# thinking of making a wood stove out of a 275 gal oil tank



## happycamper (Oct 25, 2010)

thinking of making a wood stove out of a 275 gal oil tank

did any one ever do this be fore


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## fubar2 (Oct 26, 2010)

Leave the fuel oil in it and you will get a much hotter fire.


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## MNGuns (Oct 26, 2010)

TreeCo said:


> Troll.



:agree2:


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## Ductape (Oct 26, 2010)

fubar2 said:


> Leave the fuel oil in it and you will get a much hotter fire.





Now there's an idea that's just waiting to pop !



Literally. :monkey:


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## vinced (Oct 26, 2010)

Are you talking about making a wood boiler or just a wood burning stove? I've seen quite a few modified into outdoor trash burners. Kind of taking the place of the old steel trash burn barrels. These 275 gallon oil tanks seem to be a dime a dozen in the past few years since the price of fuel oil skyrocketed and I've been trying to come up with a good use for them. My local salvage yard has a ton of these and they cut them open and use them for storage bins.


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## sunfish (Oct 26, 2010)

happycamper said:


> thinking of making a wood stove out of a 275 gal oil tank
> 
> did any one ever do this be fore



Will it fit in your house? Living room? Fit through the door? lol...


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## cedarman (Oct 26, 2010)

TreeCo said:


> Troll.



Out of curiousity, what does "troll" insinuate?


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## TreePointer (Oct 26, 2010)

cedarman said:


> Out of curiousity, what does "troll" insinuate?



Defined here: troll


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## Ambull (Oct 26, 2010)

When you burn wood in thinner gauge steel, it will rot the steel out on the bottom of the tank. I don't know how long they last, but I would guess not very long if it is used a lot. When the bottom rusts out, it makes the stove very dangerous. Be careful, and periodically check the bottom.


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## cedarman (Oct 26, 2010)

_Troll- In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response[1] _

I thought his topic was appropiate and on topic being this is a wood burning forum.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 26, 2010)

cedarman, I think people are looking at the quantity and quality of his posts, and how new he is, and assuming he's a troll.


I don't think so.


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## blades (Oct 26, 2010)

like the barrel burners, a good layer of sand on the bottom maybe with some insulation bricks on top of that ought to keep the bottom in one piece. Still that thin gauge steel will not withstand a bunch of abuse. Glows red real quick. Like barrel stove or an old potbelly unit it will radiate a lot of heat. Walls do not like that much localized heat. Best placement is middle of room.


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## sunfish (Oct 26, 2010)

cedarman said:


> _Troll- In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response[1] _
> 
> I thought his topic was appropiate and on topic being this is a wood burning forum.



He's asking about making a wood stove from a 275 gal oil tank. Most stoves are smaller than a 55 gal drum? 
I can picture a 275 gal tank in someone's living room. lol...

Edit to add; I have a 250 gal gas tank behind my house. It's aprox 6 feet long and 3 feet diameter. Would make a hell of a wood stove!


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## cedarman (Oct 26, 2010)

TreeCo said:


> Though he's been here a long time there is little doubt he's trolling in his recently started threads.



I dont get it..... So because he hasnt been on here in a while and he asks an open ended question, he is now labeled by the forum guru's.... a troll?

I always thought a forum was a place to find, gather, and give information on a certian topic. I didnt know you had to meet certain standards or you were labeled as a troll.

very new to me. I guess I better post at least once a week. god knows I dont want to be labeled as such a person. lol!


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## vinced (Oct 26, 2010)

Not to sound smart, but I doubt any of you guys have actually cut one of these oil tanks apart or have seen one cut apart. I know they are at least 1/8" thick or thicker. I've seen plenty of 55 gallon barrel stoves last for years in a garage shop and I know those barrels aren't has thick has a fuel oil tank. I think there are outdoor woodboiler plans sold by Deb that use a 275 gallon fuel oil tank for the firebox welded into a round tank about 4ft diameter.


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## cedarman (Oct 26, 2010)

sunfish said:


> He's asking about making a wood stove from a 275 gal oil tank. Most stoves are smaller than a 55 gal drum?
> I can picture a 275 gal tank in someone's living room. lol...
> 
> Edit to add; I have a 250 gal gas tank behind my house. It's aprox 6 feet long and 3 feet diameter. Would make a hell of a wood stove!



he may own a large pole building at which a 275 gallon tank just may be perfect.

theres a large garage in my town that uses a 275 gallon tank. works nicely


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## vinced (Oct 26, 2010)

http://www.deb-design.com/prod01as.pdf

This is the one I'm refering to.


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## 2FatGuys (Oct 26, 2010)

vinced said:


> Not to sound smart, but I doubt any of you guys have actually cut one of these oil tanks apart or have seen one cut apart. I know they are at least 1/8" thick or thicker. I've seen plenty of 55 gallon barrel stoves last for years in a garage shop and I know those barrels aren't has thick has a fuel oil tank. I think there are outdoor woodboiler plans sold by Deb that use a 275 gallon fuel oil tank for the firebox welded into a round tank about 4ft diameter.



