Will Dobbins

I have quite literally spent the entire day today(about 6 hours) looking for a tiny stove.  I have tons of 6 inch double wall/insulated stainless pipe and accessories.  My hope is to put in the penetration with the 6 inch stuff and have it ready to adapt to whatever I install.  However, I am having issues finding any little stoves small enough for a space this small.  FYI it is currently just a framed up 12x12 building wrapped with plywood.  BUT it will be insulated and drywalled as well as sided properly as soon as I get the time.  BUT I am looking for a heat source that is pref. wood, small enough for the space, and is not some terribly cheap amazon camp stove thing.

I thought I found one with the Guide Gear stove ~200 bucks, but the reviews do not please me, mostly the thinness of the metal causing warping and air gaps and the thing apparently is a smoke machine.

I was thinking rocket mass or just rocket heater but am not sure I can get one made small enough that will work.  Perhaps someone has a guide or blueprint for one?  I made a test RMS with 6 inch everything and it would be a lot for this tiny space...I think.

Mostly I am just needing a sound board but I am absolutely open to ideas.  TY

Coydon Wallham wrote:So is it just the ducting that is 10”?

Sorry, I should have 'splained better.  Yes all the metal stove pipe and ducting is 10 inches...as is the double wall insulated pipe through the roof.  The j tube is something closer to 8 inch.  As for "gets to hot for refractory brick", it does not, we are using kiln brick manufactured for HIGH fire ceramics work so there is some wiggle room.  Before that brick is destroyed the barrel would melt.  AND I have only ever seen it get red in a spot or two once...and that was due to a partial blockage in the accumulator area where the heat travels from barrel to mass.  A brick fell down and we had to fix that.

Thanks Thomas for the fast reply.

I am using masonry sand.  It is somewhat "sharp" but not terribly, being that this is close to the top of the clay/cob body I did not want anyone getting cut or scratched.  It is brown and black sand...but has a pretty wide range of sizes.  I did research on best sands and people were suggesting similar.

I found the straw worked really well for the clay/cob body, apparently so because it has been almost 10 years before repair of any kind was needed.  BUT the shrink rate between the new wet stuff and the drier clay/cob body is causing cracking.  AND I cannot get the straw fine enough to work well in smaller cracks.

I come at this from a different direction than some.  I have dealt with clay a lot in ceramics...and repairing leather hard stuff works really well with paper clay.  Which is just a thick (chocolate milkshake consistency) slip with toilet paper blended up(the cheaper TP the better).  It works well.

I think I will try this, and see.  I can mix up a small container and test it away from the fire part...and see.  BUT winter is upon us and I need this done...hence the reach out.

Our RMS is using 10 inch tube/stove pipe.  Has worked really well to heat a 2000 square foot home.  Has never caused issues until this year when we discovered the cracks, the loose brick(2 or 3) and the destroyed insulating material(perlite and clay) on the jtube upper chamber.  We replaced the perlite mix with a piece of fiber for kilns...and it has worked well, now the crack repair...just seeking "easier" things...

thanks again.

Hello.  I built a RMH for my in-laws in 2015, we contacted Erica and Ernie and they set us up with a really amazing thorough set of instructions for our custom build.  They even did a phone meeting to answer some questions.  Great folks!  HOWEVER, recently we decided to repair our RMH.  Over the years cracks have formed and finally this summer they were too bad not to repair.  SO 2 weeks ago I began the process, based on what information I remember or have written down somewhere.  I routed out the cracks and mixed up some repair cob.  6 sand, 1 clay, and finely chopped straw.  AND it worked pretty good, but there are cracks that have since formed, though not as bad.  I am curious...if paper slip or paper clay would be applicable here.  I guess I could just add another layer of the 6 to 1 recipe, but wanted to make sure we had no cracking.

Does anyone have a recipe or insight(even if it is a slightly different direction) for such a thing?

Also, we never did put a top layer/skin on it.  What are you all using for the skin?  What is the recipe?  I have heard good things about lime plaster, but lime(the type I need) is really hard to get here.

Also, is there anything I can do to prevent more cracks down the road?  We had to use C and C ball clay or similar(grey/white powder from a pottery shop) because the clay we have around here is insanely full of rocks and organic matter...and we were told it would be terrible for cob since we would have to screen it to remove impurities.

Anyway, thanks folks, advice is appreciated.

I managed to finally get in, thankfully I had an alternate email.

BUT the login seems buggy.  I love sign in with Google, because it makes life easier.  SO I clicked it then clicked the account I wanted to use.  It then took me to a page that said, "an unknown error occurred" then prompted me to try again.  The outcome?  Same.

So then I was like well, I will log in with my email instead, but it said I was already registered...I am assuming because I just signed in with google.  I know I have never signed in before.

SO, "sign in with google" glitched for me, but I managed to get in with a "sign in with email" and used an alt email.

No worries, but thought I would let you know.

Thanks.