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Metal structures of stoves for summer cottages. Wood-burning metal stoves for summer cottages: the subtleties of manufacturing and an overview of the best models. Video: metal stoves for baths and saunas

Metal stoves are gaining more and more popularity. Why it happens? Modern heating units are completely different from "potbelly stoves" and primitive products of past centuries. Today, people install beautiful, durable and easy-to-maintain stoves with high efficiency in their homes. Metal structures heat up quickly and give off heat well. Therefore, the demand for such units is increasing every year.

Advantages of metal furnaces

Such heating equipment heats the air in the premises for half an hour. It is used as the main or additional heat source. If necessary, the equipment can be dismantled and transferred to another location. A few decades ago there was no worthy alternative to brick structures, but now everything has changed.

Metal furnaces are associated with reliability and durability.

Wood-burning metal stoves for the home have many advantages:

excellent heat dissipation - efficiency is 85%. In cast iron products, the temperature of the heating surfaces is several times higher than in brick structures;
compactness - if the room is small, this aspect is extremely relevant;
safety - if the operating rules are observed, harmful substances exit through the chimney;
original design - unattractive iron structures were replaced by ergonomic products, painted with special paint and equipped with a decorative door;
reliability - basically, a metal furnace is made of cast iron, which has excellent performance.

This is important to know: firewood, peat, pellets can be used to kindle iron aggregates.

When choosing a suitable unit, you need to pay attention not only to the features of the equipment, but also to the needs of the residents. If the main goal is space heating, heaters should be preferred. And when cooking is supposed to be, heating and cooking devices are considered the best option.

For summer cottages, a metal stove has not only significant advantages, but also disadvantages. First, it cools down quickly and cannot store heat. For this reason, constant maintenance of fuel combustion is required. Secondly, with the help of such products it is impossible to create a comfortable temperature in too large rooms. Thirdly, the level of fire safety in cast iron / steel units is an order of magnitude lower than in brick structures.

Making a metal furnace with your own hands

The range of heating equipment is now huge, but many cottage owners prefer home-made products. This is due to the fact that talented craftsmen bring to life any ideas. Fantasy and engineering work in the right direction: you can make a round and square oven, horizontal and vertical. But the choice of a specific design depends on the capabilities and skills of a person.

"Potbelly stove" from a balloon is a vivid example of the fact that people's imagination is inexhaustible

Where does the assembly of the heating unit begin? Naturally, the first step to creating a high-performance design is to prepare necessary materials: sheets of metal with a thickness of at least 8 mm, a grate, pipes with a diameter of 50 cm, rods. You will also need welding machine, angular grinder machine, electrodes.

The typical design of the heating unit looks like this: the body, the door of the firebox and ash pan, the grate, chimney, screen, cooking hole with lid, legs. The manufacture of the furnace takes place in several stages:

first, the body walls are welded;
then the lid, grate of grate, bottom and other elements are welded;
at the final stage, wood-burning metal stoves for summer cottages are equipped with a chimney - a thick-walled steel pipe is used for this purpose.

The drawing shows the device of a potbelly stove made of metal

This is important to know: the installation of doors with which the draft is regulated significantly reduces fuel consumption.

You can make a metal furnace with your own hands from improvised materials. These include corners, grates, large flasks, forty-liter cans, gas cylinders. If you have the appropriate skills, you can build an effective unit. The time, effort and money spent on making homemade products are not too high, but with the right approach to business, the result will be tangible!

Answers to important questions

It is difficult to make a metal furnace on your own, but it is quite possible. During the process, many questions arise, so we want to highlight the most significant points.

How to minimize heat loss

Metal is a poor heat accumulator, so cast iron units cool quickly. But this disadvantage is easily eliminated if a heating shield is constructed for a metal furnace. This can be done in several steps:

Arrangement of the foundation - the brick structure is quite heavy, so there must be a solid foundation.
masonry building material according to the order and installation of additional elements - before work, the brick is immersed in water in order to improve adhesion. During operation, a plumb line and a level must be used. Also, for laying bricks, it is necessary to have a trowel, tape measure, and pickaxe on hand.

For lining a metal furnace, you need to use refractory bricks and a solution prepared on the basis of clay

This is important to know: if desired, a brick screen for a metal stove is tiled or tiled.

What requirements must a chimney meet?