Vinced - I have cut MANY 275 gallon tanks open. We use them to build barbecue cookers. I can tell you a few things about them that may be of inerest:

1) They are only slightly thicker than the typical 55 gallon drum. They are nowhere close to 1/8" thick!

2) It's not possible to put a 275 gallon tank inside a 4ft diameter tank. The 275 gallon tanks are about 30" x 60" x 58".

3) The process of rolling the steel to form the tanks loads them with lots of spring tension. Unless you brace the heck out of the tank, when you start cutting it, it will deform (trying to straighten out) and you will NEVER get it back to its original shape again.

4) I can't imagine relying on a 275 gallon tank to survive as a firebox. As I stated above, we use them for building barbecue cookers. Even when used with coals only (no open fire), these tanks only last about 4-5 years before we have to cut the bottoms out and reline them.

The steel used to make the eanks was designed to hold liquids, not resist heat.


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## Jredsjeep (Oct 26, 2010)

thank for the reply fatman, thats good to know. i have been thinking of making a outdoor wood stove with my extra tank.

the reasons for me are i live in a rural area and have several wooded acres to take care of. i burn anything larger than a couple of inches in my woodstove but have no way of getting rid of saplings and my larger tree of heavans. they just banned open burning and they wont take anything over 4" in diameter at the new waste facility and only collect once a month in the warm months. now i have a pile the size of a small house of sticks, thank you small goberment.

sooo i would like to make a large cheap outdoor stove i can just throw big stuff in to get rid of it. i figure i can rienforce around the top perimeter with angle and chop the top off. i can then add a couple of hinges and a handle to swing the whole top open. add a couple of air feed holes, a chimny and a grate and walla. i have a big stove i can throw all kinds of wood junk in without going through days of breaking sticks and bundling them up. i dont care about heat output or asthetics, it would only burn a couple of times a year to outdoors not in my living room

so anybody done one with pics?


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## Dalmatian90 (Oct 26, 2010)

Don't know much about it...but the State Park I worked at for a couple seasons in college had a 275 (maybe a 350) turned into a stove in their barn / workshop.

I do remember it had what looked like a commercial door on one narrow end, and it was lined at least half-way up with firebrick on the inside. The full timers said once it got cranking in the winter it took the chill out pretty quick. 

Hard to imagine how many 4' long logs you could stuff into that puppy at once 

Barn was built in 1890-something, and this heated the main floor plus loft. The barn was built into a bank so the front door was on one level, the building's left side door was a floor below it giving access to the "cellar", and the rear door was yet another level down giving access to the "sub cellar." Cellar was useful, sub cellar was pretty damp year round.

Only insulation in the barn was around the bathroom (which included a shower) and the adjacent frost-proof room that stuff that shouldn't ever freeze was stored in -- darn thick insulation, too. Those two rooms were heated by an electric baseboard.


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## Jredsjeep (Oct 26, 2010)

so what is used to cut them open? i would be worried about fumes building up.


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## 2FatGuys (Oct 26, 2010)

Jredsjeep said:


> so what is used to cut them open? i would be worried about fumes building up.



We clean them well before cutting. We cut our first one with circular saw and abrasive blade. After that, we've cut the rest with a plasma cutter.


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## BlueRidgeMark (Oct 26, 2010)

2FatGuys said:


> We clean them well before cutting. *We cut our first one with circular saw and abrasive blade.* After that, we've cut the rest with a plasma cutter.





Bet that was noisy! 



What do you clean them with?


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## sawkiller (Oct 26, 2010)

My grandpa has one in his garage and it has been there as long as i can remember. Used every winter for at least 20 years and no problems. In the last 10 or so years it only gets used when someone is using his garage as his health doesn't allow him to tinker much anymore. I don't think it ever had to be fully fired but it was used to heat a 30x60 uninsulated garage and it would run you out if you overloaded it. It was amazing how much wrapping paper you could stuff in it at christmas time and it would barely warm the steel when lit.


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## Jredsjeep (Oct 26, 2010)

i know not all tanks are created equal as far as thickness and quality but i just want to do a couple of fires a year not heat a building. it is good to know it can hold up to that though.

i can battle through the tank with a sawzall but i much prefer to cut with my angle grinder and a cut off wheel. i just don't want to nominate myself as a Darwin award winner.


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## Rookie1 (Oct 26, 2010)

Id like to make one too but mine is full of heatoil. Every winter I burn too much wood and the furnace doesnt run enough to use it up. Catch 22 I guess,plus that darn heatoil delivery guy keeps topping it off when Im not looking. Maybe I will divert my resources to converting my lawnmower into a washing machine.


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## 2FatGuys (Oct 27, 2010)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> Bet that was noisy!
> 
> 
> 
> What do you clean them with?



Ya think???? It was even noisier than the grinder and cutoof wheel. The problem with either of those methods was that when cutting thin metal, it shears off little pieces of the abrasive wheel / blade and eats them quickly.

