Anyone want to build a portable rocket mass heater? Hamilton Area.

Hey people,

Wonder if anyone wants to get together and do a few test builds of a Rocket Stove / Mass Heater? Basically I'd want to shoot for something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkHOwmKyL7A . But I'm happy to help anyone on a permanent install if that's what they're looking for.

I can source pretty much all of the materials locally, got a really good hook up for clay, just got to dig it out and transport it. So yeah people, let me know your level of interest.

Cheers.

George Marsh :Good luck on your future group project, finding a good central location would seem to be Your biggest problem !

For experimentation purposes the you-tube video you have picked is O.K.! One of the problems associated with this build is the inner 6" stovepipe shell is expected
to burn out /fail during its 1st heating season, it will shed pieces of itself into the burn tunnel and the barrel will need to come off to allow you to see if the defunct
stove pipe can be removed with out the Heat Riser Crumbling*

There are also problems with the expansion and contraction of this inner shell and its probable cracking the Clay / Perlite Heat Riser! This has been solved by
replacing the inner liner with a Cardboard Sonotube, this is commonly Filled with pored concrete and used as a pier. This rapidly burns out without stressing the
Clay / Perlite Heat Riser.

Also the Heat Riser should be twice as thick as shown here this requires a 10'' piece of stovepipe if available or the outer wall can be made from Ether Hardware
cloth or Chicken wire !

I am sure that Paul W. is aware of these small issues due to the amount of time he spends with Ernie and Erica Wisner Our Forum moderators on this forum !

Good luck, once you heard that Rockets Roar you will have to have one ! For the Good of the Craft ! Big Al !



*( The parts of a failed Heat Riser can be recycled over and over again )

Thanks Allen, I appreciate your comments. Honestly, I'm thinking this would be more a case of build, have fun building and burning things and see how we get along. My ultimate plan would be to have one of these in my greenhouse so I can start my season a little early and hopefully have it carry on a little longer.

Its been easy to find people who are interested in the ideas and want to discuss those ideas, but it's been very hard to find people who want to get their hands dirty and actually build something.

Thanks again, when we actually build the thing, I will follow your recommendations.

Cheers.

Hi George! Me again lol. Ive taken Ernie n Ericas workshop and have a set of their plans. We'd be up for making one in our back ysrd. We've got two 50 gl barrels so far. The best material for the riser is firebrick with insulation wrapped around it. I know wheaton labs has come up with a half decent portable core for RMH's as well

Hey Fallon!

Oddly enough, the only thing I've found hard to source is the Barrels! I can get them, but they invariably have had some toxic substance in them. I can also buy them new, but as I'm not ready to build yet, I've been holding off.

If you are up for a build, maybe we can work something out for the spring? My wife is often up in London so I can probably tag along and we can work out what materials I can bring along too.

What were you thinking about? A bench build or a portable build similar to the one in the youtube video?

Cheers.

I got my barrels from Kijiji for 10$ clean inside but still painted. Ernie taught us a technique for safely burning the paint off without polluting the environment. It would be cool to make a portable build so we can take it with us to our new place in NS I have two barrels so we can build two of them We still need brick and some clay, some form of pebble or stone for the mass part.

Fallon Wilson wrote:I got my barrels from Kijiji for 10$ clean inside but still painted. Ernie taught us a technique for safely burning the paint off without polluting the environment. It would be cool to make a portable build so we can take it with us to our new place in NS I have two barrels so we can build two of them We still need brick and some clay, some form of pebble or stone for the mass part.

All the Barrels I'm finding here have been used for some nasty industrial application I'm not willing to add heat too! The joys of living in Hamilton. I know they're out there, it's just finding them.

I have access to more clay than I could ever use, simply an endless supply from basement excavations we do here on a pretty regular basis. I could literally fill a dump truck once a month with the stuff. As for bricks, I easily have a couple of hundred of them, mostly fireplace bricks too, but how they would stand up to long term punishment is anyone's guess. The Mass is another question, I was thinking to buy sand and use concrete rubble, obviously the smallest pieces, though I was thinking that using bricks would work, as long as there was sand and/or pebbles to fill any remaining gaps.

Thoughts?

Count me in! when and where? I am in Guelph, so not far.