An old cast-iron bath is a very heavy and solid thing. The product of the Soviet industry is famous for its fundamentality and durability. But over time, snow-white enamel loses its luster and cannot be restored. Then the bath goes to the landfill. But many summer residents and owners of private houses use cast-iron construction more rationally. The stove from the bath not only allows you to cook amazing dishes, but also becomes a decoration of the estate.

Building a stove from a cast-iron bath with your own hands will require the use of the following tools:

angle grinder (Bulgarian);
Cutting and cleaning discs for angle grinders;
Electric drill, drills;
Pliers, wrenches;
If available - equipment for gas cutting of metal;
Trench tool - shovels, scrap;
Hammer;
Trowel, spatula;
A container for preparing a solution;
Measuring tool - tape measure, plumb line, metal corner, building level;
Welding machine for mounting the chimney, mask, electrodes;
Hacksaw for wood (for the construction of formwork).

The start of construction implies cast iron bath. The furnace from the bath has a foundation, since the total weight of the structure takes on a decent value. In addition to the bathroom, you will need the following materials:

Cement;
Sand;
Red brick;
Water;
Clay;
Sheet of metal with a thickness of 4 mm;
Metal corner;
Homemade or factory grill of the appropriate size;
Metal and hinges for doors;
Chimney pipe with a wall thickness of at least 3.5 mm, a diameter of 100 - 125 mm, a length of 2.5 - 3 meters;
Foundation waterproofing material - polyethylene film;
Rabitz;
Boards 20 - 25 mm thick, nails, slats 20x20 mm.

The first stage of construction is cutting the old bathroom across into two equal parts. This operation is performed using a grinder. First, the cutting line is marked - the line is applied with a marker on the enamel or with chalk on the outer part of the bowl. Cutting is best done on the outside of the bowl, but if this is not possible, you can cut on the inside.

Cutting iron products is a long and laborious job. For this work, a professional tool is used, in the absence of one, it is necessary to take breaks in work, otherwise the grinder may burn out.

When working, safety conditions must be observed. It is better to wear a protective mask on your face, otherwise the smallest particles of enamel can get into your eyes. When cutting cast iron, it forms a large number of dust - breathing must be protected with a gauze bandage or respirator. The room where the work is carried out must be isolated from adjacent rooms - dust cleaning will subsequently cause serious difficulties.

When cutting the bowl, the bath must be fixed so that the disc of the grinder does not pinch. Fragments of a disc that burst during operation can cause injury. Sawing a bathroom takes, on average, about 45 - 60 minutes (excluding breaks). The speed of work always depends on the level of ownership of the tool.

It is necessary to take into account the structure of cast iron - it has a low impact strength. Therefore, it is impossible to apply strong blows, to heavily load the bath with mechanical forces.

Furnace installation

oven from old bath placed on suburban area or land plot private house, consists of three main parts:

Firebox from an old bathroom;
Furnace foundation;
Brickwork, cladding.

After preparing the bathroom (cut into two equal parts), they begin to build the foundation.

Foundation construction

With the help of pegs and a cord, the future foundation is marked. The foundation is made of concrete mortar or brickwork.

First, a rectangular trench is torn off, its depth should be at least 500 mm. A layer of sand and gravel is laid at the bottom of the trench, the layers are compacted. A layer of waterproofing is laid on top of the pillow - usually a plastic film. In the central part, a formwork is being constructed to raise the base of the foundation for the firebox. Most often, a common formwork is simply constructed and the foundation is poured to a height of at least 250 - 300 mm from the ground level.

The free volume is reinforced and filled with a solution of cement and sand in the proportion of 1 measure of cement to 3 measures of sand. In another case, the volume is filled with brickwork.

After completing the work on the construction of the foundation, he is given time for high-quality solidification.

Assembly work

After the foundation has solidified, assembly work begins. The first half of the bowl is installed on the base of the foundation (without drain holes). On top of the turn of the bowl, a sheet of metal cut according to the bathroom template is laid on a heat-resistant sealant.

Sometimes holes are cut into the sheet for use as a cooking surface.

A hole is cut in the ceiling sheet, corresponding to the diameter of the selected chimney pipe. The pipe is welded to the floor slab using electric arc welding.

The second half of the bathroom is laid on the floor sheet. The joint is preliminarily laid with heat-resistant sealant, instead of the drain (lower) hole, a passage for the chimney is cut. First, a hole is marked along the cross section of the pipe used, then holes are drilled according to the marking. It is dangerous to knock out a drilled element - cast iron is brittle - therefore, the holes are connected by slots in the grinder.

