How to build a Non-Electric Chimney Heat Reclaimer
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- Опубліковано 9 вер 2024
- Getting the most out of your wood fired heating, is what reclaiming the lost heat going out the chimney is all about. There are electric versions for reclaiming chimney heat, but these generally cost around $150 - $350. I developed an experimental, non-electric, inexpensive version; with an assembly of stove pipes. It pulls the cooler air off the floor by thermosiphon effect and heats and circulates it up and through the room.
Is there any concern about the inside galvanized 5" duct getting hot enough to burn the zinc? That's toxic.
Hi Paul, Yes; 'if' it got hot enough. (quote from 'Homeguide' article: " All galvanized stove pipes are coated with zinc which, when heated to 1,652 degrees, vaporizes, emitting toxic zinc fumes."
Here's a link to the article:
homeguides.sfgate.com/defrost-frozen-pipe-27429.html
If concerned, use the black. That black pipe will really give off some nasty fumes as well, when it gets hot for the first few times. Have to open the windows, or burn it outside for the first, before installing it.
Good point! Thanks for commenting!
Do you think that if you were to rotate your 90° elbow on the floor (intake) so that it faces 180° from its current orientation, and thus pulls in air from under the Woodstock, that then the output temperature might be increased? (My thinking is that the intake air would be prel-warmed via proximity to the stove and come out the top that much warmer)
@@fl3082 a higher gradient (lower low temp) will increase flow rate and ability to extract heat from the exhaust.
You want the coolest air in the space entering the 5" pipe
I like your design.
In my last shop, I had a pipe going through a 50gal steel drum full of sand as a thermal mass. After a day of heating the drum stayed warm for 3 days
Thanks for that idea. I have been trying to figure a way to get more thermal mass around it, and not take up too much room.
That's the same basic theory as the "mass" in a rocket mass heater? I've been trying to figure how to incorporate thermal mass without building one of those monstrosities. Can you elaborate; did you run the flue stack through the sand, or was it to the side like this?
Do you think it would work at all to thermosyphon water through sand (maybe coil a few hundred feet of garden hose in the barrel, the way people sometimes do to heat water with compost) attached to the water coils inside the firebox?
@FL, It seems like what 'M Thiessen' did from his comment, is similar to a rocket mass heater. You replied to my comment, instead of his, so he may not have seen it.
@@doubleMinnovations
🤦♂️ technology is not my strong suit. I meant to address his comment.
@@doubleMinnovations good catch.
Simple heat convection! Cool. Us hillbillies used to put a section of 12 inch stack, around an 8 inch chimney, and used a fan to circulate the air. Your's is way better.
Thanks for your comments and ideas!
That's what I plan to do - put an 8 inch around 6 inch - but maybe I should look for 12 inch - thanks
I simply put some ALUMINIUM FOILs between the bricks and the metal to increase the heat of the fire.
It makes a real difference.
Doing so, I keep the same volume in my little stove.
Congratulations for your experiments and your sharings.
God bless.
Thanks for sharing, and for watching!
$17 gets you a silent oscillating fan at Walmart that extracts far more heat safely than this. Good for a cabin or off grid though. Weld some flat iron fins in the back or sides to radiate more heat.
You are a legit genius
Thank you! Wished I could live up to that, but I have a pile failed inventions!
You should look into generating electricity from it or generating a mild current from the heat to charge batteries.
Thanks for sharing. Valuable information for everyone . If I remember right attach long pipe so the out heat can exhaust the heat like on old log cabin . Better heat throughout the cabin . Yes add copper coils to heat water .
Thanks for watching John! I haven't added any water heating pipes to this stove, but I did build a very efficient water boiler rocket wood stove for the our greenhouse. If interested you can check out the videos of that whole build. ua-cam.com/video/vjEwOq3sRwU/v-deo.html
Smart.
I'm just learning about wood stoves. Thank you for this video.
