Can I reverse engineer a pellet stove?

ok, single mom, no real tools, living in a trailer...

Looking at my pellet stove and humming over reverse engineering it somehow, plus not a lot of money or able to bare much weight....

Has anyone tried a pellet stove reverse engineer yet, or is there some lighter weight apartment version I could build that isn't too difficult???

TIA

Hello Melissa,
I'm not clear on your question, are you trying to get your pellet stove to have rocket mass heater characteristics or maybe build a second pellet stove, or something else?

Bill McGee wrote:Hello Melissa,
I'm not clear on your question, are you trying to get your pellet stove to have rocket mass heater characteristics or maybe build a second pellet stove, or something else?

Yes, the characteristics I guess... It looks nice, it already has some chambers of sorts in there, I know the weight is okish since it was already in here when I got the place etc..

Satamax Antone wrote:http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/327/reverse-engineering-riley-pellet-burner

Thank you! I love when people give me new rabbit holes t explore!

Hi Melissa, for what it's worth I posted photo's of my small standard wood stove in a post by Erica Wisner in this forum, "mass heaters without the mass" (Sept 2013 sorry I can't link when using phone)

I have 55 gal of water surrounding my stove in stock pots (best buy is Imusa 8 gallons for $21). I believe this is equal to ~ 1850 lbs of concrete or cob thermal mass (need to confirm this).

One caution is that the pots on top get boiling hot so are not child proof. The sidewall pots just go over 100 f so are safer. Don't know if this is of any help.

Bill

Bill McGee wrote:Hi Melissa, for what it's worth I posted photo's of my small standard wood stove in a post by Erica Wisner in this forum, "mass heaters without the mass" (Sept 2013 sorry I can't link when using phone)

I have 55 gal of water surrounding my stove in stock pots (best buy is Imusa 8 gallons for $21). I believe this is equal to ~ 1850 lbs of concrete or cob thermal mass (need to confirm this).

One caution is that the pots on top get boiling hot so are not child proof. The sidewall pots just go over 100 f so are safer. Don't know if this is of any help.

Bill

Here's the link: https://permies.com/t/27831/rocket-stoves/Mass-Heaters-mass#221842
It covers some of the general issues with heat conservation in low-mass situations.

And I also did an article after another mom talked with us last year about heating her manufactured home: Northern Comfort

As far as the pellet stove: Rob Torcelli did a pellet-fed rocket heater, but I don't think that's what you need. But if you like rabbit holes... Burning Pellets in a Rocket Mass Heater...

I've seen one pellet stove that doesn't need fans on the market here; it's built like a zig-zag and probably puts out a lot of radiant heat. You could add a couple of brick walls, or pots of water, nearby, and collect a lot of that heat to spread it out over time. If you do use water, just make sure you don't create condensation problems along the walls or window because some of the mfr. homes are vulnerable to those issues.

My general recommendation for any lightly-built home is to start with making the home easier to heat. This could mean improving the insulation, and making sure that you don't have a long, narrow profile with a lot of exposed walls and uninsulated shade-facing windows. Little trailers are marvelously compact, but big ones can have you sleeping in a bedroom that is down some long echoing hallway from your heat source. The northern comfort article has more about that.

-Erica