Holes are drilled along the perimeter of the junction of two hemispheres of the bathroom, the joint is pulled together with M10 or M12 bolts. Fasteners are installed in increments of 150 - 200 mm. When tightening the bolts, do not use excessive force - the cast iron may burst. In the lower hemisphere, at a height of 15 cm from the lower point of the vault, the supports for the grate are bolted. The installation of supports is mandatory, otherwise, when the grate is shifted, burning firewood will fall into the lower part of the firebox and the quality of combustion will be impaired. The main work on the construction of the firebox has been completed.

The front part of the firebox is equipped in two ways - from metal and in brickwork. In the case of using a sheet of metal, it is marked and cut to the appropriate size with a grinder. It is fastened to the split end of the firebox through metal corners attached to the bowl and sheet through holes with bolts. Openings are cut in the plane of the sheet for the small (lower) door of the blower and the large upper door of the furnace (used to load fuel). Doors are usually installed on welded hinges.

The cost of metal and the amount of work in such an implementation of the front part of the furnace exceed the option of installing brickwork. When laying from the end of the firebox, mortgages and openings are left in it for installing doors.

After assembling the front part, the lower hemisphere of the firebox is lined with bricks. First, the first corner is displayed (along the plumb line), then the laying is continued along the perimeter of the furnace.

After the masonry has hardened, work begins on the thermal insulation of the upper hemisphere. To do this, a chain-link mesh is laid on it. The grid should fit snugly against the surface of the furnace - for this it is fixed to the brickwork around the perimeter. The chain-link serves as a frame, supporting structure for the clay layer. The first layer of a pre-prepared clay solution of medium viscosity is tightly clogged into the grid. After partial hardening, the finishing layer of clay is applied and leveled.

Clay should harden - it must be covered from precipitation with a film, without restricting access to air. After hardening, the clay is most often covered with several layers of lime whitewash.

A fungus must be installed on the chimney pipe to protect against precipitation.

Some craftsmen recommend using cast iron bathtubs for the construction of a sauna stove. Moreover, the cast-iron bath acts as the basis of the heater and at the same time serves as the upper vault of the firebox, it can be splashed with ice water in a hot state. Cast iron in this case may crack. To make a bath stove from a cast-iron bath - count on a certain amount of luck, not to know the properties of cast iron.

Decoration of the external facade

The external design of the furnace depends on the wishes of the owner. The masonry can be plastered and painted, various decorative mosaics are applied to it, natural stone. Decoration of the structure is not always necessary - the stove from the bathroom will always look like an amazing structure on the site.

Building a furnace from an old cast-iron bath is an event that requires equipment and some skills in carrying out installation work. But the construction of the stove is worth it - it has an excellent design and will serve its owner for many years, surprising with culinary delights and decorating the estate.

Consumption ecology. Manor: Whatever craftsmen come up with to build with their own hands from improvised means. If you have an old cast-iron bath, which is usually adapted for watering the garden, and the construction of a bath is brewing, then you can save a lot by making a stove in the steam room from this bath.

A cast iron bath stove will last forever. Even enamel will not burn quickly. In Soviet times, enamel was applied in two layers. The enamel contained quartz sand. After enamel coating, the product was baked in an oven at a temperature of more than 800 degrees. The sand melted, and such a coating served for decades. The enamel could only be damaged by a strong blow from a heavy object.

In addition, cast iron has a high heat capacity, well accumulates and gives off heat. Not afraid of corrosion. The industry produces furnaces and grates made of cast iron, as it does not burn out for a long time, unlike steel. But cast iron is a fairly brittle metal.

Bath cut

Sawing a bath is best on the street, after turning it upside down. Cast iron is a brittle metal, so the procedure requires accuracy. The cut is done by a grinder. Buy several at once cutting discs. We make markings, and then slightly incise the enamel along the line so that chips do not form with a full cut. We saw through cast iron at a slight angle and make sure that the tool does not heat up. We take breaks. To prevent the halves of the sawn tub from pinching the disc at the final stage of cutting, place supports made of wood or brick along the edges of the cut.

Cutting the bathroom is done by a grinder

Foundation for the furnace

The type of foundation depends on the total weight of the furnace:

a brick base is suitable for a light oven. Bricks are laid on edge and bound with mortar. Grade of cement for binder solution is not less than M300;
for a heavy furnace weighing more than 700 kg, a self-leveling foundation with a depth of at least 50 cm is required. Formwork is made and poured with liquid concrete with or without filler. The filler will serve broken brick fine fraction or gravel.

The top of the base is arranged flush with the floor or 15 cm below the floor level. To protect the base from moisture, the bottom and walls of the formwork are lined with roofing material and all joints are coated with bitumen.

