# Forum Home Renovation Heating & Cooling  My home made pot belly stove. LOTS OF PICS

## PlatypusGardens

Here's what I've been up to lately  :Smilie: 
I had this hot water tank which I used to make an open fireplace for the backyard and camping.
Works really well, and burns heaps better than any 44 Gal. drum I've had in the past          
I only used about 1/3 of the tank for it and I thought I'd better do something with the rest.
As usual things have spiralled out of control and this thing is getting bigger and badder by the minute. 
Got a new welder too so wanted to give it a good test run...  
Here's what's going on.
First I had to make a top for it, so I cut some sections of the side, laid them on top and tacked them in place.         
Cut triangles, shaped them to fit and filled in the gaps.             
Then it looked like R2D2           
Made a door.
Starting to look like something now.         :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

Gave it a couple of runs, worked pretty well but not good enough.          
Of course it needed a grate to keep the coals from choking the fire.
As I hadn't made one before closing it in, I had to make it in two parts.
Reo seemed like a good idea.
(It wasn't, more on that later)

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## PlatypusGardens

The reo was way too soft and the grid warped from the heat.
Had to cut it in half to get it back out.
Still works for now though.   
Anyway, made a third air intake to go under the grate to create more draw.          
Noticed an improvement, but still not 100%.
Want it to work with the door shut.
Also, there's some smoke escaping through the door when it's open  
I also cooked on it which was very satisfying  :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

So it seemed there was enough air going in.
Held a lighter in front of the bottom vents and the draft put the flame out.   
So if there's (sort of) enough going in, maybe there needs to be more going out....
???  
Only one way to find out....                     
Haven't tried it with the twin stacks yet but might do tonight if I get it all welded up today.

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## PlatypusGardens

The tank is about 450mm dia, and the chamber about 600 tall.
The stacks are 110mm dia and the whole thing stands at about 1.9m.
There's also a chute down the bottom for emptying the ash out.  
Starting to get the hang of this new MIG welder too   :Smilie:         
Dog likes new heat source.

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## OBBob

Upcycling... nice.

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## phild01

You'll end up with a steel melting furnace :Shock:  :2thumbsup:

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## PlatypusGardens

Once it gets going it really heats up.
We had the entire thing glowing red one time....
But that's a bit too much. 
Just want it to burn nicely with the door shut  
I will report back after the next burning session.
Have a heap of hardwood ready to go.    :Smilie:

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## PlatypusGardens

Has anyone got experience with pot belly/stove paint?
Will it work on stainless? 
More to the point, will it work if the things gets so hot it glows.....    :Smilie:

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## OBBob

There are some pretty good high temperature automotive paints ... but it sounds pretty hot. Maybe you need to contact NASA about a ceramic coating ... LOL.

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## Renopa

You are having way too much fun with that welder!!   :2thumbsup:  
Can't help with paint on Stainless, but we used 'Pot Belly Black' on a cast iron unit that used to get red hot....was frightened it might start to melt so cut back on firewood and airflow.  Check the label on the paint next time you are at the big green (or blue) shed, that's if you can tear yourself away from the welder for long enough!!!   :Biggrin:

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## PlatypusGardens

Yes there's too many different coloured sheds these days haha.
Green, blue & white, blue and we also have a local red & yellow one. 
had a look online and some of the paints are good for 650+ degrees, allegedly.
will do some more research. 
cheers.   :Smilie:

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## Uncle Bob

That's pretty good!

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## PlatypusGardens

> There are some pretty good high temperature automotive paints ... but it sounds pretty hot. Maybe you need to contact NASA about a ceramic coating ... LOL.

  Wouldn't that be something.
space shuttle white...   :Laughing1:

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## PlatypusGardens

Well, the results are in and twin stacks are the go! 
It clearly needed to get rid of more smoke and hot air quicker, and this works really well now.
Given that they had to be directed around the gutter, this meant that the top had to be fairly light to stop the thing tipping over.
After lots of searching I came across these old solar garden lights at a mate's place. 
Quite thin cheap stainless and was a bit tricky to weld, but I got there in the end.        
A bit of tin downpipe at the end and it's all good to go.     
And boy did it go! 
Flames coming out of the ends...      
Just need to make a new fire grate from something a bit stronger and this thing is ready for some paint.    :Smilie:

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## OBBob

Ba ha ha ha ... you're going to need baffles on the ends of the pipes. It's like a top fuel dragster.  
Have you considered if there's a difference between burning really well and burning efficiently? It sort of strikes me that there's a lot of heat going out the top! Maybe you have a really big timber resource and it's not and issue? 
Looks very cool nonetheless.

