Will Park

Here are the previous week's graphs. Started to dip a little lower now that it's been steadily snowing all week

Week of 11/29 to 12/6

Note: NEVER forget to put the lid back on the stove. Lost a lot of progress but may just be because it's much colder now...

BRK post #15:

Another day of ATI!

Played a solo session of Pick-up sticks on survival mode. Gotta get them all up off the ground before the rain comes again!
(Hope I made the leaderboard 🤞)

We also got the gear for the live stream/recording of the GMC event in January. I'll have the next three weeks to work on that setup and making sure it runs smoothly for the week of the event! Super excited about running that!

BRK post #14

Well it's been two weeks in the Abbey. Getting used to cooking on this awesome rockety stove!

The Boot Camp and Paul hung out at the Bun Warmer the day after Thanksgiving for our Day of Fire half-assed holiday!

Made minor improvements to the red cabin with sealing up the door a little more.

Then today I made a little indoor firewood holder that fits nicely next to the piano and should help hold in amy woody debris from all the split pieces. Just load it up and make less trips out in the cold to get firewood! Beautiful!

Here we go with another week of graphs!

So far my trend is looking up!

Gotten the average up above 55° this week although these last few days have been a bit warmer than when we started. Hopefully with the little improvements it will start to show more. Otherwise, I've been pretty comfortable here lately even though I'm sure I've acclimated by now.

I added in a very slight improvement today. Folded up some strips of fleece scrap to help seal around the door. The felt lining it was a start but you could still see lots of light coming through the gaps around the door.

Hopefully this will help retain heat here within the abbey

I feel I should clarify if it hasn't been stated earlier. The "mass" of Allerton Abbey isn't your typical mass from a rocket mass heater. It is simply the structure itself. The only mass that truly stores the heat from the fires being used for cooking is the stove itself. Most heat is directed immediately outside.

So far within the 1.5 hour burns I've done so far I can get the temperature readings up about 1.5° F and then it takes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours for that temperature to drop back to where it was at the start of the last burn.

So my theory is I can get the average indoor temp to gradually rise with each meal preparation (sometimes I just make tea or coffee but keep the burn time relatively the same)

My hopes are the data after this week will reveal that my theory holds true.

I noticed today the temperature seemed to drop much quicker with a few of the window quilts drawn despite the bit of solar gain I was getting from the east windows. Once I closed the quilts the temperature started to level off and decrease much much slower.

My first week I had started the fires with very little burnable materials and going straight in with large firewood pieces.

I now am utilizing thinner wood strips that burn hotter and faster to put off more heat into the space. I can get the temperature up about 0.5° in about 15 minutes with that technique.

I do not know the construction of the window quilts and yes they are not perfect either, but their current state of existence is still better than none in my opinion.

It seems it takes several hours for the temperature to drop significantly and I'm hoping that if I can maintain at least a 1 to 1 1/2 hour "cook time" 3 times a day then we MIGHT see a steady climb in average indoor temperature.

Thanks Mark for following up on those questions!

I've been in the Abbey for a week now. I personally would not enjoy myself here if the test was to go a period without lighting the stove and having no hot meals while I'm here. I'll let someone else take up that mantle unless it has been done before.

Despite not doing that sort of test the temperature drop does stoll seem to put weigh the minimal heat given off from the stove. I've done some longer cooking tests to see how much is given off for a period of "burn time." I also have started leaving the feed chamber open while cooking as it works just as well that way and allows a bit more of the heat into the room.

I have the graphs here from this past week. We had a number of cloudy and cold days this week so there is a dip in the height of the peaks.

I think my new test would be to try a constant burn time throughout the week and likely be doing 2 to 3 cooks a day.

We got the window quilts all in place thanks to Cheryl and I'm finding some little spots that could use improvement (i.e. cracks in door seals/window seals, etc.)

Here are this week's graphs and also been letting in some light from the east windows in the mornings as it doesn't last long!

BRK post #13:

Today was our first day with the WWOOFers.

One little wwoofer brought a large dog
One little wwoofer brought none
And one little wwoofer went "weeeeeee" (silently) all the way home on the first night!

This was also my first morning in Allerton Abbey. Made a simple breakfast of Oatmeal and this evening it was pasta with marinara. Nothing special so I can get used to how the stove runs.

We also got a little more done on the Solarium build, got some firewood and I reset the game cams

It appears someone or something snipped the solar panel connector to one of the cams, but that's easily fixable just inconvenient.

On top of that the power went out at the base camp and just about every town around us! Thank goodness for fire stoves!