RMH help sought by Chinese

I am from a forestry center in hunan provience of the China
I just heard about RMH,and very interesting about it
,but I don”t know how to make it
And the worstest part is not how can I build it ,,my English the one I think

There are a lot of branch in my place,and it is very cold in the winter,
I do need to build one of RMH,
I would like to get a draw papers so that I can do it according the papers


I thank you so much for your any help and I appreciate it

At the last ,I hope you could understand what I say
thanks a lot

Hi Pu Zhou
We have plans for sale on our web site.
We dont have a book translated into chinese yet but i believe we can get you a book in japanese if that would help.

How big is your house?

the "draw papers" are called plans or blueprints in english. We have a few sizes of stoves in our plans that will heat different sizes of houses.

it sounds as if you can read english but i have a friend in china named Henery who may be able to translate things into chinese to make this a bit easier.
I will ask.

please tell us more about your home and where you would put an RMH so we can help you better.

hi Ernie Wisner
i am very glad for your help .i know my question it looks like ambiguous.but it is hard described by my english.
i live in mountain area ,there are so many trees in this place.we burn the woods as an energy everyday,we use it for cooking, for making warm
so that ,how to make these burnd efficient it is very important .our people hope to change the way and get more heat efficient .
we don't have much money to buy lot of steel materials to do these things ,so we also couldn't afford too much to buy any plans.only if it cheap enough.
but we welcome you people come here and teach us build rmh, of course room and meals is free .

it will be great if your friend henery could be help ,i will buy the book if henery,who may be going to translate things
into Chinese
anyway i appreciate your reply,and i am real glad to know you understand what i say

Morning Pu Zhou

May i ask what materials you have on hand for building a stove? if you have Tile, brick, sand, clay, stone, and water you can build a rocket stove.

I have not gotten in contact with Henery yet because i wanted your permission first.

Rocket mass heaters where designed to be made from stuff that gets thrown away so i will give you a list of metal parts to get and we can see how to go from there.

1, 55 gallon drum (23" diameter x 35" tall), (55 US gallons = 208.197 litres)

thats all the metal parts you actually need and if you cant get a drum we can make the drum out of tile or brick if we need.

I am going to ask about materials.

I just sent a note to Henry and he may help if he has time to do so.

Hi Pu Zhou
I asked Henry and he says he will try to help. this should go a bit better.

I would like to know what materials you have on hand.
please tell me what they are made of as well so we can figure this out.

8 Inch(=203.200 mm) pipe or ducting.
Bricks please give the dimensions.

Tiles if you have half pipe tiles we can use them for the stove as well.

We can work around most of the materials if need be.

the cob formula is roughly the same as what you would use in an oven. 2 or 3 parts sand to 1 part clay (depending on the clay you may use as much as 4 parts sand) 1 part straw Pack the bucket tight with straw and this should give you about the right mix.

if your house has a floor that is not suspended you can build directly on the floor. if your house has a suspended floor you will have to shore it up to make it strong enough to support the weight of the stove.
Cob is heavy so the floor must be able to support the mass.

please build you first stove outside so you can see how it works and learn how to use it.

Erica and I can draw up a system for you when we get the materials list and dimensions from you.

hi,Ernie Wisner

it is look like things going better.thanks! so i want tell you my idea actually.


it is so cold in this area,and it is longger than same latitude other place,and it is always wet, feeling in the refrigeator in our house in the winter.
because this place altitude is about one thousand three hundred meters high.so we could burn a lot of charcoal getting warm .
and we sit around by the fire,in that case hands is warm and backside is cold.but it is much better than go to the bed,that is like hell really
water couldn't be flow in my house,because it is frozen.

that is why i am interesting about your rmh.of course,i want to build one and watch it works well,and get experience
so that it might be i could help local people to make more,if they want.

i can buy all of these materials in the local place ,maybe some waster metal parts. if i understand how it works.special inside part.i think we will do it well.
however ,i need plans ,some note,in Chinese.if it possible .it is too much trouble let you draw blueprint for me according to my house.
i just want any plans existing in your hand to learn how it works,then i think i might be could build different size one

hope i speak it clearly. at last i really thank you for you help.i am really appreciate that what you do for me

here are some pictures

some house pictures

Here is one big drawing:
It is too big for this page, so I invite you to look at it using the link.
http://www.ernieanderica.info/rocketmassheaterpermitting/RocketHeater6in20000.jpg

I will write as simply as I can. Maybe Henry can translate this instead of the book (it's shorter).

Important things to notice:

- All the pipes and inside spaces are about the same size (shown in blue). If the gas can't flow through these openings because they are too small, there will be smoke problems. We hate smoke inside the house.

- There is insulation all around where the fire burns. This insulation is usually perlite (foamy rock, used for garden soil). Insulation can also be made with sawdust and clay, or wood ash. The insulation helps the fire inside get very hot, like a furnace (kiln) ... so very hot that inside, the materials might start to glow. Use brick or good materials inside the burn (combustion) area.

- There is a tall 'chimney' that goes up inside the barrel. We call this inside chimney the 'heat riser' because this is where the heat rises. This is what makes the heater work.
The heat riser is part of the burn area. It must be much taller than the fuel opening - about 3 times taller.