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## PlatypusGardens

Hey Bob, it only does that at the start. (flames out the top) 
I usually stuff it full of kindling to get the stacks heated up, then tone it down a bit once it starts to draw.
It works with the door shut now which was always the aim, and draws like crazy with it open.
I held a lighter in front of the inlet down the bottom, below the door - door shut, and the flame got sucked right in. 
When the coals build up below the grate, you only need to put a couple of small pieces in at a time and it burns quite steady.    
And yes, I do have a good supply of firewood as well    :Smilie:

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## OBBob

Sounds great then ... watch the local paper for reports of UFO sightings on the horizon.  :Smilie:

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## Renopa

Watch out for the little green men knocking on the front door...they will see you from outer space!!   LOL   
Good job though, who's supplying the marshmallows?   :2thumbsup:

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## PlatypusGardens

Picked up the beginning of MKII today.
Appears to be a bit bigger and not stainless.   
Will tuck it away behind the shed for now and keep using the current one for the remainder of this winter.
Have a few ideas for the next version though.   :Smilie:

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## notvery

Wow ive never seen this thread before.. crazy. that thing(it is sooooo much more than simply a pot belly) the go faster pipes are awesome...low flying birds become BBQ food dropping straight onto the plate. little disappointed the steak was in a fry pan and not cooked directly onto the cooking dome of doom. 
I do have a question tho...your 1000Km north of brisvegas right...do you really need so many fires to keep warm? it cant get used that much can it?!

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## PlatypusGardens

We've used it about a dozen times so far this year I reckon.
Plus a few fires in the open one by the deck. 
The thing a lot of people overlook about the tropics is the big temperature drop in the evenings.   :Smilie:   
That, and being aclimatised.....
it's 17 degrees now, and I could see myself lighting it up to heat the patio a bit...  
(And I grew up in Sweden where we'd go swimming as soon as it hit 18 degrees haha)

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## PlatypusGardens

For the next one I'm thinking horizontal with dual chambers and proper cooking plate on top. 
possibly incorporate a smoking chamber as well  :Smilie:   
google pic:

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## METRIX

> Picked up the beginning of MKII today.
> Appears to be a bit bigger and not stainless.   
> Will tuck it away behind the shed for now and keep using the current one for the remainder of this winter.
> Have a few ideas for the next version though.

  I love a gardeners truck, stuff all tools in there,

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## PlatypusGardens

> I love a gardeners truck, stuff all tools in there,

  
Tools go in the two boxes on the passenger side. 
The tray is for greenwaste

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## Smurf

Twin exhausts on a heater. Never seen that before! 
I've used a pot belly stove previously for heating a house (inside). Wood worked OK, but if the bottom air was fully open, damper was wide open and we put a couple of buckets full of coal (actual coal, not charcoal or wood) in it then the whole thing ended up glowing red hot. Literally glowing. Coal burns a lot longer than wood but the downside, of course, is that it's not real good for the planet (not that anyone was too worried about that back then). 
It worked fine for heating and was also a good means of baking a cat. Light fire, cat places itself about 200mm away from the stove, then cat turns itself over once one side is done. Cat lived to be 20 years old so didn't seem to suffer although it (the cat) was too hot to touch at times. Burnt my hand once - that was due to touching the cat not the stove. I guess the thick fur kept the temperature somewhat lower on the skin. As for the rest of us, that is humans and the dog, well we kept quite a bit further away from the blast furnace in the dining room.  
As for melting metal, I've done that but not with the pot belly. Built a furnace outside with the intent of melting aluminium. It got hot, real hot, and ended up melting the steel instead and so that was the end of the furnace. Never did get to melt aluminium with it although some did magically disappear - I'm guessing that it burnt rather than just melting. That was running on kerosene with forced air for combustion - around 100kW of heat all up.

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## PlatypusGardens

I've had this thing glowing red.
The entire stove including both stacks, almost all the way to the top. 
Was rather impressive   :Smilie:

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## notvery

So what was the solution to the reo being too soft? What you use instead

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## PlatypusGardens

> So what was the solution to the reo being too soft? What you use instead

  
Still using the same reo haha.
It's a bit saggy but I put a piece of steel under it in the middle to stop it dropping any further.  
I'm thinking some 30x30x6mm right angle steel would be the go.
Placed "upside down" like /\ that, about 50-70mm apart, parallel.     :Smilie:

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## ringtail

PP, get googling rocket stove mass heaters

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## Uncle Bob

Hey PG, I'll be watching along  :Smilie:  I'm looking for something for the caravan patio down the coast, but real pot belly stove are pricey and I get some joy outta making stuff. Most guys down at the park have old washing machine drums, which are great for heat, but have a couple of drawbacks, namely, the smoke, and you can't use them under a patio roof. I like the idea of an "open fire" so I'm thinking of a big cone connected to a flue over an open fire. Anyway, still just bouncing ideas around in the hollow chamber of my head at this stage  :Wink:

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## Uncle Bob

> PP, get googling rocket stove mass heaters

  Yep +1. I like the idea of the flue running thru a concrete bench seat. The drawback of these is usually they need to be fed with sticks and there isn't much flame to be seen.