Advice. The base should protrude beyond the boundaries of the furnace by 50 cm. In front of the combustion chamber, 1.2 m of space should remain free.

Furnace No. 1

This version of the furnace is able to warm up a bath of 7 square meters. m to 80 degrees in just a couple of hours. To build a furnace, you will need scrap metal: a cast-iron bath, a gas cylinder and a metal drum from a 40 cm diameter conveyor belt. The drum can be replaced gas bottle or a pipe - this will be the combustion chamber. The sequence of work is as follows:

Advice. If a flat metal platform is welded to the cylinder, you get a stove for heating the kettle.

Furnace No. 2

From a cast-iron bath sawn into two parts, you can make a combustion chamber for sauna stove. You will need one half, the second can be used for a fireplace.

The remaining half can be used to build a fireplace. Cast iron can easily withstand brickwork if the fireplace is lined with an arched vault. And for this you do not need to make complex pattern from plywood. The front part is made out by a portal. The chimney is removed. You can make the fireplace closed by installing a transparent door on the firebox and admire the flame.

Advice. Cast iron and red ceramic bricks have different coefficients of thermal expansion. Therefore, when erecting brick walls, expansion joints are provided, which are filled with asbestos or basalt refractory cardboard.

Furnace No. 3

The third version of the stove is often used as a garden barbecue and for cooking in the summer. If the upper chamber is filled with stones, then this design will replace the traditional stove in a small bath, so we will not bypass this model.

The foundation is poured under the furnace.
The bath is sawn into two identical components.
Supports are placed on the foundation if you want the furnace to be higher.
The first half of the bath is installed. A sheet of metal with a thickness of at least 5 mm is laid on top, which will completely cover the upper and lower compartments and serve as a hob.
Construction of a barbecue grill from a cast-iron bath
We cut the chimney pipe into the sheet and weld it along the contour by welding.
We install the second half from above with the bottom up, having previously cut a hole for the chimney.
We glue the metal sheet and halves of the cast-iron device with high-temperature sealant. This will prevent smoke from entering the upper chamber.
We clamp both parts with clamps and drill holes for 10 mm bolts along the contour. We fasten both parts of the bath and the metal sheet.
We lay out a brick pedestal under the oven of three walls.
The grate is installed 15 cm from the bottom of the combustion chamber. If the size of the grate is small, then two corners are welded to install it.
The front part is closed with a sheet of metal or brickwork with the installation of a door opposite the combustion and blower chambers.
Ready product cast iron tub and sheet metal
A metal shutter is made according to the size of the upper chamber. In this form, the chamber can be used as an oven.
Now it remains to give the product a noble look: veneer the brick with tiles or plaster.

Such non-standard designs are easy to manufacture and require minimal financial costs. A thing that has served its purpose will receive a second life, and you will receive a convenient and practical stove that will serve you faithfully for many years. published

Universal sauna stove: video

Of all homemade furnace devices and designs, a cast-iron bath stove is best suited for a home steam room. It cannot be said that a home-made heater made from an old cast-iron stove has an exquisite design or is very convenient to maintain. You can’t argue here, home-made does not look as impressive as modern cast-iron boilers, but it heats up no worse, and in the construction of a bathhouse, a stove from a bathtub will cost an order of magnitude cheaper than a heater made from industrial cast-iron casting.

Why build furnaces from a bath

At first glance, the idea of a homemade cast iron heater looks rather unusual and strange. Why make a stove from a cast-iron bath with your own hands, if you can buy a factory-made steel boiler-stove. In fact, there is a rational grain in such an undertaking:

Any metallurgist will confirm that thick-walled cast iron casting is ideal for arranging stoves, fireplaces, boilers of the most different designs and models;
A good cast-iron boiler costs fabulous money, while building a furnace from an old bathtub will take a maximum of a couple of thousand rubles and several days of work;
The semi-circular section and the shape of the bath body are ideal for organizing the combustion process, there are no stagnant zones or sharp corners leading to local overheating of the bowl walls.

It is clear that the body of the bowl should not have cracks, metal chips or through corrosion. Due to poor machinability, brittleness and low ductility, cast iron is quite difficult to process, cut and weld in the artisanal conditions of a garage or cottage. Therefore, in order to make a stove from a bath with your own hands, some practice will be required. At least, it will take a long time to select the mode in order to weld the cast-iron walls of the furnace by electric welding.

Preparing a cast-iron bath tub for remodeling

The first stage of building a heater, regardless of its design and dimensions, always begins with the removal of layers old paint, limescale, rust, all that garbage that has accumulated on its surface over decades of operation.

