Sulfuric Acid in a RMH???

Just posted this ? to Ernie and Erica. What does the forum say?

Ernie and Erica

I have a natural system structure "green, chicken, rabbit, quail, duck, fish-house" about 700 sq ft. 12 months under construction, about 75% complete. I have done due diligence on the RMH, connected with yall thru the Wheaton World and paid money on the Kick Starter Package. I have scavenged, collected and purchased raw materials and I am now moving into build phase of the RMH.

Last week I attended a Ginger and Turmeric Growers Conference at Virginia State University, I spoke with one of the presenters who has several multi-thousand sq foot high tunnels to grow his product. He runs waste oil heaters and discussed lots of problems..... Privately, I asked if he had considered using a RMH. At first he just stared at me with a quizzical look then I asked him if he was familiar with the technology which he replied of course. Then he began to express concern about how to manage the sulfuric acid by-product due to the combination of soot in the heater and moisture in the greenhouse, which was one of his problems in the waste oil heater system..... humphhh... I was blank because I had not heard you guys discuss that or did I miss it. I was under the idea that since all fuel and flue gasses were utterly consumed in the burn chamber and the exhaust stack that there was no residuals other than terpenes in the mass-duct and chimney.

I will be using a version of Ernie and Erica greenhouse system. I will place the mass-ductwork in the ground and use earth for the mass so lots of digging in clay to be done. I am close to breaking ground on that build. I am concerned about the "sulfuric acid" statement. What can you tell me about sulfuric acid in the RMH design

Greg Dommert : Relax, take a deep breath, It actually sounds like the person you talked to ether does not have basic knowledge of how a Waste oil heater works,

or has them poorly adjusted ! Not the best choice for information on RMH Technology.

Basically you need to talk with them thats doing, we have scores of people using RMHs in Greenhouses and I can promise you that many of them successfully go

multi years with little or no maintenance beyond removal of very dry fly ash.

I am including a link ( I Think ) to the RMHs in Green houses Forum Threads down below, as soon as you post anything on that Forum Thread Everyone will get a

notice of your Thread extension/post and you can invite them back here to your post to share more information with you. Remember, we All started out where you

are now ! Oh! The Terpenes are all burned up too !

Link Below :


https://permies.com/forums/posts/list/160/19178


Also a little handy information to help finding things here at Permies.com


https://permies.com/t/43625/introductions/Universal
https://permies.com/t/34193/tnk/permies-works-links-threads


For the good of the craft ! Big AL

I suppose that technically, a RMH doesn't "utterly consume" any of the materials placed into it: They are converted into a combination of gases and ashes. Burning wood or coal produces a bit of sulfur dioxide along with the other gases. The sulfur dioxide is converted to sulfuric acid when exposed to moisture. That's why wood/coal burning stoves are vented to the outside. A RMH may do a better job at burning smoke/soot particles, but it is still producing gas.

Greg I am sending you a P.M. Big AL

I've added this thread to the greenhouse forum. It shows up in both forums now, and all the replies will be in one place and much easier to keep track of than if there were two separate threads.

Greg Dommert : Now that you are a practicing (instead of lurking) Fellow Member here at Permies.com; And a soon to be Rocketeer, here is a little TeaserTo make it

easy to show people what you are talking about ! link below :


http://commonsensehome.com/rocket-mass-heaters/


If you look at the Permies Toolbox ( the section with the link to Purple Messages) you can click on the Flagged Topics- this will take you to were I Have flagged the

RMH in greenhouses Forum threads. this should make it easy for you to repeat visit that site, lots of good pictures, its a little like getting your 1st seed catalog

the pictures will Up your motivation. For the Crafts ! Big AL