Jackson Bradley

Benjamin Dinkel wrote:It's on a first floor and the architect calculated a maximal weight of 300 kg/m2 or 62 pounds per square foot.

The calculated loads on concrete floors have always raise an eyebrow for me. I deal with it somewhat regularly with the equipment we install at different locations. Sometimes we have an engineer run calcs to tell us the psf an existing floor can take.

A monolithic house slab 4" thick typically has a 40 psf rating. Most driveways and garages are 4". An average weight car/light truck is 3000 to 5000 pounds. Because a light truck footprint is 80"x240" (134 sqft) and 134 sqft x 40 psf = 5360 pounds, you can park it on the same slab even though the tires are making contact on less than 4sqft.

In one sense, it is too bad an architect was consulted. That house slab must be fairly thick or have some good reinforcement to have 62 psf rating. You probably could have parked a large masonry heater in a smaller footprint and still not have loading issues (actual in the field, not in calculations and on paper).

There are risks associated with consulting a design professional and risks associated with not contacting a design professional.

thomas rubino wrote:
As far as bypasses go.
Appropriately built to specification, you should not need a bypass, BUT... they are a darn good idea.

Thanks, Thomas.

I mentioned the bypass because, from what I understand, you are making the masonry stove more like a conventional stove for a short time. I didn't know if that would make the flu draw easier or harder than when in "normal" mode for the masonry heater.

Am I right in thinking that once the mass is heated up, you would not need to do anything to heat the flu to create a draw for the next fire?

Are you finding that you still need to follow the "3-2-10" rule with the different heater styles? What has worked for you not following that rule?

Would having a bypass make it necessary for correct draw when starting a fire?

My current conventional setup is 2' above the roof line with a 5/12 pitch. So the closest thing 10' away is 50" high. I am not even close to fulfilling that rule. I always light a piece of paper and hold under the chimney before I start the fire to get the draft going and never experienced any issues. Metal roof so sparks are not an issue and even on windy 40-50 gust days, no downdraft.

3-2-10 rule
Your chimney must extend at least three feet above the point where it exits your roof.
It must also be at least two feet higher than any part of the roof (or nearby structure) within ten feet horizontally.

At 3:20 he adds some lags. He only shows them being added to the outside band and they look to be 1/4" or 3/8" diameter lags. In the areas of the US I work in, you would not pass a framing inspection with that method.

You *may* pass a framing inspection if you thru bolted 1/2" diameter galvanized bolt, nut, 2 washers through the outer band and post.

You would certainly pass a framing inspection if you notched the posts to receive the outer band board and thru bolted with 1/2" bolts and had the center beam sitting on top of the center posts or notched as well. This is if the framing members are supported at the appropriate span for the member size and the posts are sized correctly to have a notch.

I am a fan of notching. It is not difficult and can even be done with a chainsaw if you are good with one. If the notch will remain exposed, I use a skill saw and Sawzall to make them look good. If they will be covered up, I use a small battery powered chainsaw. The chainsaw chain makes a rougher edge on the notch and is not as visually appealing as the skill saw method.

Also, if your fasteners ever fail, the beam is supported by the post. If the beam is attached to the outside of the post (no notch) and your fasteners fail, it could cause some serious issues.  

It would be a tough habit to change for the 85% Americans on these forums accustomed to using the US state abbreviations in our almost everyday life.

Due to the forum demographic, it may make more sense to spell out a country if it has the same abbreviation as a US state or just trust that the post context will be enough for folks to understand. I have never seen the abbreviation ME and thought of anything other than Maine and even that takes a second to remember.

Another thing that came to mind. I am currently tending a nice fire in a standard wood stove. In a little while, we'll put the kids to bed and my wife and I will sit at the fire. I'll tend the fire and we'll talk. We'll both be looking through the glass door at the fire. I have to work tomorrow so we'll talk from 8-10 and call it a night. I'll burn a lot of wood because I'll keep the door open and she'll sit in the angle of the open door. I'll be further away from the stove and the open door ha.

We do a lot of things that require more input because they are done more simply. We do not mind tending a fire or opening and closing windows if it gets too hot or cold.

