Selecting and assembling a stove for a barrel bath step by step with photos and videos

heat the barrel sauna
If you have already read articles on this site about the barrel-type sauna, which I am the owner of, you will have noticed that almost the only disadvantage of a barrel-type sauna is that it cools down quickly - in the morning it is already cold in a sauna that has been heated in the evening.

The solution is to line the stove with brick or stone. Anyone can modernize a barrel bath in this way with their own hands in a short time. And to lay such a stove you need a couple of dozen bricks, a little clay and sand. And just an hour of work and you have a super sauna stove!

Choosing a stove for a barrel sauna

The choice of a stove for a sauna is very important, because a heater stove is the main equipment of a barrel sauna. When making a decision, we are based on data:

• Steam room volume,
• Wall material (or quality of thermal insulation),
• The volume of additional adjacent compartments requiring heating,
• Required temperature and humidity in the steam room,
• Heating time

Particular attention should be paid to the power of the heater. If you install a stove with a small heating capacity in a steam room with a large volume, you will need to heat it for a long time and more intensely, which will undoubtedly shorten the service life of the stove.

It has been experimentally determined that, in terms of technical characteristics, the following stove models are best suited for barrel saunas ranging in size from 2 to 6 meters: Rus 9, HARVIA M2, Termofor OSA and GRILL'D Aurora 160.

For a more complete and detailed overview of the technical characteristics of each model, look at the Operating Manual for the stove you are interested in (can be downloaded or viewed online):

• Rus 9 — manual_rus.pdf
• HARVIA M2 - harvia.pdf
• Termofor OSA – manual_osa.pdf
• GRILL'D Aurora 160 — grill_aurora_160.pdf

Two options for wood-burning stoves

Wood stoves come in two versions:

1. With a firebox inside,
2. With the firebox facing out.

Which option to install is up to you to decide. The only thing you must understand is that stoves with a firebox inside the bathhouse will create additional difficulties associated with cleaning the ash pan from ash. This process requires precision and patience. To install a stove with an external firebox in a barrel bath, additional work is required. This leads to a slight increase in the total price of the bathhouse (we have + 5000 rubles to the cost of the bathhouse).

Design features of the heater stove

General diagram of the furnace:

Parts of the stove, such as the firebox and heater, bear the greatest thermal, corrosive and mechanical load, so they are made of high-alloy stainless steel with a thickness of at least 2-4 mm. The chromium content in such steel is at least 13-17%, which ensures a longer period of operation in oxygen-containing environments at high temperatures.

The ovens are equipped with a multi-section steam generator and a convector made of mirror stainless steel. The convector covers most of the heat-releasing surface of the stove. Due to the powerful circular convection flow it creates, the heating of the air in the steam room and adjacent rooms is significantly accelerated. The hard infrared radiation emanating from the hot walls of the firebox is shielded by the casing circuit, which creates “soft” heat in the steam room.

The ventilated heater also plays the role of a powerful steam generator. High-quality heated stones ensure an even temperature in the steam room. One of the interesting details of the Harvia M2 is that the standard door can be replaced with a SCHOTT ROBAX® heat-resistant glass door. This will allow you to steam and admire the fire at the same time.

The stove-heater is equipped with a box with an ash pan, thanks to which you can regulate the intensity of combustion. The grate, made of cast iron, ensures uniform, stable combustion along the entire length of the firebox.

The outer surfaces of the furnace are covered with a double layer of silicone enamel. It is heat-resistant and retains its properties at temperatures of 600°C.

On the chimneys of stoves of all models, you can install a tank for heating water of the “samovar” type or install a universal register-heat exchanger for remote heating of water. They are made of stainless steel.

They are not included with the stove and must be purchased separately.

Diagram of functional holes in the heater stove

• A - Upper connection hole
• B - Rear connection hole
• C - Soot removal hole
• D - Firebox door
• E - Ash pan

Assembling a heater with a chimney

The figure below shows how to connect the chimney to the stove point by point:

1. Open the rear connection hole flap. Use a screwdriver to bend the holder
2. Move the plug from the top to the rear connection hole,
3. Use a screwdriver to bend the holder. Bend the flap and secure it with a screw,
4. Attach the chimney pipe to the top hole in the heater.

