Unsightly drum.

Hi,

I haven't read every single post on the topic, but let me address the elephant in the room, in case no one else has. The unpainted oil drum that sticks out of a rocket mass heater is not exactly pretty.

I'm thinking of using a mass heater as part of a temascal. For those who don't know, a temascal is the precolombian equivalent of a sauna. It's practically a mud igloo. Mine won't be larger than 22' in diameter, so I don't need the bench and all that. Plus, I live in the tropics. I just need a small, toasty environment. Anyway, the folks I live with, are not exactly the same as me or anyone in this forum, and at the thought and sight of these oil drums they started to complain. Does anyone have any suggestion? For example, if I covered the drum with cob, wouldn't it still be pretty darn hot for that small a space?

Thanks.

If you want to throw money at the issue, a polished stainless drum would be a drop in and quite expensive visual upgrade..

Dillon Nichols wrote:If you want to throw money at the issue, a polished stainless drum would be a drop in and quite expensive visual upgrade..

Hmmm... I've seen them. You mean that those drums are what they look like before they get painted and used? I was hoping that they could look like that after removing the paint with fire and buffing them with some tool.

The one in Paul's house is stainless.  I believe they installed it and it took on a bronze patina on its own.

Sergio,   A barrel is not the only thing you can use to extract immediate heat from the stove. Any metal container, pre-made or fabricated big enough to fit over the heat riser with the preferred gaps left will work. Being a sauna you want this immediate heat so a brick bell or other mass which can made to look really nice probably won't do as the heat is released much slower. I used to use an old hot water heater core as my 'barrel' - kind of steampunk  with the rounded top and all the hole plugs sticking out everywhere.
Also, on page 262 of the Rocket Mass heater builders guide they cover design options.

thats a down right purdy drum, it really is a well done function heater that adorns your interior.
you could get some artistic individual to design artistic glaze on it or paint it with high temp paint.
it reminds me kind of like the recording studio the bee gees created in a middle class suburb in miami. when you walk into the living room the outside of the recording space was crafted to look like a giant tree, like the trunk of a redwood or something.

The drum is a stratification bell you could build something out of bricks. Just make sure it is leak free

I was considering using high temperature spray paint on mine the spray paint says it can withstand 1200 degrees and depending on how hot I burn mine it's usually anywhere from 300 to 800 Degrees  but I also cleaned mine with a wire wheel rather than just burning the paid off