I have a similar question. Having recently completed an
RMH, it is experiencing similar problems.
First off, I'll let you know what my question is:
Do RMH's usually require some time to dry-out or 'cure' before they start working really well??
My hypothesis goes like this:
As the soils around my place do not have
enough clay content to make good
cob, my mass is composed of dirt and gravel (partially encased in a brick exterior, and then partially encased in a
wood frame similar to Paul Wheaton's portable RMH). So anyway, the mass is composed of dirt and gravel...
To compact the mass, I added probably FIFTEEN BUCKETS of
water to it. (It soaked it right up.) And then I manually squished and squashed and compacted the fairly wet mass. (This was to get the air out of it, to help the mass act like a dense conductor, rather than an aerated insulator.)
When the RMH is running/burning, the exhaust is obviously heavy with lots of steam and water vapor. The exhaust smells like wet bricks, clay, dirt... wet earth. I know that some of the water (from the mass) is leaking in to the ducts through their seams. Hell, the bricks and mortar around the stove-core aren't even totally dry yet.
SO the stove burns alright. The draft can work okay. But I'm wondering...
Do RMH's usually require some time to dry-out or 'cure' before they start working really well??