When using protective flashing around the heater, the chimney insulation should start below or at the level of the top edge of the flashing.

Step-by-step instructions for assembling a chimney with photos:

1. Install a tank on the stove on the pipe

2. Install an adapter on the pipe after the tank

3. After the adapter, a start sandwich is installed

4. Next comes a sandwich pipe that passes through the roof, and the master flush and cap are placed on top of it. The sandwich pipe has no insulation on one side from the inside along the edge - this side is placed on the start sandwich.

Types of stoves depending on location: vertical model

Depending on the plane in which the metal tank will be located, there are two types of homemade potbelly stoves: vertical and horizontal. Each of these types of heating devices has its own advantages and disadvantages.

A vertical barrel stove is installed not on the floor, but on legs. To make the door, you will need to cut out the side of the tank and provide it with hinges. It is important to remember that the hinges must be fixed to the barrel and door not from the inside, but from the outside.

A mandatory element of this design is a perforated metal plate, which is called a grate. To fix such a grille, you can use ordinary corners. In order to make a blower, you will need to prepare a metal pipe with a gate valve. The thickness of the metal walls must be sufficient, otherwise the structure will quickly burn out.

A vertical barrel stove is always installed not on the floor, but on legs.

The damper for a long-burning wood stove, located in a vertical plane, is fixed with special bolts. When igniting fuel inside the tank, open the blower as far as possible.

A hole in the shape of a circle must be made in the upper part of the canister. It will be needed to connect a chimney structure to a homemade stove. The pipe is joined to a metal surface using welding equipment.

The function of the grate is to protect the bottom of the canister from burning out, as well as to retain thermal energy. Thus, this element is necessary when installing a homemade long-burning stove.

Before starting assembly, it is recommended to draw up an individual drawing of the device. It should be as detailed as possible, contain a drawing of the future unit and its individual components, and also indicate their dimensions.

To make the door, you will need to cut out the side of the tank and provide it with hinges.

Design features are determined depending on the purpose of the device and the place where it will be located. If you wish, you can download a ready-made drawing of a potbelly stove on the Internet. However, in this case it is necessary not to make a mistake with its volume.

The vertical version of a homemade heating device is easy to assemble. You can find application for such a unit both in a private home and in the country. The firewood used to light a heating device of this type is selected depending on the dimensions of the firebox.

Preparing the oven for operation

Before heating the stove for the first time, remove the protective films from the decorative panels on the stove body. Please read the description and instruction manual carefully.

When the furnace is heated for the first time, smoke and odor will be released from the combustion of industrial oil applied to the metal and volatile components of the paint. In the future it will disappear and will not bother you.

The first heating of the stove should be carried out with the doors and windows open or not indoors. The first heating time is at least 1 hour. The firebox must be fully loaded, the heater empty and the tank filled with water

If you are heating the first time outdoors, install a chimney on the stove to provide draft, which will ensure that odors are removed from it as well.

The heat-resistant paint used to paint the outer casing of the heaters dries completely and reaches maximum strength during the first heating. It is not recommended to wipe the painted surfaces of the heater before this. After the first heating, ventilate the room and drain the water from the tank.

If you pour water on your stove the first time you fire it, it can damage the paint and shorten the life of your stove.

During long-term operation of the stove, deformation of the internal walls of the firebox may occur. In places of greatest temperature influence - in the firebox, smoke collector and heater, burnout and peeling of the silicone coating may occur. This does not affect the service life of the oven in any way.

Modernization of the design

A barrel with an internal volume of 200 liters can provide a decent amount of heat. But the heat transfer efficiency will be small. Some of the thermal energy will completely fly away into the pipe. Therefore, the stove needs to be slightly modified. This is done in the following ways:

The steps we have given will help you make your barrel stove more efficient. If you don’t find a sample for 200 liters, you can take one for 150 liters - there will be a little less space in it, so you will have to add firewood more often.