What requirements must a brick pipe for a metal furnace meet? An exhaustive answer to this question is as follows:

the chimney should not be too high - this nuance is associated with the formation of condensate due to the cooling of hot gases;
the optimal size of the pipe section is 140 × 140 mm;
brick pipe need to be protected from precipitation - for this it is covered with a special cap;
at the junction of the pipe and the roof, it is necessary to make an overlap covering the remaining gap - steel sheets are used for this purpose.

How to build a round furnace in a metal case

Once such units were very popular because they are practical, inexpensive and safe. For the construction of such furnaces, refractory bricks, clay, sand, furnace doors, valves, grates, roofing material, roofing steel are needed. The process of arranging such a structure is complex:

the necessary holes are marked and cut out on the sheets;
the first side of the case is installed on the base;
seams are filled with mortar;
brickwork is being done.

A round stove in a metal case not only heats the premises, but also harmoniously fits into the interior

TOP 5 best metal furnaces

Self-made heating units are in many ways inferior to factory ones. For this reason, their popularity is declining. If you want to purchase solid heating equipment, pay attention to modern products:

"Meta Amur" - a metal stove-fireplace, decorated with marble tiles. The steel structure has many advantages: high heating rate, wear resistance, good heat output, capacious combustion chamber, compliance with impeccable German technological standards.

The Meta Amur stove saves usable space because it is placed in the corner

Nordpeis Casa is a heating metal stove made of black steel. It contains elegant decor elements, thanks to which the unit fits perfectly into the interior. Also, the equipment embodies innovative achievements and interesting solutions.
"Invicta Attiba" - a steel unit from a well-known French manufacturer. The oven has original design and is made of heat resistant steel. It is equipped with panoramic glass, through which you can look at the fire and get aesthetic pleasure.
"Romotop Belo 3S" - a metal stove-fireplace with a number of advantages: long burning, the presence of a panoramic door and two viewing glasses, economical consumption fuel, centralized air supply, unique design.
Nordica Giulietta is a high quality cast iron stove painted black. The Italian manufacturer paid great attention to the functionality of the unit and appearance. Therefore, this heating equipment is in stable demand.

Metal stoves for summer cottages are represented by a wide range, so there is plenty to choose from. But if you want to build a unit with your own hands, consult with experts. And even better - entrust this responsible work to the masters!

Video: the theory of burning wood in a metal furnace

In our age of high technology and new technical solutions the concepts of many traditional heating devices that have come to us from the past are being revised. These changes also affected wood-burning stoves. It would seem that the simplest product made of brick or metal, what else can you think of? It turned out - it is possible. Such habitual for us "potbelly stoves" have especially changed both externally and internally. Now it's modern heating furnaces on wood, which are very popular due to their low cost.

Wood-burning steel stove upgrades

Home-made "potbelly stoves" can now only be found in someone's garage or in another utility room. These same simple stoves direct combustion burned firewood at a terrible rate, throwing the main amount of heat into the chimney. For this reason, people using "potbelly stoves" tried to make the horizontal section of the chimney as long as possible, passing it through the entire room. The goal is to take away the maximum heat from the combustion products that fly out of the wood-burning stove with a temperature of 400-500ºС.

Now every modern stove for heating a private house bears little resemblance to a "potbelly stove", as it is equipped with a decorative protective cover with air holes, or the combustion chamber body is surrounded by air ducts. There are reasons for this, the first is that the high surface temperature makes the heater dangerous for residential premises where people and children are constantly located, who can accidentally get burned. In addition, a hot metal surface produces a powerful heat flux that exceeds the norm. The casing takes on hard radiation and, when heated, transfers heat to the air of the room.

In connection with the introduction of new technical solutions, the design of wood-burning stoves has also changed. Briefly, the changes are as follows:

The supply of fresh air for combustion into the furnace has become adjustable.
Several partitions are arranged above the combustion chamber, due to which the flue gases can no longer fly straight into the chimney. First, they give up their heat, making several moves inside the heater and bending around these partitions.
To increase the service life of their products, many manufacturers line the furnaces of steel furnaces with refractory bricks.
Afterburning of released pyrolysis gases is organized.
A cooking surface made of steel or cast iron is installed.
In some models, heat exchangers are installed for heating water for the needs of domestic hot water.
An innovative solution has been implemented - a simple wood-burning stove generates electricity.

Overview of oven types

On the this moment There are 2 main types of heating wood-burning stoves made of metal:

classic, direct combustion;
heating devices long burning.

