Lazy Boiler
Using an oil drum,
some bricks and an old bit of rubber hose.

"This page contains plans and designs to enable you to make a water boiler that requires the user to pour cold water in before they can get hot water out - hence "lazy boiler".

 

The Lazy Man's Boiler

 

The Boiler
Principles of use
This boiler is manufactured from some bricks, cement and an old oil drum.
The boiler was designed to be used out-doors and will provide almost constant hot water for a large family or small community's daily needs.

The brick structure is straightforward and incorporates a metal fire grill of a type that will allow ashes to fall, or be raked through into the ash pit, allowing the boiler to be kept lit 24 hours a day if necessary. Expanded steel decking would be best for the metal grill. There are two metal straps included in the design. These are not strictly necessary, but when you consider the weight of the drum full of water, they are an added safety feature that will prevent the walls splitting apart under the weight.

The chimney can be made from regular stove pipe if available, but, in an emergency, used tin cans can be opened at both ends, snipped at one end to reduce the diameter, and forced inside each other to act as a chimney. Be aware that the tin can chimney method will burn out much quicker than with regular stove pipe.

Most hot water boilers need to be topped up to avoid them boiling dry. It is a fact of life that most people have a lazy streak and will take shortcuts (especially when under pressure). The advantage of this boiler is that, in order to get hot water out, you have to pour cold water in. The cold water is poured in through the funnel, being cold it sinks to the bottom, forcing the hot water up and out the spout. The principle is simple and extremely effective.

It usually needs two people to effectively deposit and gather water, but as someone will probably be on fire-stoking duty anyway, this does not normally cause a problem. A small table could be constructed at the front of the boiler to stand a collection container on if the boiler is being used by one person, and a length of hosepipe fixed to the out-spout to aid aiming. Another very good use for the frame is as a base for an outdoor bread oven. A large metal box can be placed on the bricks and bread cooked in it.