Insulating the stove increases the temperature inside the stove and the chimneys but reduce heat exchange to the room at the unit, and wood in the stove should burn faster (?) so I see why it's absolutely necessary to regain the heat back from the chimneys.
I will look at your other videos to see how the wood burning process could be controlled to achieve optimum heat & lengthen the duration that each log lasts.
Yes Simo Omis; you want a fast burning fire with this. A slow smoldering fire does not burn clean, and would create creosote. Learning about 'rocket stoves' or 'rocket mass heaters', would really help you to understand that fast burning hot fires, can really be efficient. 'Masonry Heaters' or 'Russian Fireplaces' are sort of in this category too.
My 'hybrid fireplace' videos shows the results of what I learned, and that I combined the positive things.
Thanks for watching!
I see. So either you have a long lasting fire and creosote or fast burning fire without creosote. The drawback on fast burning fire is that you get too much heat in the stove & flue in a short time, hemce your ingenious way to 1) Have a smaller fire [chamber] 2) Reclaim the heat from the flue and 3) Store the heat in Wax. Thank you 👍
I wouldn't say there is a problem of getting too much heat in the stove and flue (in this setup), and so the heat reclaimer will solve that. You don't get too much heat. The fire is hotter, (because of the insulated firebox) and it's smaller; but the surface areas (that disperse the heat), are the same as in a bigger less hot fire in an unaltered stove. The smaller hotter fire is probably about the same Btu's (not sure) that you would get from a bigger less hot fire.
I use a lot less wood.
In a conventional arrangement where the fire is less hot; you have to maintain a flue temperature of around 300 degrees (or more) to prevent creosote buildup. You can get a magnetic thermometer to stick on your flue pipe so you can see if you're in the safe zone. -That's all lost heat. -and if you try to cool that, you can cause a creosote problem.
A hotter fire burns all those gasses up that causes creosote, (or most of them). -and so cooling down the exhaust, doesn't cause the creosote problem that you normally would have.
The thermo mass is just to store heat to radiate it out later, so you don't need a continuous fire going.
I like that part!
-Hope this describes my line of thinking better.
Hey guys I did what he said on the video and put it on my stove and it has worked pretty well it’s not a ton of heat but it really does make a difference in the upstairs I wish I could show a photo
EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT JOB!!!!! I shall use your ideas in my living room stove here in the mountains of Kentucky. Keep up the GREAT VIDEOS.
Thanks for watching David!
Nice design and good presentation. Thank you!
Thank you! Cheers!
Hello from France Toulouse , i like it , thank so much , felicitation
Thanks and welcome
I would love to pick your brain in regards to this design! It is the most ingenious homemade heat reclaimer I have ever seen and I have a few questions about possible modifications for alternate heating systems.
Thank you Brian for your comments!
If you have some questions, go ahead and ask, and I will answer them if I can. 🤔
Fantastic work and video.
Cheers from Alaska
Thank you very much!
yep .Clean and simple.
Cool…. I was thinking the same but rather than elbow to the reclaimer use a tee and then a damper and another pipe straight up to the top tee so you could bypass the reclaimer until up to temp for less creosote chance
Sounds like a plan. My best.
Thank you sir for sharing your idea and hands on with all of us.
Thanks for watching John!
Double M Inovations, None of your recent replies to comments is showing up for about the last month. Wonder why?
@@denisecares6124 If some one replies to someone else's comment I don't see it. I don't reply to every comment; if it's an insult, or they obviously haven't watched the whole video, or read the comments where I already answered the same questions, or made other videos that answer the questions. Or I simply don't have time.
Great idea. Thank you for sharing 😇
No problem 😊
Simple and easy to clean. Brovo.
I really like how you think, many people allow all the excess heat to escape to the out doors.
This simple device really makes a difference.
Thanks for commenting.👍🏻
Any concerns about possible off gassing into the house?
yes , but only on hot dogs & beans night , ,
Thats great, do you think it would work to use a 1/2" copper pipe coiled around the inner chimney and have a thermal heat syphon from a cold water tank going into a hot water tank to both extract more heat and have a supply of warmed water. I am thinking about a very large quantity of water so that there would be no risk of boiling
Sounds like a good experiment Nick! Cheers!