Some craftsmen recommend burning the body on wood for outdoors. The stove is set on bricks and a small fire is kindled. It will take a long time to heat the cast iron bowl, at least 2-3 hours, until the remnants of pollution burn out. In this way, it is possible to get rid of stubborn odors and at the same time “open” the surface from lime and rust that have accumulated.

Cutting a cast-iron bath body into blanks

Cutting cast iron, especially thin-walled, is quite difficult, the material itself is soft and low-plasticity, with the slightest overload or excessive pressure it can crack in the most inappropriate place.

The body is cut in the following sequence:

The cut line is marked on the enamel surface;
An electric drill and a thin drill drill through holes in the corners, at the break points of the marking line. On a rounded surface, drilling is performed every 4-5 cm;
On the markings made, they pass with a file or a sharpened blade of a hacksaw for metal in order to remove the enamel and prevent chipping of the coating;
The last stage is the most responsible. The cast-iron bath is laid on a flat, absolutely flat surface and cut with a grinder along the marking line.

Advice! Usually, in order to avoid pricking, the body is cut along the contour, leaving several jumpers a couple of centimeters connecting the two parts of the cast-iron bath.

The remains of the jumpers are cut around the stone or removed with a grinder. It is worth remembering that when cutting cast iron, a huge amount of black metal dust is formed that can eat into the skin of the hands like soot. Therefore, before you start making your own stove from a cast-iron bath, you need to stock up on respirators and protective clothing.

Options for building a heater

For heating and heating a bath, you can use three types of stoves based on a cast-iron body from an old bath:

A classic two-chamber stove with a firebox and a closed-type heater;
Fireplace stove with screen;
Dome stove, the most complex and interesting to make with your own hands.

The decision on which version of the cast-iron bath stove to use in the steam room is made based on the size of the bath and the method of heating. For example, cast iron fireplace stoves are great for a sauna, while a classic two-section stove can be used for heating a sauna room and even cooking.

Cast iron heater for a large steam room

Ideally, if you have experience and skills in working with metal, you can try to build a two-dome furnace from an old bath, as in the video. In this case, to make a real cast-iron firebox, you will need a full-sized bathtub, at least 180-190 cm long.

At the heart of a similar stove for a bath from a cast-iron bath, a whole body with a cut off short side or “back” is used. The bowl is placed upside down on a base lined with fireclay bricks on vermiculite cardboard. The design of the stove does not provide for the presence of a blower or a grate; firewood is laid out in layers directly on a heat-resistant base.

According to the device and principle of operation, a cast-iron stove from a large bath is almost identical to a Russian stove. The chimney or pipe for the removal of combustion products is located directly at the loading window of the furnace. The firewood laid out by the woodpile burns in layers, and the hot combustion products go around the cast-iron roof of the furnace along a horseshoe-shaped trajectory and are removed through the chimney in front of the furnace.

For your information! Asbestos tapes, basalt cardboard and heat-resistant sealant are used to seal the joint between the body and the heat-resistant fireclay base.

The cast-iron bath is lined with red brick walls. The remaining space between ceramic cladding and a cast iron body are covered with foam glass granules. The top plane is closed sheet metal. Due to the huge weight of the cast-iron body and brick shielding, the whole structure heats up no worse than a real Russian stove. According to the reviews of the owners, heat and smoldering coals in the cast-iron combustion chamber remain for a day.

Simple dome stove

If we are talking about heating a room with an area of up to 10 m 2, then instead of an uneconomical fireplace, you can try to build a do-it-yourself stove from a cast-iron bath of a single-dome type.

To make a firebox, you need half a cast-iron bath of a standard length. As in the previous version, a massive body is used to equip the combustion vault, but in this case, the size of the combustion chamber is half that, which means it warms up faster.

The combustion chamber also does not provide for the presence of a grate, so you have to kindle such a furnace with the help of a small woodpile laid in the depths of the furnace. After the firewood burns out and traction appears, you can lay the chamber at half the volume. It is no longer possible, cast iron is still not a brick, so the roof of the furnace can crack when overheated.

Cast iron bath fireplace stoves

Of course, it is not necessary to build a stove from a bath on half a wall of a bath. For a small steam room, you can do quite well small fireplace with loading the hearth from the dressing room.

To make a small stove from a bath with your own hands, you can adapt the third part of the body of a standard bowl or use one of the small-sized models 120-130 cm long.

For your information! The bodies of cast iron bathtubs are ideal for making fireplaces, including fireplace stoves for saunas. Subject to the technology of assembling the chimney and designing the heater, such a stove will heat no worse than an industrial design.

