Jay Stegman : You
should be able to make a phone call and get at least last years heat energy usages, tho
the answer may be in Watts, Gal.s, Cu. Ft., Therms, or Btus,
- they may try and just give you a dollar figure over the phone or require that the request comes from the Bill paying person of record ! Start there !
The response that I made to Erin Hatfield in the
Rocket Stove Forum/Thread - 'Building a R.M.H.on a wood framed floor' - could have been written for you, For every 3
cuts your husband is in the habit of making he will have to make 5, and then most of the wood will have to be split down to 2X2 for the First 2 hrs of operation, that means
that the person who made the 1st fire in the morning must be in residence and tending the fire or handing that job off to a 2nd person! After 2-ish hrs an 8 system'' will
take all of the wood in 3 - 4 pieces that can be stuffed into a 7'' X 7'' system.
Because of the freakishly high temps a well constructed
Rocket Mass Heater R.M.H. runs at, and the fact that the Thermal Mass Bench 1st stores heat energy, and then acts
as the heating source all night long- without further wood fuel being burned for as long as the next 20 hours- or longer- it creates the conditions that reduces the amount of
wood fuel used to as little as 1/3rd the prior amount. 1/2 the previous amount of wood is easily obtained with careful operation, This is true because the best that your old
wood stove can do is so very poor!
Having said that , I can not promise that a single 8'' R.M.H. can handle your heating load, certainly a combination of two 6'' systems can handle your heating load but even
with the reduced wood fuel requirement. I do think that many people would just as soon 'turn up the thermostat' on What ever came with your Double wide as a heating
source !
I am reaching here- but, if a family member is spending several hours a day in town this is a better source of wood fuel- mostly pre-cut to the most usable material sizes for
your units fuel load. Usually there are often cords of Free fire wood parked behind mall stores because they will have to pay to have it hauled away !
Using a R.M.H. requires a lot of re-thinking old ways of doing things, It is always worth the effort ! For the Good of The Craft !
Your questions and comments are solicited and welcome, think like fire, flow like gas, Don't be the Marsh mallow ! PYRO - Magically Big AL !