Don Rice

Hi Thomas thanks for sharing the picture of your heater, does the heat riser extend up to the top of the second barrel? I wasn't aware that could be done. I have a space with 10 foot ceiling and that configuration may be a good choice, what is the primary gain for the second barrel setup? Do you gain more radiant heat? I imagine the exhaust outside would be cooler at the end of the exterior stack.

Thanks guys for the advice, my thought regarding curing the paint was to build a j-tube mock up out of fire brick with the drum propped over it to cure the paint, I already bought the paint cans that claim a 2,000 degree tolerance in an aluminum color and I was afraid I might have put the cart before the horse in doing so. I will try it out in the spring as we are currently in the -20° Celsius range here in Saskatchewan. I want to be sure to cure the paint properly and fully. I was thinking it would also look good with a gun metal blue but I have my doubts as to how to achieve that finish so I settled on aluminum color. Finding those barrel clamping rings to join the two barrels is proving to be quite difficult but I am going to see if a metal fabricating shop can make a couple for me.

Thanks Byron, I will probably wait till spring to apply and cure the high heat paint as I would do so outside to spare us the fumes in house. In the mean time I have just ordered a barrel stove kit I will set up in the interum to use inside until we build our RMH. I will be building it myself in the basement which will take some time, I am 61 yrs old this month. I am thinking I may be able to heat chamber the barrel stove and use a blower to feed heat through existing duct work to disperse the warmth through out the house. These RMHs are quite the deal and I believe they are a great idea. Looking forward to building them God willing.

If my barrel is steel and to be used indoors, can it be painted with high heat paint? Or is it to be left to rust? I would like to use a stainless steel barrel but they have an $800 price tag. High heat paint requires a three stage heat curing process after which are said to be flame resistant but would they still be gassy and give off toxic fumes? I just want a good looking barrel or is this not doable with steel barrels?

Thank you so much folks. My wife and I would like to build a couple of these RMHs in our home. If and when, I will try to document the builds and post some pics here on Permies. {:^)>

Would the weeding sickle handle an over grown patch of ground on the farm that has been let go for a number of years? Meaning that the grass has a major dead grass mat. Would the sickle cut through the heavy matting of dead grass?