Rocket Stove

New to Rocket Stoves.....It's been driving me crazy watching all our heat go out the chimney. We have a 2000 sq. Ft. log house, very open with a loft. We are currently heating it with a wood stove only. We let them take the propane tank away about five years ago. I was searching the internet trying to find a way to capture the heat we are loosing up the chimney when I ran across Rocket Stoves. Very exciting, I think that in the last two days I've looked a dozens of web sites about rocket stoves . My question is one that I'm sure you guys have heard before. Is it possible for me to heat this house with a rocket stove ? How would I determine what size it should [ needs to ] be ? We are just coming out of the winter from heck and the longest one too. Weeks of -20, -30 . We have a wood stove in the basement duct-ed into the duct work meant for the furnace plus a floor grate above the wood stove. One more thing: We sleep most every night with a bed sheet on us an the comforter at the foot of the bed just in case we need it. We fire up the stove in the morning [ 4 A.M. ], again at 3 p.m. and let it go out during the night. To me it seems like we are burning a lot of wood. Is it possible to use less [ wood ] and get keep the heat ? I love the idea...thank you

Jim Ek-
Welcome to the permies forum. To get a bit technical up front, what you need is a rocket HEATER, and more likely a rocket heater with mass.
If you are able to heat your home with a regular wood stove you could absolutely do it with a RMH. Since you are using some of your exisiting furnace ductwork it offers some different options for adapting a rocket heater into it.
As far as size, an 8" J-tube system should be adequate. However more info is needed such as basic floorplan, flooring type and support (for a potential mass) and when you say basement do you mean an actual subgrade living space?
Maybe a few pics of your existing wood stove installation?
I don't know about you, but I'm not holding my breath yet thinking we've turned the corner into spring and warmer weather (even though it will be in to the hi 50's here for the next week, after not getting above freezing for 12 days when the average high is 47!) You might get to use a RMH yet this season.
Looking forward to getting you on the track to using less wood and not wasting all that heat up the chimney!

Jim, check this thread, from my post onwards. Check the sketchup files.

https://permies.com/forums/posts/list/40/31382#246585

Jim Ek : We absolutely need a lot more information from you, When you say 2,000 Sq Ft does that include basement ? Lofts are nice, it is the 'open areas that cause
concern ! If you don't have ceiling fans running most of the time to pull Your Hot air trapped at the Ceiling, down into your living space, Then all of that are must
be counted completely as living space.

It sounds like you are attempting to raise the temperature of the air surrounding your loft as a Thermal Mass To carry you warm and snuggly through the night! This
is the worst use of that heat energy, in spite of 80+ years of history of mostly Fossil Fuel Fired Forced-air Furnaces, Air is a much better insulator than a Heat Transfer
Medium ! Obviously if you pull all that heat down from your ceilings peak you are going to have a much cooler Sleeping area, But otherwise this is all heated space
even if you do not consider it living space !

Remember the cheapest fuel, and easiest on your back is the fuel you didn't Need to burn, I Think that I can promise that if you wanted to go with a Rocket Mass
Heater RMH, that you could easily heat the core of your house, and save on Cords and Cords of fire wood ! Send us some sketches of your layout, also we need to know
your location And Altitude to better understand Your Heating Season and Heat Load.

Come back here often, If you decide that a rocket stove is in your future we will help you find ! For the Good of the Crafts ! Big AL

The house has 2000 sq. ft., with basement. One enclosed guest bedroom in the basement. There are three ceiling fans, one above the loft, one above the living area and one above the floor grate which sits above the wood stove. Ya, I agree that the vaulted ceiling is where the heat is stored. I didn't really think about that. Kind of hate to have to run the fans all the time, even one or two of them seems to me to be more energy wasted. I guess what I'm after is to tame the whole thing down a little. We [ my wife and I ] both agree that we have plenty of room in the basement for a rocket stove . We are eager to learn and really appreciate you help. I have included some pictures.. Like I said we have lots of room in the basement for something to happen there. Not very good pictures of the loft and ceiling but as you can see it's a heat keeper. Thank You

Jim Ek : you have a beautiful house, and much of the visible workmanship shows a certain love of the Craft That was put into the build ! But it was not built to be
an energy saver ! * More Pictures Please !

The whole package reminds me of the limerick about a "Bisexual named Matt'', ''-Who took a Lesbian up to his flat'' ''-They argued all night'', ''-as to had the right''
''-to do which'', ''-and with what'', ''-and to whom !''

Some good news is visible in your picture of your outside chimney which is perfect and shows an electrical entrance with Two meters, are you in a location where
they Give you Peak rate and an off-peak rate ? Where is your location !

The last picture appears to show an area bigger than 20' X 35 feet which is 700 Sq Ft Xs 3 floors or more than 2100 sq feet, we want the total Sq. Ft. of heated area,
not the sq. ft. of living area and climate to ensure that our answers are actually relevant to your situation ! Big |AL

Jim Ek : a word about heat pumps, because they work much like a refrigerator They can be very efficient A refrigerator move the heat from warm food to the coils
on the back of the refrigerator where it is released (into a Heated space, which is not necessarily the same thing as the living space!)

A Heat pump moves heat from outdoors to the inside coils to discharge the heat into that space ! Comparing the amount of energy required to move that heat using
an Electrical motor driving a compressor shows that you would have to use 4 or more units of Electrical energy to make heat via resistance wiring, equivalent to the
amount of Electricity used by the Electrical motor driving the compressor to pump in the same amount of heat inside from outdoors !

If a heat pump is 4 Xs as efficient as Resistance Wire Heating, driving a compressor with losses to friction, Laminar Flow and other inefficiencies in pumping liquids
and gas and Heat Energy Exchanges, An equivalent use of an Electrical motor driving a fan to create counter air flow is at lest more efficient and much easier to self
regulate! Running a Fan to circulate stratified air down from the ceiling is probably the most efficient use of electrical energy you will ever be able to use and enjoy !

It appears that your Present wood stove has had its original ductwork for air exchange reduced down from !0'' to 8'', is that right or is the size different from what I
think I See in the picture !

I want to start by Asking you to please goto==> Rocketstoves.com, to Download aPDF Copy $ 18.ooof the brand new 3rd edition of Ianto Evans' Great Book === >
'' Rocket Mass Heaters "! With over !00,000 RMHs built world wide most of them were made following 'The Book' and 95% of all the 1st Time builds(That Worked)
were made from 'The Book'.

This will give you a good grounding on the basics of RMH construction, and give you our Common vocabulary so that when you come here with a question or an
observation you will not only Be naming the parts correctly but also their size, shape and orientation to each other ! This is a small investment that will pay you back
many times in the time and trouble and money on parts that will not be wasted during construction of your Rocket Mass Heater ! Big AL !