Goal: Self sufficiency

I am new here and would like to start by thanking everyone here for such phenomenal information. I stumbled across this website trying to find ways to be more self sufficient. We purchased an acreage almost 2 years ago and I told my wife that my goal was 3 years. We'll see how that goes!
Is there a table or chart or something that you can input information into for determining how much piping you need to heat a certain area or does it matter?
I thought about creating one if it was needed but thought i'd ask first.
We have several outbuildings here and I have more ideas than I do time and/or money so I figured I'd get the heat figured out first. NW Iowa get's pretty cold or at least this year it has.
I look forward to learning and again, thanks for having such an awesome place!
Dan

I am a little confused by your question are you taking about the width of the pipe ?

David

Thanks for the reply David. I'm wondering about length. does it matter if you run a 10ft pipe thru a bench or 16ft? I understand that it will heat either way but I'm just curious to know if it makes any difference as far as the length.

Dan Koenck : Consider going to The Rocket stove forum thread posted by Aaron Dilby '' Hello " and the thread extensions posted by myself and bryan davis,
to repeat myself, these are great resources you can have in hand to refer to any time you want !

A little paperwork, at the Right top of this page between the Permies Banner and the Permies video of the week is the Permies Toolbox, click on My profile, at the
new page you will be prompted to add General location information, climate zone #, altitude and precipitation if known! This will help us give good answers to your
questions, and get you out there to meet near neighbors with Rocket or Cob experience ! Also adjust your preferences to get timely notices of replies from members!

While you are there look at the search button, clicking on 'SEARCH' will send you to a new page where you can enter a search topic like exterior chimney height in the
search field, and in the next box down select the Forum you want to search in, and then do a permits wide search for information! Membership has its privileges, this
is available to you 24 / 7 / 365 !

Also, whenever you enter a Forum Thread our computer looks for 'Key Words' to make a listing of 'Similar Threads' down at the bottom of the page ! For the Good
of the Craft! Big AL !

Allen Lumley - Thanks for the help and the information. Absolutely love this place!

Dan- First step is to figure what your heating needs (BTU's/hr) are going to be, then size your system accordingly.
Here is a general formula to get you started. A/R x ^T=BTU's/hr. A=surface area of space (walls, roof/ceiling) R= "R" factor of the walls/ceiling, and ^T(delta T)= temp difference outside to inside (worst case like 0deg Out to 70deg in).
Since what you have in the space is also a factor this is just a place to start.

Your needs will determine if you should use a 6", 8" or bigger J-tube system. Length of duct, size/type of thermal mass, are next factors to figure to get maximum heat extraction.

Hello Dan and welcome to Permies,

I hope your self sufficiency project is going well. In an urban environment I was able to use my natural gas bill (Therms) and convert to an approximate amount of wood (cords). Unless you live in a small house that is pretty air tight your will want to do an 8 inch ducting with 55 gallon barrel.

Thanks for the input. I figured I would make a RMH for my shop and if there were no issues, build one for a large enclosed, non-heated patio, although the size difference is quite large. I have purchased some firebrick from Menards with the intent of getting started but from the pictures I've seen, my bricks don't appear to be as heavy. They are 9x4.5x1.25. Are these big enough or do I need to make my own? I am actually sitting on what could be a gravel pit so the option for finding clay is pretty slim I think. I think the brain is currently on information overload.

Your 1.25" thick firebricks are called 'half bricks' and they will work. Hopefully you can find some clay. You might need to find a stream or river bank that has already separated the soil types for you. Another option is getting the 50 lbs bags from a pottery store.