- The fuel goes in the opening in front, and then the fire burns sideways before going up. The sideways part must not be too long - only half as long as the heat riser.

- After it is done burning inside the chimney, there is almost no smoke. The exhaust is mostly hot steam (fog) and CO2 (gas that makes bubbles in beer). So we call it 'exhaust' not 'smoke.' If it makes smoke, something is not right.
(Even if it is all working right, do not drink it. It is not beer or water, still wood exhaust.)

- The metal barrel is raised above the heat riser, with a gap about 2 inches tall (5 cm).
The hot exhaust makes the barrel hot like a metal woodstove. It gives (radiates) lots of heat for you to enjoy. As the exhaust releases heat, it goes down. Hottest exhaust is at the top, it gets cooler toward the bottom. (Warm like a bread oven - still hot, but not like a furnace.)

- After the barrel, the warm exhaust must find the other pipes. Make sure the opening is big enough. (not shown). It must be at least as big as the pipes. The barrel and opening are the only place where it is good to have a much larger space than the pipes.

- The pipes are usually horizontal. The slope is not too important, and it is OK to make several bends, but try not to go more than a few feet up or down. We like to make a bench or bed so you can have a warm seat. You may want a big one, or two separate sides, so all the dogs have a warm place too.
In the drawing, the pipes are made from ducting. You can also make a tunnel of brick, adobe, concrete drainpipe, clay pipe, or anything that is easy to shape and easy to clean. It must be the proper size on the INSIDE.

- It is good to have places to clean out the ashes. Ash falls inside the barrel, and a little in the other pipes. We clean where the firewood goes about every 2 weeks, and clean the other parts once each year.

- Around these pipes, we put a lot of earthen masonry (the mixture of sand and clay that Ernie told you about) and sometimes bricks or rock. These are to hold the heat. With 4 or 6 inches of masonry around the pipes, the bench will hold heat for 12 to 24 hours. More masonry means more heat storage.

- After it goes through the bench, the exhaust is only warm (like a cat). It must go outside of the house for safety - it can go sideways, horizontally, through a wall. Or it can go up vertically like a woodstove, through the roof. Going up inside the house and out the roof gives best draft if the wind likes to change directions. Going out sideways works OK if the wind is always one way, you can put the exhaust out on the downwind (lee) side of the house.

It is a lot to understand, but I tried to use words that are easy to look up using an Internet dictionary.
If you understand, you can build something like the picture, and it should work.
The most important part to practice outdoors is the combustion part - you should be able to put the barrel on, and see only steam coming out below.

To light the fire, first put a little paper or tinder in the tunnel, until you see the flames point away from you, toward the heat riser. Make a loose twist of paper (do not fill the whole box, leave room for air), light one end on fire and push it inside the tunnel, and put the small kindling right on top of the not-yet-burning end. It might take more than one try - make lots of small kindling or twigs. All sticks can be loaded in vertically (up and down). They will burn at the front and bottom first, and the rest will drop down and keep burning for a good, long time. Sometimes people also put charcoal or other fuel in, after the fire is burning and happy.

You can cook on top of the barrel.
Before building inside the house, burn the paint off the barrel. You can do this simply by building a good fire inside it, outdoors. Sand or a wire brush can help take the last paint off. After it is scrubbed very clean, and you build the stove, you can oil the top and fry things, or put a teakettle or steam cooker on top.

Good luck with your project. I hope you are warm soon.
I like the pictures of your dogs by the fire - I want to see pictures when you build the new heater too.

Yours,
Erica Wisner

祝你好运与您的加热器

I have gotten a lot from your help since I thought about RMH,
I would like to say thank you very much what you do it for me .
I begin to understand RMH how it’s work especially inside part.

According to my understanding,
There are two parts that is very important, one thing is “heat raise”, and other is exhaust part
“Heat raise” can make vacuum area so that creating strong suck let wood burning well, even with out smoke. Of course it is depend on system enclosing. Is that right?
Second part, that is making wood burning efficient, is exhaust system by used gas exhaust heating the space where we want to heat it before it out .And this part it is look like “kang炕” that is a kind of bed general used in the country at the north of China .

Recently, we have spent the worst part cold and humid winter now , and I am just going built a new house ,There are a lots of thing to do including RMH. I would like to separate two steps to go. First, I would like make a mobile RMH wood stove for dining room , and to get some experiences.
Then ,I’d like to think about built RMH for bedroom. I have idea about my mobile RMH , I don’t want coved with perlite exhaust pipes ,I do want these pipes to send heat in the room, is it correct? It will be working?
It will take me a lot of time to do these things, but fortunately , it seems there are plenty of time before winter it is coming. Looking forward the big day, I will take pictures show it to you certainly

In other hand, I would like to say I have got a kind from you , it seems you take part in my project to be care about my house warm ,and I am just a common people from far away place. I get confidence to do things well , to do men well , from this things , from you.
Thank you again！

John Polk wrote:

祝你好运与您的加热器

谢谢你，老外，哈哈！

Now you made me go back to Google Translate.

Thank you, and Good Luck.

I would love to know how this turned out. I am hoping you are warm. I love the picture of your dogs!

Hi Kate,

Welcome to Permies!