• Brick walls are built to the right, left and behind the barrel - they will work as a kind of heat accumulators.
• The stove is scalded with round pipes of small diameter (for example, ¾ inch) - a convector is formed, which will cause air circulation in the room and effectively remove heat from the stove.
• By lengthening the horizontal part of the chimney - pass it through the entire room in order to take away maximum thermal energy from combustion products.

We will offer you a few more ideas for upgrading a stove made from a 200-liter barrel. For example, you can line its interior with fire bricks. To organize the hob, use the cast iron insert in the top cover. Try to make a stove with increased heat transfer - weld two barrels together in height. There are also modifications with horizontal barrels.

What to use as fuel material

Dry wood is the best material for heating a heater. True, different types of wood have different calorific values. Thus, beech wood needs to be burned approximately 15% less than birch wood to produce the same amount of heat.

What should not be burned in a stove:

1. Plastic, coal, briquettes, granules,
2. Construction waste, wood with paint, sleepers,
3. Rags, leather, rubber, diapers,
4. Garden waste.

Some customers install a special gas-wood-burning stove in a barrel sauna. In this case, gas can be used as fuel.

Difference in fuel

Wood burning

A traditional option that has been used in baths and saunas for several centuries. The advantage of this stove is the indescribable atmosphere from the crackling firewood, which creates a special comfort and makes it possible to tune in to bath procedures.

There is even a peculiar ritual associated with preparing firewood and heating the stove. Typically, waste from coniferous and deciduous trees is used for fuel.

Wood burning heater

Stones for the heater

It is advisable to buy stones for the heater in specialized stores. Stones of unknown origin, picked up from various types of industries and roads, may contain harmful chemical compounds. For example, on railway embankments, stones are treated with creosote. Their use will be dangerous to your health. You can use sea and river pebbles, it is better to take flattened stones, more of them will go into the heater, the laying will be denser and water will not get on the metal of the stove. You cannot take soft stones such as limestone. See the picture below for how to properly place stones in the heater.

To begin with, the stones should be washed in running water with a stiff brush. Large stones are placed on the bottom of the heater so that they are adjacent to the metal surface with the side with a larger area. This increases the contact area. Small stones are placed tightly between large stones.

There is no need to stack stones above the top level of the heater. They will not warm up to the temperature required for high-quality vaporization.

It is recommended to use a protective net for the heater basket. It protects the heater from overfilling, and can also be used to steam a broom and protect stones from getting leaves on them.

Correct placement of stones in a stove:

• The diameter of the stones should not be more than 15 cm,
• The best types of stones are: olivine, olivine-dolerite and peridotite. The popular gabbro-diabase is cheaper, but not the best option. It takes a long time to gain heat and cools down quickly. In addition, it can collapse and clog the furnace grates, i.e. it must be sorted regularly, throwing out collapsing stones,
• When laying, make sure that air circulates between the stones,
• Do not pile stones on or on top of the grate around the stone area.
• Do not place stones between the grate and the heater body.

Warming up the heater

It is better to heat the stove using wood chips and finely chopped dry firewood. The firebox should be filled to 2/3 of its volume. Do not place firewood in the remote fuel channel. It is also prohibited to use waste containing flammable components as fuel.

When the draft becomes stable and half of the loaded firewood burns out, you need to add firewood to 2/3 of the full load of the firebox and open the ash pan.

After the optimal temperature has been established in the steam room, you need to cover the ash pan and maintain a stable temperature with coarsely chopped firewood. The optimal number of logs is 3-4 pcs.

When loading the next batch of firewood, you need to completely close the ash pan and only after loading smoothly open the door

5 steps for proper kindling:

1. Empty the ash pan
2. Place wood in the firebox. Air should flow freely between the logs in the firebox. Small firewood is placed on top of large firewood. Choose logs no larger than 12 cm,
3. Place kindling chips on top of the firewood. This type of wood burning reduces emissions,
4. Light the wood chips and close the door. By opening the ash pan, you regulate the draft in the firebox. Never light the stove with the door open,
5. Add more wood to the firebox as the embers begin to die out.

Prolonged and strong heating entails a risk of fire!

