wood fired hydronic heating system

A plumber shared a story of a farmer he knows who buried a large water tank in the ground, placed a wood stove in the tank to heat the water.  The water runs to the house and shop for heating.  Realizing that stainless steel is an ideal for a system of this kind, does anyone have any first hand experience with a system like this?

Not experience but, years ago, cattle troughs were similar to that, for keeping stock tanks unfroze.