Choosing a stove for a bath is not easy. Both brick and metal furnaces have their advantages. And still, if a stove is needed for a small bath in a dacha, which is not used often, and there is little time for warming up, it is quite possible to do with a metal stove. In addition, it can be welded elsewhere, and then installed in a bath.
The merits of a metal furnace include fast warming up of the room - less than an hour. It cools down, however, just as quickly, so keep the flame in it all the time while you are soaring. The cost of building such a stove is not high, besides it can be made by oneself, if there are skills of working with a welding machine.
Furnace design
There are many options for manufacturing metal furnaces. There are variants of manufacturing from pipes, metal barrels or sheet steel, with a vertical or horizontal layout, with the location of the furnace in a separate room, with different heater arrangements. The easiest way is to make a furnace with a pipe - so there will be less welding work. Its height will be approximately 160 cm, and diameter - 70 cm. Over the furnace there will be a closed stove, access to which will be through the door. Above is a tank with water, the heating temperature of which can be adjusted by adding cold water to the stove.
Tools and materials
For the construction of the furnace, materials will be required:
- metal pipe 50-60 cm in diameter, length 160-170 cm, wall thickness not less than 10 mm,
- sheet steel thickness 8-10 mm,
- metal rod 10 mm in diameter,
- grate for the firebox, it is especially convenient if it is round and coincides in diameter with the pipe,
- metal latches and hinges for doors - 3 pieces,
- chimney,
- hot water drain valve
- soapstone or diabase to fill the heater( they must bewithout admixtures of mica).
All these accessories can be purchased in a large construction supermarket or in a specialized store for the sale of bath equipment.
Tools can not do without a welding machine( the choice of which is read here) and Bulgarians with a disc for metal.
Preliminary preparation
For the oven, you need to prepare the base, remembering that the metal oven should be located not less than a meter from the walls. For this, even when laying the foundation, the bath is poured with a concrete foundation for the future furnace, it should not touch the foundation of the walls. The requirements for the foundation for metal furnaces are lower than for brick furnaces, since they are lighter and do not require an ideally leveled base. On a completely dried foundation( from the moment it is poured it should take at least a month) to lay 2 rows of heat-resistant bricks, wait 2-4 weeks, and the base for the furnace can be considered ready.
Stage 1: furnace and heater
The metal pipe is divided into two parts: the lower one - 90 cm will go to the heater and the furnace, the upper one - 70-80 cm - to the water heating tank. At the lowest part of the larger piece of pipe cut out a hole 20 * 5 cm - this will be an ash-pit. Inside the pipe, just above the sump, weld fasteners under the grate.
Above the furnace there is a heater. Its bottom can be welded from rods, but it is easier to use a grate for these purposes. If the bottom is made from a rod, it is necessary to take into account the size of the stones with which the heater will be filled. In the heater a hole is made of such dimensions that it is convenient to pour cold water on the stones through it. It is more convenient if it is located on the opposite side of the pipe from the furnace door. The hole is closed by the door, similar to the furnace one.
A chimney pipe is installed on top of the grate or grate, and stones are evenly laid. To the top of the pipe section, in which the furnace and the heater are located, a pre-cut circle of sheet steel and an opening under the pipe in the middle are welded. Welding seam should be sealed, because there will be a tank with water on top.
Stage 2: Water heating tank
The crane( by welding) cuts into the lower part of the smaller piece of pipe. Then this cylinder is welded to the heater. The quality of the seam should be carefully monitored, since it should not allow water to pass through.
The top of the tank should be closed with a lid. To do this, the round blank of sheet steel by the diameter of the tank is divided in a ratio of 2: 1 and cut. For the most part, make a hole for the diameter of the chimney, put it on the tank and weld along the contour. On a straight line, loops are fastened and a smaller part of the circle is hung on them - it will play the role of a door. Handle with a wooden cover protects your hands from a burn, as even the tank gets very hot.
Stage 3: Chimney
It is best if the part of the chimney located outside the furnace is protected by a jacket of a sandwich tube with a layer of thermal insulation between the metal. Also it can be isolated by bricklaying. If there is no such insulation, then in the places where the chimney passes through the wall or floors, a ceiling-and-pass assembly is installed.
The metal oven is very hot, which can cause reflowing or even burning of the walls and furniture. It is necessary to take care of fire safety and to coat the adjacent wooden walls with thin metal sheets or foil with a thermal insulating layer. It is even better to cover the oven with a facing brick or stone, which will save from burns and give the furnace a beautiful view.