Remember:

• Several full loads in a row can create excessive heat and cause the heater and chimney to overheat. This will shorten the life of the equipment and may also cause a fire.
• Based on experience, it can be argued that temperatures over 100 °C are too high for a bath,
• Use the amount of wood specified in the heating instructions. Be sure to let the heater, chimney and sauna room cool down.

Assembly sequence

The barrel stove is easy to assemble and requires equally complex tools. We will need:

• angle grinder (grinder);
• welding machine;
• a hacksaw for working with small parts (this is more convenient);
• Grinder.

You will also need auxiliary materials:

• pieces of sheet metal - for scalding doors;
• hinges for doors;
• chimney metal;
• metal for legs;
• brick and cement for organizing the base for the stove;
• fittings for creating a grate.

Prepare cutting wheels for the grinder and electrodes for the welding machine (if electric welding is used).

Making a potbelly stove from a barrel is not the most difficult task; the main thing is to follow our instructions exactly and observe safety precautions.

Initial preparation of the barrel

Making a stove out of a barrel with your own hands is as easy as shelling pears. The first step is preparing our “source code”. A 200 liter barrel must be cleared of paint (if it has been painted). Those who neglect this step will have to inhale the aromas from burning paint. Our task is to make the barrel shiny, and at the same time get rid of rusty stains. Use a grinder to sand the metal.

In the next step, arm yourself with a grinder and carefully cut out two rectangular windows in the barrel. Work with the tool carefully, as the sawn rectangles will be useful to us as doors. We process the edges with the same grinder or file so that they are not so sharp. The door under the firebox should be larger than the door under the ash pan. In addition, the ash pan door will serve as an ash pit.

For now, we cut off the top part of the barrel completely. We will need to assemble and place a grate inside a 200-liter barrel. Therefore, the absence of a top cover will ensure ease of installation.

Assembling the grate

To make a grate, use reinforcement. The diameter of a standard 200 liter barrel is 571.5 mm. Therefore, the grate must be smaller in diameter in order to pass through the internal volume. At the level between the firebox door and the ash pan door we make arbitrary projections - the grate itself will rest on them. For example, you can make them from sheet iron and weld them to the inner walls.

A potbelly stove from a barrel will generate quite a lot of ash, falling into the ash pan. Therefore, it must be large - the recommended height is 100-130 mm. Do not make the door too narrow, otherwise there will be problems with ease of cleaning.

Preparing the doors

The doors of our stove will be clearly smaller than the loading and ash windows. Therefore, they need to be scalded around the perimeter with pieces of sheet iron about 20 mm wide. We also cut out handles from sheet iron and rivet or screw them to the doors. At the next stage, we carefully weld the hinges, after which we weld the doors to the stove itself - now our 200-liter barrel is almost ready to serve a second life.

Making the base

For our 200 liter barrel, it is advisable to make legs. Use pieces of thick reinforcement for this or make them from metal corners 2-3 mm thick. The optimal distance from the bottom of the barrel to the base is 100 mm.

If you intend to make a potbelly stove from a barrel, think about where it will be installed. You will need a reliable non-flammable base. It is best to make it from brick or pour a concrete screed. The space in front of the stove is made of non-combustible material - for example, from sheet iron laid here. If the floor in the heated room is concrete, simply lay a sheet of iron on it and place a barrel on it.

Preparing the chimney

The design of a 200-liter barrel stove requires the presence of a chimney. It would be nice if it was removable - a “pipe-in-pipe” system would be suitable for this. That is, we weld a smaller diameter pipe with a height of 100-150 mm to the stove, and then put a larger diameter main chimney pipe on it. You can also use ready-made factory dismountable chimneys. The point is that the stove can be quickly cleaned by removing it from the base - a volume of 200 liters does not mean that it will never become clogged with fumes and soot.

Final assembly of the furnace

We take our 200 liter barrel with legs welded to it and install it on a pre-prepared base. We lower the grate inside. At the next stage, we weld the top cover with a short chimney pipe. Next, we put the main chimney on it and go for firewood.