We only take tanks that have been fully drained. We open all of the drain / fill plugs and then let them really drain for a few days over a plastic tub. Then we replace all but one plug and put about 10 gallons of water and 1/4 bottle of Dawn in the tank. We slosh that around the whole tank, then dump into the plastic tub. All of what is caught in the tub is taken to an oil disposal location (our tank supplier is heating oil company). This doesn't leave them spotless, but they are clean enough to cut with a torch or plasma.


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## AIM (Oct 27, 2010)

Those things are in about half the farm buildings in my area. They work great.
I'm not sure, but at one time I think Northern tool sold a kit just for building these.
Door and frame, chimney stub, etc.


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## sunfish (Oct 27, 2010)

AIM said:


> Those things are in about half the farm buildings in my area. They work great.
> I'm not sure, but at one time I think Northern tool sold a kit just for building these.
> Door and frame, chimney stub, etc.



I've seen the kits for converting 55 gal drums into wood stoves. But I've never seen a wood stove made from a 275 gal tank...


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## mdavlee (Oct 27, 2010)

A guy I work with made a boiler out of an old propane tank. He's built several and if I could install one at my house I would help him make me one. The tanks can be found from different sources that have never had propane in them for around $200.


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## TheLazyBFarm (Oct 29, 2010)

TreeCo said:


> Sotz sold a lot of these kits but I don't think they are around anymore. They even sold a catalytic combuser set up for them, I have one out back in the shop.



Northern Tools sells a similar kit: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_20894_20894


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## sunfish (Oct 29, 2010)

Albin said:


> Northern Tools sells a similar kit: http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_20894_20894



That's for a 55 or 30 gallon drum kit. I have never seen one for a 275 gal tank?

What are the dimensions of a 275 gal oil tank? I still can't see making a wood stove that large?


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## Kenuto (Oct 19, 2017)




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## ChoppyChoppy (Oct 20, 2017)

My Dad built a wood furnace using a 275 gal tank for the firebox around 1983. It lasted until about 30 years heating a 3 bed house, so around 100 cords of wood through it. They pulled it out to put in a coal stoker (works like a pellet stove, but with little pieces of coal). 

Was removed partly because wood was becoming difficult since us kids left, the stove was worn out (firebox had worn through), and insurance was a nightmare. Hard enough with a manufactured stove, but a homebuilt one, good luck.

You need to find an older tank to use, they are around 10 gauge, vs the newer ones are thinner (maybe 14 gauge? 16?). My folks got a new tank to replace their old one (nothing wrong with it, but some .gov grant through the oil company put the fear in everyone about tanks needs to be replaced every 10 years or they will come apart and dump all the oil (in the basement). The new one, I have no idea how it can even support itself, you can push in on the sides like it's a beer can thin!


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## ChoppyChoppy (Oct 20, 2017)

sunfish said:


> That's for a 55 or 30 gallon drum kit. I have never seen one for a 275 gal tank?
> 
> What are the dimensions of a 275 gal oil tank? I still can't see making a wood stove that large?



Why not? The stove in the shop is 3.5ft around and 5ft long, about 1/2" thick.


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## ChoppyChoppy (Oct 20, 2017)




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## alleyyooper (Oct 21, 2017)

I have a friend in Maine who heats his home with a double 55 gallon barrel stove, has used it almost 10 years now. Secert is to layer the bottom with sand, remove the sand in the spring so it doesn't draw moisture in the summer And not burn cherry red fires in it.

Another friend has a fuel oil wood used motor oil heater in his shop. He ran pipes thru it filled a couple car raditors with water also has a steel plate in it. Builds a wood fire and gets the plate of steel hot turns on the drip system for thre used motor oil and lets it drip on the hot plate and light and burns. Heats the water in the pipes from the raditors which circulates back to the raditors then a heat switch turns on the fans to move the air thru and distrubate the heat thru out his shop.
He also does not buy electric to run his shop or home. Started many years ago with a old Jacabs wind generator, rewound it for more voltage. Has a room with a recycled fork lift batterys to store the power. Goes to a converter he built to convert it to 220 AC power.

Want a well drilled in your basement with a 8 foot ceiling? he can do it for you.

I my self had a double barrel kit and heater for my work shop and garage for about 5 years. It was replaced by some one I allowed to use the shop while I was out of town with a fancy wood stove some one had decided was to much work to supply wood and keep the stove full.

doesn't take a rocket engineer to figure out *YOU CAN USE A 55 GALLON BARREL KIT TO BUILD A WOOD BURNER out of a 275 gallon tank*. No special door or chimeny stub needed.

 Al


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## blades (Oct 21, 2017)

building a wood stove is not a problem whatever style, the insurance company and likely local inspectors are the hurdles to overcome.


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## Del_ (Oct 21, 2017)

Looking at these stove it is obvious little if any attention is being paid to combustion efficiency. 

It is a shame, too, because with large stoves come large wood usage and even small improvements in efficiency can mean large savings in wood acquiring labor. 

A good wood stove or furnace is more than just a well welded box.


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## blades (Oct 21, 2017)

Yep, 2 boxes one inside the other.


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