hours on coal and 8 to 12 hours on wood. These include:

• classic, with forced air supply;
• operating on the principle of top burning (like Baltic "Stropuva").

Assuming you have the required equipment and welding experience, you can create these TT-boiler designs at home with reasonable success. Drawings of mine boilers using solid fuel and sawdust can even be found online, but these heaters are quite large and challenging to make, so they need their own discussion.

Classic continuous combustion boiler

This section features a coal-and-wood heating unit that was created by our skilled technician Vitaly Dashko. The master has put together dozens of these heat generators with varying capacities, continuously refining the design. Boilers’ dependability and effectiveness have already been put to the test over time on a variety of objects. The following are the technical attributes of the unit’s model that is being presented:

• power – 22-24 kW;
• duration of burning (on average) on wood – 10-12 hours, minimum – 8 hours;
• the same, on coal – up to 1 day;
• EFFICIENCY – 75-77%;
• maximum working pressure in the heating system – 3 bar, nominal – 1.5 Bar;
• amount of water in the boiler tank – 50 liters;
• weight of the product – 150 kg;
• size of the stoking aperture (width x height) 360 x 250 mm;
• total volume of the furnace – 112 liters, useful (for fuel loading) – 83 liters;
• firebox depth – 46 cm, optimal log length – 40 cm.

As a point of reference. The manufacturer of long-burning boilers, Master, offers a range of capacities, with models ranging from 16, 24, 36, and 130 kW. When ordering from a master, the cost of the finished product for 24 kW is approximately 450 u. е. Vitaly can personally address any inquiries or clarifications regarding the design and production of a solid fuel boiler; his contact details are provided on the "Our Experts" page.

The drawing illustrates the mechanism and general measurements of the wood-fired, long-burning boiler that they will be making by hand:

The heat generator runs on coal as well as wood with success. It is not desirable to fill the fuel compartment to the brim, so the useful capacity is calculated up to the lower edge of the loading opening. The boiler operates in the following sequence:

1. After putting and ignition of solid fuel the doors are hermetically closed.
2. On the electronic control unit the desired temperature of the heating medium is set, it is recommended not to be lower than 50 °С. Then the unit is put into operation by pressing the appropriate button, the fan is started.
3. At heating up to the set temperature the fan is switched off, the air access to the fuel compartment is stopped. TT-boiler is in standby mode, the wood smolders very weakly and gives practically no heat.
4. After the temperature in the boiler tank drops, the controller gives a command to start the fan and the combustion process in the furnace is resumed.

At its discretion, the controller adjusts the fan output to optimize combustion efficiency. This homemade boiler is either in intensive mode, burning coal and wood, or it is in standby mode, with no smoldering combustion.

The boiler drawings in section: illustrate the internal structure of the unit.

The heating unit carries out the traditional method of burning solid fuels by directly transferring heat to the boiler tank’s bottom, or the vault, and the walls of the water jacket. Heat exchanger that removes heat from flue gases is submerged in this tank. Through the grate, heated air from the channel is fed into the furnace from below. Combustion duration is guaranteed because of:

1. The large volume of the fuel box.
2. Complete shut-off of air access to the furnace in standby mode. After the fan is turned off, a gravity flap is triggered, closing the duct and thus preventing the chimney draught from blowing the coals.

The following drawing illustrates how the heat exchanger and rear end are arranged:

Tools and materials for manufacturing

Low-carbon steel grades St3, 10, and 20 are typically used on the blanks for the assembly of a solid fuel boiler with a long combustion period. St 20 is the best choice because heat generators made of it can endure for up to 15 years. Because steel with higher carbon content (St 35, 45) can roll at high temperatures, it is not a good choice for welding with heat generators.

Heat-resistant steel alloyed with molybdenum and chromium (e.g., 12XM, 12X1MF) can be used for the combustion chamber if you have the necessary welding experience and can afford to purchase more expensive metal. This article explains how to independently ascertain the steel grade with a suitable approximation.

