Wood Stove Water Heater

The wood stove water heater works great! Making hot water was a big draw on our batteries so this will be a big help. My only concern now is that it will make too much.

 

Nice . I've been wondering about those . Do you have a recirculating pump , or will the hot water automatically recirculate as it heats up ?

 

Nice, but you seem to be missing a temp/pressure relief valve...or just didn't show it.

Don't need a steam powered bomb going off, ya know.

 

My thoughts too a water heater safety valve is essential .

 

There is a safety valve on the water heater and no valves to allow the buildup of pressure. I bought a second relief valve but I haven't found a good place to put it. I have a circulation pump but I am not using it, the water is thermosiphoning to/from the water heater.

 

I like your pipe arrangement, did you mfg. it yourself? I rebuilt an old kitchen cookstove for the wife that has a cast iron water heater built into the firebox. Very smart

 

I bought the stainless coil inside the stove from a guy I found on the web and all the other parts came from Lowes.

 

How much hot water do you think it will make per hour?
I want to do something like that with my coal furnace.

 

I have not had it working for 12 hours yet so this is not a great guess. I also have a pretty long run back to the water heater tank but I think it will make 25-30 gallons an hour if the stove is really hot.

 

If there is no water in the tubing, heating the solder joints will let things fall apart , If you block both ends from water expansion your asking for a bomb.

 

There are no valves between it and the tank so the water can expand and hit the tank blow off valve if necessary. I will put some valves in before summer and put the blow off valve in at the same time.

 

What would you flush the copper lines with,Vinegar & water?

 

3

3 to 1 white vinegar and CLP

 

Same here , Also use a convection system as mine is, no worry about power to move heat.
Mine i built in 1970's and replaced in 1999-2001 or so ..
Hot water in winter 100% summer = Solar with PV over heaters now (I was collector's) .
DHW is the largest draw on RE .
Sloth
Fisher stove , your in the PNW/BC area

 

Kentucky

 

Not necessarily, Eastern Region here. Fisher coal bear.

 

Is it a closed loop? or are you cycling your domestic hot water through the stove? If it's a closed loop you can likely just add an expansion tank and a blow off valve to keep you safe. The expansion tank will stop it blowing off unneccessarily and you'd be able to put some conditioner in the loop to keep the pipes from collecting junk.

 

I am cycling the domestic hot water through it. I am going to put an expansion tank on it. Right now I have a little piece of rubber heater hose in the loop that leaks if it builds up too much pressure. The tank relief valve will also blow if necessary.