Rocket mass heater - Chimney length and vent height questions

I want to buy a teepee and heat it with a rocket stove.

The idea is to have the entire floor area act as the thermal mass so that the heater is in the center and the chimney spirals out from there. I'm assuming that there is a prefferred exit height for the chimney as well. The teepee will be between 16' and 19' in diameter and in an ideal world will sit snugly over the raised thermal mass that is all heated, but if the length of the spiral would be too much then I will start on plan B.

I'm assuming that at some point the chimney will have to raise, what's the lowest acceptable height and would it be ok for the pipe to exit the teepee at ground height and then simply turn at right angles into a vertical riser?

for every bend figure five feet of length so you might get one pass. Are yo putting this in the earth?

If so yo will need to isolate the "floor" from the surrounding earth. better IMO to build an insulated platform and heat that.

will this tepee have he felted liner or will it be just canvas?

Are you planning to move this thing?

how many years are you going to live in it?

I don't want to hijack this thread but I just listened to podcast 241 and came across it. While I'd love to volunteer for Paul, Ernie and Erica's one-year teepee experiment, relocating across the country isn't an option right now. I'm quite curious as to how you are planning on setting it up though. I bought the 8" Cabin RMH plans a while ago, could that be adapted?

The teepee would be there long-term. Maybe on a felted liner, it would depend on the price.

Thanks, can't wait for the DVDs.

Edit: Yes on the liner.

Hello all,

Like Bill before me I don't want to hi-jack the thread conversation. I'm brand new here, and don't want to make any enemies... So, with apologies ...

I just wanted to say Hi, and say that I just caught Paul Wheaton's interview with Ernie & Erica (I hope I got the names right!), and was astonished to hear that Ernie has built about 700 of these RMH's ... Wow! Kudos! ... I have been reviewing dozens of these things and I'm greatly impressed with the performance! The beauty is in the intracacy of design simpliicity. You have to know that big oil has been in control for far too long, when the efficiency of some of these RMH designs is coming close to the 100% mark! (-notably one youtube vid of a RMH which has only recently self-destructed (billed as "RMH on steroids" - and I understand that guy is also a Permies.com member) used as the sole heat source for an aquaponics operation in a geodesic domed building.

Back on topic ... again, with apologies for digressing...

If you're still around Ernie as I noted your comment was in 2012, am I to understand that every bend in a below floor installation eats up 5 feet of potential mass heating run length? (I think not insulating the floor was the only major fault of the aquaponics dome installation as well. I do wonder though if you had any issues with permitting for installations.

Take Care All

Mike