There has been a ton of interest in my home built boiler on youtube, so I finally got around to making this video on the auto fill setup.
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Andy, I dug out my bluetooth keyboard to type this. About five years ago Dad wanted to build an outside boiler. He looked at a lot of designs. I picked out a design but he found another. I could NOT see it, the the one he liked, working very well. I tried to sell him on this nice streamlined design but he wanted to pay for a set of insane plans. Just the materials costed more than he could afford.
Well, he made it work for about five years and last year agreed that he was ready to build the sane designed wood boiler! Of course there is more to the story like hungry for wood and boil overs but that’s a lot of typing.
We cut, twitched and trucked the logs to my place. Dug the mill out of storage. Built a shead for the mill so it didn’t need to be put back into storage, ready to go at any time now. We sawed the lumber for his boiler hut (Heat Hut). After the old boiler was dissassembled the boiler hut was built. Trips to the junk yard for supplies. Trips for other stuff. Built the boiler at my place. Trucked it to Dad’s place and dropped it on the ground when we were unloading it ! ! ! Ouch ! ! ! That sucked… Installed it, plumbed it, got a flue pipe for it and then built the controls for it, forced air inlet. Here is a shocker, after welding this up with my old stick welder it didn’t leak. Now, that blows my mind. I bet as I’m typing this it just sprung a leak.
Guess what? The brains behind this design turns out to be you! Question; how does’t Dad like it? Answer; he loves it (me too) !
Thank you !
Maybe I need to take some photos of a video. 
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Well, now Jeff, it’s been said that great minds roll in the same gutter. I had a lot of great plans and innovations rolling around in my head, but ran out of time so just slammed it together. Well, I’m glad I did because it has worked great for me. At any rate, I’m honored that you liked it. I would love to see a picture or two.
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To day we got word that Mission Ridge Ski/Snowboarding resort opens tomorrow, a week earlier then expected. If I was still working as a training director instructor for them I would be working tomorrow. It is nice not having to be there tomorrow working. Mission Ridge was the forth area to open this year in Washington State, sometimes we are the first to open.
I am going to continue to work on The Gasifier That Wanted To Be tomorrow. More updates to come. Prossesed about 50 to 60 lbs. of charcoal day, through my grinder/trommel from the four fire pit burns we had in the evenings. Got a plan to make the fire pit produce more charcoal and still have a nice fire to enjoy. I don’t like seeing all that beautifully made charcoal burn up in the pit as the fire burn through the evening. SAVE THE CHARCOAL.
Bob
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Getting ready for the winter wood all in a few calf’s been born went to a dairy farm an got another calf for daisy hope to get back on my Gasifire soon
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@Handy_Andy – This could take the better part of this week to find and upload photos of the Handy Andy Boiler (HAB ?). Home made controls from a $12 controller and relay.
forced air setup. Black tubing goes to the HAB.
Front of the HAB.
Side view.
More photos to come.
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This winter I get to work in God’s garage repairing a come-a-part cummins! Time to freshen up the PT fuel pump. It is off and sent out.
Got my first 55 gallon storage rack built ! ! Snow tends to blow into the barrels. Any ideas for doors?
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looks good guys…I think I would just die if I lived there though.
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Jeff that looks like you will be busy for a few minutes. Reminds me of my case 5240 i need to split and rebuild the transmission. Between the two of us we have one good tractor as my Cummings motor still purrs line a kitten. Not sure but I think mine is a spring project. I still have a pile of logs to saw and a barn to repair so the cows are out of the wind this winter… tomorrow I hope to do the cement block work on my barn we are still getting some warmer days and not snow that has stayed yet…
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I like this idea.
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oh yeah, been doing that for smokers for a long time. My dad used to own a BBQ restaurant. We made many smokers that way. What do you want to do with it? Make charcoal?
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Brother Jeff, I would like to know more about your $12 controller setup. Perhaps a link and diagram?
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It is an inkbird. Rather common, no PID circuit just △T. I’ll post more later.
Here is a link.
http://www.ink-bird.com/products-temperature-controller-itc1000f.html
Are you kidding me? 17$? The cheapest one l found in Slovenia was about 130$!
Hi Jeff Davis
For open end covering these I’d just use one-two plywood panels propped up with some Tee-posts angled out.
10 years or more ago I started buying 4x8xthree-ply green-treated ground burial plywood sheets. Bit expensive. But they never de-laminate. None in ground contact has edge rotted yet.
I’ve turned these in to many screw-gunned togather temp projects. Wedding temp dance floor! Yard wedding wheelchair walkways. Shade cover for the chickens. Snow and rain covers for the chickens. Wood stack coverings.
Actuality hurts my poor cheapskate heart to cut one up for a permanent install usage.
And even year around left out wet soaked heavier, I am able to trundle these around for another needs re-use.
I also stocked up on some re-useable aluminum Tee-post fence corner/building clips. Also spendy buggers. $1.35x3 to make a single joint.
Ha! Four green-plywood sheets and some slammed-in Tee-post clipped togather and you’d have a temp weather cover for your equipment repair. Enough screw made edge of panel holes now to quick electric fence wire the panels onto the Tee-posts, held into place.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Those are great tips Steve
I only graduated to using them in the last couple years for crawling under my truck when building the gasifier, also flooring my woodshed to allow picking up stray wood chunks and sawdust
Can you post a picture or link for the clips?
I know what a tee post is but never heard of the clips
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SteveU, thanks. I’ll check with my rural supplier this weekend. And Michael, yes working under vehicle!
I installed another inkbird in the basement to monitor over temp warning last year for the old boiler but still kept it for the new one. I used an old viberscribe layed on the return duct for the buzzer. The air duct transmits noise somewhat through the house.
Inkbird comes with a button style probe but didn’t work well when taped or insulated with rag onto the pex tubing but worked when taped and wrapped with tin foil. This is for alarm.
Getting back to the boiler. Wiring diagram on inkbird.
As a side note I plan to use an inkbird to monitor the temperature of an alternator for my super capacitor inverter generator, when I can get back to that project.
I was going to make a well for the button style probe to insert into the boiler water but found the small well screw in style on Amazon. I think it is 8mm bolt thread so I drilled and tapped a pipe plug. The inside of the plug I drilled at a larger diameter to allow more water near tiny probe. Made seal washer and also taped threads. Theo the item is the solenoid that lifts the flapper that is an exhaust rain cap.
According to the specs inkbird might have handled the current draw but I installed a relay just for the heck of it.
More later because it is getting late.
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Micheal and Jeff the alunminum tee-post clipping system I have bought is a WEDGE-LOC brand. Search shows this at Tractor Supply Co, Home Depot, Amazon, e-bay and others. I got mine at our regional WILCO Ag store.
Good system for reuseablity, again and again. For pull apart shifting though needs either over wire binding; or, a trough-bolt added.
For permanent strong Tee-post corners much cheaper to portable generator angle grind flat overlaps and drill and bolt. Or, MIG weld the overlaps.
Oh. I remembered wrong on the green-treated ground contact plywood - it is five-ply, ~1/2" thick. These do get heavy out in the weather soaking wet as full sized. Ha! Makes you stronger. Wet heavy they stay in place better in the winds.
Regards
tree-farmer Steve unruh
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Never heard of those, but like you mentioned, lots cheaper to use a generator and welder in the field
OK, here is the web page:
I gave Dad my three cattle panels and the idea of using blocks and a stack of 2x6 for the foundation. I think He did good. Store a lift of wood and tractor in front of heat but.
He thought I was nuts when I mentioned cattle panels!
I guess that is about it.
The End. 
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