RMH Design Help

Hello all, allow this to be my introductory post here.

I live in a 1100sqft Doublewide in Southeastern Ohio that’s currently all electric heat.

I very much am interested in the RMH and the way it performs opposed to a traditional wood stove.

I do have a few questions though. Is there a minimum length of flue pipe or volume of thermal battery that make the stove purposeful. I am very cramped on space, I’m also consciences with the weight bearing capabilities of the floor.

Second question is would the thermal battery be better placed central in the house. Or on the exterior wall with the most windows and the front entry door. Thank You all in Advance for your help.

Hello John and welcome to Permies!
I think a successful installation depends very much on your house layout. The typical cob bench/barrel RMH has 2 main heater elements - the barrel which gets hot quickly and will heat the rooms mainly by radiant heat is maybe best positioned centrally. The thermal mass (bench) heats the people sitting on it and retains heat staying warm for long after the fire has gone out. I've seen plans for benches both centrally and along outside walls so I don't think it matters too much.
You will find some links to threads about dimensions on this thread and this one has a build discussed on a suspended wooden floor which might help about floor loading.
If you post a sketch of your initial ideas, then usually some more experienced people are usually happy to critique it for you!

Hi John;  Welcome to Permies!
Your RMH should be as centrally located as possible.
There are two styles of RMH.
The traditional J-Tube design is most often built with a bench.
There are maximum numbers for bench piping but no minimum numbers.
The newer Batchbox design uses a hollow "bell" or stratification chamber.
The bell can be any shape, with no minimum numbers on size.
The J-tube uses an exposed barrel for instant radiant heat.
The Batchbox core is usually built inside of the bell and has stored heat in the brick.
Both are proven designs,  the J-tube is much simpler to build, and the batchbox is more conventional in design, but requires some metal working.
Weight is a concern, but extra support is not hard to add if needed.

Just bumping this after hearing a story on Minnesota Public Radio of the number of double-wide/pre-fab type homes on the increase in this state and how to increase energy efficiency of their winter heating.  As anticipated, most of the story was about better insulation in such homes and less about forms or sources of heat being used.  Is there a module within any of the RMH tutorial media that deals with such dwellings?  Thanks!

I think Uncle Mud (Chris McClellan) has a doublewide in Ohio, and has a medium-weight half-barrel bell bench system on legs for mass.

Hello John,
Why am I just seeing this now? Welcome to the crew. Here is one of my RMH in my doublewide in NE Ohio. How's yours coming?
https://youtu.be/19nIXijNYrA?si=w5Spse04AUeuaOM2