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## PlatypusGardens

Yeh, like Bob, I want to see flame  :Smilie:  
Would the glass from an old oven door be hardened enough to use on a potbelly.....?   
Hmmm

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## Marc

Not trying to highjack the thread but I find it extremely hilarious that burning coal is "bad for the planet" but burning wood is not Hu hu  :Hahaha:

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## Marc

> Yeh, like Bob, I want to see flame  
> Would the glass from an old oven door be hardened enough to use on a potbelly.....?   
> Hmmm

  Only one way to know ... try. Some are double and a tad thin.
You can always buy a replacement glass made for a slow combustion at barbeques galore or similar joint.

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## Marc

> Hey PG, I'll be watching along  I'm looking for something for the caravan patio down the coast, but real pot belly stove are pricey and I get some joy outta making stuff. Most guys down at the park have old washing machine drums, which are great for heat, but have a couple of drawbacks, namely, the smoke, and you can't use them under a patio roof. I like the idea of an "open fire" so I'm thinking of a big cone connected to a flue over an open fire. Anyway, still just bouncing ideas around in the hollow chamber of my head at this stage

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## PlatypusGardens

> buy a replacement glass made for a slow combustion at barbeques galore or similar joint.

  
Yeh true...probably better.    :Smilie:

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## ringtail

> Yep +1. I like the idea of the flue running thru a concrete bench seat. The drawback of these is usually they need to be fed with sticks and there isn't much flame to be seen.

  True. They are a heating device and not really for ambience. I guess the firebox could have a glass  panel so one could watch the flames going sideways - which would be supercool.

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## Marc

Arrow Parts | Pivot Online

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## PlatypusGardens

> Arrow Parts | Pivot Online

  
Good stuff

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## METRIX

> Tools go in the two boxes on the passenger side. 
> The tray is for greenwaste

  HA HA HA 
Just found a picture of one of my older ute's, not quite as practical as your's but almost the same shot., same colour, and even the door is open, HA HA HA HA HA 
Below that is the one which replaced the black one, still the same again, only no door open and silver.

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## ErrolFlynn

I made myself a heater once.  There are a lot of wonderful ideas on the web and some amazing designs.  Briliant Russian works of art.  And the background of the aga stove is something not much short of amazing.  I got bogged down in ideas to try, most of which didn't work.  So my advice would be to keep it simple.  
I wanted to suck in air from the outside so incorporated an inlet that drew air from under the fire; from beneath the floor boards.  It worked but was not a good idea because of the fire risk.  I had read that recycling the smoke can help make a fire more efficient.  Don't know if that worked because the deformation caused by the thing changing shape once it got a good belt of heat going caused the various internal movable baffles I had installed to seize up.  The fire generally ballooned out slightly, despite it being made form 3-4mm plate (can't recall exactly).  Didn't use a grate but the floor was about 8mm.  It was a heavy beast. The one thing that a fire does need is a flue that is a reasonable height in relation to the house (often needs to be the highest structure), otherwise it may smoke inside your house.  To get the fire going well you have to have a hot fire.  Once going there should be no smoke leakage.  I believe it will also depend upon where your chimney is sited and the direction of prevailing winds.  Whether your on a hill, side of a hill, bottom of a valley.  Think of the old pump fly spray thingy that used to be around (or perfume atomizer).  The spray works because air can flow past the opening "sucking" it out.  If the flue is too low it won't draw.  I put a damper on mine, which was one of the best things I did.  Great for slowing it down if it gets too hot.  Also if you can control the inlet air flow that is essential too.  There was a bit of solid pipe coming out of the top of the fire for about 150mm and the flue sat in it.  A couple of holes though that pipe to act as hinges and an oval piece of metal fitted the space so that it could tilt to shut off the air worked a treat.  Just like a carburetor butterfly. Smoke didn't leak out because there was too much air being sucked in.  Don't know whether two flues is better than one large one.  Flues should be insulated - a pipe within a pipe.  Good for fire protection if its going though your roof, but it also keeps the inner pipe hot so that the draw will remain.  If at anytime you can see smoke coming out your flue then your fire is not hot enough.  You should just see a heat haze with no smoke.

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## OBBob

Inspiration of the Force ...

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