What to do with an old water heater?

[Modeler]

Hi all,

I recently replaced my water heater, and now I'm left with an old (leaky) 40 gallon electric water heater. I know there's gotta be something cool I can do with it, but I'm not sure what.

My ideas so far:

BBQ?
Smoker?

We live on 5 acres, but don't have any livestock so a watering trough really isn't of much use.

Any thoughts?

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[Zepoll]

Hi all,

I recently replaced my water heater, and now I'm left with an old (leaky) 40 gallon electric water heater. I know there's gotta be something cool I can do with it, but I'm not sure what.

My ideas so far:

BBQ?
Smoker?

We live on 5 acres, but don't have any livestock so a watering trough really isn't of much use.

Any thoughts?

Friend of mine cut theirs in half and welded some legs on it as well as put some vent holes in it and uses them for burning pits at their riverside property. They work great because they don't burn out like steel barrels do.

 

[RedneckRampage]

Shoot it, then scrap it?

 

[Dan-Dee Sales Inc]

Biodiesel production line

 

[rdt]

medium duty furnace for metal casting

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/harriette01.html

 

[davemata]

Smoker.

 

[accessbob]

Turn it into one huge suppressor?

 

[James 61]

I was thinking of something along the lines of what mythbusters have done with hot water heaters in the past. Boiler for a steam powered gun, rocket, etc...

 

[Modeler]

It should be remembered that it leaks water, and so probably isn't a good candidate for anything requiring it to be airtight or hold pressure. I'd like to make a smoker out of it if I can figure out how, a friend of mine made a smoker out of a filing cabinet so he could probably help me make a smoker out of this, right?

Another thought I had was a firebox for an as-yet unbuilt hot tub. I was thinking of putting a door in one end and the flue in the other (with the tank horizontal) and wrapping it with copper pipe to absorb the heat and transfer it to the water. Just a thought I had....

Greg

 

[receo]

What your looking to build is a still.

 

[Father of four]

My father-in-law built an outside shower out of an old water heater on his property in the woods. He built a 8'x8' wood platform with a 6' high wooden fence around it for privacy. He placed the water heater on a custom steel stand he made approximately 6' high by it. He plumbed in a basic water cut off valve and a shower hose & head combination. If I remember right he plumbed in a way to put water in the tank, a pressure valve and a pressure pop-off valve. He painted the tank and stand black so it would conduct heat from the sun. I never used it but he said it worked just fine. He could add cold water to cool the water down if needed.

There is an idea.

 

[teflon6string]

Tannerite container?

 

[jib]

Tannerite container?

Thats what I was thinkin, give yourself a 500 yard cushion and shoot it with a 50 BMG.

 

[Swedish K]

I knew a guy who converted his old water heater into a gun safe of sorts. He set it up so it had fake plumbing running to it - set up next to his other functional water heater so it looked like a dual tank system. He kept all of his rare/expensive stuff in the water heater and the common stuff that could be easily replaced in the safe as it was more likely to be stolen than the water heater...

 

[Father of four]

Fix the leaks and make a really big bobber.