Shane Wratt

+ Follow
since Oct 11, 2021
Merit badge: bb list bbv list
For More
Apples and Likes
Apples
Total received
In last 30 days
0
Forums and Threads

Recent posts by Shane Wratt

Julia Winter wrote:Shane, that looks great!  So, do you run the fire with a lid over the water, and then you get in the tub?  Is the tub too hot to touch right over the fire (or where the fire was)? Do you have a wooden bottom inside the tub?



Hi yes i heat up with lid on to help speed up heating. And yes the bottom of bath gets hot so I have a floating wooden slat frame that we sit on. Otherwise burn my bum!

One of the benefits of this is the cast iron stores heat and keeps bath warm for a long time without feeding fire too much. I can get out, put the lid on and it stays hot for ages. The side above fire generally only gets warm and not hot due to suction effect pulling fire and heat under the bath rather than vertical.

The chimney never gets too hot to touch. Only warm. But I would like to harness the heat from the top somehow.

I was thinking you could speed it up even more by adding a copper coil in the burn channel and setting up a recirculation system. But to be honest it's already within my acceptable time frames for heating.

We are moving soon so will leave the bath for the tenants and try and incorporate some new ideas, efficiencies in my v2.

One tip is if you make a system like this then you need to leave the bath water in when you are done. If you drain it immediately, it will get too hot and crack the enamel! (Lived experience!)


Any ideas welcome.
3 years ago

John C Daley wrote:Shane its not a matter of requirement, just a matter of making life easier for yourself.

I work all over the world with this stuff, rarely are there any 'legal ' requirements, first flush systems of any sort are just good sense.

In many poorer countries I have set up buckets with holes in them to just catch that initial water that may have impurities, bird, rodent  poo etc.
In the west people rarely clean the first flush, other communities clean it after each rain event because they have seen the benefits of the cleaner water.



Sure makes sense. Thank you.
3 years ago

John C Daley wrote:Shane, your system sounds very good.
Did you fit first flush units to the down pipes, to stop dust, bird mess etc entering the sysatem?



No. Not required. Probably helps that we have no trees close to house. Low dust area and filter and zapper thing deal with any contamination.


S
3 years ago
We recently built in rural location. Nz. All water collected into 2 x 25,000 litre tanks. It's a sealed wet system with tanks around 35m from house. Down pipes sealed above ground into pipes that goes to tank. Tanks connected and self level. A pressure pump takes water to house. Between the tanks and the pump is a filter and ultra violet thingy. Roof is corrugated coloursteel. Tanks input (top of tank) has to be lower the level of gutters. Can easily add more tanks to the system.  Works really well. The area is quite drought prone so need plenty of storage.
3 years ago
Did a bit of study on rocket fire concept and decided to make a fire bath as a first project.
I must of got the measurements right because it's super efficient (powered by sticks smaller branches - if you can't snap with hands or feet it's too big), flows the right way and burns clean I.e very little to no smoke. Basically propped the bath up on bricks and cobbed to seal around the base. Used dirt dug up from home mixed with extra clay and straw. I did add a wool based insulation around bricks before cob applied to help hold heat in the system. Plumbed a pipe from the plug to drain water away and added a hose for cold water input. Takes just under 1 hour to heat a bath with lid on. Mild climate Wellington NZ. Bath is cast iron and it's bottom forms the top of the heat chamber.

I have since used a slaked lime to the cob to protect from erosion which seems to have worked so far. The bath is now two years old and hasn't missed a beat. Love it.
3 years ago