Hi Glenn & thanks for the replies and I have a few questions / clarifications
Regarding the size, I've read that smaller systems are difficult to make work, but what doesn't work? Are they hard to get started, keeping them going or something else?
The flue piping will get covered with cob in the shape of a bench to sit on.
Glenn Herbert wrote:
What kind of firebrick are you using? Heavy dense ones, or soft light ones?
Not sure, how do I know? Some say Butter on them and they seem fragile like they're falling apart. Would this be soft ones? I can weigh if that'd help.
Glenn Herbert wrote:
The core needs to be insulated as much as possible so the firebrick can build up heat.
Right, not sure how I forgot to mention, but I have yards and yards of nice orange clay and plenty of perlite for the riser insulation. I also picked up a 15lb tub of fireclay for mortar on the bricks. I did look into the ceramics and that looks very interesting, but for my first build, I'd like to go traditional and better understand the mechanics of these things. Living near Houston, there are plenty of refractory places that I'll be visiting for scraps (hopefully) in the future.
Agreed on the batch box and sticking with something more simple. If I bump the size of the feed, burn tunnel and heat riser up to 6", the flue pipe would be too small, correct? What if instead of 1 5" duct I ran 2 5" ducts out of the barrel? I have 20' of this pipe sitting around at the moment.
I also have concerns about having two 180 turns in the flue, maybe two runs would help? I know it's not as good as have a large diameter flue, but hopefully maybe?
In the end I feel like these heaters are for tinkerers like me, I just don't want to have a complete utter fail on my first go, but I have this uncontrollable urge to stubbornly do things a little different. I will look into the half-barrel bell to see how that'd work.
Thanks again
