Heat shroud for boiler

[Kentucky shinner]

I saw some thing on here that got me doing some thinking this weekend. I made me a heat shroud for my Keg boiler out of some duct work sheet metal. It worked out really well and cut down my heat up time almost in half.

[myles]

Let us see a better picture of the dog.

I hope you are running a cooling coil through that pool. Although it looks nice and warm over there, what is the water temperature?

[Kentucky shinner]

ok here is edgar.

[beelah]

nice idea you got there KS. Is it insulated on the inside or is it just straight metal aound the keg with air as the insulator?

[MuleKicker]

dude, there's a dog in the way on that last pic, cant see yer still....
by the way, do you run yer coolant pump right out of that there pool? A still would make a kick ass pool heater..

[Kentucky shinner]

Well I did not insulate the sheet metal I just used the air. I may add some insulation this winter. Hey yea mulkicker I pump strait out of the pool. I never run out of cool water in the winter but it can get pretty chilly out there.

[LWTCS]

Sept for the coloring, your Edger looks just like my George

[WalkingWolf]

Good Work KS. Very "do-able" for the average handyman. Built with about 2inches insulation all around it'll damn near heat itself. This is one of those "note-to-self" momnents.

[myles]

Not sure what effect your pool chemicals will have on the copper in your condenser. If it becomes an issue just run a big loop of garden hose around the bottom of the pool to act as a heat exchanger, and run off a small tank of clean water.

[Kentucky shinner]

In my pool I only use chemicals to adjust ph. I use copper sulfate instead of chlorine. very safe for my copper in the condenser. It is actually better than most tap water. My pool is where I get the water for all of my washes. It works great.

[ScottishBoy]

Is there anything you CANT do with pop rivets?

Nice. Is it vented at the top in any way or is it seperated from the keg around the column?

[Kentucky shinner]

It is separated from the keg around the column. I thought I would give this a try. It seemed to work really well. I could add a vent pipe this winter so if im stillin im my garage I can vent it to the outside. Ya I love me some pop rivets...

[rubber duck]

Well it's off to the junk yard.

[Kentucky shinner]

If you want to make one of these to go around your keg boiler. If you cut your piece for the side 60"x24" and overlap it about 2" it works out with about 2inches of clearance all the way around the keg. Then for the top I found a plastic trash can lid that just so happend fit perfectly inside so I used it for the template for my top piece, then used an ole ice cream bucket for the hole in the middle. Then I made me several 3" pieces about 6" long and bent them into a 90degrees, made some relief cuts and pop riveted them to the top and finished that off with some aluminum duct tape. I made it in about 1 hour and the duct work sheet metal was maybe 10 bucks. very cheap and really easy.

[Husker]

Very nice DIY unit there, KS. Thanks for posting the pics. I am sure others will be able to replicate or get ideas for other things from them.

Most projects like this are right in line with the people here. Sometimes it just needs a pic for that light bulb in ppl's heads to light, and get that 'ah ha' moment.

H.

[Kentucky shinner]

Hey guys, all of you running gas you have got to build you a heat shroud for your boiler. You can believe how much faster it heats up. I know it is saving me allot of gas.. not to mention the time....
KS

[father william]

This might give some people light bulb moments as well. See attached.

[LWTCS]

Thats clever.
Did you build one father william?

[father william]

Thats clever.
Did you build one father william?

Not yet, but it's definitely in my EOTWAWKI file.

Doesn't necessarily have to be wood fired, many of the principles apply to any heat source.

Fast upward draft makes for a high temperature fire.
Good insulation (think contained air, not mass) means all the heat goes up the column instead of heating the mass of the fireplace.
Allowing the heat to go up the sides of the pot (like K-shiner is doing) gets maximum heat transfer.
When it's all done you have almost no smoke and very little heat exiting the stove pipe. Could be a good thing.

[still crazy]

Do me a favor Ken and throw a piece of durarock or cement board under that setup on your wood deck.