In devices of the first type, the fuel no longer burns as quickly as in the "potbelly stove", since access to fresh air is limited, and the gases intensively give off heat to the metal walls. An example is a steel wood-burning stove for a bath.

The red arrows in the diagram show the flue gases making an additional stroke before leaving the chimney. As a result, their outlet temperature rarely reaches 200ºС, and in some units you can even touch the pipe with your hand right during operation. This suggests that the bulk of the thermal energy released during the combustion of solid fuels remains indoors, and the efficiency of heaters reaches 70%.

As in modern pyrolysis, in some models of furnaces, slow burning of firewood is organized with an insufficient amount of oxygen. As a result, pyrolysis gas is formed, which is afterburned using a point air supply to the upper zone of the combustion chamber. Shown below is a wood burning gas stove.

An injector is located in the upper zone of the combustion chamber, which ensures the supply of secondary air, as a result of which the pipes - air ducts are evenly heated from top to bottom. Air enters them through the lower openings, passes through curved pipes, heats up in the furnace, and exits into the space of the room. At the same time, the combustion of firewood occurs slowly, one load can last for 6-8 hours of continuous operation. Accordingly, the requirements for fuel quality are quite high, firewood can be used with a moisture content of no higher than 25%, otherwise the pyrolysis process will not take place.

In fact, modernized steel furnaces in their design and additional features little different from boilers. The only difference is that a space heating stove uses convection to heat air rather than water. Nevertheless, a wood-burning heating stove with a water circuit has already appeared, which can be connected to the DHW system or organize a small water heating Houses.

This is not a traditional water jacket, as in boilers, here the water in the tank is heated from the rear wall of the combustion chamber. In addition, at the top of the product there is a cooking surface for cooking. For a more complete heat transfer, a partition is installed under the hob and the flue gases have to go around it, making the second additional move.

Newly developed steel furnaces

The unit deserves special attention, which, like a bell-type heating stove for a brick cottage, uses the principle of free convective movement of flue gases through the channels, up to the chimney itself.

Such an oven is more efficient than its "brothers", instead of hob it has an open-type oven, located directly above the hood. Even with an extinguished firebox, food left in the oven niche will not cool down for a long time. Well, the door of the main firebox, through which firewood is loaded, opens to 140º and is equipped with large refractory glass and resembles a heating fireplace.

Of considerable interest is the line of portable direct combustion units of the Russian manufacturer TERMOFOR. One of them is a small-sized wood-burning heating and cooking stove Cinderella. With its modest dimensions of 465 x 300 x 460 mm and a weight of 27 kg, it has a heat output of 4 kW and can heat a room up to 50 m2. This heater can be safely classified as portable and can be used in almost any conditions, although its remarkable appearance allows you to place the stove in a residential building.

Another original product from the same line is the Indigirka wood-burning heating and cooking stove. If you have never charged your cell phone from a wood stove, then Indigirka will help you. It has a built-in block - an electricity generator, which literally immediately after kindling produces a voltage of 12 V and has a power of up to 75 watts.

Furnace Indigidka

Once simple wood stoves for a summer residence or a garage, thanks to their updates, they turned into serious heating units used for heating residential, and indeed any other premises. At the same time, they remained very attractive due to their low cost and small volume. installation work on their installation.

Metal stoves are more popular than brick ones. This is explained by their affordable cost, high efficiency, strength and low weight. But they also have many disadvantages. You can build a metal oven for your home with your own hands.

Pros and cons of metal furnaces

Metal belongs to durable materials, but it is both ductile and malleable, which allows you to give it almost any design. It is able to withstand high loads and temperature extremes. There are many methods for processing metals, so various technologies can be used in the manufacture of furnaces.

Since brick structures are the main competitor of metal units in the heating equipment market, a comparison of technical characteristics will be between them. For example, the efficiency of brick ovens is about 70%. As for metal products, this figure reaches 83%, while they weigh much less and are more affordable.

Another important advantage stoves for a house made of metal are considered to be the integrity of the structure, so it can be moved and transported without problems. With large brick structures, this cannot be done.

Due to their low weight, metal units do not require a separate solid foundation, and the installation consists only in the construction of a chimney. During the non-heating period, a mobile iron product can be moved to a utility room or barn and thereby free up space in the room.

The metal used as the material for the manufacture of the unit is characterized by high thermal conductivity, as a result of which it quickly heats up, but also cools down in the same way. Such heating contributes to an increase in efficiency. IN brick ovens first, you should wait until the internal heat exchange begins, and before that, during the heating process, all the heat received goes into the chimney.

