Water Heater Creativity

Reader finds new ways to combine power sources for their custom water heater

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by Helen Stansbury
Helen Stansbury, along with family, built a garden shed based on Mother Earth News plans.

We’re so glad to see your article on a woodstove hot water heater (Hometown Hacks, February/March 2022). It’s encouraging to see others finding creative ways to heat their domestic water.

My wife and I came up with a system that has worked well for 40-plus years up here in Vermont. The two main components are a stainless steel tank that we had fabricated at a local metal shop and a 30-gallon squat water heater. The 3-1/2-by-10-by-18-inch tank hangs on the back of the woodstove and has an interior diverter that creates a U-shaped path for the water to travel and allows the inlet (cold) and the supply (hot) outlets to be on the same end of the tank. The hot water tank is located on our second floor alongside the brick chimney. The thermosiphon loop works well with 1-inch copper pipe and gate valves, so as not to impede the water on its path to the tank.

We were so impressed with the way this system worked that a couple of years later, we added a homemade solar collector to the system. It’s the perfect complement to the wood-heated hot water, and it makes our summer showers just as comfortable. We have electricity hooked up to the tank for the short intervals in spring and fall when the solar is shut down due to cold temps and the woodstove isn’t in use. We hope our positive experiences with wood and solar hot water inspire others to make it happen for their families.

Walter and Peggy Mowle
Killington, Vermont

  • Updated on May 12, 2022
  • Originally Published on May 3, 2022
Tagged with: Dear Mother
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