The cut off rear part of the body is installed on a foundation of heat-resistant bricks or blocks. The area for laying firewood must be covered with a stainless steel sheet, while the space for firewood must be pushed to the maximum depth inside the body. In the process of fuel combustion, hot gases will flow around the wall or the former bottom of the cast-iron bath, thereby increasing the efficiency of the furnace.

The depth of a standard cast-iron bathtub ranges from 40 to 60 cm, so the fireplace body will easily fit in the wall between the steam room and the dressing room. The back side of the body must be sheathed with metal, covered with a fine-mesh stainless steel mesh, and the filling of the future heater can be laid.

The classic version of the cast-iron bath stove

One of the most popular models is considered to be a two-section combustion chamber, made according to the standard scheme with a firebox, a blower, an ash pan and a hot chamber, where, in fact, most of the released heat is collected.

The design of the furnace consists of two sections - upper and lower, each of which is equipped with its own door. For the manufacture of one stove, one full-size cast-iron bath, 180 cm long, is consumed. The body is cut into two halves, which are interconnected along the contour of the side. A sheet of steel, at least 10 mm thick, is laid between the sections. This sheet is welded steel pipe for the chimney, which is output through the location of the drain hole in the bottom of the cast-iron bath.

Features of the furnace assembly

The two sections are connected to each other mechanically, any attempt to weld or glue the cast iron halves will lead to the destruction of the structure. For assembly, parts of the furnace are stacked on top of each other, holes are drilled around the perimeter for M10 bolts and connected using spring washers. The joint line of the steel sheet and the edge of the upper chamber is sealed with a heat-resistant fireplace sealant.

In the bottom part of the lower compartment, which is also a firebox, a window for the grate is cut out. The grates are made from ordinary square pipe 20 mm thick. The front walls of the upper and lower chambers are cut out of sheet steel with a thickness of at least 5 mm; doors and latches are also made from it.

The design is very simple, the only thing you need to pay attention to when assembling a furnace from a cast-iron bath with your own hands is welding. All parts are hung and installed on the body by welding.

For your information! Fulfill welding work only direct current, specialized electrodes such as UONI13-55.

The walls of the cast-iron bath are quite thick, so you have to spend several hours choosing the right mode of operation. The seam is obtained as if soldered, but the strength of such a connection is sufficient to withstand any thermal loads.

Conclusion

Making a stove from a cast-iron bath is much easier than laying out a domed heater, a fireplace or a brick heater. On average, it will take three full working days to manufacture one full-fledged oven with brick and tile lining. The quality of the work of such a stove is practically in no way inferior to the factory iron casting.

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Bath stove: 4 stages of creating a cast-iron monster

There are never many stoves in a well-equipped dacha, especially good ones, and it’s a pity to rent an old cast-iron bath for scrap. It was these thoughts that visited me after installing a brand new kvarilovy font in my apartment. And I decided not to get rid of the former massive tank, but to take it to a suburban area and convert it into an efficient furnace design. Next, I will describe how it was.

Stage number 1: preparation of tools and materials

As for transporting the bathtub to the dacha, the most difficult thing was to bring it to the trailer. Cast iron is incredibly heavy and has magical property: Gain mass with every step you take. But somehow, with my comrades, we, nevertheless, put the "behemoth" in the prepared vehicle and I delivered it to the place of further work.

It was only after everyone had suffered as loaders that I had a brilliant idea that it was necessary to cut the font even in the bathroom, because anyway it will need to be done in the future to create a furnace. So, on the other hand, the two halves are much more convenient and easier to carry than the entire cast-iron product.

After the delivery of the main "beast", I set about preparing all the other accessories necessary to carry out the planned accessories:

Tools

When working with a cast-iron bath, poured back in Soviet times, I recommend using only high-quality power tools of well-known foreign brands, since cheap Chinese specimens simply cannot withstand such a difficult confrontation and burn out.

materials

In addition to the cast-iron tank itself, I needed:

Stage number 2: cutting a cast-iron font

I just want to warn you that This process is very time consuming, requiring great patience and care., since during its execution it is possible to break both the instrument and the disc, as a result of which there is a high probability of serious injury to people nearby.

In my performance it looked like this:

To start put the tub upside down on the ground for the convenience of further operations;

If you will cut the container while still indoors, be sure to close the walls and furniture polyethylene film or old rags, otherwise cast-iron dust will settle on them, which is almost impossible to remove.

Strictly draw a straight line in the middle, marking the place of the incision;

Further strictly according to the marked markup carefully cut the enamel layer with a grinder, the depth of which, as a rule, is from 1.5 to 2.5 mm. If you immediately start sawing cast iron itself, then chips will form on the enamel covering it;

Now moved on to cutting the font itself and did it slowly, regularly resting the instrument. Believe me, the price of haste here can be very high, the saved 20-30 minutes will not replace your burnt grinder.

