Get Hot Water from Your Woodstove: The Blazing Showers Stovepipe Water Heater

(Page 3 of 3)

November/December 1976
By Sundance & Louie 
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The Woodstove Firebox Hot Water Heater

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Our Firebox Hot Water Heater works in exactly the same manner as our stovepipe model, except that the heating coil is mounted in the stove's fiirebox instead of the flue. We designed this system specifically for use with highly efficient automatic drum-type stoves (such as the Ashley 25, King Automatic, Atlanta Automatic 2502, etc.) ... stoves that produce such cool stovepipe smoke that we're forced to put our heating coil right inside the firebox. (Fortunately, these wood-burners are spacious enough inside to accommodate both the copper tubing and a large quantity of fuel.) Fig. 6 shows how our Firebox Hot Water Heater coil is mounted in one of these stoves.

Solar Water Heating

With just a couple of modifications, our basic Blazing Showers system will work as both a stovepipe AND a solar water heating system. That is, a wood stove and a solar collector could be used either simultaneously or independently to produce hot water and feed it to the storage tank (see Fig. 7). Such a setup, of course, is ideal for folks who—as we do—live in the sunnier parts of the country where wood stoves aren't used all year round. And—since the sun-powered part of the system need work only during the hottest weather—the collector itself can be a rather simple, low-technology device. We intend to market our own super-simple "sunny day'' solar collector next summer.

It's a Natural

Piping-hot water—warmed by a wood stove's waste heat—is a natural. And it's economical! (Just think: With no more hot water bills to pay, you can pocket an extra $10 to $25 a month!) Of course we're prejudiced, but any way we look at it, the Blazing Showers system is a piece of cake . . . and added self-sufficiency is the frosting.

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Comments

  • GaryGary 6/1/2009 8:03:45 PM

    Hi,
    Good article -- thanks!

    One safety precaution I think should be emphasized is that these system should be protected with a pressure/temperature relief valve, and that no shutoff or bypass valves should be installed in the system that can isolate the stove from the PRT valve. Steam explosions that can result from water being heated in a stove coil can be extremely violent as this link shows:
    http://www.woodheat.org/dhw/dhw.htm

    Gary

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