Ken May

There's one pickup truck load of wood chips down the street from me available for free, but they need to be seasoned. They are at corner of Maple and Fairground Streets. Zip is 48170.
I will keep an eye on it and delete this thread when they are gone.
Hope this helps someone...
Peace
Ken

For clarification, the build is eventually going in this room that has a chimney, which is an addition built onto the pastor's quarters of my church. I've heard there may be problems with using a regular chimney with a RMH? I need to research this. The 3rd photo is of the exterior.

Here's my first post on this subject. don't laugh too hard... First one is a two-bedroom cabin earthbag dome and the other is an amphitheater integrated into a log/earth cabin facing the water for boaters. I love Earthbag Building!!!

Will Holland wrote:Cool looking house!

Thanks. I want to put some roofing metal sheets on the lower level to make it look like a double stuffed Oreo cookie. haha Here's a shot of the basement drum room. I love the sound of this room in my tiny house. The HUGE sound would blow you away...

When I was 5 I used to draw designs of little houses. They were tiny like Japanese motel room, to just crawl in and sleep. I didn't see why we needed such a big house and I felt like it was me against the world. That was 1972. I recently became fascinated with earth bag buildings, then the tiny house movement. My dream was to build a small dome house for a vacation home, then one day retire there. I found out residents don't take kindly to greenhorns buying up land and trying to build something that is less than the status quo.
Anyway, I fled Detroit Rock City last year and ended up just South of Cadillac in a small village of 227 people. I found a an old carriage house, built in 1900, that is about 323 sf if you include the finished bedroom in the basement I use to record and practice drums. It is so easy to heat, I got thru half of last winter with just two $15 space heaters, one downstairs, one up.
What's nice is it's on the grid, but has a well so no water bill. The utilities are cheap, and my house has a big bathroom and plenty of room in the kitchen. When people come over, they feel sorry for me but I love my tiny house. The only thing better would be to mobilize it. Oh well... I'm legal, and got into a 5-year land contract with a payment lower then a regular house on a 30 year note. Where most people pay triple what their house value is with interest, my interest is only 22% of what the cost/value of the house is. 300% or 22% I'm a dummy for living in a tiny house? I think not.
I look forward to this part of the forum. Very cool.

K, the 4" riser has nothing whatsoever to do with the build, just for cooking. And while my church is 1,500 sq ft im only heating 140 sf of it, a 10x14' room behind the pastors quarters. I was going to try a 6" pipe for the mass heater. I have much reading to do. Appreciate the help!!😊
Heres another rookie mistake. (attached). Looks like i need to repair where i smashed it with a hammer. Ill slit the bucket first then tape it next time. This is just my front deck cooking stove.

Thanks for helping me pry my head outta my ass. Greatly appreciated!!

Nice... The embedded video at the link will be available for replay for 48 hrs after it aired.

Newby introduction, My outdoor RMH in Progress...
First off, I want to say Ernie and Erica Wisner are the type of people who deserve some good, everlasting karma. I'd like to thank them sincerely for helping make the world a better place to be. I wanted to buy plans but the link did not work for some reason. I'll have to check back later.
Background: I have been interested in building a geodesic dome home on a big country parcel for twenty years, but things never materialized. I'm fascinated with geometric shapes, particularly in triangles because they symbolize the importance of 3's to me. Then last year, while revisiting the geodesic sites viewing designs and projects I'm so fascinated with, I stumbled onto Owen Geiger's Earthbag Dome designs. That was when my mind really opened up to new possibilities I never really thought about before, in terms of how the whole world can and will hopefully change as a result of this invention. I tried to find a place up North where I could build an Earthbag Dome sitting on a large parcel. I failed. I had to come up with another plan...
Here's the Beef: Just a few months ago while searching for Earthbag building videos, I came across the Wisner's awesome Youtube uploads. That is how I got here. (I have never met these people, by the way, and have never spoken to them.) I then experimented lightly with a rocket stove design using backyard scraps, and now I want to do my first build of a rocket mass heater. My plan is to build an outdoor version to work all the bugs out, then once I get a design that works well and can be easily replicated I want to build one in my church which is up in Sault Sainte Marie, MI. (I live in Leroy, near Cadillac, BTW). The off-the-grid church was built in late 1800's and I bought it as a snowmobile camp, a storage space, and a place to perform rock concerts and showcase other arts. It's a private spot, and the perfect place where cheap heat is definitely needed. It gets down to easily minus 30 degrees F.
For my first RMH build, it's going to just be a tent heater built partially in-ground. I will update this thread as progress eventually ensues. For now, any preliminary advice is appreciated on what to avoid when making an outdoor tent heater. Well, it's actually a 10x20' portable garage, but they have been termed "tent heaters" on Youtube.
ONE QUESTION I have is: Is galvanized vent piping ok between the combustion chamber and exhaust opening? I know you can't get it too hot, but I've been seeing people post videos using galvanized steel coming off the 55 gallon steel drums. Thanks for any input you've got, especially constructive criticism. I'm all for continuous improvement and that's why I'm here and not keeping this to myself.
ONE MORE QUESTION... Is it true an outdoor rocket mass heater doesn't need an insulated chamber, or is it beneficial to add insulation??? Thanks in advance!