Stage number 2: installation work

Now it's time to assemble a real stove from an old do-it-yourself cut bath. I will conditionally divide this part of the work into three phases:

Foundation laying

Above, I already mentioned that the cast-iron font is very, very heavy, and so the structure being constructed will be even harder. Therefore, without a reliable foundation, shrinkage processes will constantly occur, which will lead to deformation of the body, which is absolutely unacceptable. Therefore, I started the assembly by pouring a reliable foundation:

I dug a pit with my own hands with a shovel with an area slightly larger than the future furnace, and a depth of 300 mm;

Then he covered the bottom with a ten-centimeter layer of sand mixed with rubble;
around the perimeter laid out the formwork from the boards;
Installed fittings inside;
kneaded concrete mortar from gravel, sand and cement in proportions 5:3:1;

I filled the prepared recess with the resulting mixture.

In a good way, the foundation should be poured long even before the dismantling of the old bath, as it will take time to set. But for me this moment came out ill-conceived, and therefore there was a break in my activity aimed at making a furnace.

Furnace assembly

As the foundation hardened, I moved on to assembling the two halves of the tub into something more practical and functional:

Cut out a sheet of prepared metal, which can completely cover the floor of the font;

Made closer to back wall the future design of the hole and welded to it a half-meter piece of the prepared pipe;
One of the halves of the tank was installed on the foundation;

Then applied a heat-resistant sealant to its edges using mounting gun, and placed the assembled sheet on top with part of the mounted chimney;

Further took up making a hole for the chimney in the second half of the cast-iron container. Here the work turned out to be more difficult than similar manipulations with a steel sheet, so I will describe them in more detail:

He applied the markings in accordance with the section of the chimney pipe around the drain. Of course, it needs to be marked first of all where it will take place, it’s just that for greater convenience I initially adjusted all the structural elements so that these points coincided;
Drilled a lot of holes along the outlined contour;
Carefully, again, without haste, I cut the remaining jumpers with a grinder;
The edges of the resulting opening were carefully processed with a file, bringing to the desired state;

He applied sealant around the perimeter of the sheet covering the already installed part of the furnace, and, putting the second half of the bath on the pipe, closed the structure with it;
The top of the chimney increased to a meter height;
The sides protruding along the perimeter, including the steel layer of the intermediate sheet, drilled with a drill drill with a diameter of 10 mm;

In the resulting holes threaded the corresponding bolts, and screwed nuts with washers on top of them. Tighten each connection tightly;

For the lower combustion chamber picked up the grate so that it fits snugly between the walls, and at the same time there is still 150 mm left to the bottom. If you have problems with an object of a suitable size, then weld metal corners on the sides;

Decoration of the perimeter and facade

In the state that the furnace had after the end of its assembly, it gave off too much heat energy environment, did not look aesthetically pleasing and was a somewhat shaky structure. So I did the following:

Mixed mortar of cement and sand using a ratio of one to three. I used a drill for this in tandem with a special nozzle in the form of a whisk;

He erected brick walls behind and on the sides of the furnace. Brick has a low thermal conductivity, therefore, now more heat will go up to the cooking dishes;

For the facade, I sawed out curly under the contours of the halves of the font with a grinder metal sheets. Then:

In the canvas intended for the lower furnace part, I cut out a small hole, just such that the prepared firewood could freely pass into it, and installed a door;
In the canvas intended for the upper hob, I cut out a kind of crescent, which covered only the edges of the chamber, and from the rest I made two doors opening in different directions;
The installation of both products was carried out with the help of corners, a drill and bolts.

As an alternative, you can front side up to the level of the cooking chamber overlay with bricks. Only in this case, then it is necessary to install doors for the blower and firebox into the masonry. The upper compartment is then closed simply by a large steel flap with a handle.

Stage number 4: finishing

Here I had two tasks:

Insulate the furnace structure even more;
Decorate the building, making it an excellent addition to the country interior.

And I started:

Kneaded a solution of clay and sand in a ratio of one to two;

You can also add some lime to the batch. This will reduce the risk of cracking during the hardening of the finishing layer.

Covered the cooking compartment with steel mesh, the cell size of which is 20 mm, and fixed its edges on the brickwork using self-tapping screws and plastic dowels. Now the clay plaster applied from above will not slip on a smooth cast-iron surface, but when dried, it will have sufficient strength;
By this time, the mixed mixture had reached the desired consistency, and with the help of a spatula I applied the first finishing layer who did not iron;

After the clay has set, already done fine finish , then moistened the spatula and carefully leveled the created coating. In total, my lining came out with a thickness of about 70 mm;
After curing whitewashed the fur coat, adding similarity appearance structures with old stoves.

