Mike Hyatt

Hi Henry, maybe something wrong at my end but that link didn't seem to work. I will check but my understanding was the very basic pallets were untreated and ok, but will review if no good!

I have started experimenting with growing mainly salad crops on rafts after talking to someone who sells Biohavens a product to help use water plants to treat polluted water bodies. They mentioned that it is possible to grow veg on rafts too and that this has been done historically in different pats of the world. So far my experiment has not been a great success with a home made a system similar to a Biohaven using coir matting on a blue matrix on a pallet.
I have tried plugs and seeding straight onto the coir. There is germination but no real growth as I am assuming a general lack of essential nutrients in the water. The pool is naturally clay lined with acid bog plants and peat about 30cm deep around the edge. The pool is a great place to swim as an alternative to the north Atlantic sea nearby, so we want to combine food growing and a natural swimming pool.
Does anyone have any good advice on whether it is feasible to grow veg on rafts? if so any good sources of information I can research that would allow me to combine the two . . . bearing in mind we are on the west coast of Scotland. You will see from the photos that the rafts sit low in the water a problem being that after heavy rain they increase in weight and sink and in dry weather they sit proud of the water!

Ernie, thanks again for the advice.

Talking to people about flues and general durability of the steel parts of the rocket stove, is there any information/advice on life span of the different elements and if i was going to invest in better quality or thicker quage metal where is the best place to put that money. I am thinking about pipes that might be difficult to get at the future if parts are built in.

I have a friend who could make up a heat riser out of solid 5mm guage steel, could this be better than 1mm or 0.6mm flue liner? Would it need the same double skin with insulation or would that effect the downward cooling of the gasses?

Ernie, Thanks for the great advice, I will definitely give the suggestions a try and yes simple and low cost is definitely the way I want to start, and the enjoyment is going to come trying these ideas out. As you say if we can scrounge supplies and burn efficiently then we should be ok. We will keep you informed of progress and of course if any Permies are heading in this direction they would be welcome to visit although much like camping at the moment!

Its traditional thick stone walls and probably thatched in the past now corrugated iron, small and damp just now but we will be insulating it over time. At the moment there are 2 open fires at each end which are eating through our meagre wood supplies, I'll try and upload a couple of photos to give you a picture of the place.

Thanks Ernie, does that mean a 6” exhaust duct system would heat up the thermal mass more than the 8”? We are planning to use Paul’s RMC in a box system so when we re-roof the cottage we can move the heater out into a shed for a while.

All peat was used up some time ago on the island but we are busy planting shelter belts with plenty of willow and alder so that we can start coppicing in a few years time and feed the heater, there is enough storm damaged trees at the moment to keep us going in the mean time.
We are hoping that our RMH will generate some interest on the island as most people burn coal at the moment and I am sure we could all be much cosier on self sustaining local wood, but that does mean a lot of tree planting is needed too!

Sounds good I get the idea, I did also read that in the exhaust tube 'T' type junctions are better than 90deg bends, which also ties in with what you are suggesting.

Thanks, less room needed than I thought.

Mike

I am hoping to warm up a draughty stone croft on the west coast of Scotland with a rocket mass heater, ideal as very little wood!, just getting the materials together and have a couple of questions, is the exhaust flue pipe diameter critical to 'draw' I am looking at 6" or 8"?
In the UK old oil drums only come in 45gal, so how critical is the gap between the heat riser a barrel, I am looking at 4" or 6" down the sides with a gap of 1 1/2"at the top? Any help on this welcome There is no store to pop into on the island, best if I get it nearly right at the start.

Mike (crofter!)