Best Source for 55-Gal-Drum "Stove Kits"

[Slingshot]

Lookign for opinions on the best place (cost and quality) to obtain the seemingly-common hardware kits to make one- or two-chambered wood-burning heaters from 55-gal drums.

[willib]

when i was a younger , my dad and i made a wood burning stove out of a beer keg

[Phssthpok]

http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=199&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=
671&iSubCat=737&iProductID=199

[nanotech]

Northern Tool has the kits.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_20894_20894&issearch=16160

This is the basic kit for one barrel.

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_42429_42429

This is the kit to expand to two barrels.

[JSNH]

They work great. I use one in my workshop. This is year 3 on the same drum. I put 3" of sand in the bottom when I made it. It keeps the bottom from getting too hot and burning out. The best with these is the instant heat to the room from such a thin stove. Be carfull enjoy the warmth.

JSNH

[wooferhound]

The Google ads on the righthand side of this page are talking about the drum heater kits too . . .

[nothing to lose]

Depends what adds popup, mine only said make a donation today!

No other adds.

Hey I geuss I am about year 9 or maybe 10 on mine 55gal burner. I really lost track though. 1 barrel ever since I built it, nothing specail, burned off the paint and sanded what was left (hot paint fumes can be toxic) and installed the kit. We sit it outside when not in use, now starting to get some rust and pits maybe. More from being rained on that burnout though. Look for a teflon lined barrel, that's what I have. Inside of barrel like new still after all these years.

[twombo]

WHOA!!!!

NTL ... don't use Teflon in contact with fire.. That is REALLY BAD SH#T!!! I don't remember what poisonous gas is released, but sniffing paint is probably better for you and THAT will kill ya' deader than hell!!

Seriously, Teflon can be really bad stuff.  I don't use it even for it's most common purpose.  I only cook with cast 'arn!!

Ciao!

mike

[outback]

did ya ever cook your eggs in a teflon pan?

[ElSenator]

http://www.tuberose.com/Teflon.html

It is a great product if you use it below 464 degrees F.

After that, nasty...

[nothing to lose]

Maybe this is a bit different teflon than the other stuff?

It has not peeled off like cookware does and seems to be kinda safe for use with metal utinsels

Not sure what the hottest I have had the woodburner but at times it was really cooking!

Most the time when I check it with the non-contact thermometer the hottest parts of the barrel are around maybe 350F. The exit pipe gets much hotter at times maybe around 500F but it does not have the airflow cooling it like the barrel has for heating the house.

Label said teflon lined and it was a corn oil barrel I am pretty sure, though it might have been peanut oil or other cooking oil.

[twombo]

Outback

Yes, for a long time, actually, but I went back to good old cast iron some years ago after reading about possible health issues regarding teflon and it's cousins, when exposed to very high temps.

Additionally, I don't use aluminum cookware either, due to possible connections to certain forms of dementia and/or Alzheimers type of. nothing hard and fast but those types of problems run in my family and I would prefer to remove as much risk  as possible.  

"You can lead a horse to water,but you cant make him eat the trough."  Ha!

I like "You can kill two stones with one bird"

Regards

Mike

[davewheeling]

Hi Mike,

Years ago I had experience with thousands of Lined Drums.

They called it phenolic resin lining at that time.

We had to watch it because in time the coating would start to flake off.

If someone took a 55 Gallon Drum Stove outside they could probably burn

that resin off fairly easily but it would take plenty of fire in both

drums if using a 2 drum set-up. I can't swear to this but feel it's right.

The free 55 G drums that I can get at the oil change place all have the

same linings. Ours had to be DOT approved to deliver Kerosene in.

Perhaps they don't want to take a chance on them rusting through

due to condensation. We round Robin-ed full drums and brought back the empties.

Used a common shop vac to suck out whatever was left in the bottom.

The things you could get away with in the old days wouldn't even be

imaginable today. We had some wild gas & 240 volt operated transfer pumps.

The best one was a full size gas station pump on a heavy duty roller cart that we wheeled out when our other 3 pumps couldn't handle the customers during cold waves

to fill 5 gallon cans.

Just plugged it into a 115 Volt outlet and dropped the pick up line down into an underground tank. The draft started 5 inches up from the bottom. Nobody cared.

Every imaginable type of law man was a customer because of where this closed down fuel oil delivery company that we leased from was located. It was too much.

We used 2 old tanker trucks to fill the drums and drums that customers brought in.

When I heard that a major supplier of gasoline was using a 3HP gas engine pump

with the magnesium bell to suck water out of the bottom of huge in ground

gas tanks - I couldn't believe it. I thought Kero was bad enough!

A Ford E-350 Van could hold 12 drums per van with a Viking Camper top and a

steel bulkhead behind the seats. No top vans worked fine but made it a little tougher on the drivers. We only put in 11 so we had room to lay a drum

on it's side and roll the drum (or drums) down the ramp.

As far as the cookware is concerned you may want to consider Stainless Steel

as you age. Several studies have shown too much iron may give men

heart attacks. Thats why you can find quality multi-Vitamins and Minerals

without Iron. Just my 2 cents.

All the Best,

Dave

[twombo]

Dave

The "Old Days".... Wistful sigh!!! What cowboys we were!! A lot of what took place would give these hygenic, OSHA suckled, scared of their shadow, modern folks a MAJOR case of the heebie jeebies, no doubt. Were we crazy or just naive?  

Phenolic resin? PEEEYEWWWW! Boy would that be fragrant till it burnt off!

DAAAAVE!!!! Not the cast iron too? First its the aluminum and Ahlzeimers, now it's cast iron and heart attacks! Dammit all to hell, pal! Kinda takes the fun out of eating, you know. Thanks for the adviso!  Pretty good reason to go for the nice stainless line Alclad cooking set, HEH!

Cheers

Mike

[coldspot]

Well,

as for the Ahlzeimers issue, medical studies show that a little THC would be helpful in keeping the chemicals that Ahlzeimers takes away from the brain.

$0.02  on that one!

"Drum Stove"

just scored one last week, used, and only made from a smaller that 55 size one. Maybe a 16 but didn't look that close yet. And also only a single drum type.

I know this one works well because it's one I've used in the past.

 My uncle, ("Other Dad" that let me live with him to go back and finish high school, WAY back when!),

Told me to take this one from his place, he used to use it heat his two car sized shop, and now he has a stove type of older unit in it. I would have taken it then but truck was loaded with the old Toshiba copy machine he made me take off his hands. That will give many cool parts when I take it apart!!!!

I'll pickup the drum stove this week maybe, I don't really have a use for it yet but hope to have a need for it by next winter, (shed/shop I'm building now isn't as large as his two car shop is, more like a single car sized shop).

 The look he gave me when I said it only needs copper tubes wrapped around it was pretty funny!!

(I know the tubes aren't wrapped like that, just the way I said it).

 As I told him, I'm going to have floor heating for sure!!!!

 Propane working OK for now but wood burning will be used down the road.