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Thoughts on Enlarging Walker Stove

Posts: 126

Location: Coastal Maine

posted 1 month ago

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Yesterday in the firepit, I burned off a bunch of paper junk (mail), old dry branches and logs that floated in on the tide.
Nothing worth trying to use for house heat, but didn't want sitting around just being junk. Possible hugel content, but way too much for the property.
Not everything was dry and it smoked heavily for a while.
I got wondering if I could take my plans from Walker Stoves and make the burn chamber larger - maybe scale up 100%.
It would keep the whole unit manageable in size, but I wouldn't have to cut all the various fuels down to fit in - particularly the new brush from fallen trees.
And I wouldn't have to build my riser ten feet tall!

Reasonable? Folly? Just plain crazy?

Thanks

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4139

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 1 month ago

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Should work, but not sure how you add in enough support when you have to span further than one brick. Maybe just double the height and expand the vertical openings accordingly.

But what about making biochar? Seems like a good way to get a use out of a waste stream.

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Randy Butler

Posts: 126

Location: Coastal Maine

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Probably half of my detritus is stuff that floats in.
Often, when it hits the shore, I can barely move it.
I haul it out and let it dry anywhere from a few weeks to a couple years (when I'm attending to all the other stuff that begs attention - normal Permies issue, huh?).
Some of the materials are old wharf structures, some trees, maybe even boat pieces.
No matter the source, it is all salt water saturated at one time or another.
Do you think salted biochar would be of any use?

thomas rubino

master rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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Now, Randy, why would you want to try to make a riserless core to burn waste wood?
A riserless core built with bricks is notoriously difficult to start, and until it warms up, it smokes like crazy, even when burning good, dry wood.
You know how to build a batchbox, scale that up (not a Shorty).
Scaling up a Walker would be one tough job.
Scaling up a Batchbox is super easy, as Peter tells us the numbers.

Besides, in all honesty, do you really want to cut sand-impregnated wood with your chainsaw?
Your thinking outside the box... but.
I vote this one is just plain crazy...

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Randy Butler

Posts: 126

Location: Coastal Maine

posted 1 month ago

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Hi Thomas.

All good replies. But you missed one point - I have no intention of putting a chainsaw to this stuff.
I just want to push one end in and then nudge it further as it burns down.
Functionally, I kinda want to build an J-tube with a 4 foot square feed tube

Phil Stevens

master pollinator

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Location: Ashhurst New Zealand (Cfb - oceanic temperate)

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The thing that worries me about salt-soaked paper or wood is that it can lead to dioxin formation under certain conditions. But if you have good temperature control and can keep your burn zone hot enough, you avoid this problem for the most part. I think 400 C is the lower limit of the "comfort zone" and a good hot wood fire is over 600.

The other issue with salt in feedstocks is corrosion. You will destroy any metal parts that are in contact with flue gases in short order. You can always spot the beach homes where people have been burning driftwood, because they're the ones with either the worst-looking or brand new freshly replaced chimneys.

Anne Miller

steward

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Matt Walker developed a stove, so why change it?

Write back after your experiment with results ...

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R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4139

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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As to the salt issue, sea salt is used as a trace mineral source for agriculture. The recommended rate is 50-150 lbs per acre in the off season. The rate for adding to compost is 5lb per ton of raw material. Those numbers are from salt sellers, so take them with an extra grain of salt. But the moral is don’t fear salt TOO much, especially if only occasional use.

Randy Butler

Posts: 126

Location: Coastal Maine

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A couple thoughts -
Matt designed an excellent product, and if it can fit into the house properly, I will use his design as planned.
But his efforts led to a wonderful, compact design with limited height requirements.
As I said, this is junk wood and the less cutting I have to do, the better.
Many of the floaters originated as pulpwood somewhere up in a river area far away.
So a lot of what I deal with is already 4 foot long.
If I could adapt the riserless design to a large firebox and use a horizontal port interface to reduce the vertical element, that would seem to work well.

On the salt issue, we have rosa Rugosa all along the shoreline and they thrive being saturated during the winter with sea spray.
Also, every few years, we collect seaweed and mulch the rhubarb several inches in the fall. They grow like crazy. So some stuff loves it!

This feedback is wonderful - thank you all so much.

tony uljee

Rocket Scientist

Posts: 312

124

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ask Matt if his outdoor water boiler could be scaled up , for a bigger firebox and flue size, can t cook on of course and maybe not bake in it because of dioxin issues---but give you a huge amount of hot water

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