This is a table that lists the blanks that you will need to assemble a solid-fuel boiler by hand:

Advice: It’s best to cut blanks with guillotine shears in a workshop somewhere. Thus, you will be able to cut and deburr much more quickly by hand.

Furthermore, the following supplies will be needed:

• angle equal-shelved 50 x 4 mm for the manufacture of grates;
• pipe DN50 – on the heat exchanger and connection pipes of the heating system;
• DN150 pipe – on the chimney flue;
• 60 x 40 mm profile pipe for the air duct;
• steel strip 20 x 3 mm;
• basalt insulation with density of 100 kg/m³ and thickness of 2 cm;
• smooth sheet metal 0.3-0.5 mm with polymer coloring;
• ready-made door handles;
• cord, asbestos cardboard.

Notable among the equipment are the welding machine, the Bulgarian, and the drill. ANO-21 or MR-3S welding electrodes are used. The remainder are a typical assortment of tools and measuring devices found in every home.

Polish-made control unit and fan

The automation kit for the TT-boiler, which is made in Poland and has the same appearance as the Chinese version, consists of a control unit, a fan, and a temperature sensor. The fan is marked DP-02, and the control unit is marked KG Elektronik SP-05.

Assembly of the heating unit

The fuel box body of the long-burning boiler is assembled using tack welds to join 4 mm thick metal in the first stage of manufacturing. As seen in the picture, everything begins at the bottom of the unit, to which the side walls, vault cover, and door openings are tacked:

The bottom sheet is made on both sides in compliance with the drawing and doubles as the ash pan door’s bottom frame. Angled shelves within the chamber, on which the grate will rest, are fixed in place using welding. Every joint on the assembled fuel box is carefully welded, and its tightness is verified.

Installing the 3 mm metal water jacket is the second step. Since its side walls are only 2 cm thick, sections of steel strip must be welded to the fuel box’s body, allowing 20 mm of space between them. They are welded to the steel cladding sheets.

Take note! The ash chamber is not cleaned by the water jacket, which begins at the grate level.

The so-called clips are arranged in a staggered pattern in the center. This is a steel circle that has been butt welded to the furnace after passing through the holes in the boiler tank wall. As seen in the picture, the second end of the clip is welded around the hole.

The location of the water jacket’s bottom is depicted in the picture on the right.

A brief description of how to add more clips to the water jacket edges of a homemade solid fuel boiler. A 20 mm strip must be inserted from the end between the walls to a depth of 50 to 100 mm, and both sides must be welded.

Installing flame tubes in the boiler tank’s upper section is the third stage. In order to accomplish this, the drawing is followed when cutting holes in the front and back walls for the pipes. Both their ends and every joint in the water jacket are hermetically welded.

The heat exchanger’s flame tubes have a fan-like form.

Fourth step: creating the grates and doors. The door seal is created by welding a strip in two rows to the inside of the door and placing asbestos cord in between. The #5 angles used to make the grates are welded with the outer corner facing down. In this manner, they act as diffusers for the air that enters the ash pan from the fan.

The chimney socket, an air duct made of 60 x 40 mm pipe with a flange for fan mounting, and the fittings for connecting the supply and return pipes are installed in the fifth stage of the boiler tank’s walls. In the center of the back wall, directly beneath the water jacket, is where the air duct enters the ash chamber.

Step six involves welding the door hinges and inserting pieces that are 2 cm wide to secure the long-burning boiler’s decorative lining.

Step seven. last. Insulation made of basalt is fixed with a cord and covers the boiler tank from the sides as well as the top. The painted metal sheets must then be fastened to the embedded components using self-tapping screws, and the doors must be installed.

Dense basalt fiber safely tolerates high temperatures and insulates the body well. You should not use glass wool.

Finally, the control unit is installed on the boiler from above and the fan is fastened to the duct mating flange. On the back wall side of the unit, the temperature sensor needs to be placed beneath the basalt insulation. Furthermore, if desired, the following practical additions can be made to the design of a homemade long-burning boiler:

• build into the boiler drum the water heating circuit for DHW;
• provide a dip sleeve for installing a thermometer – in case of power failure, when the controller display goes out;
• the same for the installation of the safety group;
• install an electric heating element that heats up the coolant after the wood burns out.

