Anyone Attach Aluminum or Steel Heat Sinks to Your Stove?

(I have used the 'search' function, and tried to use different arguments, and have not found what I'm looking for.)

I'm really happy with my Alaska Kodiak, and I want to give it more surface area to radiate heat. The sides above the fire bricks are prime areas to attach some kind of heat sink material (finned aluminum or other metal) to transfer the heat from the slab sides. This turns into convection heating due to the 24 inch box fan I run slowly behind it. It's MUCH quieter than the optional blower that is available from Alaska, and the fan blows over the stove on a slow idle to remove heat from it and the lowest part of the stove pipe. It also then is funneled into the built-in vent entrance at the rear base via a plenum I made. Even standing 4 feet away from the front of the stove you can feel heat from moving air.

The larger the surface area of heat removal and dissipation the more efficient the burn in my opinion.

I had an EFEL Kaminar for 23 years, it was super-efficient with the exhaust manifold-type exit of the flue which wrapped around the stove before going into the stovepipe. The pipe never got above 200 degrees, even when running full throttle because the manifold bled off most of the heat before it ever went up the pipe.

I've looked into electronics heat sink suppliers, but I'm scared to ask for pricing. There's a industrial junkyard nearby in Reading PA that may have what I'm looking for-heat sinks the size of bricks.

Anyone with any experience in doing this? Thanks in advance.

Full continuous welding of fins, or as you say heat sinks, will give the best results. Studies have been done.

Bolted or tack-welded on are considerably less effective at conducting the heat.

Hmmm...do they make High Temp J B Weld

Google is your friend:

JB Weld is a high temperature epoxy resin filled with 40-50% calcium carbonate and 10-20% iron powder. It can withstand constant temps. to 500F and up to 600 F for 10 min. Tensile strength is 3960 psi. It sets in 4 to 6 hrs. and cures in 15 to 24 hrs. When fully cured, J-B Weld is completely resistant to water, gasoline, and about every other petroleum product or automotive chemical. Largest available package is 10 oz.

If you look in "pics of your stove" thread, I know one member that put the Aluminum L brackets on the sides before putting on a heat jacket to pull more heat from the stove.

that was me, but I cant really say if it helped or not.

Bk

Open the page and scroll down

Pictures of Your Stove

P.S. The heat reclaimer is not worth the money, don't bother.

It's amazing how much hear is removed from computer cpus via heat sinks with a fan circulating it, this is my logic. I've given thought to attaching methods, my buddy has a portable mig welder if I find steel fins, and if it winds up to be aluminum I have no problem mounting it with stainless steel bolts from the inside out. There are studs welded to the back and bolts through the top to mount the hopper already. I figure ANYTHING is better than the slab sides as far as having more surface area to dissipate heat.

**All done tastefully and in stove black of course to satisfy my roommate who still reminds me that coal is 'dirty' while she stands in front of it getting toasty warm...**

after burning the kodiak with the box fan behind it for a year, then the factory "loud" dual cage fan installed, I can sat the dual fan washes more heat.

the box did good but depending on the set up, it will vary. here its backed up to a 100 yr old stone chimney. The box tends to draw cool floor air and after careful analysis with hand temp probe, its 20% less efficient then the "bolted on" one. when crankin good the sides in the upper quadrant hit 500 +
The best addition I found was the prop rod I made from 1/4" round brass stock, bent a "z" bend to enguage the nut on the front right side of the lid.

the angle and thus the directed flow of hot air, penetrated the room so as to better disperse the heat more effectivley and actually made the upstairs warmer..

the best additional "radiator" for it is the porcilinized cast iron water vessel that the air flow also dissapates and thus humidity laden air "feels" warmer..

P.S. a speed controller makes all the difference with the fan noise also!!

I need to mention that the stove is in the center of the house , main floor, 62 X 48 ranch, single floor no basement. So appearance and noise are both issues. It's really a focal point in the corner of the room, SO intoxicating when the Ladies are dancing! At least for me...

Noise is why the box fan (already ahead of you on the speed controller, I max it when we go to work and crank it down when we're home) is used instead of the factory attachment. I installed the speed control on the opposite side of the case from the 3 speed control, looks like it came from the factory.