Almost all the advantages of metal aggregates are based on the characteristics of this material - it is quite dense, not porous, and does not dampen like bricks under the influence of condensate. They are not dangerous for long breaks in work, they do not need an accelerating heating after downtime.

Metal stoves for summer cottages are easier to certify and it is easier to get a permit for them at the fire inspection, which will save both money and time. On sale there are models that do not require coordination at all, but only the installation of an autonomous chimney.

But metal units also have disadvantages:

They do not "breathe", since, unlike brick, metal is not a porous material. A brick oven absorbs moisture from the air when it cools, and releases it when heated. As a result, a constant humidity balance is created in the room, providing a feeling of comfort. Sometimes metal units are faced with brick to achieve a similar effect, but it is not as effective, and the design loses its lightness and mobility.
As already mentioned, the metal quickly heats up and cools down, therefore, to maintain heat in the house, the stove has to be heated from it constantly, otherwise it will completely cool down in a few hours. This problem can be solved by manufacturing a long-burning metal aggregate. But in any case, it is a constant focus, creating a risk of fire and waste, and for this reason it cannot be left unattended for a long time.
The main disadvantage of metal furnaces is their fire hazard. Their walls, when heated, heat up to such an extent that they can provoke the ignition of objects, finishing materials, floor covering located in close proximity to the fire. Therefore, it is not easy to obtain permission from the Ministry of Emergencies to use an iron unit in a residential building - it will have to equip a separate boiler room for it.
The service life of a metal stove for a home is up to 20 years. With frequent use, even thick metal burns out, as a result of which the walls of the product become thinner. But in just a decade of operation, the furnace fully pays for its cost by reducing fuel costs and the ability to replace the unit without repair and redevelopment of the premises.

Metal selection

Specifications The future heating device largely depends on the metal chosen for it, which affects the cost of work and the complexity of its implementation.

To create aggregates use:

Surrogates. These include, for example, aluminum milk cans. But their use is not the best option. The reason is that afterburning of exhaust gases can ensure high efficiency, during which the temperature reaches at least 400 degrees, and when operating an environmentally friendly stove, it rises to 600 degrees. But at 660 degrees aluminum melts. This means that a durable stove will not work out of a can.
ordinary structural steel. It is characterized by tensile strength up to 400 degrees (over 2 hours) and 600 degrees (up to 2 hours). Extremely thick steel is suitable for furnaces - at least 4 millimeters. But frequent use of such a unit is impossible, since it will burn out in just one winter.
heat resistant steel. Factory furnaces are made from it, using special steel with a thickness of 1.5 - 3 millimeters. These structures serve up to 20 - 30 years. They are compact, light weight and highly efficient. Factory units are usually certified by the relevant authorities, they can be mounted in residential buildings. From above they have low-power hot water registers or hobs. It is quite possible to make a metal furnace from heat-resistant steel with your own hands, since the assembly of individual models does not require major welding, and the connections are made differently, for example, using steel rivets. An example of such a device is the product "Slobozhanka".
Cast iron. Iron with an admixture of carbon is characterized by a low thermal conductivity and thus retains heat well inside the furnace. The cast-iron unit warms up quickly, and after heating it continues to provide heating for another 3-4 hours. It is used for heating rooms up to 60 "squares". For the manufacture of furnaces, cast iron with a thickness of 6–25 millimeters is suitable. A thinner alloy is characterized by increased brittleness, and an alloy that is too thick may crack at the first kindling. Due to their significant weight, cast iron stoves cannot be installed directly on the floor, and therefore it is necessary to equip a concrete screed. To do this, the floor is disassembled and a concrete platform of the desired height is poured. It will not work to make a cast iron stove on your own, since it cannot be processed in artisanal conditions. Such units are used for heating utility rooms or greenhouses.

Classification of furnace units

Most often, homemade stoves are made with hobs.

According to the features of the device they are made:

chamber;
channel;
bell-shaped.

In chamber furnaces, flue gases enter a special chamber and there, due to natural circulation burn out completely. Their design creates a semblance of burning an ordinary fire in a confined space. In household models, the combustion chamber is connected to the afterburner into a single module, called a crucible. Its vaulted shape ensures complete afterburning of the fuel. An example of such a design can be called a classic Russian stove.

