A shed behind an old farmhouse lets out a column of steam on a quiet Tuesday morning in a gray village. A homemade machine hums softly inside, between a stack of firewood and a workbench full of tools. There are pipes, barrels, valves, and a broken thermometer hanging on a nail. Nothing looks like it came from the future, but 70-year-old Hans smiles like he just hacked the energy system.
His machine makes 3,000 liters of hot water every day. No power. No oil. Not enough gas.
Neighbors can still hear their boilers start up and cringe at the bills. The only sound inside the shed is the wood crackling in a room made of scrap steel.
There is no app or touch screen.
Just heat, gravity, and a mind that won’t accept that hot water has to cost a lot.
3,000 liters of hot water and one stubborn thought
Hans lives in a normal detached house and has a normal problem: energy prices are going up. His oil-fired boiler drank money every winter for years, heating the house and filling a big water tank for his big family. He watched the meter spin and thought, almost obsessively, “There has to be another way.”
He began with small things. He messed around with an old wood stove, hooked up a coil of copper pipe, and added a tank he found in a demolished farmhouse. One failed experiment after another. Leaking. Water that is boiling. Solder breaks. But one day, the system got better. The thermometer went up and stayed there.
All day long, hot water.
And the boiler stayed off.
The main part of Hans’ setup looks almost silly low-tech. A strong wood-fired boiler made from a recycled steel tank is linked to a system of pipes and three big insulated storage tanks. In the morning, when he lights a fire, water flows through a heat exchanger around the combustion chamber.
The hottest water rises to the top tanks. The water that is a little cooler comes back down, ready to be heated up again. That’s all. A loop that goes on and on at a slow pace.
Three thousand liters is not a random amount. It is about the same size as all of his storage tanks put together. That heat stays in for a long time on a cloudy, cold day if you have enough insulation. No one in the house thinks about “saving hot water” anymore. They take showers, wash dishes, do laundry, and wash their hands quickly at the sink.
The system breaks a few unwritten rules on paper. No electronic controller. No fancy pumps for circulation. A simple, small backup pump and a design that mostly uses thermosiphon: hot water goes up and cold water goes down, over and over again.
From an engineering point of view, this is old-fashioned advice. People used gravity and temperature differences to move water around before there were smart meters and digital thermostats. Hans took that idea to the next level by using modern insulation and bigger storage.
The energy source is as simple as it gets: wood from the area and pruning waste from nearby fields. He burns very hot and very clean, which makes the wood last longer.
In 2026, it seems unfair that the house is drowning in hot water while the boiler stays cold and the meter barely moves.
How the “impossible” hot-water shed works
Hans’s first step was very easy: he wrote down what he really needed hot water for. Showers every day, washing clothes, washing dishes, and sometimes taking a bath. No theory, just a pen and a notebook next to the sink.
After a few weeks, he figured out how much hot water his family needed each day: between 500 and 800 liters. Instead of making his system exactly the right size for that, he made it much bigger and aimed for storage that was four to five times bigger. That’s how he got to 3,000 liters.
Then came the design. The hottest part, right above the firebox, connects to the top of the first tank. The cold return connects to the bottom of the last tank. This difference in height makes a natural circulation loop. You don’t need electricity when the fire is on. *The fire itself is the pump.
Most people think that this kind of setup must be very dangerous or very hard to understand. That way of thinking often stops them before they even start. Hans did the opposite. He started by making a small model with only 100 liters of water and a used wood stove.
He checked to see how quickly the water heated up. Where are the hot spots? What happens if things go wrong? After that, he added safety after safety. A valve that lets out pressure mechanically. An expansion tank that is open. A valve to let heat out in case of an emergency.
He also put insulation around the tanks twice. First with mineral wool, and then with a rough wooden box full of sawdust and straw. Not very nice. Works very well. The tanks only lose a few degrees on a cold night. The shed is warm, but not too hot.
This is the kind of engineering that comes from trying things out, making mistakes, and not wanting to follow the “normal life” user manual.
The way Hans talks about his project teaches a lesson without saying anything. He doesn’t talk about how he saved money or outsmarted the system. He talks about how nice it is to be able to turn on the tap without having to think about how much it will cost.
He also talks about the emotional trap that we all fall into. The thought that we’re “not technical enough.” That only professionals should mess with plumbing and heating. Let’s be honest: no one really checks their hot water system every day. We just want it to keep working.
Hans didn’t become a plumber right away. He read, looked at old diagrams, talked to retired heating technicians, and spent evenings staring at pipes. His real talent is not giving up when the fittings leak the first time.
His shed is a hot-water plant and a way to quietly fight against passive consumption.
