Post by matthewwalker on Oct 10, 2013 17:07:43 GMT -8
I've been running a sort of interesting configuration in my shop for a while now, for testing my free standing stoves, and thought I'd share an idea for a simple bell. I started with stacked barrels like Peter, but I have more floor space than he does, and lower ceilings. Plus, I'm short! So that big stack was awkward for me.
What I was running in my shop was a barrel and another 2/3s of a barrel, cut at the rib so when stacked they formed a bell 1 2/3 barrels tall. Inlet is about halfway up the stack, from straight out of my first radiator, and exhaust is down near the bottom. This configuration works well as a bell radiator, similar to Peter's stack. It has the ability to put quite a bit of heat into the space, and as a result keeps the exhaust temps cool, which honestly was my main goal since I don't always use the safest set ups down there in the shop. Not quite as extreme as you Max, but still, aluminum flexible ducting sometimes finds it's way into a temporary set up of mine. It's pretty nice, the first radiator gets really hot, and the second bell/radiator stack is quite a bit cooler, then the exhaust is quite cool.
I keep wanting to build brick bells and such for testing purposes, but for various reasons, mostly time, money, and the desire to not put too much effort into them since I'm constantly changing things around, I have not yet built a more permanent masonry bell mass, my various half barrel set ups not withstanding. The other day I came up with a compromise that I'm pretty pleased with. It's so simple it's almost silly.
Since one of the challenges of the brick or masonry bells for inside use is sealing everything well, I started thinking about wrapping barrels like can be seen in one of Peter's videos. However, since I wanted it temporary, that wasn't appropriate. Then I thought, what if I reverse the position of the materials? So, yeah, that's it. I build the same barrel and two thirds stack, but I just build a stack of bricks inside it, stacking them in the lower section then putting the top barrel over them. The stack is in the middle of the diameter of the barrel, leaving a reasonable gap all around. Yep. It's that simple. It actually works great, you can build a pretty big stack in there, and I haven't done any calculations but I'm pretty sure I've got 400lbs or so in one stack. The barrels are taped together for the seal, and you're done. You could do multiples of these as well, depending on your system. It could be a double barrel stack, a single barrel with a lid, and so on.
So, just thought I'd share. It's not the greatest looking thing ever, but if you are heating a shop, or playing around with designs, it's a fair compromise between radiator and mass that's cheap, quick, and easy.
What I was running in my shop was a barrel and another 2/3s of a barrel, cut at the rib so when stacked they formed a bell 1 2/3 barrels tall. Inlet is about halfway up the stack, from straight out of my first radiator, and exhaust is down near the bottom. This configuration works well as a bell radiator, similar to Peter's stack. It has the ability to put quite a bit of heat into the space, and as a result keeps the exhaust temps cool, which honestly was my main goal since I don't always use the safest set ups down there in the shop. Not quite as extreme as you Max, but still, aluminum flexible ducting sometimes finds it's way into a temporary set up of mine. It's pretty nice, the first radiator gets really hot, and the second bell/radiator stack is quite a bit cooler, then the exhaust is quite cool.
I keep wanting to build brick bells and such for testing purposes, but for various reasons, mostly time, money, and the desire to not put too much effort into them since I'm constantly changing things around, I have not yet built a more permanent masonry bell mass, my various half barrel set ups not withstanding. The other day I came up with a compromise that I'm pretty pleased with. It's so simple it's almost silly.
Since one of the challenges of the brick or masonry bells for inside use is sealing everything well, I started thinking about wrapping barrels like can be seen in one of Peter's videos. However, since I wanted it temporary, that wasn't appropriate. Then I thought, what if I reverse the position of the materials? So, yeah, that's it. I build the same barrel and two thirds stack, but I just build a stack of bricks inside it, stacking them in the lower section then putting the top barrel over them. The stack is in the middle of the diameter of the barrel, leaving a reasonable gap all around. Yep. It's that simple. It actually works great, you can build a pretty big stack in there, and I haven't done any calculations but I'm pretty sure I've got 400lbs or so in one stack. The barrels are taped together for the seal, and you're done. You could do multiples of these as well, depending on your system. It could be a double barrel stack, a single barrel with a lid, and so on.
So, just thought I'd share. It's not the greatest looking thing ever, but if you are heating a shop, or playing around with designs, it's a fair compromise between radiator and mass that's cheap, quick, and easy.
I've had the same thought as you, using 30 gal on the inside of 55 barrels, and filling the gap with some sand or gravell 