In the channel unit, the flue gases first burn out, then gradually cool down and move through the channels located between the partitions. When moving, they give off heat to the furnace body. There is no afterburning inside until the temperature in the furnace compartment reaches 400 degrees. The efficiency of these devices does not exceed 60%.

In a bell-type furnace, the products of combustion move to the arch of a special bell and linger there, completely burning out. Then the gases descend to the bottom and give off heat to the body. To kindle such a unit, it is enough to warm up only a small area of \u200b\u200bthe hood. Its efficiency can reach 75%.

Features of metal furnaces

depends on the metal performance characteristics heating units. Since its thermal conductivity is much higher compared to the heat capacity, this material does not accumulate heat well. The metal quickly absorbs thermal energy, heats up and soon cools down. Given this property, you can assemble a metal fireplace with your own hands in such a way that high values \u200b\u200bare achieved with a minimum degree of heating.

Homemade metal stoves, depending on the design features, function differently:

Chamber. These devices are in fact the usual "potbelly stove", the first samples of which appeared a couple of centuries ago, but they needed a large number of fuel. Then their design was improved - a grate with a blower was placed in it, the chimney was shortened to 2.5-3 meters and it was insulated. The peculiarity of the unit lies in the fact that it is self-regulating - with full heating, the throughput of the chimney is not enough to remove the flue gases, as a result, turbulences appear in the crucible, completely burning out the combustion products. Only then are gases able to pass through the pipe. Since at the exit from the chimney their temperature is about 100 degrees, there is no condensate. It is cleaned of soot once a year. The efficiency of such furnaces reaches 60%.
ducted. In them, instead of a complex labyrinth of gas pipes, one knee was left. It separates the combustion and afterburning chambers. Through the hole in the burner on hob or an adjustable air throttle, secondary air enters, providing afterburning of flue gases. Since this process is carried out in one place, the efficiency is 70-80%. The performance of the furnace is high, and the efficiency of operation does not depend on the draft force or the size of the chimney. Since the main heat is generated in the afterburner compartment, the unit is used in two modes - flame and continuous combustion. Use different solid fuel, and power is regulated not by the amount of firewood or coal burned, but by twisting the throttle. The chimney is cleaned every few years, subject to the quality operation of the furnace. The afterburner for it is desirable to be made of heat-resistant steel, and in the form of a trough. The body is made of ordinary steel, having a thickness of at least 4 millimeters, and the hob is made of cast iron or thick 8 - 10 mm steel. It is desirable to make the stove removable, because over time it will need to be replaced, as it will burn out.
Bell-type. Long-burning furnaces operate in the smoldering mode, as a result of which it became possible to make the heat transfer period longer. It can be from several days when using firewood and from 10 to 30 days for coal. If we apply a simplified scheme of such a furnace, in it the fuel will smolder directly at the surface where oxygen enters. During the pyrolysis process, the fuel is split into volatile components, which, rising up, burn in the bell, providing 60% of the heat. In order to increase this indicator, a gas jacket can be placed on the furnace, where the gases will burn out. As practice shows, as a result, the efficiency of such a stove can reach 80%, and sometimes more. If the choice is made in favor of this unit design, it is necessary to remember some nuances. Despite the fact that such an iron stove for the home can operate on different solid fuels, greatest effect from its work is achieved by kindling with the kind for which it was originally intended. In this case, the fuel used must be dry, and it is not recommended to load it up to the moment of complete combustion of the previous bookmark. A large amount of toxic condensate is always formed in the chimney of long-burning furnaces, so conditions must be created for its safe discharge. To make the body of the unit, you can use a large gas bottle or a used iron barrel.
Oil pyrolysis. They are known as mining stoves. This economical option enjoys great popularity among self-taught stove-makers. The principle of operation of the unit is simple. Mining is poured into the tank, then set on fire and oxygen is supplied through an air throttle, as a result, combustion will not be strong, but it will be enough to evaporate the oil fuel. Pairs from mining go up into a compartment in the form of a pipe with perforated walls through which air penetrates. During combustion, the vapors are sent to an afterburner with a baffle that traps nitrogen oxides in a certain temperature zone until they break up and begin to release thermal energy.

The use in domestic conditions of units operating in mining, according to fire regulations, is prohibited, so they are not found on sale. Typically, such a metal outdoor stove is installed in home gardens or summer cottages.

