Homemade Masonry Coal and Wood Burners

Construction

• Building a masonry burner for coal or wood in your home is not a simple process. You will need to start with a solid, heat-resistant shell to contain the fire, such as an old water heater or a metal storage tank. With the shell in place, you can construct the masonry around it. Whether you decide to work with brick, soapstone or granite, you have a number options in terms of style and color. You must be able to mix mortar and work quickly before it dries. Installation will also involve adding a flue to vent the gases that the burner creates out of your home.

Cost

• The cost of a masonry burner depends on several factors. The first is the type of stone you use. Another is the size of the burner. A homemade burner can use a scrapped appliance for the burner shell, but masonry will still be expensive to acquire and install. Even on a budget, a masonry burner for wood or coal is likely to cost several thousand dollars. Professional installation of a burner can easily exceed $10,000.

Benefits

• Despite its high cost and challenging construction, a masonry burner that allows you to heat your home with coal or wood offers a number of benefits that other types of heaters lack. A masonry burner uses the masonry to store heat and radiate it into the air over a long period of time, which means that the burner can heat your entire home, not just the room in which it's located. Masonry burners are also very durable and can last for the life of your home. And they don't require utility hookups, which gas fireplaces, gas furnaces and electric heaters do, meaning you can use them completely off the grid.

Considerations

• To get the most out of a homemade masonry burner, you should select a location for it carefully. A room that is near the center of your home provides the best location if you want the burner to replace your furnace. A masonry burner's operation cost varies based on the type of fuel you use. If coal is readily available where you live, it may be a low-cost alternative to natural gas for heating your home. Or if you live in a wooded area where you can acquire free wood from your own property or from neighbors, burning wood in a masonry burner provides fuel savings that help pay for the cost of the burner itself.