After having to get up 5 or 6 times a night to reload the Ashley and still having the wood burn up quicker than I reload it, I have started building another wood burning heater.

Got the load door and flue coupling from an old burned out Ashley room size stove that I was given as an alternative to taking it to the dump. Used a large well pump air bladder tank as the body. Cut the door and flue openings and then with hammers and heat flattened the areas to accept their respective pieces.

Broke one of the door hinges off the door trying to get the hinge pin out. Brazed it back on and it seems to be holding. If it gives more trouble I’ll see about getting some of the cast iron rods and arc welding it but looks good this morning after an all night burn.

Cut a mobile home tire rim in half and flattened the edges where the stove can sit on top of it when it’s sitting on the cut ends. Still got the other one to do. swinging a 10 pound sledge with one hand while holding the rim half with the other took a bit more out of me than I thought at the time but was able to do it which surprised the hell out of me.

Set the stove on the rims, the modified one sideways and the unmodified one length ways, put a couple of sections of flue on it and built a fire in it to burn the paint off. Took several hours to get a big enough bed of coals to get it hot enough but was able to shut it down about 9:30 pm. Was cold out there by then except around the stove. Sucker got to glowing nice and red over the top half and had flames going 3 to 4 feet above the flue. Closed the door and damper and this morning had a nice bed of charcoal in there. Nice and air tight!

Now to find parts to build the air intake, finish the stand/rim mods and weld them on, move it up here to the greenhouse, plumb the air intake to the outside, install the flue through the new roof, line the bottom half with firebrick and sand, reinstall the door and flue connector with furnace cement, and build a fire, and I’ll be through for the day… 😉