• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Carla Burke
  • Nancy Reading
  • John F Dean
  • r ranson
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Leigh Tate
  • Devaka Cooray
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Matt McSpadden
  • Jeremy VanGelder

RMH in Small Space?

 
Posts: 37
7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Currently I just have a woodstove for my house, I use it for heating and cooking. It works great for cooking, but if the fire has been out for fifteen minutes it already starts to get cold again...so waking up in the morning is never fun...
The dimensions of the house are 10'x12', and I have this corner with wall space of 5' on one side and 4' in the other.
My questions are:
Is this too small of a space for an efficient cob style RMH?
Can you do all your cooking on a rocket mass heater?
I think I'll just move my current woodstove outside for when its hot out so I can just cook out there in the summer.
(If this is already covered somewhere, feel free to delete this post)
IMG_5986.JPG
[Thumbnail for IMG_5986.JPG]
IMG_5985.JPG
[Thumbnail for IMG_5985.JPG]
 
Rocket Scientist
Posts: 4548
Location: Upstate NY, zone 5
584
5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Looking at your dedicated woodstove space, I would say it is totally doable to replace it with an RMH. The one possible issue would be weight - a viable RMH would have to weigh around a ton at minimum, to hold enough heat to coast overnight. What is the foundation like for your house? How practical would it be to beef up the footings or add new in that corner?

To start the layout discussion, I would suggest putting the RMH feed and barrel about where the woodstove is now, with a bench extending to the wall behind it and wrapping around to the 5' side. This would actually give you a nice seat to relax and keep warm on, where there is little usability of that corner now.

I would think a 6" system would be the right size. This can use a 35 gallon barrel instead of 55 gallon, saving space. It would have a smaller cooktop, 15" diameter vs. 22" for the 55 gallon. You could put in a back shelf for warming/simmering if you wanted.
 
pollinator
Posts: 2575
Location: RRV of da Nort, USA
736
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I agree with Glenn that you could probably squeeze a small (and more cozy!) RMH in that space.  Glenn and others, one thing I was pondering recently which may have been addressed before is running the heat-exchanging pipe (with heat-holding mass) under the floor of structures where one wishes to preserve usable space.  The crude depiction below shows what I mean.  Clearly, the downward "pull" needed in order to have the exhaust travel below floor-line would be a concern, but with the right height of stack, might this work?  One could then have a strip of brick-work as part of the interior floor that was heated and helping to heat the building as well, even as it appears one would be losing additional heat at the sides and bottom of the heat exchanger. Thoughts?
UnderFloor.JPG
[Thumbnail for UnderFloor.JPG]
 
Glenn Herbert
Rocket Scientist
Posts: 4548
Location: Upstate NY, zone 5
584
5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
People have done things like this before. It would obviously be easiest in new construction.
rocket mass floor heater -- finally completed and it works!
 
Braden Pickard
Posts: 37
7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Thanks for the responses and info!
I didn't think about the weight. Yeah, I would definitely want to put something extra under that space, it's definitely not suitable currently for a lot of weight.

Thanks again!
 
Posts: 617
Location: ontario, canada
15
transportation fungi tiny house
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
You should have a metal protection sheet under your wood stove so embers don't damage your wooden floor, or worse, should any embers escape somehow.  

You can add a small amount of bricks around your existing stove to create a small hearth which can act as a tiny thermal mass battery to slightly increase efficiency and safety.
gift
 
Rocket Mass Heater Manual
will be released to subscribers in: 17 : 31 : 30
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic