wood stove hot water (home, water heater, transfer)

[jim65970]

hello anyone have any experience on getting hot water from a wood stove...i am not using a hot water heater....just need warm/hot water for showering & dishes....was thinking about running the system just to get enough hot water them shutting it off.....insulated holding tank will be above the stove & the water to shower & sink via gravity....don't need much .....summer time will be solar hot water.....will be a small cabin...1 person
any comments will be most welcomed
thanks
jim

[arctichomesteader]

With all the wood stove heated hot water systems I've seen, there's no "shutting it off" and it must always have water in it or it will be destroyed. There's always hot water in the system as long as the stove is burning. The hot water will naturally rise by gravity, though, so I think it'd be fairly easy to set it up to go to a tank high enough up to then also let gravity pull it down to the faucet or whatever. Controlling the temperature can be tricky so keep that in mind if you want to shower with it. I'd have at least two relief valves (the both pressure and temperature type) for safety.

[RayinAK]

here you go (with pictures and all). All you need is a a little plumbing experience:
Heating water with a wood stove

[karibear]

If you really want wood-heated hot water, as in you have no access to electricity or propane, or don't want to use them, I'd suggest getting an old wood-fired Paloma. You do need a regular source of water, but once you get the fire going, it's almost instant. And when the fire goes out, presto, no more hot water. You can shower, do dishes, whatever, whenever you want. I have friends who used one for years, then upgraded to a propane version, which they still have.

As for the wood stove thing, years ago we had a similar set up using an oil stove. Copper coils around the stove pipe, and the hot water perked it's way upstairs to the water tank [an old electric water heater, complete with pressure valve]. Since the coils wrapped around the pipe were bare and not insulated, the water was comfortably warm and never got really hot. We talked about running a few coils inside the stove over the burner, but never did. I wouldn't try it with a commercial stove, but this one was home made, so there was plenty of room for trial and error.

[jim65970]

Originally Posted by karibear

If you really want wood-heated hot water, as in you have no access to electricity or propane, or don't want to use them, I'd suggest getting an old wood-fired Paloma. You do need a regular source of water, but once you get the fire going, it's almost instant. And when the fire goes out, presto, no more hot water. You can shower, do dishes, whatever, whenever you want. I have friends who used one for years, then upgraded to a propane version, which they still have.

As for the wood stove thing, years ago we had a similar set up using an oil stove. Copper coils around the stove pipe, and the hot water perked it's way upstairs to the water tank [an old electric water heater, complete with pressure valve]. Since the coils wrapped around the pipe were bare and not insulated, the water was comfortably warm and never got really hot. We talked about running a few coils inside the stove over the burner, but never did. I wouldn't try it with a commercial stove, but this one was home made, so there was plenty of room for trial and error.

hello kari....thanks for the post...very interesting....i think your stove pipe idea is brilliant....i dont need hot hot water...just warm enough to shower & for cleaning up....how did you indroduce the cold water into the coil....after thinking about what you said i'm thinking to have 2 equal gallonage tanks.....1 for cold & 1 for the warm water....i can introduce cold water to the coil from the cold water tank as much or little as i want then let the warm water tank recirculate back into the coil until it is warm enough....this way i can plumb hot and cold water tanks to where i need it...i'd appreicate your comments
many thanks in advance
best
jim

[karibear]

Originally Posted by jim65970

hello kari....thanks for the post...very interesting....i think your stove pipe idea is brilliant....i dont need hot hot water...just warm enough to shower & for cleaning up....how did you indroduce the cold water into the coil....after thinking about what you said i'm thinking to have 2 equal gallonage tanks.....1 for cold & 1 for the warm water....i can introduce cold water to the coil from the cold water tank as much or little as i want then let the warm water tank recirculate back into the coil until it is warm enough....this way i can plumb hot and cold water tanks to where i need it...i'd appreicate your comments
many thanks in advance
best
jim

The water we cheated on. We had city water, just didn't want to use electricity - at least he didn't. We weren't exactly remote, but we lived on the back of a lake and had no road access, everything had to be brought across in a boat, then carried up a fairly steep bluff. The water line was PVC and ran under the lake and straight up a cliff about 60' to the house, and tended to freeze up every winter, which kind of defeated the purpose of the hot water coils. Then it was chop through the ice and carry buckets of water up the same bluff, boil it to use, and keep another bucket of snow melting for the dogs' water. They didn't get the boiling treatment.

[jim65970]

Originally Posted by karibear

The water we cheated on. We had city water, just didn't want to use electricity - at least he didn't. We weren't exactly remote, but we lived on the back of a lake and had no road access, everything had to be brought across in a boat, then carried up a fairly steep bluff. The water line was PVC and ran under the lake and straight up a cliff about 60' to the house, and tended to freeze up every winter, which kind of defeated the purpose of the hot water coils. Then it was chop through the ice and carry buckets of water up the same bluff, boil it to use, and keep another bucket of snow melting for the dogs' water. They didn't get the boiling treatment.

thanks again for your words kari.....sounds pretty remote to me the way you explained it.....as for me i want to collect rain water...any experience with this.....then will use a 12 v transfer pump to cabin....question is what do i use in winter.... is snow ok to melt & use for potable water ?
i'm looking for self sufficiency..besides will give me something to do !
as usual thanks for your comments
best
jim

[karibear]

Originally Posted by jim65970

thanks again for your words kari.....sounds pretty remote to me the way you explained it.....as for me i want to collect rain water...any experience with this.....then will use a 12 v transfer pump to cabin....question is what do i use in winter.... is snow ok to melt & use for potable water ?
i'm looking for self sufficiency..besides will give me something to do !
as usual thanks for your comments
best
jim

Snow is OK as long as it's not yellow. It takes a LOT of snow to melt into any quantity of water, you'd be spending a lot of time scooping it up 7-10 cups of snow for each cup of water, iirc, depending on how wet or dry the snow is. And it really would be best to boil it before consuming it - no telling what kind of critters were running around on the various layers covered by new snow. Depending on where you are, it should also be strained - ours was full of spruce needles. If you are collecting rainwater in barrels of any kind, be sure there's some kind of bug-proof cover that will also act as a filter to let the rain through, otherwise you'll find yourself with a mosquito ranch. And if it rains enough wherever you are, a hand pump would be just as easy as using 12v power, and cheaper, too. The only drawback would be having to drain it before freeze-up and re-prime it in the spring.

[Marty Van Diest]

It's nice to have a cool plumbing system. But for one person in a cabin a large kettle on top the stove is the fastest, cheapest, easiest and most fool proof method.

[jim65970]

Originally Posted by Marty Van Diest

It's nice to have a cool plumbing system. But for one person in a cabin a large kettle on top the stove is the fastest, cheapest, easiest and most fool proof method.

HELLO MARTY.... yes i understand exactyl what your are saying....just have my mind going here.....besides..... living in the bush i need something to do...to look after & take care of....
best
jim