Brilliant
Thank you Steve 88!
GREAT RECLAIMER DESIGN! BRILLIANT! I WILL USE IT ON MY NEW STOVE . COULD YOU PLEASE PROVIDE A SIMPLE SKETCH OF HOW YOU CONFIGURED
THE FIBERFRAX HIGH TEMP INSULATION WITH THE FIREBRICK, WITH A SKETCHOF THE PASSAGE WAYS THROUGH THE STOVE. THAT WOULD BE EXTREMELY USELFUL TO YOUR READERS. THANKS. AMAZING . WELL THOUGHT OUT DESIGN. ALSO, THANKS FOR PROVIDING TEMP DATA WITH THAT INFRARED THERMOMETER. THAT DATA TELLS IT ALL.
Hi Bill. Every stove out there is different, so everyone would be a customized experiment. -which is exactly what the one in the video is. Inside this stove, is basically an arrangement of the insulation board and firebricks set together, to reduce the size of the burn chamber to 1/2 of the firebox. With a center back passage the size area of the flue size.
Most of the new stoves now that are out there, have an insulate 'ceiling' to them, and some have secondary burn areas and secondary air. So there is no way of knowing what effect this might have them. And I wouldn't advise altering the structure of their stove.
The one in the video was just an inefficient junk one, and didn't need to alter the makeup of it.
Thanks for your comments.
From what I can tell - that is a Century wood stove and the back of the stove has firebrick in it already - so that the center back passage goes into a firebrick protection in the back. Otherwise I think the stove would get too hot in the back. Also that Century wood stove does not have an opening in the back for the baffler - such that the smoke is forced to go up to the front and then back again, cooling off the smoke before it exits the stove. Since we are not shown a detailed design of the firebox - I'm only guessing and I wait to be corrected. thanks
thanks for the drawings.
No problem
Brilliant, I don't see an iron ring, figure you must be an engineer?
Great science. Good job.
Thank you!
Would doubling the flue pipe increase the heat output from the stove Double M Innovations ?? Any other ideas for an heat increase Sir ??? Thanks
Have yourself a Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year. Peace too.
I think I'm extracting all the heat out that I can right now with this. Still need to let some heat out in order to get a decent flow out the chimney. Our hybid/masonary heater fireplace in the house, with all that thermo mass, is what really is delivery the heat! The rocket stove water heater in the green house, is on a good tract too. Merry Christmas!
Genius idea..
👍
Really great!
Thanks!
Do you use any kind of sealant / caulk around the pipe connections ?
I didn't use any sealant. The chimney works well with having a draw, so haven't had any leakage. Thanks for watching.
And even better when stainless stuff is used... parts from a class a flue...
Pricey but permanent...
I'm thinking it might be good to seal the holes where the 5" pipe goes through the 8" end caps.
Could you increase the efficiency of this unit by using two pipes side by side ??? Also, would doing that increase the creosote deposits from the burning of pine wood ???
I'm not sure Victory First, it's all experimental. The hot clean burn that I'm getting with the insulated smaller burn chamber in this particular stove, is what burns all the gasses up that cause creosote. -that's the real efficiency ticket; I think. The 'adjustments' in the firebox of this stove, are pretty simple to do. I wish more stove manufacturers would experiment in this direction.
Best wishes!
@@doubleMinnovations What you say is so true. Seems most manufactures just want a pretty package to sell more so than having a truly super efficient stove. One company Sadore has one killer design but the price is just way up there.
Have you cleaned this setup yet? I wonder how buildup will be after a season of use. Love the design, I might implement this in my home.
I've put this particular one together about 4 years ago now. With my hot clean burns, that I demonstrate with this stove setup, I take it apart once a year.
If you don't have hot clean burns, you would have to check more often. And keep the temps high enough to avoid creosote buildup, like the other heat reclaimers out there,. -that's why many don't like them.
