Outside Wood Burning Furnace Built For Less Than $1,000

Outside Wood Burning Furnace Built For Less Than $1,000 ENERGY Wood Burners (65) 27-6-34 After checking out the features - and prices - of commercial outside wood burning furnaces, Richard Tietz decided to build his own. "I think it works better than anything on the market, and I built it for less than $1,000," says Tietz, of Orlando, W. Va. "I've used it for 10 years to heat my 2,800-sq. ft. home, keeping it at 75 degrees all winter long." The wood burner measures 5 ft. long and 3 ft. high and mounts on angle iron skids. It sets about 100 ft. away from Tietz's house. It's made out of 3/16-in. thick hot rolled steel with a 3-in. wide water jacket built around it. A 1/4 hp electric pump sends heated water through plastic pipe to the house. The heated water is piped into a radiator, where a furnace blower propels hot air into the house. The entire system is thermostat-controlled. "It'll burn for 18 to 24 hours on one filling," says Tietz. "I use this stove to burn 4-ft. logs measuring 3 to 8 in. in diameter. I set up a conveyor to load logs into the firebox. The conveyor is located next to the store. I just add a removeable 3-ft. section whenever I need to load up with wood. If I want I can check for air leaks in the firebox by forcing compressed air in at 65 psi. The only drawback is that once a month I have to shovel out ashes." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Richard Tietz, Rt. 1, Box 144B, Orlando, W. Va. 26412 (ph 304 462-4259).

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