Thanks. I made a hybrid system of Youtube's Northernmonkeymayhem's system.
Where are you located?
I am located in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. We get cold winters.
Will the system stay warm through the winter?
This will be my first winter so I will let you know how it goes. I am modifying the
Rocket stove with 2 8"x8"x24" clay chimney liner on the intake and will load individual bundles of
firewood. After a fire has been started, I will put the clay chute in place and stack the small bundles of
wood and cap off the chute so it does not act as a chimney. I have an air intake below the chute. I tested this with a stack of cinder blocks using cut up old
tomato stakes and it worked pretty well. It gave me a 3 hour burn. I will be testing the 8x8 chute this weekend.
How often do you fire the rocket?
I have used the stove 5 or six nights so far. If I run a 3 hour fire, I manage to keep the temperature above freezing. We had a week with a few 28 degree nights.
Does the mass go all the way to the other end of the beds?
Yes I have 8" duct along the floor going 25 feet out the other end of the hoop house. I used sand as my thermal mass which was a horrible choice. I plan on moving the
RMH to the other side of the hoophouse. I will empty the raft bed and run the 8" exhaust under the plastic liner of the pool. This will heat the
water which will then be the thermal mass. I started using an electric 1000 watt electric heater to bring the water temperature up from 50f to 70f. This livened up both the fish and bacteria, however it is costing me money so it needs to go. Further enhancements to the hoophouse will be a ventilated second skin and sheets of 4x8' insulation for the sides of the structure. I am also using an electric air
pump which will be replaced with a venturi aeration device. So hopefully the only electric that the system will use will be for the water pump and the electric fans.
When you say transplants does that mean you dug them up from an outside garden and transplanted them to the greenhouse?
Yes, I live in a subdivision and over the years my neighbor's
trees have grown to block the sun from my
raised bed gardens. So the plants do not grow. I moved some of them to the hoop house a couple of months ago and they have really taken off. They have grown about 25% larger and are actually producing. We have been eating Chard, celery a couple tomatoes and peppers. All of the peppers have small new peppers growing on them. I have about 40 small channel catfish and 36 bluegill so as they get larger the bacteria will be able to feed my plants better. I am also growing some plants from
seed and others from just cuttings. It all seems to be working well.
What do you feed the fish?
I feed the fish about a tablespoon of goldfish pellets that I purchased from a
local fish hatchery ~$16 for a 2 pound bag. A bag
should last a few months. I will start to grow duckweed if I can find some.