Thanks for commenting!
This is great
Thanks!
Where is your stove pipe damper located?
The damper is up higher in the section of pipe just before the chimney adaptor. Thanks for watching!
Your heat reclaimer will work even more efficiently if the flow directions are opposite of each other. So if its sucking air from the ceiling and returning it to the floor. Think about the way heat moves and how you would get the maximum amount of temperature increase.
The very nice. Thank you for posting. What did you use to seal the top and bottom where the 5” pipes go through so smoke doesn’t
Get out?
Depends on how tight the fit is. At first I used aluminum tape. Then I found out that it was just as tightly fitted as the rest of the stove pipe, and didn't need it. Other spots a wood stove sealer caulk.
Would using all 6 Inch piping and using 4 inch aluminum piping for the reclaimer?
I ask because I have everything but it's all in 6 inch.
Thanks for the video.
A 6" pipe with a 4" one inside, would restrict the flow. -Less area of flow between the 6" and 4", than an empty 6" pipe. That's why I went with the 8" and 5" design. The area of flow between the two is about the same as a 6" pipe, and the 90˚ turns in the 8" 'T' are about 42% greater area of flow than a 6" one. I wouldn't use aluminum at all. Use steel; probably the black, or even stainless steel as someone else suggested. Thanks for watching!
So you get no smoke leak at the top of the reclaimer where the 90 comes out? This is awesome!
I don't have a problem with any leakage. Thanks for watching!
Sorry no offense. Is that set up in your home living room? Just looks mighty awful to be in your home.
This is in a heated space in the barn. Lived in there while I built the house.
@@doubleMinnovations Nice!
How did you insulate the firebox to be able to burn pine?
This video will show what I did to the stove: "ua-cam.com/video/5-2NuTN_Yzs/v-deo.html"
Can you build this whole thing directly behind or does it need to go right beside it to prevent the pipe from being directly behind the flame
I put this off to the side, because there wasn't enough clearance behind the stove for the single wall stove pipe, and the combustable wall. Thanks for watching
Super interesting idea, but does the top pipe exhaust smoke into the room?
no, the actual the flue doesn't exhaust into the room, it's inside that jacket made of 8" pipe.
For the 5" pipe, I wonder what kind of effect a thicker walled pipe, such as 14ga. exhaust tubing would have on the thermal mass of the heat reclaimed? What are your thoughts?
With a thicker walled pipe, I think would slow the transfer of heat through it. -(that's another experiment). I think the thinner walled stuff transfers heat better, but then might deteriorate faster.
I don't think anything thicker than the gauge of the black stove pipe is necessary. I think that was about 24 gauge. The gauge of the galvanized in this setup, is about 27. I tried the 'blued' stove pipe, and that was about 31 gauge, and that deteriorated the fastest. If you used the Black, the interior and exterior pipes will stay at the same condition.
With the set up I have here with the hot clean burns, I can operate it at a relatively low temperature, (like I show), and not have any creosote. I just cleaned it a few days ago, and there wasn't any noticeable deterioration on the galvanized.
@@doubleMinnovations great, thanks for the info
@@doubleMinnovations please explain how you can have "hot clean burns" and operate it "at a relatively low temperature"? I heard you say you burn pine (which typically doesn't produce a hot fire and thus potentially more creosote), so how do you get the "hot clean burns" out of pine? I guess you have to take the 5 in pipe out of the 8 inch when cleaning the system? How do you clean around the elbows and T's? Do you take the pipes completely apart? That seems like a lot of work.
@@denisecares6124 Insulated burn chamber makes the fire hotter. It's a smaller fire, but hotter, and disperses into the same amount of heat absorbing material in the stove. So the resultant BTU's are around the same. The hotter fire burns up the gasses that cause creosote, which means I can lower the temps down more after going out of the stove.
Check out the other videos I made, and read the comments, and you can get a better understanding.
