rocket mass heater on school bus?

my mom and i are currently working on a plan for the buckminster fuller prize: a school bus conversion into a sustainable living education center.

we'd like to include a functional rock mass heater. how does cob hold up to vibration? what kind of material alternatives are out there?

I can't give you a reply from experience but I've been dreaming of building a tiny home on wheels with cob (maybe far-fetched but we all must dream). Here are a few of the resources I've bookmarked that may help you. In my opinion, the worst case scenario with the cob in a mass heater in a bus would be a few cracks.

Earthquake tests:



Mobile cob hut - does have a few cracks

Vibration is an issue, but so is chassis flex (not sure how much that happens in buses, it does happen in trucks). How were you thinking of attaching the RMH?

I'm not sure earthquakes are a good comparison. It's the continual vibration over time that is the issue - imagine driving for 5 hours, and then how many times that happens in a year. You could test this - make up something from cob, secure it to the floor, and take it for a drive.

Weight might be an issue too, depending on what materials and design you use.

You could also try to recreate the portable rocket mass heater:



You might have to disassemble it for long drives or you might not have to.

Emily Brown wrote:You could also try to recreate the portable rocket mass heater:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHOwmKyL7A

that is a great video! i hadn't seen it yet.
we might be able to bolt something like that in. saved!

Would love to know how heavy it is.

Paul, how did you transport it afterwards?

I am doing a school project and need to know about how much the cost would be to build a rocket mass heater in a double decker school bus that i am turning into a tiny home.

Hi Samantha,

Welcome to Permies!  You have found the best spot on the net.

The cost to build a rocket mass heater depends greatly on the exact design you settle on as well as your abilities and environment for scrounging.

It would be possible to build a functional RMH entirely of cob which could take zero dollars of cash; this would not be vibration-resistant enough for a traveling unit. If you have a community where good used materials are available, you could probably make a good small RMH for a bus with less than $100 cash. If you want to build a batch box style or need to buy new materials for a good part of it, it could cost several hundred dollars.