What we can learn from this kind of system
You don’t need a lot of storage space to change how you feel about hot water. The first “tinkerer step” can be very small. For some, it starts with a small buffer tank on the roof that gets its heat from a basic solar thermal panel. For others, it’s adding a wood-fired backup heater for the bathroom or laundry.
The most important thing to do is to keep production and use separate. Think about how to store things. A 200–300 liter buffer tank with good insulation can already change the way you live. You heat it once and use it all day.
The process is as follows: figure out how much heat you need each day, then choose a heat source that is simple and reliable, such as wood, solar, or both. There is no need for a smart home hub to blink from the kitchen wall.
A lot of people who want to be energy independent run into the same problems. They either try to do too much, too quickly, or they quit when they see a technical word they don’t understand. That’s how people are. No one likes to feel dumb in front of copper pipes and wiring diagrams.
Accepting that mistakes are a part of the journey is a more forgiving way. A valve in the wrong place, not enough insulation, and a heat loss you find out about in the first week of cold weather. This isn’t a failure; it’s data.
The other trap is magical thinking, which is thinking that one gadget, like a miracle boiler, will “fix” energy forever. Hans’ shed is a real system that is made up of many parts. A little bit of old technology, a little bit of modern knowledge, and a lot of watching.
You don’t have to be a full-time tinkerer. Just taking one step away from being completely dependent changes the situation.
Hans laughs and says, “People say I’m crazy for heating 3,000 liters.” “But they don’t know how crazy it is to pay for hot water every month and never know how it’s made.”
He likes to sum up his method in a few things that can’t be changed:
Start small: try out your idea on a small circuit before making it bigger.
Make safety your top priority by adding pressure relief, expansion, and a way to get rid of extra heat.
Buy insulation: cheap heat is useless if it gets out.
First, keep it low-tech: use gravity, simple valves, and clear diagrams on the wall.
Accept that things aren’t perfect: a system that works 90% of the time is already a big change.
That last point seems to be the secret heart of his whole project. **Perfection kills more experiments than failure ever will.** His shed is not a store. It’s patched up, dusty, and sometimes loud. But none of that matters when he turns on the kitchen faucet and steaming water comes out in the middle of winter.
A shed, a boiler, and a longer talk
When you leave Hans’ yard and walk past the stacked logs and the chimney that is smoking, the village seems different. The bills come at the end of the month, and the houses and cars are the same. But you just saw a different reality where the hot water problem has been quietly moved to the back of a garden.
You start to think about what would happen if more people did this with just one part of their energy use. Not a brave change in lifestyle that means giving up everything. One system, one shed, and one buffer tank are all you need to stop depending on the grid all the time.
This isn’t about copying Hans exactly. It’s about having the courage to see hot water, that invisible comfort, as something we can make ourselves. The story is still open. Your version might include solar tubes, a community boiler, or a shared workshop.
Between the rising bills and the humming shed, there is a place where regular people quietly change the rules of comfort.
Main point DetailValue for the reader
Big storage for hot water3,000 liters of insulated tanks that get their heat from a simple sourceShows how having too much storage can keep you comfortable even when it’s cold and cloudy.
Circulation with little technologyUsing thermosiphon and gravity instead of complicated electronicsLessens reliance on electricity and lowers the risks of needing repairs
Tinkering one step at a timeBegin with small prototypes, add safety, and then make them bigger.Makes the idea easy for people who aren’t experts to understand and want more control over their energy.
Questions and Answers:
Question 1: Is it possible for anyone to make a hot water system that holds 3,000 liters like Hans?
Answer 1Yes, but you need to be patient, have some mechanical skills, and be very safety-conscious. A lot of people start with smaller systems (200–500 liters) and get advice from local plumbers, online forums, or do-it-yourself groups before moving up.
Question 2: Is it true that a wood-fired hot water system doesn’t use any electricity?
Answer 2: Hans’ system mostly uses thermosiphon, so the main circulation works even when there is no power. He still has a small backup pump and a few valves that can use electricity if they need to, but the main idea is that hot water keeps flowing even when the power goes out.
Question 3: Is it safe to keep 3,000 liters of hot water?
Answer 3: When the system is built with open expansion, pressure relief valves, and a way to get rid of extra heat, it is safe to hold large amounts of water. The real danger doesn’t come from size; it comes from not following basic safety rules for heat and hydraulics.
Question 4: How much can this kind of system lower your energy bills?
Answer 4: It depends on local fuel prices and habits, but getting rid of the conventional boiler for hot water can save you a lot of money each month. That saves some families hundreds to thousands of dollars a year.
Question 5: Do I need permission to put in a homemade hot water system?
Answer 5: The rules are very different. Some areas need permits or professional help to install pressurized systems or wood-fired boilers. Before you start, it’s a good idea to check the building codes in your area and talk to a qualified installer or inspector.
