Its spring almost every where in the lower 48. Not to much happening on the heating forums. Not to many people thinking about heating next fall... but you
should be because... "WINTER IS COMING" lol couldn't help myself. Many projects take precedence over heating, like oh say cooling or
gardening , building or simply mowing the
lawn. Places to go, things to do, who has time to remember the cold dark days of winter, when all you could think about was how you couldn't get or do anything outside because it was under 3 ft of snow and -20 . If your ambitions are to have a
RMH next fall but you're not really sure what to do or how to start then here are some things you will need to do sooner or later , better to start now then wait till fall and be in a panic over getting it done. Purchase all
RMH reading & viewing material available (if you haven't already) Locate a source for sand ,Building sand (
course) ,a lot of it, most but not all clay you find will need almost 3 times as much sand added to it to make a good
cob. Locate
local clay , you may need to pay to have it loaded but its usually free. Bricks , firebrick and or old clay brick . Depending on your location used brick may be plentiful or impossible to find , new brick is available most everywhere but prices vary.If you are thinking of having a firebrick core I would look to have at least 30 firebricks on hand and know where to get more if you need them. Fireclay, you're going to need some and it can be hard to find, prices can be all over the board so shop around ,you may need to make a trip somewhere to purchase at a reasonable price. Same for high temp refractory (if you are going to use any) , prices vary wildly & shipping is not a good option. Perlite can also vary in price so shopping around is a good idea. If you're using piping, use regular black stove pipe to leave your horizontal transition area and then switch to cheap hvac pipe to travel thru your mass. Barrels, better to find one with a removable lid for your outer barrel (not required) , if you want to use a cast riser then you may want a 16 gal barrel as a form ,check with your local quick lubes for this . Your mass will need rock or urbanite to hold the heat in, (rock is more dense than cob or urbanite)
Straw, as a binder and insulator on your cob. Your chimney... or lack of one, will need to be addressed while it's warm and dry. What do you want your mass to be covered in... Cob ?
wood ? brick? There are many more details that vary between builds and more that i'm sure i've forgotten to mention. None of these items need to be purchased or acquired immediately, but locating your sources and finding the best prices will make things go smoother this fall when you DO have time to realize that indeed winter really is coming and not only on the game of thrones.
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