I dont know what its called... Boiling water on fire.

[Logit]

Right, i have heard of a genius contraption, but i don’t know what it’s called, or how to make one.

There is a device out there that can be made out of a beer keg/party 7 keg or anything similar that you place over the fire, and it keeps your water hot.

It has a tap for pushing out the hot water, and a hole in the top.

The theory is, you fill the keg up, let it boil... Then, add an amount of water in the top, and the same amount of water will then come out the tap hot.... and so the process continues.....

What are they called, and does anyone know how to make them?

Thanks in advance! Heres hoping

 

[sapper1]

Yes, it's called a lazyman boiler.The principle is ,you cant get hot water out unless you put hot water in.
A barrel of any size has a tap or spout fitted to the top at th edge,then when the barrel is placed on its side with the tap uppermost drill a hole in the centre of the side in line with the tap.Into this hole fit a pipe that is about an inch shorter than the diameter of the barrel.Fill the barrel through this pipe with cold water and light a fire underneath it when the water is hot and you want some of it you need to place a bowl under the tap and open it,now the clever bit.To get water out you must pour cold water into the pipe ,cold water sinks and hot water rises,the onlky way for the cold water to get invia the pipe is to force the hot water out through the tap.So instead of running out of hot water because the lazy man hasn't refilled it,you have to fill it to use it.

 

[tombear]

Also refered to as a donkey boiler, not to be confused with the maritime device of the same name.

Theres commercial versions available from people like hillbilly camping in Oz.

http://www.campingwithhillbilly.com/products.htm

ATB

Tom

 

[livefast999]

Hi there I saw your post and was intrigued by this idea and found this website.

http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9195 If you scroll down the page, to the big picture you will see the coil arrangement.

Basically you have the keg full of water heated by a fire, inside the keg you have a coil, with an inlet for cold water and and the outlet gives you hot water. As the water goes thru the coil it is heated by the boiling water around it.

I think you can vary the temp, by increasing/decreasing the flow of water thru the coil and so this can be used as a bush shower.

Hope this helps, I might have a go at trying this myself.

Regards

Alan

 

[g4ghb]

I know what you are thinking of - I have always known it as a camp boiler

hopefully this (poor) diagram (artist I am not!!!) will explain



to use you pour cold water into the top, the 'fill tube' directs it to the bottom of the boiler and an equal amount of hot water comes out the spout at the top. It works on the theory that heat rises and thus the cold is kept towards the base allowing the hot water at the top to not be affected when you pour the cold in as it would if the top was just open

hope this makes sense

 

[some like it cold]

there are a lot of hot tub boilers that work on this principle to keep them hot without a pump system

 

[Logit]

thankyou all... now to make one...

 

[Neumo]

I love that beer keg shower. I can not get over the inginuity of people when it comes to making things for the outdoors. It's almost enough for me to think about going on a course to learn to weld....

 

[Logit]

welding course, now that's an idea!

im off to Google to find my nearest welding school or course!!

 

[some like it cold]

anyone know any welding courses in gloucestershire google is failing me (

 

[DavidJT]

Hi there I saw your post and was intrigued by this idea and found this website.

http://homebrewandbeer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=9195 If you scroll down the page, to the big picture you will see the coil arrangement.

Basically you have the keg full of water heated by a fire, inside the keg you have a coil, with an inlet for cold water and and the outlet gives you hot water. As the water goes thru the coil it is heated by the boiling water around it.

I think you can vary the temp, by increasing/decreasing the flow of water thru the coil and so this can be used as a bush shower.

Hope this helps, I might have a go at trying this myself.

Regards
Alan

Really ingenious, love these ideas.
I once met someone who told me about a hot tub they had constructed at a perminent camp. Basically he lit a big fire under a large cast iron bath. At the
top of the water level was an out let to the large wooden bathing barrel for warm water. At the base of the hot tub was a return pipe to the cast iron bath. Water flowed around due to the rising of warmer water. I never saw it, and it sounds a bit optimistic, but he swore it worked a treat.

 

[Logit]

that website is ace, lots of ideas....!

Have got hold of an old beer keg, and am going to start collecting the other components post haste..... Might even take some photos along the way and post on here!

Cheers for all the help!

 

[tombear]

In volume 1 of Ron Edwards Bushcraft series theres a drawing and description of this wonderful shower that he had seen and copied for himself.

A header tank provided the pressure for the device and fed water into the bottom of what was basically a elongated volcano kettle, just over a yard long, in the style of the wartime Bengazi boilers, one steel tube inside another (3 inch and 4 inch diameter drain pipes), the the inner being a few inches shorter of the other at the bottom and being level at the top with a ring at the top and bottom of the shorter tube welded on to seal it and make the tank/jacket.

At the top of the jacket thus formed was a tube sticking out side ways with the shower head on it.

At the side near the bottom of the outer tube but below the inner one/ tank was a oblong hole and hinged to the edge of this was a suitable sized tin can that could be swung in and out of the contraption so that once a fire (in this case broken coral soaked in parafin)was going it could be swung in beneath the chimney.

A tap would control how fast the water went into the system and hence how hot it was when it came out as well as the pressure. You could make it longer if you wanted hotter water for the same pressure I guess.

The air would be sucked into the bottom of the tubes with a roaring noise and a slightly larger tin on a wire handle was used as a snuffer when you wanted to switch it off.
Another lenght of 4 inch pipe could be used as a chimney on top of the tank. It doesnt say but I assume the whole contraption was fixed to a stake of some sort to hold it up right.

If I was any good at welding i would have made one by now!

Sorry for the lack of pics, scanner not accesable at the moment.

ATB

Tom