Production of a unit for a bath

One of the best options the heating device for the bath is a metal furnace made of sheet steel, lined with bricks. Such a home-made sauna stove is not mobile, but it is fireproof, which means that it can be installed in a residential building and even in a wooden bath building.

For its construction from the tools you will need:

welding equipment;
Bulgarian;
diodes 3-4 mm.

You also need to have iron sheets 2-3 mm thick, and reinforcement 8-10 mm.

The important point is that when arranging such a furnace, it is necessary to choose the right section for the chimney, since the traction force depends on this, which is also affected by weather conditions: the warmer and more humid the air, the weaker it is.

In a chimney that is not wide enough, gases and air will begin to mix before they have time to go outside. This creates a smoke block. If the pipe diameter is too large, then the gases will move too slowly in it, and the surface of the inner walls will quickly become clogged.

Do-it-yourself iron sauna stoves are built as follows:

First of all, equip the foundation. For him, a wooden formwork 20 centimeters high is built so that a square 1x1 meter in size is formed.
The reinforcement is mounted in one layer, making a grid of rods with cells measuring 20x20 centimeters. It is necessary that the reinforcement does not touch the ground, so it is supported on pre-installed pegs and tied in weight.
Prepare a cement-sand mortar in a ratio of 1:3. For him, take 1 part of cement not lower than grade M400 and 3 parts of fine river sand. In order to give strength to the mixture, a part of the gravel is added.
The solution is poured into the formwork, covered with polyethylene film and left to dry for 4 weeks. Spray concrete once a day cold water and cover again, otherwise it will begin to crack.
Next, you need to take the rear rim for the wheels and weld all the holes on it, leaving only the central one.
The convex top is cut off from the second rim, the first one is inserted into it and welded. The main thing is to create a tight connection, because there will be hot liquid inside.
Reinforcement is welded on the inside of the second rim at an equal distance from one another on three sides. It is necessary that it rests against the pipe to give rigidity to the structure.
A round 25 mm hole is created at the bottom of the first rim and a pipe of the appropriate section is welded to it. A faucet is screwed into it to drain water.
Next, make exact copies of the two rims. A copy of the second of them is mounted on the pipe, a copy of the first rim is turned over and welded to the end of the pipe. A second copy of the second rim is attached on top and reinforced with reinforcement for rigidity.
When the mortar for the foundation hardens, the formwork is removed and the brick is laid out using a clay-based mixture.
The location of the furnace for fire protection is completely lined with bricks.
The base is made of brick, and from the second row they begin to lay out an ash pan with a blower. Through it, ash is removed and thus air is supplied inside, which helps to develop good traction. The length of the ash chamber must be less than that of the furnace.
They install the blower door, lay it with bricks and lay another row. A grate is placed on the ash pan shaft.
After the grate, two rows of bricks are laid out, leaving room for the firebox door. Two more rows are created on top.
The masonry is allowed to dry for 2 weeks, providing air circulation. Then the stove must be heated with wood chips for 1.5 - 2 hours.
A finished pipe is installed on a brick structure. It has a heater and hot water tank.
The weight and dimensions of the stove are quite large, so it is better to divide it into its component parts and assemble it inside the bath on the spot.
The top of the chimney is reinforced with reinforcement rods, having welded one end to the pipe, and resting the other against the wall. For fastening to the wall, a metal plate or a steel corner is used.

Currently on the market there are big choice various wood stoves for the home, from different manufacturers. The design, shapes and sizes of modern stoves for summer cottages are completely diverse. And almost every manufacturer has heating wood stoves similar in their properties. It is difficult to say which of the manufacturers is better or worse, each has its pros and cons, so choosing a brand is a personal matter for everyone, a matter of taste.

When choosing a wood-burning stove for your home, you should pay attention to the following points:

the metal from which the furnace firebox and the furnace itself are made - of course best material for furnaces today is austenitic high-alloy heat-resistant steel, during the first kindling of the furnace on the surface of such steel, protective film that prevents the metal from breaking down. Cast iron behaves very well in fire - such a firebox will also serve you for more than one year! The third place is already occupied by black boiler steel. In order for the black firebox to serve for a long time, its walls are made very thick (up to 8 mm for some manufacturers) or lined with fireclay bricks. Manufacturers, making sauna stove, use the same steel.
It is also important that the stove for the house is economical and can work on one bookmark of firewood for at least 3-6 hours. Here, much depends on the volume and internal structure of the furnace: the longer the smoke and hot gases are inside the furnace and do not fly out into the chimney, the more heat the furnace will give off environment. Good helpers are different kind convectors, which increase the heated surfaces of the furnace, release heat more slowly and help distribute it in space.
Then there are secondary factors, which, however, can be very important for you! We are talking about the presence of a hob, a retractable grate, glass in the door, appearance, chimney outlet (up or to the side). Of course, the presence of a burner, especially with removable rings, is a big plus in the stove. On such an oven, you can fully cook food. However, many ovens simply have a flat top surface that allows food to be heated.

