Dave Grim : Mr Lumley, was my father, a member of the 'greatest generation' that survived a depression, fought a world war (2) and came home to raise two generations
who had No idea what the old duffer had done to attempt to promote a De-mock-racy where celebrating will of the public was the primary way to serve !
My generation turned into the sound-bit generation, that had not a clue but marched to the polling box even as polling numbers went strongly against the vote of the
Elect ! Since then things have ' 'went to hell in a hand basket !' '
My best advice is still the same, watch the videos, building over/on a wood floor starts with bracing the floor from below, guarding against radiant (heat )
energy leaking
through the bottom of the
Rocket Mass Heater, R.M.H., and protecting your exposures, while you can off-set the barrel (a little ) to protect exposures,
this is a crutch
that does not replace careful siting of the
feed tube and the barrel relative to any exposures, and
should be related to the shape of the ENTIRE TRANSITIONAL AREA !
You have actually described the worst possible use of a R.M.H.. What a proud owner of a 'rocket' faces (at some time) every day is a requirement to start the fire up from
scratch, keep this fire going, working in a minute by minute manner for as long as 1 hour, then some time- within that hour, or hour and 1/2- the internal fire turns into a fire
that has a combusion chamber glowing red hot that can be tended by ear - with frequent feedings, a piece of wood bursts into flame as it is fed through the feed tube !
Following these easy steps with a further 6-8 hrs should generate 20 - 25 hours of stored heat within the thermal mass for later total home heating ! Any thing else
related to cold weather is a fable and not related to actual performance in 'cold weather' ! I hope this helps, for the good of the crafts/permies !
Think like fire,flow like a gas, Don't be the Marshmallow! As always, all comments are welcome! PYRO - Logically BIG AL !