Place some paper and small wood chips on the grate, light the fire, until a steady flame appears. Now start laying the main firewood - it is best if it is dry. Wet logs burn worse, and they also smoke, clogging the chimney. Close the firebox door and use the blower to adjust the combustion intensity. Do not forget to periodically add new portions of fuel until the set temperature is reached.

Water for the stove

The water you apply to the stones should be clean tap water. If it contains a high content of salt, iron, lime or humus, this can lead to rapid corrosion of the heater.

Using sea water guarantees the fastest corrosion of your heater

Requirements for tap water quality:

1. Humus content less than 12 mg/liter,
2. Iron content no more than 0.2 mg/liter,
3. Calcium content below 100 mg/liter,
4. Manganese content up to 0.05 mg/liter.

Water is poured only on stones, since if you splash water on very hot metal surfaces, the paint can swell due to a large temperature difference.

Selecting a water tank

When choosing the volume of a hot water tank, you can use the rule: 10 liters per person and 10 liters for steaming a broom.

It is calculated that the optimal tank volume for hot water in a barrel bath is 50-55 liters. This is enough to wash all family members or a small group of friends.

In the tank on the chimney, the water is heated to 70-75°C by the time the air in the steam room is heated to a temperature of 90°C. For stoves equipped with a steam generator, we recommend installing a stainless steel tank with two fittings. The tank is installed on the stove so that the fittings are above the funnels of the steam generator.

Stove maintenance

Their service life depends on a serious attitude to compliance with the operating rules of the stove and barrel bath. Follow simple steps and regularly monitor the condition of the equipment so that it serves you for a long time.

Kamenka

• Clean out the ash pan. The air passing through it should cool the grate well. This increases its service life. Collect the ash in a metal container,
• Soot and ash, which accumulate over time in the smoke ducts of the heater, must be removed through the round holes on the sides of the stone space,
• The stones must be repositioned at least once a year, since due to high temperatures they are destroyed during prolonged use. The remaining stones are removed, the destroyed ones are replaced with new ones. It is recommended to check gabbro-diabase stones more often, approximately once every six months,
• Use a damp cloth to remove dust and dirt from the heater.

Chimney

• The chimney and connecting pipes must be cleaned periodically, because Due to incomplete combustion of fuel, soot accumulated in the chimney may ignite.

What to do in case of a chimney fire

If the operating conditions of the furnace are met, this situation will not arise, but you should know what to do in this case. It's just like you should be able to do artificial respiration in the hope that this skill will not be useful to you.

1. Close the ash pan, firebox door and damper, if installed,
2. Call the fire department
3. Don't put out fire with water

Rules for installing a homemade potbelly stove

Before installing the stove, you need to familiarize yourself with some rules. This will ensure maximum safety when working with the unit. First of all, it is worth remembering that the potbelly stove should be located only on a surface that is resistant to fire.

You can create a fire-resistant surface yourself. To do this, you will need to prepare a brick or ceramic tile. A platform is laid out from any suitable facing material. It is also recommended to protect the walls from the high temperature produced by a wood-burning stove.

Another way to protect work surfaces from heat is to use special fire-resistant drywall. It is important to remember that there should not be any flammable materials in the immediate vicinity of the stove.

If desired, you can make a potbelly stove with a water circuit. This heating option is more complex from a design point of view. It requires the organization of a heat exchanger, as well as pipe wiring.

It is recommended to protect the floor from the high temperature produced by a wood-burning stove using tiles.

On a note! In a room that will be heated by such equipment, it is necessary to organize proper ventilation communication. It is most advisable to use a design that is of a forced type, since natural ventilation in this case may not be enough.

To make a potbelly stove, you should use only high-quality, reliable materials. Before starting work, it is recommended to study the video on this topic. Photos of stoves also help to understand the intricacies of assembly. A unit that has been made correctly can last for more than one year.

Do-it-yourself sauna stove: photo manufacturing instructions (read more)

Thus, in order to make a stove from a metal barrel, you do not need to have any special knowledge. Strict adherence to the instructions, as well as an understanding of the operating principles of this device, is all you need to know to make a reliable unit.