polly jayne smyth

Fox James wrote:Polly, you know what they say…. “The grass is always greener on the other side”
Guernsey is regarded by many as an overpopulated tax haven, an expensive tiny island full of international banks, but yes I love my home and consider myself lucky to have been born is a safe, friendly community of 60k people.
A bell is an internal part of a modern RMH, basically a high mass enclosure  (normally brick) that houses the stove and retains the heat.
There are hundreds of design choices if you want to invest in a modern low emission stove.

they are definitely nice looking, but now I'm 'aware' I sort of cringe seeing all that lovely heat energy being sent straight through the roof - up up and away.  lol.

thanks for the pics!

paul wheaton wrote:
I submitted my better world book to an authority on environmental stuff and the book was rejected because it advocated for heat that used petroleum.  Clearly, without reading the book, they saw something about "rocket" and assumed "rocket fuel."

Without pointing fingers which I suppose I still am, this is rather embarrassing for the authority person.  At the very least skim the book, or listen to your reply and give it another go.  I suggest another resubmission (apologies - knowing your level of efforts I'm sure you've already done this)...  grrrr

Fox James wrote:Where I live, 100miles form England and 25 miles from France, we are extremely unlikely to get permission for a DIY stove of any description to use inside a house!
However the modern box stoves, that are readily available, all have to apply to European standards and meet stringent air pollution regulations.
They will have an insulated fire box, secondary air supply and fully adjustable air settings.
They dont produce smoke and look fantastic whether alight or standing still. I dont see many of my neighbours building a rocket stove when you can buy a ready manufactured, guaranteed , clean burning, attractive stove from the nearest stove store?
Of course they will not power a piped mass although they may work inside a bell.

You lucky duck!  I have always wanted to see Guernsey; what a one-in-a-million place to live.

I should like to see this box stove... I wonder if it's like a pellet stove in the US; though I can't say many of those look fantastic lol.  And bell?  What is that?

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Polly = apples for your lyrics!

I couldn't follow any of those links - I think it blocked me because I'm in the UK (but it might be my IT not liking whatever cookies they try and send) so I may be wrong on this: I think though that they illustrate one reason why a rebrand may be a good thing. The rocket mass heaters that Paul is trying to promote typically don't have any metal in the fire area so as to get a really clean burn. Those rocket stoves aren't really the same thing as a rocket mass heater, although they are a step up from some other designs.

First - ooo.  Many thanks for the apples which I envision as cherries just 'cause preference and eyesight allow for it  🙏🙇‍♀️🍎

If you can get to the Home Depot site (a hardware store) I just googled rocket stove.  Haven't tried Amazon or other but I'll bet they have 'em.  I am trying to remember what might be the UK equivalent - Maxwells?  Partridges perhaps?   I'll attach a screenshot as it's the first time I saw Average Bear Man can purchase something of the concept off a 'shelf' and it floored me in a good way at the time.  Notwithstanding the sales feature of being 'protable', that it would fit in a square foot (impressive though), isn't built to retain resultant heat in any way plus what you said about the materials; I still feel this is the closest I've seen to a rocket stove in a commercial setting.  We are taking the win 🏆🥇 crowd goes wild.

But yes - you are right; definitely different 👍    Still - I wonder about whether sectioning each design off doesn't detract from a potential cumulative introduction what we'd like to see as a new norm - ie. if it were a red apple, green apple, honeycrisp, fuji! ... then there might be 23 people, 9 people, 1045 people and 7 - whereas the whole population of appleophiles is 1084 = technically more votes - see?  Not that I mean to disagree with you; it's more of my eagerness to see the world manipulated into better heating choices of any degree (her her).  If I could wave a wand and be Heating Hitler I wouldn't hesitate to make the right choice for everyone.  ugh,  Just grossed myself out there but you get it.

Anyway - thanks again for the fruit!  😍

Deane Adams wrote:I'm not really much of a Sir Elton fan.

I will however be willing to nominate you for "Dancing Queen".

Sorry, that is the best I could come up with.


Peace

ahahaha - best compliment all week.  no, month even.  Heck - you made my year.  And you've not even see me dance (it's fairly dangerous) so 🙇‍♀️🙏

Coydon Wallham wrote:I think if you were going to use water for the burn tunnel it would require levels of gravity manipulation/tractor beams that would require cold fusion in the first place, so we will probably be beyond the need for these heaters by then.

The central feature of the RMH is complete combustion. The high heat levels generated by this require robust materials for the burn chamber. While fancy and expensive ceramics can be used in spots or even the entire thing, the most durable and affordable designs use firebrick. "Mass" is an important part of the whole system, but "Masonry" is highly relevant to present and historical construction.
[/i]?

