Designs for the horizontal 'mass' run of piping: Book or digital resource(s)?

I'm curious, once one has settled on a size and design of their RMH, as to what kind of variation and considerations need to be addressed when planning the bench/mass that encases the horizontal run of piping before the gases hit the exhaust chimney.  On the one hand, it would seem that the total length of the horizontal pipe would need to be balanced with the rise height on the exhaust chimney, but I'm unsure how this balance is to be considered with the specs on the stove itself...?  Does one or more books or DVDs available from the community address this issue?  I'm interested in possibly having a straight horizontal run of pipe away from the stove and exiting into the chimney at the opposite end of the room from the stove.  Would be considering a small burn chamber at the base of the chimney for the purposes of 'priming' the system by heating up the vertical exhaust column prior to lighting the stove.  I would anticipate needing a pretty tall stack to aid in the draw of gasses through such a long system.   Am I full of hot air? [  :-)  ]   Please advise on some reading material if such exists on this idea.  Thanks..... and Happy Holidays, all!

Hi John;

An 8" J-Tube can push 50' of horizontal piping
A 6" J-Tube can push 35' of piping.
Now I'll mention that almost nobody is using piping through a mass anymore.
Almost all new builds are being built with a stratification chamber instead.
A 6" batchbox can have 57' of ISA (internal surface area) not counting the floor.

An 8" J-tube like mine can have the same approximately 57 square feet of internal surface area, in a system that has good natural draft at least.

Sounds like your looking at the question from the wrong end John. The vertical height of the chimney is not usually the deciding factor to calculating the amount of heat you can extract and still get a decent Delta T for draft.
The size and design of your RMH is most often asked first.
So, what have you chosen?
Once that is known, suggested pipe lengths or ISAs can then be given to work with (which Thomas and Glenn have already pointed out some of them).
So unless your vertical chimney is exceptionally tall/short,  not built to standards or let's say is known to have constant wind problems that affect draft, you may want to adjust these heat extraction suggestions up or down accordingly.

Thank you for the excellent comments and suggestions.  Although I'm still operating on occasion a mock-up rocket heater with no mass....an early project just to get my feet wet with the concept and still used for transient heat in an un-insulated garage/chicken condo.....I suspect it's time to delve deeper into the RMH build design from square one.  Is there a recommended 'best starter book/DVD' for this purpose?....  Thanks.

The build-objective would be adding a ~10 X 25 lean-to style greenhouse/solarium onto the south facing wall of a 30 X 40 steel pole building.  My initial plan is to place the RMH at the inner west wall of the building, have the horizontal exhaust pipe/stratification chamber run the ~25 ft distance along either the back (north) or front (south) wall of the greenhouse with exhaust gases exiting the east wall of the structure.  After reading Thomas R's note about stratification chambers, I went back through the posts to find a description of that and found Paul's YouTube entries on the topic.  In many ways they look easier to implement than snaking all of that pipe within mass matrix.

Would there be a document/DVD that covers, from building structure design through RMH design and implementation, this vision and also incorporates the newest updates to optimal RMH design considerations?  I was hoping to stick with a single 55 gal drum for the bell, but if the desired outcome requires something taller, then I would like to know that as I plan the build.  Thanks!.....and let me know if there is more information needed to be able to provide answers.

Hi John;
Here is some light reading for you
https://permies.com/t/270559/Stratification-chambers-Bells-explained
https://permies.com/t/261066/cut-Brick-RMH
https://permies.com/t/270619/Dragontech-Batchbox-Core-Construction-Door

thomas rubino wrote:Hi John;
Here is some light reading for you....

Thanks, Thomas.....and again, thanks for all responses and guidance.

Have you looked over Ernie and Erica's book? It includes Thomas's numbers above for duct runs, but also has some modifiers to help approximate irregular run effects- each 90* turn subtracts 5 feet from the total, a tall, straight exhaust chimney adds 10. I'm not very familiar with all of the mason bell variations out there, but have the impression that duct runs give more options (in non-standard settings) likely to be successful for the novice...

If you decide to go with ducts, the 3D Plans of the pebble style RMH is probably the one to follow. It was designed to be easy and simple to build. It uses firebrick for the inlet and burn tunnel. With a five minute riser. Then it sends the exhaust through ducts embedded in a pebble bench. So you don't have to mix loads upon loads of cob.

Bells are great also, but this is probably the state of the art when it comes to J-tubes and piped masses.

Thanks for continued comments from all.  I'm on track to order Thomas R's book right after New Year's Day and Erica and Ernie's book later this week.  I'm on the fence about the bench....stratification chamber vs. pipe.  How well insulated the structure housing this RMH build will be will impact which way I may lean....better insulation may favor a bell/bench that radiates heat for a longer duration (pea rock surrounding pipe), whereas I feel poorer insulation might just favor a bell with faster transfer of heat to the surrounding air during the burn with less retention of heat in the mass.  That in turn may lead to a more quickly and simply constructed bell/bench.  I will have the summer to ponder this more after more reading, consultation, and initial construction of the building into which this will go.  Thanks!...