caveman heater

hi all,

newbie here to the site. I rarely go online do to connectivity (just behind a mountain and get loads of signal drop).

however winter is upon me and wouldnt you know it...shit is falling apart!! Lol.

2 seconds on me. Im a fisherman who has forged one season already in a 1986 31' vanguard motorhome (this Oct 27 is the one yr mark). Last year I burned an exceptional amount of propane...but I made it.

This year I am better prepared in all manners having just started the install on a Little Cod wood stove. It was a whimsical novelty idea that developed quickly and I think it will be awesome (no its not one of the new 1100$ stoves.

What led to this was my stupid furnace kicking the bucket. I will fix it eventually but for now..Id like to explore just wood and thermal mass for heat.

So I was wondering if someone could assist\guide\advise in the building of a rocket fire rock heater. The idea is that I already have this wood stove going in but its going to be only active when I am with it. Other than that...no heat. This means while sleeping (its just a tiny wood stove so over night isn't going to happen). I was thinking Id build the rock heater just a ways away from the main door, fire it up for awhile before crashing out and then take the rock inside to the bedroom and put it on a stand.

Yes rocks are hot, yes responsible rock use will be followed. But the heater needs to throw mad heat in short time. Wood is in no short supply.

if I can stop using propane to heat...ahhh ..heaven.

motorhome is just a cabin. It rolls but only to the land I will buy and then it will be reworked. Its not ideal for winter use although it is a fully insulated cnd built unit. And its just so much better living in the bush over in the city...any city

Im in southern new Brunswick. I do have minimum shore power, not enough for an electric heater.

Bri how : I can not visualize the placement of the Little Cod wood heater in your Motor home,that really should make tight places very much tighter ! Pictures, Please !

In order for us to talk to each other and both visualize what the other is talking about we will have to get you up to speed, If you will commit to going to rocketstoves.com
to download a PDF copy of the 3rd edition of Rocket Mass Heaters We will come up with something even better than your Little Cod

Yes, I hear you, you have connectile difficulties, don't worry- your local library is probably online w/ a great connection, talk to your librarian, and figure out how to
download it in your computer ! They usually charge a per-page fee for pages you want printed out to have a hard copy, this can happen over time as you read through
the material!

To be fair I must tell you that do to the weight issues that come with your thermal mass we have to find a place to put 1.5~ish Tons somewhere ! What usual happens
is we use something like crusher run to make an above grade pad for the Motorhome/trailer and then build a 8'X12' shed roof leanto against the M.H./Trailer to cover
its door and then place the Rocket Mass Heater RMH in the Leanto. the motor home gets heated through convection and thermo-syphoning of heat while its door(s)
are open. Do you have a side or rear door on Your motorhome ?


Get "The Book'' read 'The Book', and then come back here with good planning you will end up with a RMH heater for less money than you paid for your little cod, and
then sell the Little cod for what you have in it enough to pay for a basic leanto shed and/or the RMHs Stove pipe needs. For the good of the Craft! Pyro Big AL

i used to think they were kinda strange, but last winter i discovered the awesomeness of an electric heated blanket. they do not require very much electricity.

ah just a thought, to get you through until you figure something better out. i dont blame you if you think they are kinda strange, it is sort of a weird thing. but i put aside whatever ideas i had about it and was glad i did.

I lived for ten years in a 16' travel trailer with a little propane heater in the wall, and yes, electric blankets are awesome Also a tiny "muffin fan" like ones used for equipment cooling, hung above the heater and blowing the warm air back down to the floor made a big difference.

I would endorse the idea of making a little plywood shed against the rv wall at a door and putting an RMH in that. If you expect to be moving elsewhere soon, you might try Paul Wheaton's wood box "shippable" design, which uses loose gravel/rock for the mass. It is less efficient than a fully cobbed one, but easily taken apart and moved, and could be quite cheap yet effective. Carrying heated rocks into the rv from a stove outside is likely to lose more heat in going in & out than the rocks will make up.

my first test core was cast in a plastic tub. i used clay sans perilite and straw/weeds stalks. it was a 4" system(just a feed tube, burn tunnel, and riser). it probably weighed 50-60# and got hot enough i needed gloves to move it. i could get it hot in about an hour and it would give off heat for 2.5hours. i would play with it for a while in the evening then cart it to the garage. in a small space i could see it warming it up. the only drawback would be reheating time. unless you had 2 or three of them and could switch them out in rotation. or maybe removable risers that could be warmed and switched out? still seems like a lot of work. my back wouldnt take it, i know that.

you mite be able to use something like solar collectors during the day too.

as glen said a small shed at the door to hold the RMH would be i deal!

another thing that works for me is to do a big baking /cooking session late at night (when i get the munchies!!). the heat that comes off the oven while baking late night treats does actually give off a lot of warmth, or even from boiling a big pot of ginger tea or something on the stove. i dont know what your set up is like but thats another option.

i still think you would want to look into an electric blanket, it is really a minimal amount of electricity for how much warmth it gives right where you want it.
there are also other kinds of mats and bed warmers that go below the sheets. if you have access to even a bit of electric power you should be able to run one, and they use less power than a normal light bulb, less than any appliance for sure. maybe 2-5 dollars for a months worth of electricity to run it all the time at night, and most have auto shut off. so pennies a day to have the blanket real warm. you could run one even with a small solar power set up, they are that low with energy usage - http://negergy.com.au/blogs/news-reviews/5842592-what-is-the-power-consumption-of-an-electric-blanket

i currently live without any heat at all in a super tiny structure, so that electric blanket someone gave me as a gift, and baking late at night are my only sources of generated heat. cthough i live in northern california, but we do get a month or two of actual winter weather this high up in the mountains. i am acclimated to sleeping in a cool place anyway, i have a hard time sleeping when i visit friends who heat their places way too much at night, you get used to it. i also have seven blankets and a really nice one made of wool for the very top, with the electric blanket between them it gets pretty toasty before i get in bed and then i shut it off and sleep comfortably.

anyway sorry this doesnt relate to your original idea, but i think these ways are more practical than your idea. i dont want to shoot down your idea though, just sounds like a pain in the butt and it wont work out great, imo.