Barrel Bench Question

[talltuk]

Hi guys

Whats the best way to connect the solid ends of twonsets of half barrels in a bench? I thought of cutting a half moon out of each to act like a flue or to drill 6" holes, each lower than the last, for a 6" core, to act like a bell. Any feedback?

Getting really close to my first build, just need to paint strip three barrels and take the angle grinder to them. I want to curve the bench so trying to come up with a way to xonnect the two sets with a gap if possible.

[matthewwalker]

You've got the right idea, it can be either flue path or bell depending on how you set it up. I typically use them as a flue, so I'll cut most of the bottoms out, leaving a strap across the widest point to keep the barrel from spreading. That would be your "half moons." My experience says use them that way if you have a fairly long bench you want to heat, but if you are trying to get more heat out of a shorter run, set them up like a bell with a lower exhaust, just as you describe.

[talltuk]

Thanks mattew. I want to curve them beween the two sets. By sets I mean 1 barrel=2 half barrels=1 set with both open ends facing each other. Simplest way I can see is using round flue to connect as I dont have welders to fabricate a connection strip. Dont know if you have come across this problem. Two sets as bell should be ok? This all to go around a central firpit so a curve is the vision

[matthewwalker]

I'm not sure, it might be a pretty large bell. I tend to prefer the flue approach as it seems to heat the seats hotter. I'm guessing it's due to there being more wasted heat up the flue, which translates to higher temps at the top of the chamber as the gasses run by without cooling as much, but I'm just guessing on that.

Are you using cob or something similar to cover? If you are, you can just lop the ends of the barrels at your desired angle and butt them together. I've had pretty large gaps in my joints, like 2" gaps even, that just don't matter at all once it's all cobbed in. As noted in a few threads, once they are running they are pulling air in at any leaks, and the cob does just a fine job of sealing.

All that said, your idea of two sections of two halves joined with a section of flue pipe will probably be great. I say try it out. These things are easy to change as you go, and if it's outdoors you can certainly light it up and see how it goes before adding any mass or seat tops.

[talltuk]

Oooh I hadn't thought of angle cutting them, that would be great! Pipe is hard to come by for free. I am doing a sandwich with cob the first layer on the barrel s to make a flat surface, the storage heater bricks as a high density core and then more cob to finish off. Ithink a neighbour mihht have an arc welder I might borrow so more fun to be had. Now need to find a cheap flue. Thinking spiral galvanised steel pipe as a local engineers seems to have lots of scraps