'Three barrel batch rocket
During winter of 2013/2014 this heater functioned as the
central point of my old workshop.' Not sure exactly what you meant here. Focus point? (like the 'kitchen is the focal point of the house') It was positioned in the centre of the workshop? Due to the warmth it gave off we gravitated towards it? Something different?
'The whole of the heat extractor side
do consist of three barrels on top of each other, forming together a single open cylinder.' simply 'consists' So, tidying up just a little, how about 'The heat extraction is done by stacking three barrels on top of each other, cut in such a way that it forms a single cylinder (three barrels high)' or something like that.
'The top and bottom lid
s of the middle barrel are both cut out. The lower barrel is open at the top and the top one is open at the bottom.
A rim of 1" around the perimeter remains in order to keep the barrels circular.' How about 'Leave about 1 inch around the perimeter when cutting out the lids, it adds strength and keeps the barrels circular'?
'The batch rocket combustion core is a cast item which is
protuding out of the side of the barrel cylinder. See the diagram below.' typo, protruding
'The masonry column in the lower barrel is resting on the floor. A square opening in the bottom of the barrel at the size of the column facilitates that.' suggest '....resting
directly on the floor,
it does not rest on the bottom of the barrel. A square opening in the bottom of the barrel
cut for the size of the column
allows that
to happen.'
'The core doesn't rest directly on the bottom flange,
together with a second column a platform is created which is elevated about 8 mm (0.315") above the flange. A strip of superwool is glued to the flange which is providing a seal.' maybe 'the internal masonry column and the external masonry support (see diagram just above) are sized so that the cast core is elevated....' [BTW, is a link needed for superwool?? Would there be problems if say normal insulation f/glass was used?]
(between the pics) 'The stream is bending around the flange of 25 mm which
remainded in the barrel so the temperature of the rims are always several tens of degrees cooler
.' 'remained'
just tidying that up a bit, how about 'The gas flow internally does not hit the rims of the barrel as such, the one inch around the rim that was left when the top and/or bottom of the barrels were removed causes the hot gas to bend around them and so the rims where the aluminium tape is used to seal the barrels always remain several tens of degrees cooler than the rest of the barrel.'
'The piping hot gases are spewn upward in the cylinder and need to go down to get to the only exhaust opening close to the floor. This exhaust is situated even lower than the firebox itself, around 500 mm (1'8"). As such , this barrel tower is acting like a bell heat exchanger as described in the "Bell theory" article. To prevent a common restriction point around the exhaust opening the pipe is mounted about 100 mm (4") from the floor. Making a larger hole of 200 mm (8") is another way to avoid this restrictive spot. In combination with a 200 to 150 mm (8" to 6") reducer to the diameter of the chimney pipe.' Piping hot? You have a very good grasp of idiomatic english at times Peter!
This exhaust is situated even lower than the firebox itself, around 500 mm (1'8"). By using the word 'this' you have assigned the 'property' of being 500 mm off the floor to the exhaust, the 'this'. I think the 500 off the floor belongs to the firebox. So fixing that we get 'This exhaust is situated even lower than the firebox itself,
which is around 500 mm (1'8")'. 'To prevent a
common restriction point around the exhaust opening the pipe is mounted about 100 mm (4") from the floor. Making a larger hole of 200 mm (8") is another way to avoid this restrictive spot.' I think you meant 'having a restriction to the exhaust is a common mistake'? If so, how does this sound 'To prevent having a restriction
for the gases to access the exhaust opening
(a common mistake and one of the first things to check in a poorly performing heater) the pipe is mounted about 100 mm (4") from the floor. Making a larger hole of 200 mm (8") is another way to
help avoid any restrictions.'
(between pics) 'During the top of the burn the temperature of the uppermost barrel can easily reach 200 C (392 F)
in this situation.' suggest is not needed?? If needed, then I missed the point and please clarify.
'A door is
never produced for this variant, a separate sheet of Robax heat resistant glass is used instead plus a couple of firebricks to shape the air inlet.' Did you mean to say this? OR, did you mean to say 'I did not ever get around to making a door for this variant' or similar, in other words 'if you want to put a door on then go ahead'. The way it is written (for some unspecified reason) you 'do not make doors for this style of heater'. The second part of that sentence can easily be read as re-inforcing that 'you do not make doors for this style'.
'Bell with dead-end benches
This mass heater was built during the Annual Meeting of members and interested parties of the Masonry Heater Association of North America. This organisation of heater masons invests a lot of effort in making clear to governmental parties their heaters are among the cleanest in the United States and Canada. Other activities are educating the members and provide standard designs so in a way they embrace the open source idea.'..............'governmental parties their heaters' ........'parties
that their' '
provide standard'..........providing 'standard designs so in a way they embrace the open source idea'..............probably needs a comma, 'standard designs, so in a way' and I suggest adding 'embrace the open source
ideal shared by this website' or similar.
'The main bell is drawn as a double skin design but during the (6!) workshops plus several mini-clinics and demonstration projects it turned out
fire bricks were in short supply.' Is there a reason that fire bricks, as opposed to normal bricks (say) must be used in a bell? I don't recall that in the bell section, indeed we stressed that many different materials are suitable. 'In response to that problem the layout is altered to a complete single skin build' the same question remains, it implies that firebricks are needed. 'After all, the goal was to demonstrate a proof of concept, a
bell heat extractor married to a batch box rocket core.' I am sure this is not quite what you meant. We have already described, and shown diagrams etc of how a bell marries with a batch box rocket core, on this very page. Did you mean something along the lines of a '
bench married to a bell and batch rocket core'?? It seems to me that the two benches are the object of discussion and interest in this section, not the bell or core which have already been covered. That seems to be confirmed by the next sentence ' It turned out to be quite a
succes, the thing burned really clean and the
benches heated up without a hiccup, right out of the box so to speak.' BTW, typo. success
'There are a few tricks in this construction in order to make the gases to stream in at the top, and back to the main bell along the bottom and through the same opening in a sort of loop.' A bit confusing, how about 'in order to get the hot gases to enter the benches, stream along the top of the benches and cool, and then make their way back to the main bell to the exit located at the bottom' or similar.
