Hi,

This summer I'm planning on builidng three rocket mass heaters in the Hérault in southern France. Does anyone in that vicinity have experience with building a rocket mass heater?

Ludolf

Not right next to you, but not too far either. If you want to pop around, i have three running.

05220

Let say, Béziers>monétier, there's 430km in a straight line. A bit far for fetching materials, but i have a good source of refractory tubing.

Satamax, thank you for responding.
I have already collected most of the materials
Do you have experience with "boisseau terre cuite" to use in your RMH?
See this link:
http://www.pointp.fr/docindus/0003%20Platre%20Isolation/01902%20TERREAL/Terreal_conduits.pdf

I guess Monetier is a little far away, I'm an hour north west of Beziers, near Murat sur vebre.
Winters are quite strong and long here. -10 is no exception.

Maybe I can ask you some questions:
How are the winters in Monetier?
Do your RMH's run well?
Are you satisfied with the amount of heat they can produce? I want to heat a big house with two.
Can I see some pictures of your RMH's?
Did you stick to the desciptions in Evans' book?

Ludolf

Hi Ludolf.

Well, i have only one in function inside my workshop. My landlord doesn't want me to put the big one into the flat. But it can make it work outside. The last one is the barbecue. Well, i've made two more, one was metal and burned away. The second was a barbie, which i gave away, being way too heavy.

Your chimney elements are worth nothing, not being refractory. I'm on the italian border, and can buy landini stuff. But you could get some schiedel, or refractaires du sud est. Lately i've bought some Landini refractory tubes, in 18x18 rounded corner square, which is near perfect for a J tube rocket. In the workshop, with no insulation, i can rise 2C ° an hour. But it doesn't keep warm for long. I have nearly no mass. Tho, the vaults act as mass, when they're hot, they keep some heat for a while. But my heating is inconsistent. Thought, when i'm there for a few days, it's comfy. Monetier is about 1500m high, and way cold, goes down -30C ° sometimes in january.

Well, you mean you want to heat a two storey house? Some plans have been made by some guys to have the barrel on the bottom part of the rocket, and the mass above. The other way around could be possible. Bells can be looked at too, and also horizontal batch rockets. Plenty of solutions. Is your house old or new? Few pics could help giving advice.


http://www.prse.biz/index.php/produits-speciaux

Here you go, some food for thoughts.

http://donkey32.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=experiment&action=display&thread=511

Tchao!

Hi Satamax,

Thank you for your information, that is very helpful!

I've been looking into rocket bells, and I think I'll go that way. We already have a regular wood burning stove "poele a bois", and I think I'll try to turn that into a rocket bell stove.

Thanks for the idea!

Ludolf

Ludolf, what is your stove?

I don't have a picture of our stove, but it is more or less like this one:



The only difference is that we have a see through, so opening windows on both sides.
And the cast iron heat absorption/radiation device (or whatever you call that extension on the top) is larger with our's.

Ludolph, i'd say forget it! Not worth much to transform an insert into a rocket. Sell it to buy the materials.

What are the problems with an insert?

My idea was to insert a stainless steel tube in the opening above and have it come down about 30 cm above burn chamber floor to create rocket effect. Than build two bells over it and connect the top bell with the chimney.
Does this make sense, or is it an overexcited inexperienced fool talking?

La t'est parti en plein délire!

Well, i'l carry on in english.

First of all, if it's rocketing, metal doesn't like it!

And, despite the fact that a rocket is adjustable, or variable. The rocket effect isn't always obtained. Have you read the book? Have you made a small cooking rocket? If not, may be that the first step. Ok, you could somehow transform your insert into a kind of pocket rocket, or horizontal feed box batch rocket. But you're making your life dificult. Your insert still has some value, which could buy good materials for your rocket. Read here and at donkey's untill your eyes peel. The ultimate thing is, do you want a piece of diy crap, which is malfunctioning, looks bad and could threaten your lives, or a nicely designed stove, which should be ecological, cheap to run, may be to make. And shouldn't put any lives at risk.

HTH.

Max.

Ludolf du Pon : Relax, the days are getting warmer, and we have some time right now ! Our Immediate goal is to help you test a 'rocket mass heater', R.M.H.
at your present home before you do your first build indoors at your parents !

I know that I strongly suggested going to rocketstoves.com to get your copy of 'the book' on another Forum Thread! This will give you the 'deep background'
to catch up by moving forward and not just running in place. Again, there are French and Spanish adaptations if you find you think better in another language !

I would also recommend going to 'rich soil.com' scroll down to 'rocket stove' and Click on it ! These are You tube videos made and collected by the sister site
to PERMIES, and can be trusted , they were made by Professionals or made from the directions of Professonals, and all of them worked !

The history of the Rocket Stoves as a family is :

The rocket stove : an efficient outdoor stove for cooking and Feeding !

The Pocket Rocket: an efficient outdoor heater, good for Picket lines, Preppers, and Ice Fishermen ! (kind of a red headed bastard child )

The rocket mass heater : an efficient way to burn wood with a very efficient way to store the heat for later use ! 6-8 hrs a Day can give you 20 -25 hours of
slowly released heat energy ! Good for heating and feeding the dragon that lives in every R.M.H !

If you could rip the insert out of its present location, it could probably be made to work after a rocket mass heater, R.M.H. as a bell, without the pleasure of
being able to see any flames !

For the good of the Craft ! Be safe, keep warm ! PYRO Logical Big AL ! _ As always, your questions/comments are solicited, and are Welcome ! A. L.

Alen, 6 to 8 hours a day?

You wouldn't do that with an horizontal batch rocket Just radiation from the barrel 4ft away from a concrete wall, heated that concrete to warm to the touch in two hours last october

What i like about teh horizontal batch rocket is that it's à bit like a fireplace. Looks good.

Satamax : We are still working on Ludolf's first build, are you suggesting that for his first build he should immediately make a horizontal feed batch loading R.M.H. ?
Fair Question ! - Is that what you did , built a horizontal feed batch loading R.M.H. for you very first build? lets at least get one built at his home, outdoors, before we
help him install something his parents have got to live with !

For the good of the Craft ! Be safe, keep warm ! PYRO Logical Big AL ! - As always, your comments and questions are solicited and Welcome ! A. L.

Well, i didn't do an horizontal first. But i have two working now, and i think for a large french house, knowing french ways, where people like fireplaces with open fire, it's a rather safe bet. Peter van der Berg has sorted all the bugs out already. And it works wonders. Better than a normal rocket for larger places.

JMHO.

Max.

Satamax O.K., that works for me! I'll take second chair ! But lets get the materials together before we build, otherwise all we can build is air castles !

For the Craft ! PYRO LOGICAL Big AL ! - comments,questions solicited and answered ! A. L.

Alen, Ludolph hasn't replied anything yet. May be he'd like something more J tubish

Ludolph, if your insert is old, may be you could keep the door for a batch rocket.