Hello,
I want to hack a gas water heater to make steam for a steam room I am building in my backyard.
After looking at the anatomy of my friend's custom built steam boiler that he uses for his steam room and the anatomy of an average gas water heater, they appear very similar. His boiler is basically an oversize soup pot with a cone shaped lid that hinges on. You can loosen the hinges and take the lid off in order to scrub the inside but he says he only needs to do this once a year. At the top of the cone is a 2 inch ubend pipe that connects to a 1 inch pipe that directs the steam into the steam room. He fills his "boiler pot" with a few inches of water and heats it on high flame until it starts to boil, then he lowers the flame and keeps it on a simmering boil, which provides enough steam to keep an 8ft by 8ft by 7ft high space nice and hot and steamy for an hour or so. The steam is continuously piped into the steam room and at no time does any steam pressure build up. As it is created by the boiling water, the steam rises and goes through the pipe into the steam room.
My thought is to do the same function with a water heater. I will create a new 2inch hole at the the top of the tank and weld in a fitting to attach to my 1 inch pipe that will run to my steam room. Then, I will manually fill the tank maybe only a 1/4 full with water. Then , I will control the gas flame manually and heat it until all the water is boiling. Then i will lower the flame and keep it on a simmering boil which should provide lots of steam to my steam room. Ideally, I want to be able to provide continous steam for up to 8-12 hours for all day parties. I wonder if there is some equation for how much time it takes a certain volume of boiling water to turn into steam?
What are your thoughts? Do you think it is possible? Safety concerns?
I wonder about the shape of the top of the water heater. If i make a 2 inch hole in the top of the water heater and weld in a pipe fitting , do you think the hole will be big enough to encourage the steam to exit? My friends boiler has a cone shaped top, it seems to funnel the steam into the exit pipe; but is this necessary? If all the other valves in the heater are closed, wont the steam naturally take the path of least resistance and exit through the open pipe into the steam room?
Thanks for reading,
Much appreciation for any feedback!
I want to hack a gas water heater to make steam for a steam room I am building in my backyard.
After looking at the anatomy of my friend's custom built steam boiler that he uses for his steam room and the anatomy of an average gas water heater, they appear very similar. His boiler is basically an oversize soup pot with a cone shaped lid that hinges on. You can loosen the hinges and take the lid off in order to scrub the inside but he says he only needs to do this once a year. At the top of the cone is a 2 inch ubend pipe that connects to a 1 inch pipe that directs the steam into the steam room. He fills his "boiler pot" with a few inches of water and heats it on high flame until it starts to boil, then he lowers the flame and keeps it on a simmering boil, which provides enough steam to keep an 8ft by 8ft by 7ft high space nice and hot and steamy for an hour or so. The steam is continuously piped into the steam room and at no time does any steam pressure build up. As it is created by the boiling water, the steam rises and goes through the pipe into the steam room.
My thought is to do the same function with a water heater. I will create a new 2inch hole at the the top of the tank and weld in a fitting to attach to my 1 inch pipe that will run to my steam room. Then, I will manually fill the tank maybe only a 1/4 full with water. Then , I will control the gas flame manually and heat it until all the water is boiling. Then i will lower the flame and keep it on a simmering boil which should provide lots of steam to my steam room. Ideally, I want to be able to provide continous steam for up to 8-12 hours for all day parties. I wonder if there is some equation for how much time it takes a certain volume of boiling water to turn into steam?
What are your thoughts? Do you think it is possible? Safety concerns?
I wonder about the shape of the top of the water heater. If i make a 2 inch hole in the top of the water heater and weld in a pipe fitting , do you think the hole will be big enough to encourage the steam to exit? My friends boiler has a cone shaped top, it seems to funnel the steam into the exit pipe; but is this necessary? If all the other valves in the heater are closed, wont the steam naturally take the path of least resistance and exit through the open pipe into the steam room?
Thanks for reading,
Much appreciation for any feedback!