'This section
shows the openings between main bell and benches are as wide and high as the inside of the bench itself.'
view shows
that the Perhaps a quick re-write, 'From this cut-away it can be seen that the opening between the main bell and the benches have no obstructions, the interior of the bench is carried through straight into the bell itself. In fact, this means that the benches are in actuality simply a continuation of the bell and form a single, larger bell with heat distribution sculpted to satisfy a new set of demands. Another illustration of the versatility of the bell concept.'
' At the level of the firebox the bell is narrow and at the level of the benches it is suddenly very much wider. As a consequence, the gases stream into a wider environment and losing velocity quite a bit more.' A bit clunky, how about 'As covered in the Bell theory section, we can see that as the gases enter from the bell into the benches they enter a *much larger volume* and so slow down greatly, rise to the top, shed heat and make their way to the exit' or similar.
'The lagging behind of the benches to the main bell is just 20 minutes, temperature-wise. Using a double skinned main bell would change that, so the benches would be the quickest to warm up in that case.' Maybe 'Naturally the main bell is the first to receive the gases, indeed the hottest gases, and so is the first to heat up. They then cool and make their way to the benches. So it is to be expected that the bench warms up after the bell, and in this construction that time delay was just 20 minutes. If the bell had been made of a double skin of bricks, then the benches would have been the first to warm. Again, another example of the versatility available with the bell concept'. [assuming that is a good thing to stress?]
' At the
rear end of the core a divided exhaust is created by a calcium silicate separation board, when combined are much larger than the flue's cross section area.' Did you mean to say '
behind the core'? As written it tends to imply 'attached to', or 'part of'. hmm, it is a little confusing. The drawing shows what it is intended to be said, but the words don't quite manage that. I ASSUME, well I am pretty damned sure, that the exit flue is 'hidden' behind the board. I will have a stab at re-writing it, you check it for errors and that it is what you meant. If I get it wrong you might have to explain a bit more. (ahh, yes, there it is just a little later in the para. again apologies for not reading ahead)
'The placement of the exhaust opening to the chimney stack is very important in this design, as in any bell design. As this design has benches attached to it (absent from the previous examples shown) thought needs to be given to how we get the hot gases into the benches and not 'short circuit to the exit flue' beforehand. The drawing below shows how it was achieved. A fireproof baffle board (in this case calcium silicate) is placed off the rear wall of the main bell. Not seen in the drawing is the exit flue, 'hidden' behind the baffle plate. The area of this baffle board multiplied by the distance between it and the rear wall of the bell should be much larger than the cross sectional area of the flue. This is to ensure we do not have a restriction to the easy flow of gases into the flue. The openings cut into the baffle (as seen in the drawing) are also of a size much larger in area than the cross section of the flue. Again, we do not want restrictions to the gases. There is no 'opening' at the top of the baffle board, we do not want access to the exit flue until after they have opened into the benches. Note that the cutouts in the baffle are well below the level of the benches.'
'Because of that
devider all the exit openings from the main bell are below the top half of the internal height of the bench. All the gases are streaming in the intended direction this way. In case the exit openings would be placed higher, the exhaust stream wouldn't get into the bench but would take a shortcut to the exit directly. Of course, it isn't really necessary to mimic this divider board solution. It could be done with a shallow and wide opening at the rear wall's bottom which leads to the vertical stack by means of a funnel shaped brickwork. By the way, when a bypass is desirable, this could be mounted in this area. Preferably not at the top of the bell which is the hottest area where the bypass valve could become warped or destroyed in time.'
divider 'This baffle plate has helped us to achieve all we want from a bell. As the gases can ONLY reach the exit flue by entering behind the baffle plate from the bottom, only the coldest gases escape. To reach that opening the gases must have had to enter the benches and cool. We can also now see how 'dead end benches' that initially baffled some of the attendees are so effective. It should also be clear that a baffle board is not the only solution, it happened to be the quickest and easiest way to do it during a 'time starved' weekend. All that is needed is that the gases reach and warm the benches before exiting the flue, so it could be done with a shallow and wide opening at the bottom of the rear wall of the bell which leads to the vertical stack by means of a funnel shaped brickwork.'
Or similar of course.
'By the way, when a
bypass is desirable, this could be mounted in this area. Preferably not at the top of the bell which is the hottest area where the bypass valve could become warped or destroyed in time' I am pretty sure this is the first mention of a bypass on this site. (?) That leads us to the usual...'what is it, why is it, when might it be needed' etc etc etc. I am pretty sure a bypass is not in 'normal stoves' so, again, we just gotta keep in mind where *they* are coming from and what they understand.
Do you wanna make a gag about the 'only source of smoke' in the last picture??
'Just as an aside, the batch rocket heater described here produces less smoke than can be seen in the picture' hahaha.
this was a long post, forgive any spelling mistakes I may have made, I can't be bothered checking right now!
As always, take what you think worthwhile and reject the rest, there was a lot here.
'Just as an aside, the batch rocket heater described here produces less smoke than can be seen in the picture' hahaha.