Wood burning heaters

I would like to fabricate a glass front wood burning heater for my home. I am interested in any assistance to achieve the most efficient design and would appreciate any drawings that could help me understand just how these work and therefore how I need to be build it. Regards, Wahoodie

Hi Warren;  Welcome to Permies!
I think you may find the stove you are looking for at Peter Bergs website.    http://batchrocket.eu/en/

Or you may like Matt Walkers site http://walkerstoves.com/index.html

Check them out and ask any questions that arise !

Thank you Thomas

While not trying to discourage anyone from a glass front wood heater as I truly understand the appeal of a nice relaxing fire, but feel the need to remind potential wood burners that having a firebox surface that is not insulated will reduce efficiency of a fire. Want to get romantic? I get it. Go to the expense buy an interchangeable door with a glass panel or maybe a removable ceramic insulating panel that fits inside the glass to have an efficient fire when you aren't inclined to snuggle and watch the dancing flames.

Not only will you stay warmer, but you don't have to exercise the wallet by buying more wood or clean out the pipes as often.

Hi Anthony;  
With a normal box stove I 100% agree.
I directed Warren to Peter Bergs Batchbox site as well as Matt Walkers site.
Both are classed as rocket mass heaters. Peters being highly efficient batchbox designs.
Matt" stoves are a highly efficient riserless design.
A glass front on these stoves is not taking away from their efficiency.

If you are not familiar with these designs then I highly recommend you check them out!

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Anthony;  
With a normal box stove I 100% agree.
I directed Warren to Peter Bergs Batchbox site as well as Matt Walkers site.
Both are classed as rocket mass heaters. Peters being highly efficient batchbox designs.
Matt" stoves are a highly efficient riserless design.
A glass front on these stoves is not taking away from their efficiency.

If you are not familiar with these designs then I highly recommend you check them out!

I designed a mix of both Peter's and Matt's. It is a 4" riser that heats a 1/2" x 12" x 24" steel plate for cooking. From there it turns into a 3' x 4' x 2' "bell"? then to the chimney. While it is great at heating, it doesn't operate at it's full potential since I had to reduce the riser's length to accommodate for our short stature so we could reach the cooking plate with ease. Also, being an uninsulated and small firebox and cob riser, it takes a bit to get up to temperature and start to "rocket". When the ceramic insulation would come unglued from the steel door, I would lose about 150-200 degrees from the firebox firebrick on a 2 hour fire. So, I assume the steel door was conducting heat away from the firebox instead of being insulated and allowing more heat to soak into the fire brick or increase the riser temperatures to increase the burn's temperatures and the heater's efficiency.

I know I'm going to have several versions of my heater to get it as right as I can, but I believe I will always be glad I don't have a conventional wood stove.

Warren, it wasn't my intent to hijack your thread. Hopefully, you can build something into your design where you can have both efficiency and soothing ambiance.

Hi Anthony,
Thank you for your input. I very much appreciate the time that you and Thomas have taken to give me a better insight. Your comment about an interchangeable door makes a lot of sense. Thanks again.