A brief explanation of how to circulate hot water in a solid fuel boiler so that it can be heated for domestic use. Ten meters of copper tube with a diameter of 8 to 12 mm must be used, and the tube must be bent into a spiral shape. The latter is wrapped around the flame tubes inside the boiler tank, and the ends are led outside the back of the apparatus. We receive a long-burning, two-circuit boiler.

Note: Experience with using these heat generators has demonstrated that homeowners who want to heat their home on a nightly basis must install an electric heater. In other situations, the combustion time is sufficient to prevent rushing to the boiler room in the middle of the night to install wood stoves.

It is preferable to immediately remove the film from the painted metal and coat the doors with enamel that can withstand heat.

At any point, the legs can be fastened to the unit by selecting the appropriate rolled metal parts. Details and insider tips for putting together the TT-boiler can be found in the author’s master video, who invented the heating unit:

Boiler with top burning fuel

These heat generators are known by two names in the former Soviet Union:

1. Stropuva" Baltic units and their derivatives from other manufacturers.
2. Wood stoves of the "Bubafonya" type.

Although the origin of the Bubafonya stove is unknown, it has become very popular as a heater for dachas, garages, and other structures where the product’s aesthetics are not as important. Nothing can be said about top-burning boilers, despite the fact that many people mistakenly believe that they are the only continuous-burning solid fuel heat generators available. Actually, their one and only advantage remains the same: a massive fuelbox.

These boilers work on the basis of burning fuel that is compressed by a weight and burned from top to bottom. Additionally, a telescopic pipe attached to the load provides air from above to the combustion zone. The figure depicts the unit’s operating scheme:

The boiler’s original schematic, retrieved from http://stropuva.ru/

According to the owners’ reviews on the forums, Stropuva demonstrated numerous shortcomings during the boiler’s operation:

1. You can"t put logs in the furnace until the previous one is burned out. Physically it is possible, but then the principle of top combustion will be violated, the flame will cover all the layers of fuel.
2. When working on fresh sawdust and other small debris, fuel residue "hangs" on the walls.
3. The efficiency of a TT boiler is not too high because it lacks a heat exchanger. Because of the air heating chamber and a large fuel box, there is no space for the heat exchanger.

The heat generator no longer has any significant flaws, and you can choose to fix certain issues with the homemade version. For instance, setting up an ash chamber with grates and a bottom. If you place a second door between the stoking and ash doorways, you can also eliminate the issue with extra loading. Another one of our experts, Vladimir Sukhorukov, has this idea for updating a top-fired boiler, which he explains in his video:

Preparation of materials

Although the round body presents certain manufacturing challenges, it cannot be made square because the fuel will "hang up" in the corners. It is advisable to remove this component from the Bubafonya stove because there is an issue with the assembly of the telescopic pipe with the load. An illustration of a long-burning boiler that is about the same size as the traditional model is as follows:

Prior to building a boiler, choose your materials based on the drawing:

• pipe DN 400 with a wall of 5 mm – for the fuel box;
• same, DN 50 – for air supply and water connections;
• the same, DN 100 – for the chimney;
• blank from a 10 mm thick sheet with a circular shape and a diameter of 38 cm;
• 40 x 4 mm strip for the air distributors;
• 16-20 mm diameter reinforcement of periodic profile – for grates;
• Basalt wool with a thickness of 3 cm and density of 100 kg/m³;
• thin sheet metal with polymer coating.

The water jacket’s material selection is dependent on how it is installed, as a do-it-yourself craftsman is unlikely to have rollers on hand that can give the metal a 3 mm cylinder shape in thickness. The following options are displayed in the diagram below:

1. Scheme 1. Take a thin-walled pipe of a larger diameter, although it is not easy to find one, and the usual one will weigh the boiler heavily.
2. Scheme 2. Bend two sheets of metal in 2 places at a 60° angle, and then weld the two halves together. You will need a press – sheet bender.
3. Scheme 2. To weld the jacket from 6 sheets – segments on clips.
4. Scheme 3. Weld a rectangular box, which will increase the volume of the boiler tank.

