Hi Josh, I would like to piggyback onto your questions if I can because your system sounds extremely similar to the one I want to build in my shop. I have Evan's and Jackson's book, I have listened to ALL of the podcasts ernestly, and I have read through most of the posts here that I thought might be relevant to my questions.
I want to build a heater inside the bottom 1/3 of a 55gal drum. I DON'T want to run it through a thermal mass right now.
I have some insulated pipe I want to use for the heat riser; it came out of my attic when we replaced pipe in our house years ago. I believe it is 8". That seems big to me. Is it?
And, is it insulated enough as it is, or does it require more?
And, I am planning on using a 35gal drum for the heat exchanger. Is that too small for that 8" pipe?
I have done a test run with the brick stove built inside the 1/3 drum and it fired great.
I know my questions are somewhat elementary, but that's where I am right now.
Thanks all.