Perhaps I wasn't clear, and definitely I'm always learning and this isn't my forté so may be out in left field.  I meant to use water (or fill in the blank as I'm not a physicist) as the mass which holds/ stores the energy - not the burn tunnel.  Honestly I don't really know what I'm talking about... was imagining that water releases heat from objects 4x faster than air so perhaps that particular mass is sending the concept in the opposite direction as masonry holds it *longer* and I'm unsure about h2o... but I'd think there might be other materials out there I'm not thinking of which function as well or better if designed into the right system... irregardless of cost*?  Oil?  Denser rock (Polly - isn't that 'masonry' - well not if it's crystal)?  Tarmac, lol (I remember Hawaii's temperature reading used to be taken at the airport at the end of the day as it retained the heat better than elsewhere... leading potential tourists on the mainland to shiver with delight and book tickets)?  Or perhaps masonry is the pinnacle - I'm no rocket scientist...  

Apollygies if I convolute but I'm genuinely curious ~ and thank you for your thoughts ~


PS. I agree with Jordon about cost being less limiting once it's a public concept.  The average-dude can more easily finance into a home,  eventually there may be subsidies (note the solar boon), mass-build discounts that might come into play, etc.  For that matter - he also suggested alternatives to cob might be thought of - which was my point.  

Jordan Fl wrote:... average-dude doesn't care that it costed him $2500 to build what you did for $300, he just wants to source it from Home Depot and go on with his life.

I was uber involved in thinking a new name for the RMH would be good, but now I've burned out changed my mind.  FBOW I married 'rocket' and I think more and more it's shortform for the concept amongst newbies.  Why smoke out the view muddy the waters?

Check these out - not the total concept but warm close - right?  I was on fyre pretty excited when I first saw them.  That said I am not a camp gear fanatic so perhaps they've been on people's hot list around for ages and I had no clue.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Wood-Burning-Rocket-Camping-Stove-for-Outside-Cooking-Survival-12-7-x-12-7-x-11-4in-Stainless-Steel-F-BRK6081-SS1/324864861

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Protable-Rocket-Stove-Wood-Burning-with-High-Fuel-Efficiency-for-Outside-Bonfire-Backyard-Cooking-12-7-x-12-7-x-11-4in-THT140-BK/329366962

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Portable-Stainless-Steel-Multi-Fuel-Camping-Stove-UK0220LC02/329682918



‘Sides, if we don't hang onto "rocket" NASA won’t be pulled to educate everyone and Elton won’t sing

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til matchstick loss brings me around to find  
Another bar.  I am at home.
Ah, no no no
Cause it’s rocket, man
Rocket mass
Waste no extra fuse
Just one alone

Mars ain't the kind of place
To heat your home
In fact, it's cold as hell
And there's nothing there to fuel it
If you did

All this science I
sorta understand
It warms my couch
All days a week
A rocket mass
For rocket heat

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time
'Til empty hopper gets me up to find
It’s not the chore they think it needs to be
Ah, no no no
To feed the rocket mass
Rocket heat
Burnin' little twigs
Not heavy trees

And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (comfy)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (we’re warm)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (soft rug)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (hot choc)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (good book)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (dog on feet)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (cat in crook)
And I think it's gonna be a long, long, time (loud snore)
Oh yes yes yes.
Rocket mass
Rocket, man



So who knows Elton - someone here must be 6 degrees.  C'mon, he’s already re-lyric-ed Candle in the Wind for a good cause…

Feel free to ignore this thread.  I am starting it mostly in jest because I'm on these boards infrequently and this time I saw I need to begin a thread in order to get all the little green checks like a good girl on the scavenger hunt bit of my profile, so here goes.  

hashtag goal-oriented.  hashtag cheese.

So what's in a name that by any other should smell as soot-free.  These are ideas I've been musing on since this thread began - for amusement purposes only.

       1. what does it do            +         2. why will it make your life sweeter          =       3. (rocket) mass market victory
(ecologically-friendly heat)            (cheap, easy, did we mention it's hot)                 (yahtzee for everyone sans energy CEOs)

