Great idea Paul!
I’m working on a design for a custom built, very small (200 square feet) house on wheels, and would love to include an RMH. With this type of RMH design, the thermal mass material (rock, adobe bricks, earth bags, glass beads, water, wax, etc.) could be removed before taking the house on the road.
There may be some that would scoff at the idea of having an RMH in a mobile home (house on wheels in this case), but I don’t see why the trailer frame couldn’t be custom built, if necessary, to support the weight of the RMH when the house is shored?
Given the tiny size of the house, the RMH won’t have to be very big in order to heat the space; I’m just wondering if there is a minimum size that an RMH should be for best results? I guess that it would just depend on being able to find the right materials in a smaller size.
Even if a RMH built for a very small house on wheels lacks some degree of thermal mass and is not “super” efficient, there still seem to be a number of advantages in using this type of heater. And I still haven't ruled out the possibility of using plenty of mass - as long as it can be disassembled/removed/drained when the house is to be moved.
I’d love to hear any thoughts on this type of application. And if anyone would like to see my small-house-on-wheels with an RMH design plans (Google Sketchup) in order to know what I have in mind, then let me know.
Thanks to all for sharing your experiments and thoughts!
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