We’re settling in to life with “The Iron Giant,” the home-built wood-fired hot water heater we recently installed in the cabin. It has an interesting history.
A good friend in town gave us the heater to use as long as we need it. He used it at his off-grid cabin long ago; it sat unused for about 25 years, so he’s glad someone can put it to use again.
Here’s its story, as he told it to me. I’ve edited it to preserve my friend’s privacy:
My friend used to sell a lot of Agua Heaters, the Mexican-made wood-fired water heater we’ve used since moving to the homestead in 2006 (see Keeping Clean on the Homestead). One day, a repeat customer came to him with a proposition: he’d grown tired of burning out Agua Heaters, and decided he could build a similar, better heater himself. He proposed that if my friend would pay to ship the stainless steel needed for the project, he would build two heaters, one for himself, and one for my friend.
The heater, showing some of the original plumbing configuration (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