Also in the future I still want to close the brickwork ceramic tiles, but in order to save money, I don’t want to specifically purchase expensive materials for this. Therefore, I am waiting for the turn of repairs in the bathroom in the country to come up in order to use the ceramics removed from its walls.

Benefits received

It turned out to be quite possible to make a stove from a cast-iron bath with your own hands, but not so easy. Here and excavation, and the construction of brickwork, and cutting cast iron, and welding, and even finishing. Weak set of tasks. But as a result I:

Gave a second life old stuff that has already served its purpose. There is always some joy in this small victory over time itself, which treats everything in our world mercilessly;

diluted country interior attractive looking design. Of course, it’s worth, nevertheless, to overlay it with tiles, but even now the created structure has very organically fit into the design of my suburban area;
Very good saved on materials used. It is much more profitable to have a working solid fuel furnace on the farm than to get a penny for a cast-iron bath in the acceptance of ferrous metal. Yes, and everything else that I still needed to implement my plans, I for the most part found at home;
Received opportunity for cooking use solid fuel , saving gas and electricity, with the presence of which on some suburban areas and there can be big problems at all;
I was finally able to cook, requiring the special conditions of a real Russian stove, which the erected structure has now provided me;

I began to see friends on the threshold of my dacha much more often those who want to taste something tasty with "hot-hot". In addition, they never come empty-handed, as a result, wonderful feasts come out.

Alternative modifications

In fact, these are even more likely not modifications, but, on the contrary, somewhat stripped-down options that the theme can also be very useful in the economy. Even more than that, both of them can be implemented from the same vessel:

Here, for example, how to make a bath with a cast-iron grill oven? After all, fried meat cooked on an open fire is simply amazing. For this it will be enough:

Take that half of the bath, which is without a hole, and attach another pair of legs to the cut edge for structural stability;
Place a grid of suitable size on top. It is not at all necessary to fix it “tightly”, on the contrary, the removable version is more convenient to use and maintain;
That's it, you add firewood or remove coals through the open facade, put pork, lamb or chicken on top, and heat-resistant cast iron helps to create the temperature you need for frying;

For a bath from a cast-iron tank, you can also make an effective stove:

Lay the bath upside down so that its main part is in the steam room on a pre-prepared concrete base, and the section went into the next room;
Inside, you install a grate with the help of corners, and close the facade with a metal sheet equipped with doors for the firebox and blower;
Mount the chimney pipe with access to the territory of the bath. You can first weld a small horizontal pipe into the front part, and then use the elbow to vertically bring the chimney to the roof;
In the steam room, build brick wall around a cast iron tank at a distance of 10 cm and as high as the tank itself;

The gap between the bricks and the bathroom is filled with stones, which, when heated, will provide the necessary heat.

Conclusion

Do not rush to throw away or scrap an old cast-iron bath, because you can make a wonderful garden stove from it, which will delight you more than once with very tasty and healthy meals, decorate the site and become another reason for your friends to come to visit you. Besides most work you can do with my own hands, assistance will only be needed during transportation and installation of the upper part of the structure.

The video in this article will offer you a number of additional materials that are directly related to the information presented. If you have any questions on the topic, please ask them in the comments.

August 20, 2016

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Masters - craftsmen, of whom there are enough in every city with an average population, have long mastered the manufacture of solid fuel boilers and furnaces made of steel or brick. Moreover, most of their products function quite reliably and efficiently. And only cast iron, as a material for home-made heaters, until recently remained on the sidelines. But there is already an initiative here, and in this article we are ready to present it and discuss the question of how to independently make a stove from a cast-iron bath.

Homemade cast iron garden stove

Previously, masters for a reason bypassed cast iron with their attention, although it is in high demand as a material for the manufacture of heating equipment. The fact is that gray cast iron is difficult to process mechanically, and manufacturers of heating equipment use the industrial casting method to give it the necessary shape. These technologies are not available at home, so for the manufacture of the furnace, you can take some kind of cast-iron product and remake it, which was implemented by one of the home craftsmen. For this purpose, an old cast-iron bathtub, of which there are still plenty left from the Soviet era, fit.

Because the given material extremely hard and brittle, its processing requires not only a lot of patience, but also good locksmith skills. The garden stove shown above from an old cast-iron bathtub - good example such skills and patience, and our task is to explain how this is done. The first step is to take the corner grinder with a working diameter of 250 or 300 mm and stock up cutting wheels for metal, then carefully measure half of the bathroom and apply a cut line. In this case, the width of the cutting wheel must be taken into account.