I hate to disrupt the clean lines of the side slabs to add heat sinks, but I'm tired of paying the A-rabs for the supplemental oil heat I have to use to catch up in the morning and evening. I hope to bleed off every BTU I can! My buddy has a portable MIG welder if I find steel fins, and I'll use stainless steel bolts from the inside if they're aluminum. Tastefully painted and executed of course.

This season I moved the baro up above the manual damper in light of conversations on this forum and common sense. It should be above the manual to not pull air from below the fire. I ran the intake air wide open all year, and the manual was totally closed except when poking/shaking. I learned to throttle the fire (and BTU output) by the changing the amount of poking and increasing the fire bed size. The input air shutter is slower to react than the fire size for me.
I'm in the Lehigh Valley, used only 2 tons this year, and with the Kodiak I really like that I don't have to empty the ash pan every day.

This is my fourth year with this stove, and I'm first seeing minor crazing at the top of the window. I've been using Rutland cleaner/conditioner every couple weeks and it seems to have helped so far.

Love this stove!!!

Steel fins are going to be cheaper, easier to attach, and more available, but steel is not a great conductor of heat. Copper or brass would be better, and could be brazed on. I just can't think of an affordable and available source. I also have no idea how to make it look good, so steel might be better in the living space.

Burning only 2 tons in a house of 3000 sq. ft. you must already have a low stack temp. I assume you want a bigger fire and greater output and greater coal consumption without driving up the stack loss.

As you originally stated, something similar to a heat sink used to cool electronic components would be good. An aluminum casting with cast in fins or a set of extrusions the required size could be tightly bolted to the sides of the stove. I would Google heat sink and see if anything that size is available. To make up and attach individual fins,I think would be too much labor.

http://www.wakefield-vette.com/products/natural-c ... fault.aspx

I've Googled heat sinks, and found multiple extrusion shops that can provide any length of aluminum in many configurations, much like the link provided. This may be my answer, probably not cheap but neither is oil anymore. ROI comes quickly in this economy, unlike when a new furnace took 20 years to break even. I'm kind of excited to see where this goes, I'll certainly update my pic/post when I come up with a solution. I'm re-building my coal bin this summer to now hold almost 3 tons, hopefully enough to last through a killer winter. Laughable to some, but that's the scale of my usage. Been using Blaschak for 25 years, NEVER had a clinker.

As I said earlier, there's a industrial junkyard near Reading, PA which sells metal by the pound, no matter the configuration. Sheets, billets, machined, it's all by the pound. When Bethlehem Steel closed, they bought entire departments, loaded them in semi-trailers and they just parked them on the property. You climb up into a trailer, look around and buy what you find. Motors, desks (drawers filled with paper, office supplies, tools etc) electronics, use your imagination. I even walked past a walk-in reefer one day, opened it and there was still produce in it that was starting to decay. Also scary spooky stuff from Allentown's Agere labs. Amazing stuff..

Thanks for all the advice,
John

Name of the scrap yard in Reading?

Google 'LB Metals Fleetwood PA' Also known as Moses Glick...

61 South to 73 South at Leesport, cross over 222, go a couple miles to Hartz Rd, turn right.

Be prepared to schlep through mud.

Ask them about the downtown Reading location, used to have a 4 or 5 floor manufacturing building FILLED w/industrial stuff.

John

I finally was able to find aluminum heatsinks to attach to my Kodiak Alaska. I kept searching ebay, and picked up four perfect sized non-obtrusive extrusions. Paid $74.00 including shipping. By my calculations I now have 4 times the surface area of heat dissipation compared to the original straight sides that I attached them to. The original stove area they cover was 240 square inches, the total surface of the four units is over 1000 square inches of heat dissipating area. With a box fan blowing slowly over the back of the stove, that should pull a huge amount of heat off the sides that was previously going up the chimney. The box fan also feeds a slow draft to the intake at the bottom rear designed to blow over the top and exit out of the front as shown in the last picture. The fit was so good, a friend thought they were 'factory' parts. Hard to see but they are on both sides of the stove. Even my wife thought they were tasteful enough, so they passed the test. Can't wait for that first burn!

Very nice job. It'll be interesting to see if you see differences in heat output, coal usage and oil usage this winter.

It looks good. How did you attach them?