Do you all miss the continuous live fire experience?

thomas rubino wrote:You might consider a hybrid design like my shop dragon, with a barrel and a brick bell.

Thanks, Thomas. Functionality is more important than looks, for us. We do our best to make things look as good as possible but that is secondary.

I can get a stainless barrel from a friend I know that collects "junk".

I like the way yours turned out in your cabin. I also really like the idea of a bench of some sort. We read to our kids a lot and they like to be cozy when we do so. I can imagine them really enjoying a warm seat while we are reading.

Looks like I have some more research to do.

I have really enjoyed reading through current and past heater builds and I am catching the bug.....

We have a monitor style barn. It is built on a monolithic slab. The building is 40'x48' and currently wide open. there is a second floor in the middle that is 16'x48'.

The plan is to reserve the west side 12'x48' for shop and storage. Finish out the east side 12'x48' for living space. We currently have our RV parked in the middle 16' section and live in that. After we build out the east side living space, we will turn part of the middle section (16'x36' or so) into a large open room that will be accessible, with doors, from the finished east side and have an exit to the outside. No plans for the second floor until far down the road.

At the end of the "first phase" we'll have 12'x48' finished off. Approximately 12'x12' will be the utility area and would not need to be conditioned but would need to stay above freezing so 12'x36' for living space = 432sqft first phase. I am not sure how important the info on the space is but there it is.

Lately, and in some past posts, I am reading about you all using your mass heaters in your shoulder seasons. Our winter would basically be what most of you call fall/spring so our winter is your shoulder season. Dec/Jan/Feb average 50's for the high and 30's for the low. We usually have a week in the middle that does not come out of freezing for 3-5 days and we also have some weeks creep back into 60's and 70's.

Fall and spring vary wildly. We just came out of 2 weeks in the high 70's and are looking at the 50's high/30's low coming around the corner. I have read a couple of posts where the recommendation would be to burn two smaller fires instead of one large to avoid condensation.

What do I need to know and what would be the recommendation for my climate? I am still developing my understanding and I see some of you have built single skins or double skins and some have both in different buildings on your property. I am not sure going for a larger mass would be beneficial due to the small SQFT and our climate. Any feedback is appreciated to develop my understanding to plan ahead for the build.

PS. The Ladyfolk in the house start getting cranky when we hit anything 65F and under inside, but they become very pleasant once we are back around 70F and above. I've had almost 20 years of experience with that and it is not changing.....so I keep it 70F and above, never use covers, and have a fan on me unless I am running a fever.

Fun question!

An ancillary part of other answers given is to make sure that everyone is committed to eating what is available during whatever time of year that is. I assume this would already be the case given the post title.

Eating in season, including planning farm animal population ebbs and flows, greatly reduces food preservation needs and frees that time up for other things.

Adding in the local wildlife, such as deer and fish, really helps unless they are fattening up by eating your crops!

There are definitely categories to doing your own electrical.

I imagine most folks are comfortable changing things "like for like". You can find the breaker, turn it off, take a picture of the outlet or switch wiring, and install the new one. Doing that may spur you on the figure out why the outlet is a GFCI or not, why it is located at that spot it is in the circuit series, what the difference between a GFCI and standard outlet is, etc.

Moving to the breaker box to change breakers or swap a standard breaker for a GFCI may be too intimidating. Most newer house breaker boxes have a main breaker that cuts power to all of the breakers but your incoming service will still be hot unless you can kill it at the meter base. Doing things in the meter base  (if it is a combo base with a meter and some breakers) is in a similar category.

If you are pulling new wire, understanding some particulars like voltage drop/amp rating to size wire, continuous loading on a breaker % requires a working knowledge of the NEC tables and/or experience, usually.

I doubt very much in the interior breaker box and service base are very interesting to most homeowners and if things seem intimidating, gauge your own comfort level and call for a tradesman.

The videos cover many categories of electrical and hopefully they will be helpful to help tackle some projects.

A caution about "non-contact voltage detectors", picture below. I have personally had 2 different makes/models show a wire was not hot and it was. This was early on in my time working around electrical and I do not use them. I always use a voltmeter. Mileage may vary but my voltmeter has never lied to me.