You can talk for a long time about the advantages and disadvantages of modern wood-burning stoves for the home, but you need to remember that all the "bells and whistles" and "bells and whistles" always come down to money! Therefore, a lot of all sorts of pluses is of course very good, but expensive! And for the economical ones, the manufacturers also provided simpler and cheaper options, and it doesn’t mean that it’s worse! So it's up to you to decide! If you have any questions when choosing a stove, call our office, we only have professionals who can answer all questions about modern stoves.

Videos of users about wood stoves

Metal furnaces have several differences from the more familiar ones. brick structures. Of course, metal products also have disadvantages, but there are much more advantages - in particular, low cost, high strength and efficiency. All these factors are important enough that such furnaces are often the most the best choice for home. About metal furnaces and will be discussed in this article.

Advantages of metal furnaces

Metal household heating stoves have an extensive list of advantages:

Metal differs from ceramics in much greater flexibility and softness, but at the same time, the strength of these materials is quite comparable. The material in question is easy to melt, cut and bend, it can be drilled and forged, and finished products do not require firing. In general, metal can be processed in a large number of ways, and this quality is clearly one of the advantages.
The versatility of processing allows the creation of metal furnaces to use a lot of innovations aimed at improving the technical characteristics of the furnace. Due to the introduction of structural changes, the efficiency of metal stoves can reach 90%, while ordinary brick stoves give out about 70%.
In the case of brick ovens, a decrease in wall thickness reduces the strength of the entire structure. With metal, everything is exactly the opposite - even a very thin sheet is distinguished by solid strength. This allows to reduce the weight and cost of metal furnaces by several times compared to brick ones.
Light weight and one-piece design, in turn, greatly simplify the transportation of metal structures. It is also worth considering the strength, which gives the product excellent resistance to mechanical damage. It is impossible not to note the ease of installation - firstly, a light metal furnace for the house does not require a separate foundation, and secondly, its low weight allows you to mount the structure with relatively small forces.
Another important advantage that deserves attention is the good thermal conductivity of the metal. This factor suggests that the own heat capacity of the stove is small, so the heat generated by it is used only to warm the house, which ensures high efficiency. For comparison: in brick ovens, about 20% of thermal energy is spent on heating the structure itself.
The composition of the metal is quite homogeneous and, unlike brick, does not have a porous structure. It is also worth noting the high resistance to dampness and interruptions in the heating operation. Metal wood stoves do not require regular and accelerating kindling at all. The advantage is the ease of embedding the hob and the water heating circuit, which is facilitated by the high thermal conductivity of the material and the high rate of afterburning gases.
Commercially produced stoves are certified as fireproof devices, so after purchase, it remains only to install them. True, there are some models for the operation of which special permits are required, but this factor does not always manifest itself.

Furnace materials

An iron stove for a home should be selected taking into account a number of factors and parameters of the design itself. The technical characteristics and design features of the stove directly affect its efficiency and reliability. One of the most important parameters is the material of manufacture of the furnace.

For the production of metal furnaces, different materials can be used:

Steel;
Heat resistant steel;
Cast iron.

As a result, the structures assembled from these materials have a number of differences, so it is worth considering each type in more detail.

Steel furnaces

The most popular material for the manufacture of metal furnaces is ordinary steel. This material can easily withstand a stable temperature of up to 400 degrees, and with short-term kindling, this value can reach 600 degrees. The thickness of the steel usually starts from 4 mm, but you need to take into account the high rate of burnout of the metal at high temperature - i.e. for cold regions, this option is impractical.

However, there are long-burning stoves, the body of which is simply not subjected to prolonged high-temperature heating. At the same time, heat transfer is maintained at the proper level due to heat accumulators made of more durable materials. Such an iron wood-burning stove is quite suitable for heating large houses located in regions with a harsh climate.

