A Rocket Forum? I already feel the warmth!

[Teach]

Ha, this is awsome! If only you all knew how long I have been looking to find something like this!!!!!!

Well my name is Ian. I live north of most of ya up here in BC Canada........minus 20 celsius lately..........wheres my rocket? grin

We heat mainly with natural gas and wood supplimentation. You know the type.......fill it up and watch is smoke for the next 6-10 hours.

I'm building a Rocket Mass Heater. My ideas were to build in the usual bench/bed style battery then I thought why not take it a little further and add a series of flues zig zagging back and forth up a masonry wall before exiting the building to pull avery bit of heat out of the gasses. We have a non existant supply of clay here in the Okanagan valley and I thought I would just go masonry and brick for a box around the stove and fill in with perilite and in the battery I would use sand as a filler and then cap it with perhaps concrete. I am looking for info on natural finishes such as plasters etc that can be made with lime and other natural ingredients so I am not building the unit till all the info is gathered in its entirety.

I have done lots of experimenting with wood gasifying stoves and have probably built close to twenty of them..........then along came these RMH's and I thought why bother! The rockets burn so clean there is no real need to pursue the gasification process for my needs.

I will post my problems with my house and its external masonry chimney and questions later on after I find out this first post actually makes it to the members here. Thanks all for gathering here. Funny how kindred spirits find each other hey! Really surprised there are not more people on here though based on my initial informal browsing. Happy new year everyone!

Ian....

[Donkey]

Hello!
Beware of pulling EVERY BIT of heat out of the exhaust.. If you go overboard, it can create condensation problems and even cause flue gasses to fail to rise out the chimney.

Welcome to the board!

[canyon]

Hi Ian,
I recommend The Natural Plaster book if you don't have it already. Just curious if you know the good people over at Crannog Brewery in Sorrento? I'm a brewer too and really connected with those guys a few years ago when I was driving up my toyota truck to Alaska where I live (its been below zero here for weeks!!!)
Anyway glad you're on board!
Lasse

[Teach]

Hey Donkey, thanks for the welcome and the good advice on not to go overboard. I'm at a bit of a loss now as to how to configure my RMH as I am told my 30 plus foot high external masonry chimney may be my biggest enemy when it is cold as it will create downward air pressure making the rocket hard to light and would not allow it to draft well because there would not be enough heat travelling up the chimney. So, one of two things will happen. One, I will build a rocket and add a second heat exchanger between the rocket barrel and the chimney with no battery so I can squeeze more heat out into the house but still have enough heat going up and out to maintain a healthy draft in the chimney. Or secondly, I will utilize an existing window in the basement to push out a chimney pipe from the rocket and simply brick and mortar in the window opening around the chimney pipe from the rocket. Either way I think I will be further ahead than I am now with just a standard box airtight woodstove that spews out smoke. I try to run it wide open using less fuel to get a clean burn but eventually the stove gets hot enough that the automatic damper closes down and defeats my efforts. I also feel that I will use less fuel as well using the rocket that the airtight as well so............I may keep the airtight and build the rocket using the window opening to exit the chimney and still have the airtight utilizing the masonry chimney for quick radiant heat. I'd build the rocket with a battery and if I keep the airtight as well then I would surround the stove with brick work to act as a battery for it as well. Advice?

Canyon, thanks for the recommendation of the Natural Plaster book. I don't have it. And yes I know Brian up in Sorrento. I see him annually at the fest of ale in Penticton. Being he grows his own hops I think he may have been the only brewer around here that was not low on hops for brewing! I also brew all grain. Can you tell me a bit about this book? Thanks

Teach....

[Donkey]

You could place cheater box below that great chimney..
Open the (conveniently placed) door, toss in a wad of burning phone book...
Viola, primed and drawing.

[Teach]

By cheater box, that different lingo for a primer opening? Same sort of thing?

With the use of the box stove I just shove paper up into the stove pipe from the inside of the stove and then light it. Even that is sometimes not enough when it is really cold out. Thats why I worry the RMH will not have enough push left after it goes though a bench style battery when lighting and the chinmey is cold.

I have been dreeming up a switchable system through the use of T's and elbows and one damper where by with the damper open the gasses would go straight up the chimney until the chimney is warm, then close the damper and the draw would be taken through the bench or other style of battery once good draft has been established and up the chimney.