Additionally, 3 mm sheet metal is required for the air damper, the bottom with the lid, and the framing of the doors.

Manufacturing of the heat generator

Beginning with the pipe wall’s blanks and openings, work production proceeds in accordance with the drawing’s dimensions. The parts that are cut are used to make doors, to which canopies and handles are added. Rebar is used to weld the grate that is seen in the picture:

The upper combustion boiler’s assembly algorithm generally looks like this:

1. In the round billet for the load, cut a hole, insert a pipe into it and weld it.
2. Weld 6 curved strips to the lower part of the weight, which will serve as air distributors.
3. Attach the bottom to the furnace, install the grates inside it.
4. Having cut a hole in the center of the cover for the air pipe, attach it to the fuel box. Before doing so, the pipe with the weight must be put in place.
5. Weld the chimney spigot.
6. Assemble the water jacket according to the chosen scheme, weld all joints tightly.
7. Make tapping connections for the coolant.
8. Perform insulation and lining of the boiler, install the doors.
9. Place a damper on top of the air pipe.

It takes six strips to distribute air.

Because the fan cannot be connected to the moving pipe, installing automatics and a supercharger on an upper combustion boiler is challenging. A flexible hose must be made, and the temperature sensor must include an immersion sleeve. The combustion zone of this kind of heater is continuously displaced, so it cannot be placed beneath insulation.

Naturally, testing the boiler outside is preferable.

Conclusion

Both designs of solid-fuel long-burning boilers, made with their own hands, have the right to life and their supporters. In addition to the duration of work with 1 load, they have another common feature: to weld the unit can not be any person and the assembly process is not as simple as it may appear. Of course, an enthusiast will eventually cope with the task, but there are few people of such a warehouse. Hence the conclusion: if you see that you can not overcome the self-assembly or you do not have time for it, contact the masters. This way you will save up to 50% of money compared to buying a factory-made TT-boiler.

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Boilers and burners: An easy DIY method for creating a long-burning boiler using coal and wood

Homemade long burning boilers

Homeowners must modify their heating systems to accommodate the rising costs of both gas and electricity, the latter of which is sometimes scarce. For this, gravity heating schemes—which run without electricity—are employed. An increasing number of people are interested in building their own long-burning wood boilers because the heat source in this scenario should also not rely on outside energy sources.

Long-burning wood boiler made at home

What the boiler consists of and how it works?

Fuel in such boilers burns much longer than in conventional units. This is due to their principle of operation, which provides for burning wood in the furnace in the direction from top to bottom. The combustion chamber has a cylindrical shape and is fully loaded with wood through the door in the upper part of the body. Ignition is done through the same door, the design of solid-fuel long-burning boilers is such that the air into the combustion zone is also supplied from above through a vertical pipe. To the end of this pipe is attached a flat round-shaped weight made of thick metal (10-15 mm), with arc-shaped air distributors made of strip metal welded to it from below. A similar design can also be used to make a sawdust boiler .

A homemade boiler’s load

The structure can move up and down because the load is 5 mm smaller than the firebox cylinder’s inner diameter. The other end of the pipe goes through the boiler’s upper wall, where a damper is mounted so that the airflow can be manually adjusted. The pipe is 15-20 centimeters longer than the combustion chamber’s height. The latter can be arbitrary, with homemade long-burning units working for longer periods of time the bigger the furnace’s diameter and height. As a result, the unit’s thermal capacity and water jacket volume both increase.

