Safety

Hi I am new here and I am going to build a rocket mass heater in my kitchen.

Anyway I watched a guy on youtube blow up his drum while cutting it and it got me thinking what are the dangers of this I need to consider before building my rocket mass heater?.

Do I need minimum size exit hole from the barrel to stop it expanding and blowing up?

Do I need a registory plate like a wood burning stove?

Does the barrel need a certian amount of thickness to stop the gass leaking?

Would I need some other kind of gas detector in my house other than a carbon monoxide detector?


Does the wood need to be seasoned like a stove?

Anything else you can think of?

many thanks

Stephen Richardson :I was on my way out the door and checking e-mail when your thread caught my eye,!

Please Post that e-mail video here, congratulations, on finding a true gem on U-Tube, It will be useful here !!!

I will check back and give you my best answers to any remaining ?s Yrs 'n haste BIG AL

allen lumley wrote:Stephen Richardson :I was on my way out the door and checking e-mail when your thread caught my eye,!

Please Post that e-mail video here, congratulations, on finding a true gem on U-Tube, It will be useful here !!!

I will check back and give you my best answers to any remaining ?s Yrs 'n haste BIG AL

I will have a look on my youtube history when I have more time. However that was a pressurised drum that hadnt been opened, But what I am on about what if a bird flew up the tube and blocked the pipe, wouldn't the gasses build up in the drum and cause an explosion or backdraft of co2?. What kind of precations are needed?

I remember once my friend put a gass canister on a camp fire and it exploded 50feet in the air so I really want to make sure this is safe before I put it in my house.

Stephen Richardson : Amongst other crimes against God and Man, into the balance I was the guy you got out of bed because your house was cold, I did it for 30+ years ,
often at 4:30A.M. For the military types thats O'Dark thirty !

I have dealt with dead and desiccated bats, field mice, squirrels,and feathered remains, In all types of Fossil Fuel Fired Forced-air Furnaces ( and Boilers ) If the dead animal
remains made a bridge a cross the igniters, there would be no spark or not a hot enough spark to lit the fire, and every thing would shut off on safety.

I have even seen relays points fused together due to a stray electrical current, more than once, (relatives lived near a barn that got hit about once every two years,) this
kept the furnace from dropping out on safety!

I have seen where with the furnace in the basement and the fuel tank on a platform outside the house, the combined 'head' or pressure of that column of oil above the oil
burner causing a slight leak past the safety seal in the oil burners pump, just pissing in a pitifully small stream of oil into the combustion chamber after the burner had shut
off ! I have seen this three times, It burns so poorly- that it coats the entire system with an insulating oily soot so that what little heat was produced could only go up the
chimney!

In none of these conditions, not forgetting to mention gas burning appliances was there an out of control fire or explosion!

Any way don't worry about animals, Or put a screen over your exterior chimney's exit!

There is one interlocking set of conditions where you could be in danger, In A house with two people/adults who 'tend the fires' Adult #1 builds a good very hot fire increasing the
amount of retained heat within the RMHs Combustion Chamber, Adult #2 is expected home to tend the fire but was delayed, Adult #1 , decides to close off the top of the Feed
Tube, thinking that that will surely starve the fire for oxygen and put out the fire, and then leaves, To make this story more interesting the door not only did not catch, it popped
open.

Meanwhile Lurking behind in the still red hot combustion chamber the wood is slowly Pyrolyze-ing, filling that space directly below the Feed Tube opening with hot wood gases
desperately seeking Oxygen !

Adult #2 shows up, curses, because the door was wide open and person #1 let the fire go out ! Snatching up the materials to build another fire, Person #2 (You?) moves the
cap off of the feed tube opening Very hot wood gases and oxygen meet and "FLASHOVER" ! You lose your eyebrows, facial hair, and some off of the top of your head !

Motto #1 ) Don't cap a Feed Tube opening unless the fire has burned down to ashes (It's still Damn hot in there!)
Motto #2 ) Never take the stone off of the Feed tube unless The RMH is cold !

This was a lesson hard learned and we build the feed tube a little differently now, but this would be the only way your RMH could hurt you, short of dropping a piece of wood on
your bare foot that was too big for your wood stove anyway !

Good luck, keep coming back, For the Craft, think like fire, flow like gas, Don't be the Marshmallow! Your comments/questions are solicited and welcome! PYRO-logically BIG AL