Daniel Kern : You will never go wrong carefully following the steps of an Instructables build, you only made two mistakes, one of which was putting too much faith
in us not to make mistakes !
The common core of all Rocket Mass
Heaters RMHs instruction or Q and A, begins with An automatic assumption that the questioner has in addition to any other
studies gone to :::-->
Rocketstoves.com to download a PDF copy of the brand new 3rd Edition of
Rocket Mass Heaters this is basically universally true
and certainly true of the work of Ernie and Erica Wisner
www.ernieanderica.info/shop who really rely on the central idea that you have already got, read
and understood the basics found in 'The Book' before moving on to seek more specific help!
With over100,000 RMHs Built most have been built following 'The Book', and 95% of all the new 1st time builds (that worked) were made from 'The Book'. Reading
and understanding this book virtually guarantees you a successful build, Plus the ability to come to these pages sharing a common language that describes a
Rocket Mass Heaters RMHs Size(s) Shape(s)and orientation of the parts, both to each other and to the whole !
I said two mistakes, Repeat after me ''As soon as the barrel goes over the heat riser, the vertical chimney must be raised above the barrel!'' More specifically as
the barrel goes over the top, the hot exhaust gases are channeled through a sealed transitional area to flow horizontally through the Thermal mass to the Base of
the final vertical chimney ! Making the immediate connection from the bottom of the barrel via a manifold just eliminates the possibility that the horizontal run or
the thermal mass could be any part of a problem that might show up at this point !
Because your Heat Riser was uninsulated and not properly sized to its barrel the heat pump would have failed as the two gas streams, 1 rising, and a cooler 1
becoming denser and sinking instead would actually reach an equilibrium and stall !
There is a property of diminishing returns that makes any
Rocket Mass Heater as small as a 4'' RMH virtually a massless Heater, but that discussion can wait until
after you have studied ''The Book" and are ready to come back here ! You were still quite lucky with your build.
This is where I get on my
soap box and warn everyone about the Huge Boatload of steaming Crap to be found on U-tube, please take any thing you see there with
a ton of salt
Hundreds have stood at the same crossroads you are now at, If the Desire to have what we have, A working RMH, and our own personal house
dragon warms
your heart, read the book and come back here to your fellow Members here at Permies, If there is a
Rocket Mass Heater in your future we will help you find it!
For the good of the Craft ! Big AL
