Eternal log to save on firewood

Eternal log to save on firewood

For heating, I use an ordinary stove, the wood in which burns out very quickly, so when intense heat is generated, a significant part of it goes into the chimney. As a result, to maintain a normal temperature level, fuel must be loaded constantly. To solve this problem, I started using “eternal logs”, which helps save 30-50 percent of firewood. Without it, one load of the firebox burns out in 1 hour 10 minutes, and with it it takes 30 minutes longer.

Materials for manufacturing


To make an eternal log you will need:
  • thick-walled metal pipe d76 mm, the length of a regular log for a stove;
  • sheet of metal for welding the ends of the pipe;
  • nut M12;
  • bolt M12;
  • steel corner 10x10 mm – 20 cm.

The process of making eternal logs to save money


I used a pipe with a diameter of 76 mm. I cut it to length to fit a standard log, which I put in the stove. The diameter used affects the filling capacity. If the combustion chamber of the stove is high, and a lot of firewood can be loaded into it, then a thicker pipe must be used.
Eternal log to save on firewood

There is nothing difficult to make.It is necessary to cut two circles from sheet metal along the diameter of the pipe and hermetically weld its ends. After this, I cut the steel angle, getting 2 pieces of 10 cm each. I weld them crosswise to the pipe along its edges, getting stable legs. Next, I simply drilled a 12 mm hole on top of the tube with a drill. I attached a nut to it and welded it, getting a filler neck. After this, you can screw a bolt into it, which acts as a cover. A small twig was welded to its head so that it could be unscrewed without a key. I made a series of holes along the entire perimeter at intervals of 4 cm with a 3 mm drill.
Eternal log to save on firewood

There are no strict criteria for the dimensions of the pipe used, since everything depends on the parameters of the stove, or rather the amount of firewood that can be loaded into it. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you need to use thick metal so that it does not burn through. Also, you cannot make few holes, much less use thin drills of 1 or 2 mm, since steam under pressure is no joke. If, during testing, the log makes a whistle from strong pressure as steam escapes, then there are few holes, so it needs to be removed urgently. After this, you will have to drill the holes to a larger diameter. But there is no need to make them too large, since ash will get inside, and it is inconvenient to wash the welded pipe. It's better to have more small holes than a few large ones.

How to use


To use the eternal log, you need to unscrew the lid and pour water inside the pipe, filling it completely. I try to use almost boiling water so that the process starts right away.
Eternal log to save on firewood

Eternal log to save on firewood

After refueling, I close the filler neck with a bolt.
Eternal log to save on firewood

I put an eternal log on the bottom of the stove and lay it on the sides and on top with firewood.
Eternal log to save on firewood

After that, I light the fire and close the stove tightly.
Eternal log to save on firewood

Eternal log to save on firewood

Why does it work


Using an everlasting log increases the duration and quality of combustion of one load of firewood. Fire and heat can last up to 50 percent longer, depending on the design of the stove. Personally, for me, combustion is extended by up to 30 percent. My friends with other stove parameters have seen savings of 15 percent or more, which is explained by the inappropriate parameters of the dimensions of the log itself for their firebox.
Eternal log to save on firewood

This result is achieved due to the fact that the specific heat capacity of water vapor is higher than that of air. This is a physical fact that has long been proven. For air this indicator is 1 (kJ/(kg K), and for steam it reaches 2 (kJ/(kg K).
I would also like to note that eternal logs are not suitable for all types of wood stoves. It is ideally compatible with ordinary potbelly stoves with a direct chimney. If a brick stove has a duct chimney in the wall, then in certain cases there is a possibility of condensation of unburnt steam. If you want to use eternal logs with this stove design, I advise you to inspect the inspection hatches of the chimney for the appearance of sticky soot. If it is not there, then the log is suitable and you can safely use it.
Eternal log to save on firewood