Procurement work

The next operation - the cast-iron bath is cut in half, strictly along the line. The work is hard and long, but quite doable. When there are 2 halves of the product, they must be fastened together. Again, welding of cast iron parts at home is not available, so the halves are bolted together, and a steel sheet is laid between them, separating the firebox from the oven.

For this purpose, the master took a corrugated sheet metal about 8 mm thick, you can follow his example. If there is an ordinary smooth metal of this thickness or a little more, it will also work, although it is better not to use a sheet thicker than 10 mm, this will affect the warm-up time of the oven. It is better to cut a blank from a sheet in advance, but if the available metal is a little more sizes bathroom, then this can be done later, in place.

Another step towards the goal is marking and drilling mounting holes in the cast-iron bath and the metal gasket. We’ll make a reservation right away that you will need high-quality drills and the ability to sharpen them, because cast iron will not give up to you just like that, without a fight. To do 4 through holes, you will need to patiently regrind the drills several times, while maintaining the working edge angle of at least 120º. Drilling different instrument, from small diameter to large, at low speeds of the drill, periodically lubricating with machine oil.

And the last time-consuming operation is cutting a hole for the chimney. If it is not very difficult to make it in a metal gasket 8 mm thick, then you will have to tinker with the bathroom. It is best to cut in the place where the bathroom used to have a drain, it must be expanded to a diameter of 100 mm. When this operation is over, you can start assembling. To begin with, the chimney pipe must be welded to a metal sheet.

Any knowledgeable stove-maker will tell you that this place is the weakest in the entire structure of any steel heater, this joint burns out first. The cast-iron stove from the bath is no exception, so it would be more correct to pass the pipe through the sheet and scald it on both sides.

Furnace body assembly

When the element is ready, it is installed on the bottom of the bath, and the second part is placed on top. At the point of contact, the master used a special sealant as a sealant, but asbestos or basalt cardboard can also be laid. After that, the holes are aligned, the bolts are set and tightened. On this, the body of the stove can be considered ready.

In order for a home-made stove from an old bathtub to take on a finished look, it is necessary to cut and attach a metal front panel, a sheet thickness of 5-6 mm is enough here, and then make doors and a grate. This whole structure should be installed on a pedestal made of bricks. To keep the street warm metal surfaces combustion chambers and ovens must be insulated with a layer of basalt fiber and lined with any convenient material.

Since the bathroom can be made not only garden ovens, but also heaters for different rooms, then in the latter case, insulation of the case is not required so that the walls can freely give off heat to the air environment of the room. Then the front panel will take on a different look, and the brick base will have to be ennobled finishing materials. At the same time, brickwork should not be erected in front and behind the stove so that the firebox is freely washed by air. However, another craftsman can replace a brick support with a metal one, everything is in your hands here.

On the advantages and disadvantages

The main advantage that a do-it-yourself cast-iron bath stove has is its almost zero cost. The main investment is your work, and it will have to be applied a lot. The second advantage is durability, it directly depends on the service life of the welded joints of the chimney and the front panel with the doors, and the tightness of the main elements. As for the bathroom, even the enamel on it will not burn out right away.

For reference. In Soviet times, silicon-based enamel (quartz sand) was used for bathtubs and kitchen utensils. She applied to hardware in 2 layers (primer and glossy layer) and heated to a temperature of 860 ºС, so that the quartz sand melted, and then cooling was carried out according to a certain technology. This kind of coating protecting cast iron served for decades and was destroyed only by strong blows heavy object.

From the point of view of thermal engineering, the efficiency of work homemade stove hardly exceeds 40% due to the direct exit of flue gases from the furnace to the outside, they transfer only part of the heat to the oven, and the rest goes into the atmosphere. For this reason, a similar design is used as a sauna stove, where efficiency indicators are not so important, the main thing is temperature. True, only one half of the bath is taken and placed on a brick-lined base, and then erected side walls and the stone is set up.

Half of the bath serves as a reliable and durable firebox, which will not burn out very soon, and the heater will give off heat perfectly. As a result, the construction will take less red ceramic bricks, which will significantly reduce the cost of the steam room as a whole. The only caveat is to correctly join two materials with different coefficients of thermal expansion in a bath stove - brick and cast iron. For this, expansion joints are provided, where asbestos or basalt cardboard is laid.

Conclusion

Such non-standard solutions in the design of do-it-yourself stoves amaze with their originality and simplicity. No one will doubt the reliability and durability of homemade cast iron oven from a Soviet bath, and yet it was invented and assembled by a master with a head and skillful hands at home. Similar products under the power to make every homeowner, subsequently they will serve him faithfully for many years.