Heat a Space with a RMH for a Week - PEP BB rocket.straw.week

I stayed in the fisher price house at WL with my kids to complete this BB. The temps were colder and wetter than they had been for the past month so I ran the rocket until the wall temp readings met or exceeded 80degF. I figured this was necessary because of how often my kids like to open exterior doors.  I also didn't do as much cooking during the day as I had over the past month so I needed to account for that. I had a routine of running the rocket as I make coffee in the morning and then I stay nearby for about 3hrs to monitor and feed it before the embers go out.

On day 3, I took note of the time and temperature readings:
at time 0mins - 68degF - scoop out the ash, ignite cardboard and kindling
10 mins later  - 68degF - first load of mostly small pieces
31 mins later  - 70degF - second load of mixed size pieces
37 mins later  - 72degF - third load of mixed size pieces
23 mins later  - 74degF - fourth load of mixed size pieces
19 mins later  - 77degF - fifth load of mixed size pieces
26 mins later  - 79degF - sixth load of mostly large pieces
47 mins later  - 80degF - shift the bricks to dampen and closeup the system
40 mins later  - 80degF - cork the air intake
From ignition to putting the cork on to fully close the system took 3.9hrs; granted, this wasn't optimized. I set a 20min timer in between loads but sometimes it wouldn't quite be ready for a new load and I'd get sidetracked. I also didn't pay too close attention to the embers dying after the last load to move the bricks/cork the system

My goal this week was to not use the bricks or the cork to dampen the air intake. It seems to me that the rocket performs most optimally when the air isn't dampened - based on how relatively hot the stratification chamber radiates heat and how quickly the feed turns to embers. I think that the logs that I split a month ago were actually too skinny so I separated the wood so that the skinniest pieces get used for the rocket oven instead of the fisher price RMH.

Everything was running smooth and routine most of the week. However, on day six, I used too many skinny pieces and had a competing chimney effect so I used the bricks to increase the air velocity to prevent smoke back. After having this experience and discussing it with Paul, I decided to change the method for how I was placing the sticks. I was previously putting the largest part of the stick down because I was concerned about the sticks not dropping properly. However, I found that by putting the skinnier side down, the burn tunnel wasn't getting as blocked and I found that I could fill the belly more.

On day 7, the last day, I continued to use the fat side of the stick up method and the effect was dramatic. I planned on not running the rocket for as long because I knew that there was going to be a lot of warm air escaping out the front door (moving things into my car) so I planned on running the rocket again in the evening. What ended up happening was that the RMH retained heat far better with this method even when I had wet laundry to dry. I didn't end up needing to run the RMH that evening and the house was still very warm by the next morning.

Now, after having returned home, I miss being able to watch the sideways fire and feel the radiant heat. It's so mesmerizing.

The temps dropped below freezing outside every day. I began recording data for the one week operate a rocket BB immediately after completing the one month operate a rocket BB.

I heated my greenhouse for 1 week with the RMH I build there. I used two thermometers to track my progress: one outside, hanging on a shed, the other in the greenhouse, hanging on a post. For the 7 days I tracked my heating, March 2nd 2025 through March 7th 2025, the temperature went below 32 degrees 6 nights outside. In the greenhouse, the temp never got below 65 degrees.  I set an alarm for 68 degrees, so I would be notified if the greenhouse needed another burn to stay above 65F.
There are many more than the required 3 temperature logs a day: midnight, 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am, 11am, 1pm, 4pm, 6pm, and 9pm.

I retrofitted an old barn with greenhouse panels three years ago. The first season, I heated it with a home made barrel stove. Rabbits I had staying out there died when temperatures went below 0F!
Last year, I found a camp stove which I thought would be more efficient. It wasn't. It wasn't even close to possible to keep the greenhouse above freezing in March with these stoves. Stuffing it full of wood before bedtime with wood, getting out there before dawn to stuff it again still didn't keep plants from freezing.
The rocket mass heather, on the other hand, made it possible for me to keep the temps well above freezing, with some work. I believe that, with one burn each evening, it wouldn't be a hassle to keep temperatures in the 40s at night, but that's an experiment for another week!
For about two weeks, I've been improving the insulation and making adjustments to see if keeping the greenhouse above 65F at night was even possible! I did things like stuff the walls, which were bare studs, full of old clothes and odds and ends, enclose the studs, chink any holes with clay mud, cover the upper windows with baby blankets, even cover the exterior greenhouse panels with blankets at night. By March first, I was ready.

Most evenings, I burned in the rocket from 6ish to 9ishpm. Then again when I woke up between 5 and 6am.
Three nights out of the week, I had to burn between 2am and 4am: the first night I was still getting used to my rocket. One other night, my exterior blankets blew off, and the third time, it was just really cold outside. But I don't disparage the wee hours awake. I was privileged to see a brilliant big dipper, hear a coyote's song for the first time, and cuddle a purring kitty.
In my hours of splitting wood and keeping the greenhouse running, I kept improving the greenhouse, got two beds ready for growing, and spun yarn on a drop spindle. The time was never wasted. Instead, I would say it was peaceful and productive.

One night, carrying milk crates of firewood, I felt the wood I needed to run the rocket in the greenhouse was too much! So to compare, I weighed all the wood I used inside my house, in a regular wood-burning, cast iron fireplace to heat my home for one day. It took 73.5 lbs. In the greenhouse, burning twice in a day, it took 46 lbs. Were the rocket in a conventional building, and I only needed to burn once a day, it might only take 20 lbs of wood, a third of the wood my conventional wood stove uses. Not part of the bb, just an interesting comparison!