Watch the video


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Comments (72)
  1. Gregory
    #1 Gregory Guests 16 October 2018 15:12
    204
    Hmm... A man sprays firewood with steam, talks about its savings and the benefits of the heat capacity of the steam. It’s immediately obvious that he’s a great “physics expert.”
    Dear man, the specific heat of combustion of firewood will not change in any way due to the fact that your “eternal” log will appear in the firebox. Your firewood gets damp and therefore burns slower. Cover the oven with a vent and the effect will be even better.
    As for the heat capacity of steam: it is indeed higher, but this is not a plus, but a minus, because your steam will take away the heat and quickly fly out into the straight pipe. I'm not even talking about the energy lost to convert water into steam.
    It’s better to weld ribs onto a potbelly stove, make an elbowed chimney, improve convection around the stove to increase its heat transfer. Anything is more useful than your “eternal log”.
    1. Guest Andrey
      #2 Guest Andrey Guests 18 October 2018 16:01
      7
      You can also install a valve, on the principle of a brick oven, this is where the real effect will be
    2. Turist
      #3 Turist Guests 23 October 2018 22:38
      7
      He is wrong, but you are wrong too. At a temperature of about 600 degrees (hot coal with a red glow), water vapor and carbon react to form hydrogen and carbon monoxide (CO). Both gases are flammable and immediately combine with oxygen in the air to form water and carbon dioxide. Thus we “drown with water”.
      You can find more details, and at the same time how to make a more effective “eternal log,” on the Internet. It seems someone has already established industrial production.
      1. Guest Mikhail
        #4 Guest Mikhail Guests 25 October 2018 18:17
        11
        What kind of coal does the wood burn here? This is the same as heating with raw wood.It burns longer, but as the author describes here, there is more soot and it is sticky
      2. Yuriy
        #5 Yuriy Guests 30 October 2018 14:39
        5
        What are you hanging? To decompose water into hydrogen, energy is needed. As much as it will be released during the combustion of this hydrogen. That is, the effect will be zero, and most likely it will be negative. Well, hydrogen and CO are formed during the combustion of natural gas, that is, combustion occurs in two stages. First to CO, then to CO2 and H2O.
      3. Guest
        #6 Guest Guests 30 October 2018 16:39
        8
        The water will boil away when the log is heated to one hundred degrees. It won’t have time to reach six hundred - the capacity is small, and the steam released will take away the heat... It’s easier to throw a raw log into the firebox - there are micropores and moisture - all the conditions for producing hydrogen))). If it were so easy to get hydrogen, then the stove would explode no worse than if you put “eternal log” in the firebox instead
    3. Tolya
      #7 Tolya Guests 26 October 2018 13:46
      7
      Gregory says everything right!
  2. Guest Dmitry
    #8 Guest Dmitry Guests 18 October 2018 09:35
    3
    In the diagram the holes have a diameter of 4 mm, but in the text they are 3 mm. Which ones should I drill?
    1. Well
      #9 Well Guests 19 October 2018 06:54
      5
      Yes, you drilled 5 mm, what does that change? People have become completely helpless.
    2. Guest Alexander
      #10 Guest Alexander Guests October 25, 2018 11:27
      4
      The hole diagram shows R4, logically R is the radius, which means the diameter is 8 mm in general
  3. Guest Nikolay
    #11 Guest Nikolay Guests 18 October 2018 16:36
    7
    At the same time, DEFINITELY raw smoke goes into the chimney, which DEFINITELY settles on the walls of the stone pipe. If there is no moisture, it means there is little steam and the log is useless.
  4. Guest Vasily
    #12 Guest Vasily Guests 18 October 2018 16:55
    9
    Let him check the pipe after the heating season, it will be covered in soot!
  5. Gosha
    #13 Gosha Guests 18 October 2018 17:20
    12
    Did you “draw” the drawing or sketch yourself? Lots of technically critical errors!
    The most important of them: the diameter of the hole is designated Ф (diameter) and not R (radius); then size 75.5 is not linear, because the pipe must be specified in diameter, that is, Ф75.5; then the height with the plug is 115 - the linear size of the lowest accuracy class because on the thread and in fact it doesn’t matter 115 or 120 or 100, whichever way it turns out, that is, the size should be with an asterisk (reference size) 115 *, as well as the general linear size 518 also with * (518*)
    Why did I find fault: the people are different, some have knowledge, some don’t. So for those who “no” to succeed at least at the level of “well, somehow” and without questions - the author needs acceptable competence in the topic he covers!
    1. Well
      #14 Well Guests 19 October 2018 06:53
      11
      There are so many smart people in the country who are literally squirting, but they can’t make a basic car.
      1. Gosha
        #15 Gosha Guests 19 October 2018 13:59
        7
        What car have you still not made?
    2. alenge
      #16 alenge Guests 20 October 2018 16:04
      5
      From the chimney, use a high-pressure fan to drive the air into a container with water, like in a compressor in an aquarium in the attic, all the heat will remain in the water and the circulation pump will provide heat to the radiators
  6. Men in Black
    #17 Men in Black Guests 18 October 2018 17:51
    17
    Homegrown heating engineer! The potbelly stove cools down quickly, because the pipe is straight and everything flies away with a whistle. Cravings, motherfucker, and if you can’t close the vent, you’ll burn out. The answer is as simple as three rubles; heat must be accumulated. You cover the potbelly stove tightly with bricks, the more the better, even part of the pipe. You fill the cavities with sand and stones and compact them. The firewood will burn out, the iron will cool down, and the bricks will give off heat all night. The principle of the stove is nothing new.But you will sleep warm all night.
    1. nemo
      #18 nemo Guests 19 October 2018 08:05
      13
      there is just a nuance. If you cover the stove TIGHTLY, and even fill in the cavities, then heat is removed from the walls of the iron stove very poorly, they overheat (during the fire - bright red, 700 degrees to the eye), become deformed and quickly burn out. My 8mm wall burned out in 3 seasons. and this is not in a house where they heat it every day, but in a bathhouse.
  7. Guest Alexey
    #19 Guest Alexey Guests 18 October 2018 17:59
    23
    That's right, dear man! Go back to school for physics lessons so as not to confuse heat capacity with calorific value. This “log” gives you the opposite effect - heat flies into the chimney more quickly when the temperature of the firebox and the internal section of the chimney decreases. You don’t have a 50% savings, but a 50% hit. Definitely - the advice is harmful, and the design gives the opposite effect to the author’s statements. I came up with nonsense for myself. and even “inserted a log” into acquaintances.
  8. Guest Sergey
    #20 Guest Sergey Guests 18 October 2018 19:42
    11
    Garbage on vegetable oil.
    Steam will come out of the holes in this log, which will fly out into the chimney with gaseous combustion products.
    It is clear that the only effect of this eternal log is that it takes up space in the firebox and it will take less firewood to fully load the stove.
    With the same success he could have put, for example, bricks or pebbles in the firebox.
  9. Dmitry Fateev
    #21 Dmitry Fateev Guests 18 October 2018 19:53
    23
    So, burn it with damp wood. That's all and business.
  10. Guest Victor
    #22 Guest Victor Guests 18 October 2018 20:38
    13
    Indeed, complete nonsense, Gregory correctly noted about the humidification of fuel with water vapor and, as a consequence, a decrease in the rate of their combustion. Due to water vapor, you reduce the temperature in the firebox, so the fuel does not burn completely, and unburned flue gases fly into the chimney and clog it with soot.Read about Kuznetsov stoves and there is a line of brick boilers with water heat exchangers - it will be more useful, on the contrary they try to place the water heat exchanger in a separate furnace hood so as not to lower the temperature in the combustion core, and you also water the firewood