Long-burning boiler architecture

Following ignition, the weighted pipe is lowered, applying pressure to the mass of wood. The long-burning boiler’s design allows it to run on the natural draught produced by a chimney that is the necessary height and diameter. Air enters the combustion zone directly. The water in the unit’s jacket warms up due to the heat generated, and it begins to flow into the heating system through the upper socket. This is where the principle of convection comes into play; a circulation pump is not required. The homemade device’s water jacket is situated in the upper lid of the furnace in addition to around its side walls.

The grate of a homemade long-burning wood-fired boiler does not perform its usual function, the air in the working zone does not pass through it. The grate only serves as a support for the fuel mass, and through its cells ash and ash fall into the lower section, from which they can be freely removed with an iron scoop. As the fuel in the chamber burns through, the weight is lowered and by the upper end of the tube you can determine how much wood is still left. After the end of the process, the door of the ash compartment is opened, the combustion products are cleaned out of it, the load together with the pipe is lifted and fixed in this position. It is possible to make the following loading.

Long-burning, wood-fired boiler made at home

Advantages of long burning boilers

Compared to their factory counterparts, homemade long combustion apparatuses have the following advantages:

• With the same efficiency of 80-85%, the duration of combustion can be increased, it depends on the dimensions of the furnace. The body can be made to any dimensions by own efforts.
• To be able to load and ignite a small amount of firewood in the chamber for a single heating of the dwelling in wet weather, you can make an additional door in the body. It should be placed between the loading and ash openings. The factory apparatuses do not have such a door.
• It is possible to use thicker metal than in the factory unit for the manufacture of the furnace body and water jacket casing. Then the homemade wood-fired boiler can operate at a coolant pressure of up to 4 bar.
• The cost of manufacturing a homemade heat source of continuous combustion is 2-3 times lower than factory analogs.
• It is possible to install automation elements of your own choice, as well as to put a safety relief valve, which will make the product safe in operation.

In the quest for cost-effective and eco-friendly heating solutions, homemade long-burning boilers have emerged as a practical alternative for homeowners. These boilers are designed to efficiently burn various types of fuel, such as wood pellets, logs, or even agricultural waste, while producing consistent heat over extended periods. By utilizing simple construction techniques and readily available materials, DIY enthusiasts can create their own long-burning boiler systems, tailored to suit their specific heating needs. With proper insulation and heat management, these homemade boilers offer a sustainable way to keep homes warm throughout the colder months, minimizing both energy expenses and environmental impact. Whether as a standalone heating source or complementing existing systems, homemade long-burning boilers present a promising avenue for homeowners seeking affordable and efficient heating solutions.

General recommendations for manufacturing

In the event that you have chosen to purchase a solid fuel unit from the masters, it is advised that you closely monitor every step of the assembly procedure. The furnace body’s material should be steel that has been alloyed with molybdenum and chromium to increase its heat resistance. The unit’s service life will be shortened (to 5-7 years) if regular carbon steel is used because temperature fluctuations will inevitably cause the metal to deform.

For the combustion chamber and the water jacket, the minimum thickness of the metal should be 5 mm and 3 mm, respectively. Grade 20 steel is used for the latter. It will be necessary to keep an eye on all these subtleties to ensure that the masters did not cut corners or use inferior materials, about which you won’t become aware until much later. Boilers that operate on wood are best made independently, with the assistance of a qualified welder and fitter, in order to avoid such situations.

A set of tools and fixtures

The biggest challenge is forming a thick, heat-resistant steel sheet into a cylindrical shape at home. This process is carried out in factories using mechanical rollers. Manual machines, such as pipe benders or manual rollers, are available in specialized workshops and will unavoidably incur costs. You can successfully complete the remaining assembly work at home. To achieve this, you’ll need:

• welding machine;
• angle machine for stripping and cutting metal (bolgarka);
• tape measure, ruler, caliper, angle;
• hammer and chisel;
• electric drill;
• Pliers, preferably with long handles;
• other small locksmith tools, which are available in every private household.

