RocketStove Aquaponics Greenhouse Thermal Mass

Hi!  I'm new to this forum. Hope someone can help!  Here's my idea.

Build a brick rocket stove in one corner of the greenhouse. (10x24 greenhouse) Exhaust stove pipe comes out and goes down into a ditch the length of the greenhouse (say, close to the long south wall).  (MAIN QUESTION: Will  it draft if I put it in an 8" pipe going down into the ground in a 15" deep ditch for a 20' run before coming up out of the ground and up and out the "chimney"?)  If I use 8" pipe can my ditch be less than 15"?

Fill ditch covering pipe with mortar up to level with the ground.  Lay 55 gallon steel drums on their side, end to end, in/on mortar ditch for good contact with barrel sides with the mortar.  I will then fill the barrels with water for my thermal mass being heated by the warm mortar once I've built a fire in the heater at night.  Hoping this will cause the barrels to release heat all night long.

I will put these barrels UNDER my growbeds that will line the south wall. (as my GH is only 10 ft wide)  I will also have growbeds on the north wall.  This entire design could be moved to north wall, doesnt really matter?  Whatdya think?  Thanks!

i m looking at the green house thing for worms and rabbits and fish , the north wall is where im thinking about the placement. with the sun helping out on the south?

I think I have a similar question. My mom wants one in her house and I want to build one in my 20x20 greenhouse. Is it better to do perlite and in ground for greenhouse? Would it be possible to run pide down from barrel out to cobb bench then into ground and out of gh or the opposite (in ground then up to cobb bench then out of gh)?

Am also looking to heat the aquaponics greenhouse with a rocket stove.
Using the mass stove design I plan to run the heating ducts through the 800 gallon tank using it as the heat sink.

If the tank is maintained at 80F then the greenhouse should stay warm. The additional heat from the stove itself should then keep it at a growing temperature.
The advantage of the rocket stove is clean exhaust. The plants love the moisture and the CO2. So why vent outside?

Any one have any ideas on how to get water tight heating ducts.

O.K., so a lot of good questions that never got answered Let me post this and i'll come back and try to help !
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I have created the simple-est forum thread '' Rocket stoves in Greenhouses'' for new members - to draw them to their own forum thread "Rocket stoves in Greenhouses'' it should also link here through
' threads others have visited ', - check in, - check often, - Pyro-allen

Livin on top MCcoy: So much of what you wanted to do depended on the actual choice of where and type of build. This would be a very valuable rocket stove in a greenhouse to follow !
How far have you come since you last posted, and where are you, local seasonal weather conditions, and even local greenhouse traditions of use actually can limit the use of Rocket stoves in green houses. Pyro-Allen

Jonathan Humphries : if you can respond to my answers at 'Rocket stove sin greenhouses, a forum of our own' it would help !

I believe perlite to be the best cheap material for insulation both for under the bricks,( you want what are called fire brick, a better name would be kiln brick, easy-ish to shape with a masonary blade in a circular saw or grinder !)
and perlite to make your Heat riser !

Could you share your proposed building location and altitude ? more there later, the Rocket stove can easily be built flush with the ground and then piped along under the ground to a cob bench and out a chimney depending on the moisture content in the soil which is dependent on moisture in the air, also dependent on the Transpiration of your healthy well-watered plants !

I would suggest that you try a more conventional build like for your mother, build it outdoors 1st, prove it works , then move it inside !

My 1st question to you should have been do you have Ianto Evans' Great book "Rocket Mass Heaters", go to www. rocketstoves.com - you can download a pdf (as many copies as you want ) for $15.00 U.S. or paperback,$18.00U.S.
There is no other place to get all the information thats in this book !

This is the slow season at Mom &Pop commercial G.H.s , now would be a good time to talk to an owner about his operations -( later there will be part time jobs !) Bring this book and show him what you want to do , interest him in these Forums ! With the high cost of Fossil Fuels you are sure to get a receptive ear ! ( if not, move on!) Hope this helps, - Pryro-maticly yours Allen L.

Roy Johnson : Do you have Ianto Evans' great book 'Rocket Mass Heaters' , if not go to www.rocketstoves.com - a download (as many copies as you want) $15.00u.s. or paperback $18.00u.s. . there is no other book with as much information in it. It is the book most commonly used at Rocket stove mass heater work shops !

With recent upgrades to the insulation inside the Heat Riser, the pyrolyzed wood gases are truly consumed, and the oft stated goal of Hot exhaust and just water vapor and and Carbon Dioxide is possible and easily maintained.

How ever there are longevity issues with the new insulation and time is needed to determine if it will downgrade enough to allow production of carbon monoxide .

Even with the presence of a CO detector I would not feel safe in an indoor environment where my rocket stove was discharging!
In an Enclosed greenhouse, with the Rocket stove discharging internally, and sealed up by frost or freezing rain the Rocket stove would slowly consume all the oxygen in the air, its last combustion products as it choked to death would certainly contain carbon monoxide, I for one would not want to take that chance.

A Rocket Stove just a few years old with cracks, internal plumbing partially plugged with wood ashes*, or just less than perfectly DRY Wood,** or the wind shifted to a new direction Can and Will smoke, and produce wood vinegar, methanol, tars and creosote, not a good diet for tender young seedling plants ! A reminder that when the plants are not actively making sugars they are then using those sugars for growth and survival, it is then that they open their stomas to take in Oxygen and would be bathed in toxins !

There are also issues related to the artificially high moisture content of the air and soil in a greenhouse, a certain # of air exchanges are needed to keep molds,mildews, and damps at bay not just for the plants also for the longevity of the wooden parts of the greenhouse !

What are the length and widths of your tank, Regular stove pipe can be found in 5 foot lengths, this would leave the sealing to water tightness to the area of the holes in most tank walls. With just a little pre-cooling you could even use galvanized stove pipe to promote longevity, or go deep with the heavy gage black wood stove grade stove pipe - though I have not seen it in 5 foot lengths locally !

With the the water tank already at a maximum temperature of 80 F ***, you would have no trouble getting down to the point where you would be able to capture and use the latent heat of vaporization, and you would have the ability to trap most of your water vapor and sample exhaust gases so you would know exactly how clean your Rocket stove was exhausting ( don't throw away your Carbon Monoxide detector ) carbonated soda anyone !?!

This reads more negative than I intended, and is not intentional, I hope at the least I have given you something to think about ! Pyro-maticly yours Allen L.

* Frequent cleanings are important to keep the pipes open and check for the presence of any condensed water vapors. Trapped water, and the lye in wood ashes are a bad combination that i leave to your imagination !
** Wood stored inside the G.H. during the growing season will draw enough moisture out of the air to be problematic for good fires and nearly useless for starting Rocket Stove Fires
*** Though the tank should not be sealed it certainly should be covered !

Thank you Allen.

The kind of information I needed.