Boiler help please....or is that on the 5th floor??

[mx842]

I'm working on putting plans together for my wood burning boiler stove and as usual I want to use materials I have on hand for as much of the build as possible. I have some really nice 316L stainless tube that I want to use as boiler tube. My plan is to cut up the long sections into different sized pieces and fab a box out of it.

The material is roughly 9"X4" outside with a wall thickness of 1/2". I should be able to get roughly 40 gals +/- easily around the firebox just from the sides and top. If I have enough material I could add tubes to the floor also to get a few more gallons out of it.

I have some 316L Ibeam that I plan on using for the base which is 10" high with a 4" flange and I was thinking about using this to sit the wood burner on, then I got to thinking why not box it in and use the footprint as an additional storage tank. That would give me an area of 10" high by 4'X4'. I haven't done the math on it but that should give me a pretty decent supply to work with to heat my floor.

I know I need a bunch of other things to get this going but what I was wondering was is how well do you think this 316L stainless is going to hold up in the firebox?

 

[koditten]

As Long as you never go dry or the pump never stops, it should go a Long time.

I run power generating boilers, the tubes are not much thicker than muffler Pipe.

 

[anthony666]

x2 .. stainless heat exchangers in boilers are thin wall .. they rely on the power of water to wick the heat away rapidly .. proof ?? try soldering a copper pipe full of water and solder only melts in the 300 degree range

i like your idea about the tank underneath

 

[Boiler]

Guess you're not asking for my help, specifically. Got excited and thought I might be useful!

 

[anthony666]

Guess you're not asking for my help, specifically. Got excited and thought I might be useful!

lol

 

[mx842]

Sorry I got hung up on another project. This build is a ways off and I was just trying to get an idea if this material I have would work. I may have not been as clear with my question as I should have been. I didn't mean if it would be good for boiler tubes, what I meant to say was if it would hold up in the firebox where the gasification process takes place. Everything I have looked at has a ceramic firebox and secondary burn area.

I realize to get good heat transfer the material in the tubes needs to be rather thin and I have some thinner material that I can fab these out of. Right now I was just wondering if this 1/2" thick stuff would hold up to the firebox and secondary burn temps. My plan is to stack the tubes I have and sandwich firebrick between then to take up the gap until I get the desired firebox size. I should have plenty of this tube to fab a 40"x40"x40" firebox and have enough to make the secondary chamber also. I just need to figure out how big this chamber needs to be in reference to the main firebox.

As I said I know there is a lot of other things needed before it is fired off I just wanted to get started working on building the firebox when I have the time. Thanks!