Bert Vinyl

Hi Paul. Love your stuff, which is why I'm submitting .
Heat storage is a subject dear to my heart. I burn wood in a stove in my basement to heat my home and water. I like to sleep with no fire going to be safe. My heating the basement walls gives heat back all night and the mornings are quite nice, considering.
John Hait has a book on passive annual heat storage, and my ideas are from his works. He uses air and gravity flow ideas.i use fluid and pumps.
On the peak of a vented home roof, the summer heat causes a huge amounts of hot air to be ejected. I think a collector made from finned copper tubing, allowing the heated fluid to be pumped down into a storage bed of insulated earth would store heat to be used in the heat pump system later. Or for a retrofit to a building, into tubing cast into the inside basement wall/floor area. I think of heating, as a Maine boy with years of wood pile time in.
On new construction, the leach field is made with lots of sand, maybe use this as part of the storage mass, saving the cost of constructing the storage area.
He also recomends using beadboard insulation covered with plastic sheeting to keep it dry and allow movement. Anyway, maybe you can run with his stuff sometime.
ideas- building the roof with design citreia to enhance collection.
- fluid not air because of vermin damage
- consideration of the off time at night and winter time to stop heat losses in the home collector.

Of course thats right, but I was just raving on. We have a wonderful retired professor around here in Maine USA who stresses wood being in a woodshed for a yr or so as being the best thing you can do to reduce wood smoke pollution.All the epa rules in the world don't help any where near what woodsheds do. All the best, Del in Maine.

Remember that most woods dry through the ends after surface water is gone. So ends should have air flowing past them and the ends should face a heat scource for best drying in the house... Stack it for best air flow past the ends, use the prevailing wind direction at the site to best advantage to get airflow past both ends, and keep the rain off the top of the rows.. The tree fluid goes from ground to air through these tubes in the wood, so use this info to help dry the wood. Oak is used for barells because water doesn't go through it sideways, but you can suck air through endgrain of that stuff. Warm wet wood is still wet, but it's better than cold wet wood. And cold winter air dries wood much better than moist warm air. Weigh a piece, keep it in the middle of your pile and weigh it later to check progress maybe.
I once was working at a job where the boss wanted this new cut down tree gone. Well, i got it gone into my 2500 chevy truck. I had a rounded load, and didn't unload it but drove around for a few days with it in the back and the stuff on top was noticeably drier after that. i figure the air blowing on it really helped out.
thinking about these facts, maybe a row or 2 in the back of a pickup,under a cap with no windows would dry quick enough to be worth the effort. Or fill the cab and keep the heater on to help dry it. Or under hood kilning a batch a day.I can see it now.
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Hello folks. I just tonight found this site.I was looking for info on subfloor wood head for greenhouses.I won't go into the construction now,but i'd like to describe my home heating device. I have been using a version of it for almost 20 years.I put a water heating contraption in it around 95. It is heating my house now, and I have about 45 gals of hot water in a 60 gal tank beside me.The temp of that water is 145 at the top and 90 at the lower level.
It's core is a double barrel Sotz kit barrel stove. I like their door best. I "wrap"the stove with a plenum cut from a discarded 275 gal fuel tank. One end is left on and becomes the top of the air plenum. The front is cut out for door access, and to get it around the barrels. 55 gal barrels don't fit completely in without notching the plenum. I put a smoke deflector piece at the top of the bottom barrel and the cut out. Helps keep smoke out of the heated air. on top are holes for hot air to get out, and the stovepipe to get to the top barrel.These can be any size you want, mine are 6 inch and 12 inches. From these salvaged 12 inch air pipe rises to my floor grates, with the 6 inch going to the bathroom and the porch if wanted.It's 80 in here now, 2 story 27x36.
I use a 60 gal tank made by whitehead in 1939 from copper. It needs replacing and probably I'll have to use a semi truck fuel tank with the proper threaded holes welded in. It's upstairs, the stove is down cellar. This is plenty of rise for the convection of air and water. Water comes down from the tank to a tempering valve,[1/2 ball sweat] then down to the lower edge of the bottom barrel, then is split so as to get to both sides fo the barrel, then through copper 1/2 pipes 12 inches long held to the barrels ridges by a big home made hose clamp. 7 pipes on each side joined at the top and back up to the tank. 90 degree elbows with very short pieces in them keeps the exchanger short. I soldered them up with some upward angle on them and they work great. One thing I did not do that should be done, is fit t&p valves before and after the water going to and exiting the stove.Somthing about steam might blow it apart. I got lucky my rig has no traps that happens in.
This rig is repairable, doesn't need much care and was affordable. Scrubbing out the stove pipe and ash removal is it. How much? Everything was scrounged but the copper pipe stuff. I am a so so steel fabricator with the tools,and it took 5-6 days. So it is nor for everyone. I came here to pick up a few bones and I like to throw a few down if I can.I will give more details and such if anyone wants, see ya later. Bert.