'Horizontal chimney' = rocket mass heater?

I was scrolling through my facebook feed, and ran across this image:



It came with this text/tags

Horizontal chimney
Flooring
#chimney #fireplace #architecture #chimneysweep #fire #chimneys #bobbynash #eddiediaz #henriettawilson #oliverstark #ryanguzman #kennethchoi #onfox #jenniferlovehewitt #peterkrause #interiordesign #aishahinds #athenagrant #evanbuckley #angelabassett #christopherdiaz #maddiebuckley #woodburningstove #photography #home #gavinmchugh #design #conniebritton #buckbuckley #roof

Is it just me, or does that look a lot like a rocket mass heater? I find the tags fascinating, because none of them mention rocket mass heaters. is "horizontal chimney" the new name for rocket mass heaters?

Without the rocket aspect, I understand this isn't a rocket mass heater. A lot of people in the comments of the post are comparing it to ancient Roman chimneys.

I do know that the term "Rocket Mass Heater" is confusing for people, and we're often looking for other things to call them. I wonder if "efficient horizontal chimney" might be more intuitive for people. No idea.

I'm not an RMH expert but those images are missing the heat generated by the particle burning in the bell (riser + barrel) as well as the mass to store and slowly release the heat.  So while the system as shown may capture more heat into the room before it exits the chimney, there appears to be some crucial elements missing as compared to an RMH.  Nevertheless, it does seem like a part of the concept has been duplicated in those diagrams.

Edit:  It does look like they indicate presence of mortar above the horizontal run of the flue gases, so some nod to the 'mass' aspect of an RMH.

Hi Nicole;
Please do not build one of these. We like you way to much!
I see the possibility of lots of creosote,
Chance of serious smoke back into the room.
A potential floor fire.
You are laying on the floor to fill it...

Other than that add a riser and barrel and NOW you have a reading nook that is safe!

yeah, I have no plans of building one! I've thought about having a rocket mass heater in our garage when we remodel it into a family room, but I don't have the know-how for that, and don't want my house being burnt down!

I can see where there's a LOT wrong in the illustrated "horizontal chimney" design. It's like a simplified, inefficient, rocket mass heater...without the rocket or the mass! But, I do wonder if we can use the term. Maybe "horizontal chimney" or "horizontal woodstove" would be more intuitive for people than 'rocket mass heater."

If nothing else, the facebook post allowed me to tell some people about rocket mass heaters!

It makes me think of a miniaturized Korean in-floor heating system.

It makes me wonder if folks that suggest such a heater (horizontal or any other) and I don't mean anyone on here, but rather some face book suggest-or of a woodstove

If something like this could be made to draw, and that is doubtful, then any of the area that close to the fire would/should be to hot to sit on, if the fire was to burn  2 hours or less. If it was not that hot, then certainly as Tom pointed out, it would be cool enough to worry about creosote problems and with a shape like that, a bugger to remedy.

While most on here know this would not turn out well, there are always those that see something, that think " This is it"  before thinking about anything else, which of course is to bad.  How many times have we heard the true words of Peter V. telling  "build a known working unit" to avoid problems and enjoy.

Looks cozy but won't work.  What causes the draft needed to make a rocket stove to work is the temperature differential between the internal Insulated riser and the exposed uninsulated barrel.  From there, a long, tall chimney...(and in-between those would be thermal mass).  If you were to pursue this design, consider a mattress on top of the thermal mass would act more as insulation and won't radiate the heat stored in the thermal mass.

Hmm, I think the magic is in the clean and complete burn on the upstream side.

This can be accomplished by the RMH riser/reburn system. It also happens with well engineered (and operated!) wood stoves that remix heated air and flue gases once the whole insulated chimney system is doing its job.

But once you have a clean burn that extracts maximum BTUs, I guess you could direct that hot exhaust anywhere you want. When I look at the Roman hypocaust or other equivalent Korean designs, I look at my own outbuildings and think -- hey, maybe this is an option? I have infinite wood ...

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:.....When I look at the Roman hypocaust or other equivalent Korean designs, I look at my own outbuildings and think -- hey, maybe this is an option? I have infinite wood ...

Infinite wood.....yet so many rabbit holes and so little time!  

Agreed that ever since seeing the horizontal flow of hot gasses in an RMH, I've been wondering how to modify for some type of in-floor or 'wainscot' heating. Then, fueled by the panoply of herbal teas in the cupboard, my mind starts mixing that idea with passive solar,...one operating by day, the other by night.  I'm already hiding from my wife the idea of peppering the pasture with mini-greenhouses, each sunk a bit lower into the ground than the adjacent one, so that one could measure the effect of moving the floor of said greenhouse closer to the frost line and taking advantage of geothermal as well.  Then there's differing levels of insulation (yet more tea.... ) and finally the addition of some type of heating system to see which greenhouse would require the least amount of solid fuel heating to maintain a minimum desired temperature.....  All of which will need several thermal sensors per greenhouse!

.....maybe I could hide it behind the wind-break!

John Weiland wrote:

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:.....When I look at the Roman hypocaust or other equivalent Korean designs, I look at my own outbuildings and think -- hey, maybe this is an option? I have infinite wood ...

Infinite wood.....yet so many rabbit holes and so little time!

LOL -- bang on comment John W! So many possibilities, and only one of me!