It's-your-Funeral-if-you-don't-use-this-Pyre - nope, too ecologically guilt-ridden  
The Lazy Person's Insulative Heater aka 'Gert's Blanket'  - nope.  Restricts users to Paul's pool and requires FT lifeguard
Caveman Style - theme lyrics set to Gangnam Sty... nevermind.  Dangit.  That won't leave anytime tonight.
Mars Heater - nods to hopeful futuristic colonisation as well as Elton John whilst completely ditching above pious mass lecture about cavemen doing energy management first and better
HFHF (Have Fun, Heat Freely) - nicknamed the Hufflepuff which uses Baby Huffington Posts?  I'm here all night.
The TEH (TwoEH) - Ecological Economic Home Heater
At-home Non-experimental Exponential Benefits of Used Corn Through the Lack of Soot Experience - Lemony Snicket it?  
Firefly - ignore.  This one's personal.  I'll never stop pining for S02 and this topic incited (!) it.  PS. One more flame synonym and I will self-inflagrate.  Immolate?
Tube of Fyre - nah.  Sounds dangerous, at the least thoughts of an upset tummy intervene
Personal Volcanic River - fun!  Where's my canoe
House Lava Tube - bring Hawaii home
Pele's Rocket - prolly not.  Restricts thoughts to footballers, 50th state, and why would she need a house heater anyways - it's Hawaii ffs.  Still fun, though.
Sod-the-Grid Device - nah.  I'm now picturing a grass seeder for being too polite to say screw in a non-tool related way
Rocket Hopper - logo a bouncing rocket? Interest the youngest generation and get on sesame street in one fell swoop.  
Fast Big Thing Warmer - weird. this just sounds so familiar

Fine, I'm no good at this.  What about just a rocket emoji 🚀 like prince did?
R - revolutionise
O - our
C - collective
K - kornkobs
E/I - into
T - thermality (my word.  as though kornkobs isn’t)

Matt McSpadden wrote:I'm not crazy about any of those options. Some don't roll off the tongue and some do not explain what it is.
It really is a thermal battery system... could you use heat battery or thermal battery as part of it?
Wood fired thermal battery?
Rocket Heat Battery?

I was musing along the same lines of Matt, though I prefer his 'thermal' and 'battery' to my own brainsputter below.  Why not 'Radiant Thermal Home Battery'.  It's gentle, palatable, and invites conversation.  At any rate, they are good descriptors for when discussion erupts with noninitiates.

Personally I agree with those suggesting steer clear of Montana.  We don't want to appeal to only Montanians and Montana-likers (incudes me, everyone who's seen H4 Red October, and everyone who owns an RV LLC) and, no offence, Montana didn't invent it so that feels a bit cheeky.  Unless it's a brand name in which case full steam and may I have a brochure with current sales.  Also not feeling masonry as opposed to mass because it's limiting.  I mean, if I were both sci-fi and daft enough to use water as the holding material that would still qualify, no?

J. Syme wrote:ran thru words describing: environment impact, what it is, what it does. then tried to rhyme (maybe a bit too corny but :  Healthy Hearth Heater??

Mr/ Miss J, I don't think that's corny at all.  Alliteration totally sells.  And then we could say cornier things like it's the 3H for 4Hers.  Seriously though, I agree with you that ideas can be appealingly 'packaged' for the masses.  Most especially novel avant-garde things like what did cavemen do?  That is before xylophane-wrapped handwormers for foozball games came on the scene (speaking of, can't someone make a washable silicone wrapper for embers already).  These days the populace is squeamish if it's not ultra one-use and non-biodegradable.  Cute pandas abound on my fb feed, not photos of cute scientists.  Well, there's Uncle Al (Einstein) but let's face it he looks like both.  I think the Healthy Hearth Heater is both pretty darn cute and presents the concept in a nice normalising nonthreatening way, actually.  Now who's using devices...

paul wheaton wrote:
George Carlin once said "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

I can't stomach Shark Tank however as both Paul and George (sad Ringo right now) say: 1 divided by 1/2 is the only way to reach 2x the amount.   I.e. let's say we take the dimmest person as our LCD and then halve that for expectations to be met to overflow.  That said - a name doesn't have to completely spell the concept out if you can get a few instagram hotshots to alight conver...... yada yada.

Alexandra Malecki wrote:...I wish there was a way to really beautify the design. Aesthetics aren't my forte. A designer in the natural building sphere attended my workshop and said that she would never put it in a living space because the barrel was so abhorrent. However, she was impressed by the performance and I believe it might make it into her future garage/work space.  

Alexandra (with a gorgeous pharaoh name I want instead) I have always felt that way about RMH aesthetics.  Closest I've come to liking it is when it's done true hobbit/ tatooine style but Hollywood stylists won't work for everyone.  They're snobbish and charge too much.

I realise this isolates us from being true permies, but I can't seem to help it.  I want to live in a gorgeous space that's magazine-cover worthy, not one that makes 70's-era hippies comfy.  Besides - who knows if they truly were.  They got to be high.  

Anyway, as ironic as discussing a picture selling a word book sounds - that magazine-cover um... literally um... sells itself.  In fact I feel so strongly that a photo sells a thousand RMHs that I think if we got it on the right magazine cover you could name it something bog-standard.  Rocket Mass Heater, for instance.

Lastly, let's remember not to be sad about selling out to go commercial - once EVERYone and their dogs' three hairdressers are talking about the *insert hip name here*, there will still exist the OG crowd who frequent the RMH club for speakeasy cocktails served in pinecone cups.

signed,
Your Admirer