Useful additions

Assembled at home homemade long burning boiler must be equipped with control devices – pressure gauge and thermometer. If you decide to install a set of automatics and a blower fan on your unit, you will need to make a place for it. The fan is placed in the upper cover of the housing, the electronic control unit is better to be remote, fixing it on the nearest wall inside the furnace room. Temperature and pressure sensors are cut into the water jacket housing. Conventional indicating devices in this case should not be ignored, because they will be able to work when the power is cut off. Therefore, it is better to put them too, because not every electronic display shows the pressure of the coolant.

Wood heating boilers need to have their weld permeability examined after assembly. This is simple to accomplish with a compressor: add water to the unit’s jacket and pressurize it to three bars. The seams need to be cleared of slag before testing. Leaks are the telltale signs of sinks and uncooked areas. In the event that the home is without a compressor, the heating system must be turned on and heated outside until the three bar critical jacket pressure is achieved. A thermometer and a manometer can be used to measure the temperature and pressure of water.

It is advised to use heat-insulating material inside the homemade unit’s doors and on the inside of the water jacket. Since basalt wool and asbestos sheets are utilized in the latter, they are not afraid of high temperatures. The outer lining of the insulation can be made of thin metal 0. 3-0.5 mm with the chosen color of polymer coating.

Conclusion

The primary benefit of long-burning homemade wood boilers is a low final cost for a high-quality product. They do, however, have a certain allure of their own: the ability to choose the equipment and design. This gives those who have hands and a head more opportunities for activity.

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Make a long-burning boiler with your own hands

In addition to providing independent home heating, solid fuel boilers also allow for energy resource conservation. Is building a solid fuel boiler by hand really that profitable? Or is it preferable to purchase a pre-built item from a reputable supplier? Together, let’s comprehend!

1 Ready-made solutions – what boiler to buy?

To be honest, the cost of a homemade long-burning boiler is probably going to be higher than that of an already-assembled one. Consider the time invested in making the unit by hand in addition to the cost of the materials. Furthermore, very few people will ever do everything perfectly on their first try; mistakes will inevitably be found during operation and will need to be fixed, incurring additional expenses.

It should be recognized that the general public does not have access to many of the technologies utilized by boiler manufacturers, and there is currently nothing available to take their place. For instance, the powder coating of boilers, which greatly prolongs their operational life, cannot be replicated in a home without costly equipment. The quality of the welding and the accuracy of the parts vary greatly between the homemade and store-bought versions. These factors combined with the abundance of options available today make pre-made options the preferred choice for most consumers.

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

2 Alternative options – gas generation and pellets

Pyrolysis units can also be referred to long burning boilers. as well as pellet-fired boilers. Pyrolysis (gas generator) boilers are loaded with wood once in 8-12 hours. At first there is a start ignition of fuel, so that the temperature inside the boiler reached 800 ° C. At this temperature, gas generation becomes possible – with the help of gate valves, the required mode is set, namely, the access of oxygen to burning wood is limited. As a result, wood gas is released, which is burned in a special chamber, and then the combustion of charcoal takes place. Minimal amount of ash and soot is formed. Efficiency of gas-generator boilers – about 85%.

The primary benefit of pyrolysis units is their low fuel consumption. The high price of these devices pays off because this heating season will cost you two or three times less than usual. You will, however, always have to contend with another issue because this kind of wood boiler can only operate efficiently on very dry fuel or clean coal.

As long as there is an adequate supply of fuel close by, pellet boilers with automated fuel delivery can operate endlessly. With the exception of an automated fuel supply, the construction of these units is essentially identical to that of traditional solid fuel boilers. Pellets are poured into a container found on household boilers; one load lasts for several days. The unit requires maintenance every week for roughly 20 minutes, which is sufficient to periodically remove the ash and refuel the hopper.

3 General overview of boilers of affordable design

A feature of the design of boilers with upper combustion – the air supply to the place of combustion with the help of a telescopic tube. To make such a wood-fired unit with their own hands – a task not easy even for experienced craftsmen. For this reason, in most cases, homemade solid-fuel long-burning boilers have a traditional bottom combustion, and the duration of operation of the unit is achieved by increasing the volume of fuel and connecting automatic regulators, which can be purchased separately and installed on any boiler. Fuel in such a unit is loaded through the upper hatch, and for arson is designed for the lower hatch, through which the products of combustion are also cleaned out.

