The Amazing $500 Wood-burning Stove ... That You Can Build for $35 (or Less!)

I purchased plans approx. 30 years ago and had a welder make me a stove from a 30 gallon drum. We successfully heated our 820 Sqft Idaho home at least 80% of the time using only this great stove!

This is a reply to Smith's comment that you could burn your house down with this stove. Of course you could... if you didn't build it correctly. Most heat stoves are NOT cast iron as it is cost prohibitive and heavy as hell. Most stoves are welded sheet steel these days. I have friends who have used a steel barrel stove for years and it is MUCH thinner than the water tank suggested here. Inspect the steel often for pin holes and burn throughs. Small pin holes can be welded closed. My grand father had an old pot belly cast iron job that had cracked from 60 years of use. It cast lovely light in the dark but never posed a fire hazzard. Bottom line, all wood stoves can burn your house down if you don't know what you are doing and this stove is as safe as any commercial stove if built properly in my opinion.

yes i think if you open a New Bitmap Image on your desktop you can then highlight the drawings 1 and 2 of the water heater wood stove and right click and copy then right click the New Bitmap Image and click edit then paste the copy and rename it and then you can open it and zoom as close as you would like and still see the image clearly i hope it works as good for you as it worked for me

How do you remove the ash?

How do you remove the ash?

the pipe has 1/2 inch hole in it and the front apears to be a slider draft but if I remember the plans called for a screw type draft, just a plate with a 1/2 inch bolt inside a 3-4 inch well casing

I am a retired eng. tech., machinest, welder, pipe fitter and I was unable to figure out the bottom thing that looks like a pipe??? It was blurry and I could not clear it up. It seems that with so many comments that ME would think about making the plans available again to it's members.

Rnnie

Bought the Plan for this in the 70s and built it as per plan. Didn,t care for the top loader so cut the front sean and made a door if you weld a peice around one side of your cut you will still be as airtight never did wear it out

the drawings are blured but there in last photo of photo shop if you send them to your pictures then when you view it it will blow them up but there blurry as the devil

This is awsome! I just had a water heater removal, its sitting outside my garage. Would love to build but I can barly read the blue prints supplied. Any way to blow this up? or make it more legible?

Thanks James

The article on how to build a$500.00 wood stove they weren't any drawing plans with the article to show you how to build.

THank you

Arless

Does anyone have more detailed drawings for this project?

I wish there was an abundance of these. I've been looking for one in Michigan for a year now, no luck. I even have a $20 finders fee for these with some local contractors. :(

I really love this site
Thanks for the artical about the wood burning stove. Now do you have any advice about how to help me get my husband motivated?
The Pagan Pixie

This Is not a thing you can use in your home if you do it may burn your home down.The heat will brake the steel down and burn a hole threw it that is why thay make wood heaters out of cast iorn...

Question: How does one clean the ashes out of Dennis Burke-holders $35 wood stove after you assemble it? Also how is it possible that the air vents do not become clogged with ash build up according to the diagram shown??

Does anyone know if there is a higher resolution image available of the plans for this stove? (or reproductions/plans available for purchase? I am very interested in building one but can't see the dimensions of the hopper on top etc.

I built one before I read this article.Does great heats a 30 by 40 garage.I used 3 water heaters and purchased a barrel kit from Tractor Supply,used the door out of the kit.

Back in the 70's we sent for the parts to make a barrel heater from a company called Sotz. The kit included an airtight door, legs, and a collor for the smoke pipe. We ordered the double barrel kit that had the parts to stack a barrel above the fire barrel to reclaim heat that would go up the chimney. We used this 2 barrel assembly in our basement for 20 years to heat our entire 2 story house with the original barrels that never burned out. The beauty of it was that it controlled how hot the fire got. Wouldn't let it get over 800 degrees. If it did the barrel would burn out. We only stopped using it because our boys grew up and left home and we both worked and couldn't cut enough wood to heat the home. Now that we are retired and the fill-up of our heating oil cost us $1800 last August we are making plans to use it again.

This is an excellent use of an old water heater. But if you want to get even more heat from your wood, build a heat exchanger / smoke tank just above the stove. It need only consist of a horizontal tank with a baffle laying parallel to the top, midway up. I designed one for my neighbor, and he says he uses about 1/3 the wood and his heat output has increased dramatically. He no longer has problems heating his older two storey home, with just one stove.