Do you think that if you were to rotate your 90° elbow on the floor (intake) so that it faces 180° from its current orientation, and thus pulls in air from under the woodstove, that then the output temperature might be increased? (My thinking is that the intake air would be pre-warmed via proximity to the stove and come out the top that much warmer)
Your idea might work, but I wanted to take in the coolest air from the room.
The thermosiphon works by heating cool air so it rises, so I figured it would move the fastest, and I would be replacing the coolest air with warmer at is stratifies.
Thanks for your input!
@@doubleMinnovations
OK thank you, those are both excellent points I had not considered. I agree it makes more sense as you have it. Thank you for responding! 👍
One if the biggest heat losses with open flue gas or solid stoves is cold air drawn in for combustion from outside Putting a supply pipe under the stove helps to prevent cold sir mixing in room however using something like this to preheat the fresh air feed might yield even more given the lower temperature of the air giving a lower final flue gas temperature as it would be in cross current heat exchange not co current
Did you monitor the carbon monoxide level next to the heat reclaimer?
There's a carbon monoxide/smoke detector 6 feet away on the wall, if that's what you mean. -it was part of the electric code, as it was used as a living area in the past.
@@doubleMinnovations I am curious on the readings you got.
Maybe I should say; carbon monoxide/smoke *alarm*. If it detects CO & smoke, then sounds an audio alarm. It's part of the US electric code. It's not a gas analyzer with a readout.
Be very careful when you change and/or create ways to extract more heat off your stack temperature. This setup seems to me like it would have to be cleaned alot. Your stack temp is well below 200 and this means the flue gasses are going to change state back into a solid, creosote. Chimney or stack temperature is very important so you do not burn your house down. Homeowners insurance will also never insure your house with this stuff either. Not trying to fault a guy for wanting to capture more btu's for the house, just that there is a science and balance to burning any fuel. Same with those heat exchangers you can put inline with your venting which works well, however it lowers stack temperatures too low and makes a ton of creosote, very dangerous!!!
You may want to watch some of the other videos in this playlist, to get an understanding of the whole setup, and the science behind it.
@@doubleMinnovations i do this for a living, and ive installed hundreds of wood burning products over the years, stack temp matters. Your struggling with the same problems engineers for fireplace and stove manufacturers face, removing too many btu's off the stack and sooting up. Really not trying to knock ya, i think its neat. There's just a balance is all im sayin. How did you get an insurance agent to write a policy for your home?
@@doubleMinnovations i definitely will watch the other videos, i hope to maybe learn somthing new. I love fellers being creative to solve problems or to make things better and i like your thinking, ive just seen bad things happen when to extract too many btu's of your flue gasses. Probably just have to clean it more is all.
@@robertdecker5503 When you get hot cleans burns, like I'm getting( +1,100˚F), it burns up the gasses that cause creosote. So you can drop the temperature of the exhaust without a problem. If you don't have hot burns, the exhaust needs to be higher. The videos in the playlist will probably answer most of your questions.
@@doubleMinnovations thank you, i look forward to viewing them.
Can carbon monoxide escape that top end where the siphon 5" pipe comes out? I like the idea, I'm already thinking of how I could make it out of all stainless steel.
I think the large pipe, the jacket around it takes the waste gas and the inner pipe is just a self contained pipe that no waste gas gets into
@@utubeape I'm talking about around the seem around the outside of the galvanized pipe, where all those little cuts were made to fit around.
It's possible Matthew, and I suggest use aluminum tape or stove sealant in the drawings I have on my website. My chimney works well, and the draw keeps pulling everything out.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.....thank you.
👍🇸🇪❤️
👍🏻
How do you seal the seams so no smoke leaks out? Currently in the process of renovating sun room to have a wood burning stove for heat. I love this idea and I will be doing something similar.
I believe a company out there makes a furnace cement , or caulking rates for temps 800 & above , Rutland is brand name.
You should look into generating electricity from it or generating a mild current from the heat to charge batteries.
sound like a good experiment!