Portable RMH that fits in a pickup truck bed?

Please don’t click away just yet!  

Lately I have been watching a series of Alaskan over landing solo adventure videos.  One in particular features a guy who drives an F-350 with some modifications for extreme cold weather (mostly engine stuff like a block heater) and a tiny cabin built on the bed of the truck.  And when I say cabin, I mean it is built out of wood!  Inside he has an absolutely tiny kitchen, two bunks and a wood stove.  For heat he alternates between the wood stove and a small diesel heater.

So of course it got me wondering if one could fit a mini RMH into the truck. Obviously replacing the wood stove which was located at the very rear, maybe replacing one bunk and putting the mass bench in its place.

Already I can think of weird balance issues and could one build the burner part of the RMH that would efficiently heat the mass without overheating the interior during the burn.

And for the record, it was a full sized truck bed and the truck had a crew cab if that matters.


Thoughts?


Eric

Well, maybe...
The problem is if he wants to drive the truck.
Alaskan roads can be challenging (ie, a piece of ...)
Cracking of any cob or mortar, be it concrete or clay-based, will happen.
If it is clay mortar, it is fixable most of the time.
A solid mass is out, but a stratification chamber made with half barrels would work.
Perhaps an all-steel rocket (cob covered) could be used, but it might run you out of the camper heating up.

All in all, he might already have the best arrangement for a vehicle that travels.

Hi Thomas,

I wholeheartedly agree with the cracking issue so obviously something would have to be done to address that—perhaps the bench is constructed of some durable metal and filled with loose material like sand?  That is just a hypothetical.

The other part of the question I had was just how small a burn chamber will work in a functional manner.  I seem to remember that 6” was the smallest size that worked practically (and that heated a room) and that a 4” experimental model produced a tiny amount of heat, like that of a candle.  That is a huge difference in heat output by jumping from 6” to 4”.  

It is true that his little wood stove did produce very nice heat for such a tiny area, but perhaps there is a way to store that heat longer?

Any thoughts on scaling down a RMH to fit such a small volume?

Eric

I suspect the weight penalty in a vehicle that's on the road a lot would be pretty substantial. Fuel economy is part of it, and maintaining weight distribution (trim) for safe driving.

But when it's stationary, liquid water will always be needed. That's thermal mass. It can be discarded before hitting the road.

Douglas,

Actually a water mass might be a good idea as water has a huge specific heat capacity--one of the highest.  I imagine that it would be lighter than gravel.  I would hope that the exhaust temperature of the hypothetical RMH would not boil the water so that might be a factor.

Eric

Just vent the container so that the water is never above atmospheric pressure. Simple, really. Thousands of houses here have low-pressure hot water cylinders plumbed into a wood fire wetback and they often have a vent tube that goes out through the roof.