A woodburning stove without the wood

[tirawa]

Over the past few weeks there have been many reports in the press and online concerning heating using tealights/flowerpots. Having tried this method and found that it works quite well for heating a small space cheaply, I began to think on a slightly grander scale. I used to have access to 2 open fireplaces in my old house, so heating using easily available and free wood did me very nicely. About 3 years ago I moved into a council property with gas central heating and no open fireplaces, which presented me with a problem. If there is ever a prolonged power outage, particularly in the winter months, my central heating will not function and nor will my electric cooker. I'm fairly certain I could get permission from the council to have a wood burner professionally installed, but at a cost of around £2000 that's not really a current option. So, how could I provide an indoor method of heating and basic cooking without a means of getting rid of smoke and fumes.... Alcohol. Lovely stuff when poured into a glass, but also an excellent way to provide heat without dangerous fumes and horrible smells. With methylated spirits being cheap and easy to store I decided on a 'wood burner' design without an outside flue to complicate matters. I found a small calor gas bottle dumped in the hedges, vacated the last of the gas, removed the valve, cut an opening with my jig saw etc and using a small can with about an inch of meths in it, I gave it a go. Within 5 minutes of lighting my reasonably large living room was showing a temperature increase of 2 degrees, with a nice flame showing through the stove opening and an occasional flame through the valve hole on the top. I intend to bolt a small hotplate on the top which should heat up quite nicely, certainly enough to cook a basic 1 pan meal. It still needs a bit of cosmetic work, but that's a job for another day, the main thing is that it works. I'll upload a picture when I work out how to do it

[northern bloke]

Look forward to seeing pics

[tirawa]

I'm still a bit puzzled as to how to upload an image? To be honest, It's not that impressive a sight at the moment, just a gas bottle with a rectangular hole cut in it, but I intend to fit it with legs, a hotplate on the top, a coat of matt black heat resistant paint and maybe some decorative brass work around the fire opening

[ForgeCorvus]

We have a few folks on here who're into Alcohol as a fuel, we also have some interest in gas-bottle stoves....... I'd never thought of combining the two though.

Pics please

[preppingsu]

When posting a new reply, just below the text box is a 'label' that says upload attachement.

Select chose file (this will enable you to browse your images and select the one you want). Click on it and then press the blue button 'add the file'.

Then you will have 2 blue boxes, 'place inline' or 'delete file'.

Pace inline will but it where your cursor is in the text box.

Submit comment as normal.

Hope that helps.

[tirawa]

Thanks for the picture posting advice, I was looking in the wrong place Right, I know it doesn't look like much at the moment but I'll post more photo's as the work progresses. As far as the fuel goes I think that jelified spirits would be more economical than liquid as it seems to have a much longer burn time.

[nickdutch]

That's a nice little bioethanol fireplace you got there. I preferred to buy the bioethanol burning tins commercially as that will give me more assurance that there wont be any issues of fumes coming from the burning glues that have been used to keep a label on, or maybe a food grade plastic or whatever coating on the inside of the tin.

It looks like you got one burning tin there, possibly giving you heat output of around 800 Watts (approximately). The half litre tins I use are supposed to give off 800 watts of convection heating. I use three at a time in my cheapo chimnea for a period of an hour at a time, and then "turn down the heat" after the tins have burned out their approx one inch of fuel and cooled down, through refilling just two of the tins with an inch if needed and setting them alight.

Do remember that ethanol fuel does create moisture in the air and that can possibly add up to a possible damp problem if used all the time.

Also be aware that they use up the oxygen in the air so if you are feeling sleepy, then put the tins out!

I am unsure about using methylated spirits as I have always felt ropey when burning that indoors (carbon monoxide due to the additives?), I would much rather you purchased a proper bioethanol fuel that is designed for indoor bioethanol fireplaces.

econol is a good company for that, and also prestigiousfires.

[gcp1975]

Perhaps put it on a slab else you might melt ya carpet .... If you see the other post about gas bottle burners , i made one out of a helium tank ... I might try using meths !!!!!

[rik_uk3]

I use a Heat Pal alcohol heater/stove. Meths is too expensive these days and have been using methanol for the last couple of years, less than a pound a litre.

[tirawa]

A slab is a good idea, but I only gave it a quick burn as a test to see how much heat it put out. When the blue paint started to smoulder a bit I put the flame out and moved the gas bottle into the garden to cool off. Over the next few days, or more likely weeks I'll be removing all the old paint down to bare metal, fitting the base with three legs and generally tarting it up a bit. As to the fuel situation, meths is only a temporary solution and I intend to start making my own 'sterno' type jell fuel in the New Year. At the moment I have it in my living room with 7 tea lights burning in it and the amount of warmed air spilling out of the door opening is quite impressive.