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.