Air is supplied to the fuel chamber through the under-blower and grates. The air supply and combustion force are regulated with the aid of the under-blower chamber door. The units are constructed from pipes with a minimum 300 mm diameter or from sheet steel that is 3–5 mm thick, depending on the design. Steel works well for regular steel, but it’s best to use two layers of material or purchase heat-resistant steel. The walls themselves, registers, or a combination of the two can serve as the heat exchanger.

When building one of these by hand, the primary goal is to maximize the area of contact between the fuel and the heat exchanger’s surface, which boosts efficiency.

Because the water circuit is in direct contact with the flame, the design’s simplicity is guaranteed. It should be noted that a significant amount of heat will still escape through the chimney, so you may also build a water heater. Two pipes with varying diameters and some sheet steel are required for its arrangement. The smaller pipe will function as a chimney and heating element, while the larger pipe will hold water.

Shaft-type wood boilers are more labor-intensive to operate by hand, but they are very efficient. These units have two chambers: a fuel loading compartment is housed in the first, and a heat exchanger is housed in the second, side chamber. The coolant inside the pipes is heated when the fuel ignites in the adjacent chamber, causing the flame and hot gases from the draught to enter the chamber with the register. Nearly all of the heat is transferred to the register by the smoke because it travels a great distance from the site of combustion to the atmosphere.

4 Difficult but feasible – fuel combustion from top to bottom

Even with the example of an ordinary match, you can see for yourself the effectiveness of burning from top to bottom. The match in a vertical position with the flame at the bottom gives off heat, which is enough to heat the thermometer to 60 ° C. If the match is turned upside down, due to long burning the thermometer can be heated up to 120 ° C. On the scale of a heating boiler, this principle provides uniform and prolonged combustion of fuel, but in this case, you necessarily need a water jacket, which will cover the entire surface of the furnace chamber. Registers in this design is not mandatory, but their presence will add 5-10% to the overall efficiency of the boiler.

To make such a wood boiler with your own hands. you will need a powerful bolgarka for cutting metal and another one for grinding work. However, it is better to cut the metal when buying at the metal depot, because when cutting with a bolt cutter is highly likely to overheat the material in the place of cutting, because of which it will become too brittle. You also need a good welding machine. Choose sheet metal with a thickness of at least 4 mm, preferably heat-resistant. You will need several pipes, one with a diameter of 300 mm and a meter and a half or two meters long 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.

For homeowners looking to upgrade their heating systems, building a homemade long-burning boiler can be a satisfying project. These boilers offer a greener option to conventional heating techniques by utilizing renewable energy sources, such as wood. In the long run, they can also aid in lowering heating expenses.

The efficiency of a homemade long-burning boiler is one of its main advantages. These boilers are made to burn biomass materials, such as wood, slowly and steadily to provide your house with a reliable supply of heat. The fuel lasts longer and requires less frequent refueling because of the slow combustion process, which maximizes the energy extracted from the fuel.

Handmade long-burning boilers can also help improve the quality of the air inside buildings. In contrast to certain conventional heating systems that depend on fossil fuels, when properly maintained, wood boilers produce less pollution. You can reduce emissions and breathe cleaner air inside your home by selecting wood that has been sustainably sourced and by giving your boiler regular maintenance.

Additionally, you can tailor a long-burning boiler to your own requirements and tastes by building your own. Your home’s size and layout can be accommodated in the design, whether you’re starting from scratch or retrofitting an existing boiler. This adaptability guarantees that you maximize comfort and efficiency from your heating system.

In conclusion, homeowners looking for an affordable, green heating option can benefit greatly from a long-burning boiler made at home. These boilers minimize their negative environmental effects while producing reliable, efficient heat by using renewable energy sources, such as wood. You can benefit from a homemade boiler for many years to come with careful planning and upkeep.