Using a beer keg for heating water

Don't........

It will warp and twist and carry on if it hasn't got a full belly of water.

I am assuming you are going to build a donkey? If so, use an old 200 or 60 litre drum instead.

Cheers

Wolfie

Yep as above must be full or close too it at all times if using a keg.

First things first. Get your keg full of beer, chill and set about empting it, that should take a day or two and by then you forgot what you were about to do and put the billy on for some hot water.

When mt, weld a peice of pipe down the bottom and fit a tap, fill keg with water, and either sit it on a stand above the fire/coals or some other way of keeping it off the ground (so you can get the water out of tap).

Put a funnel in the top hole...cut a hole near the top on the side... weld a piece of pipe about a foot long into this hole...place keg on a stand at or very near the edge of fire and fill with water...water will start to run out of pipe when it is full....the object here is that if you want hot water , you must put water in to push water out of the top...and you will allways have hot water....have cousins who have been using one of these setups for years and have seen heaps of them around in our travels...quite common...cheers

Hi Ozbones

we use a keg at Scouts for hot water. not sure who emptied it but that is another matter. to make sure it is full and will not then distort we have the following mods.

about 3/4 way up the keg have welded in a spout - 1" or 3/4" pipe about 6" long with slight down angle. this is the outlet and you need a bit of length (so they say) so it will get in the bucket or whatever without dribbling down the sides (very messy).

on the top, where the pressure thing goes in, remove any fitting so there is a hole approx 1&1/2" or so. get a SS tube or similar of the length of the keg less 2-3". put a pin through the tube approx 2" down from the top. this tube fits in the hole and extends down into the keg - the pin stops it from falling in. get a funnel that will fit into the tube at the top, or weld an old tin to the top to form a funnel.

put the keg on the heat source and fill with water through the funnel until it starts to come out of the spout - make sure a bucket is under the spout as it will dribble out when heating up. When you want to get hot water out of the keg pour cold into the funnel. it will cause the hot water to rise and flow out the spout. this is a very efficient hot water service

if you need a picture send me a member message and I can draw something up.

good luck

We have built a few, used the normal cub size keg, there are larger ones around as well, never have a prob with it having to be full etc, no warping.

ours have a stand to sit on about a foot high at the side of the fire, drilled in the side just at the base radius, pipe socket welded on, 6 inch length of threaded pipe with a tap attached is fitted with some tape when set up. the top has the centre hole/tube assembly cut out and a cover with handle sits there, really easy to pour a bucket straight in fast. Works brilliantly, doesn't take long to heat up as you can put the fire right under it if needed and once hot you can just keep adding water and it is hot nearly straight away.

Also we sit frozen meat etc up on top on a plate to thaw nicely with the heat.

One is built with a 1/2 inch hole / socket and pipe with a brass garden tap on the end, is a bit slow to drain out .
The other is built with a 3/4 hole/ socket and pipe with a 3/4 brass ball valve on the end, it is far superior to the 1/2 inch set-up.

One of the guys has an old copper boiler with the tube set-up where you have to put cold in to get hot out, and after he used the 3/4 keg once his hasn't left the shed since, he loves the keg instead... (then again don't we all ??) cheers, Brad

Been using a keg for over 20 years and never had a problem. We have about 30 people drawuing from it and it never seems to run empty.....if you don't put water in at the top you get nothing out!! Go for it you will not be disappointed.

If you're talking about the old style keg, I have one and it's dead simple.

1. Weld a cover plate over the original filler hole as it ends up on the bottom.
2. Weld a short piece of pipe (150) through a threaded female compression type fitting that matches the hole where the original tap/temprite would have gone.
3. This becomes the top of the end when it's on it's side. In the middle of the
side in line with this pipe, weld a piece of pipe that protrudes about 25 and goes down inside to about 25 from the bottom on the opposite side.
4. So you end up when it's lying on it's side with the screw in spout in the top of the end and the filler spout in the top of the side adjacent to the spout.
5. Make up a curved cradle/stand to support the keg when lying on it's side over the fire.

Fill keg and heat water. Funnel in top then pour in more cold water which goes to bottom and forces hot water out of spout.

Dead simple and workes a treat. Forget about steel drums. They only last a short while as they rust out.

Only prob is you need a good supply of wood and water.

With ours the cradle legs are bolted to the frame and the spout is removeable so the whole kit and kaboodle comes apart and fits in a milk crate.

Cheers

Hi Ozbones,
We are in a Boys Brigade Company who camp with 30 people.
We found that the best method of heating water is to have the drum away from the fire. Donkey type heaters require the receptacle on the fire so you can't cook on it.

Out device is a 13 gallon drum with compression screw fittings 100mm from the bottom and 100 mm from the top. On the opposite side is a tap fitting. The drum sits on a small frame. A filler hole is left open at the top of the drum. A clear plastic tube is also fitted from the bottom up the side of the drum as a measure of the quantity of water.

Screwed to the two compression fittings is a length of half inch copper tube. This tube is straight for about half a metre then coils upwards in three coils about 300mm in diameter. The tube then runs back to the drum and is fitted to the top compression fitting. The coil is then placed into the fire pit where the fire is built around it.

The water flows out of the bottom of the drum through the fire where it is heated and this forces the water up to the top of the drum where it is recycled. Water can be heated just as quickly using this displacement method as having the drum over the fire. It would also work with any size drum or a keg and leaves the drum much cleaner as it is not tarnished by fire.

Having the drum out of the fire is also safer as it can be accessed away from the fire. If this is not explained properly feel free to question the method.

Kev

You can also buy a ready made solution from Hillbilly Camping.

Which can be found online here:
http://www.lizardlegs.com.au/camping/product_category.asp?id=32

buggar the shower,take it with you , full of beerrrrrrrrrr

Ole bones :):),

If you are in Adelaide let me know I have one that we can negotiate on.

Russ
rvburr@picknowl.com.au