Heat Resistant Steel Furnaces for Home

The next material from which metal furnaces can be created is heat-resistant steel. Minimum metal thickness in this case is 3 mm, which further reduces the weight of the structure. The efficiency of such devices often exceeds 80%, and the service life is 20 years. Metal furnaces made of heat-resistant steel are safe, efficient and very easy to install - just install such a structure on the floor and connect it to the chimney.

Cast iron stoves

Another material that is suitable for creating metal stoves is cast iron. In terms of strength characteristics, cast iron is not inferior to steel, but at the same time its heat capacity and brittleness are comparable to ceramics. An iron stove for a house warms up for more than half an hour, but after one kindling, it provides heating for a house for three hours.

The width of the cast iron used for the production of stoves varies from 6 to 25 mm. If the layer of material is thicker, but the thermal expansion is too great, the oven may be damaged. Too thin cast iron is also not suitable - the oven will be too fragile.

The efficiency of cast iron stoves is quite high, but it can only be realized if the area of the heated house does not exceed 60 m 2. In houses of a larger area, a cast-iron stove simply cannot manifest itself, and the temperature in the rooms will not be comfortable enough.

However, cast iron itself can withstand fire breaks and dampness without problems, so such structures can be successfully used in various outbuildings that require periodic heating. Self-assembly of a cast-iron stove is not possible - cast iron is very difficult to process, and such work cannot be done at home.

Types of metal furnaces

Metal stoves are classified according to design features, depending on which the following types of devices are distinguished:

chamber;
Channel;
Kolpakova.

Each type requires detailed consideration.

Chamber furnaces

A chamber metal stove is a “potbelly stove” familiar to many people, only modified to meet modern requirements for heating equipment.

The technical characteristics of such devices are as follows:

Heat transfer is carried out for the most part due to convection, and only a quarter of the generated heat comes from the case itself;
There is no possibility of condensation, and the temperature of the gases at the outlet exceeds 100 degrees;
The chimney must be cleaned no more than once a year;
The efficiency reaches 60% when using coal and firewood.

With your own hands, a heating furnace made of metal is created without much difficulty, but a separate article should be given to the process of its construction.

Channel ovens

The following principle works in channel-type furnaces: gases burn out, cool down and pass through the channels between the partitions, where the process of heat transfer to the device body takes place. For the operation of such a furnace, heating up to 400 degrees is required so that the afterburning process can be activated. Such a metal stove is created for giving with your own hands without any problems on the basis of an ordinary potbelly stove - for modification, you need to leave only a horizontal section from the gas pipeline so that it separates the firebox and the combustion chamber.

The oxygen required for combustion enters the oven through slots in the cooking plate or an air choke. The efficiency of channel devices can reach 80%, and in terms of thermal power they are several times superior to chamber ones. Channel-type stoves can operate both in normal mode and in long-term burning mode, regardless of the fuel used.

The heating power varies due to the air supply, and the possibility of adjustment is an order of magnitude higher than that of chamber devices. The temperature in the afterburner reaches 250-300 degrees, which is quite enough for comfortable use of the hob.

Most household stoves with a power of no more than 15 kW are created precisely according to the channel scheme. For the manufacture of the case, 4 mm steel is most often used, and the hob is made of cast iron or steel with a thickness of 8 mm or more.

Bell-type furnaces

The last type of metal furnaces is bell-type. With this scheme, the gases remain under the dome of the cap until they completely burn out. Then the temperature of the burnt gas decreases, it goes down and transfers the remaining heat to the stove. This design allows to achieve an efficiency of 70%.

This scheme of work works well in metal heating boilers- but there is no open flame in this case, since the cap is not designed to absorb excessive heat. That is why bell-type furnaces operate in smoldering mode. When using firewood, the burning time reaches 60 hours, and when laying coal, such structures can work for almost a month.

Such a metal stove for giving with your own hands is created without much effort, and the assembled structure can work without problems both on wood and on coal. The only limitation is the moisture content of the fuel - it should be minimal, since it is impossible to ensure smoldering of wet fuel. Furnaces, originally designed only for the use of coal, cannot burn wood - this point must be thought out in advance.

Water heating circuits are often connected to furnaces of this type, which not only provide hot water supply, but also increase convection. Such furnaces are actively used for heating houses with a large area, regardless of their geographical location.

Conclusion

In this article, metal stoves for the home were considered. There are several options for such designs, and each of them is suitable for the implementation of specific tasks, so the choice of the most suitable option must be approached with full responsibility.