The RMH Builders guide build-pic heavy

I will post more pictures of the pipes when it's finished, not quite there yet.  

I did get the barrel mounted.  Even though it has stove gasket, I decided to add a bead of silicone to it as well so it would seal nicely.





My top gap ended up at 2 7/8"  somehow I calculated that wrong.  Easy enough to play with and fix though.  I can always shrink the gap

Great to see an update, I bet this joint's are tight!
What temp is that silicone rated for?

Devon Olsen wrote:Great to see an update, I bet this joint's are tight!
What temp is that silicone rated for?

It's hard to say. It's not designed to be a high temp silicone, but I literally use it for everything. I've sealed plenty of catalytic converter flanges with it and its held up fine.  I used it for the burner gasket on an old Coleman camp stove and it did work, but burnt at bit lol

Is it actually 2 and 7/8 where the bottom of the lid sits?
(Gasket height not barrell height)

ok so I've gathered materials for my rmh and I'm going to start my build this week... my question is how far can my exhaust be pushed down? I plan on doing mine in my garage and have to repair my driveway anyway so i had thought to run my exhaust down to the end of my driveway and then bring it back up. my intent is to help my driveway stay clear of ice dams. I understand that if I go with a narrower exhaust it will move the air faster which may help with what I'm hoping to accomplish. I know that this is not a traditional build but I figured it may intrigue someone. driveway is about 30' long and drops about 8' in that stretch. my intent would be to push the exhaust that 30' right away and then climb back up the driveway. Los I'm planning on doing a copper line to help with my hot water in my house. any thoughts would be appreciated.

I was inquiring recently as I’m planning my build and I heard 3-4” is fine or even better than just 2

Devon Olsen wrote:Is it actually 2 and 7/8 where the bottom of the lid sits?
(Gasket height not barrell height)

Your right, it's probably taller then that even, maybe 3/8s of an inch

Aaron Schlief wrote:ok so I've gathered materials for my rmh and I'm going to start my build this week... my question is how far can my exhaust be pushed down? I plan on doing mine in my garage and have to repair my driveway anyway so i had thought to run my exhaust down to the end of my driveway and then bring it back up. my intent is to help my driveway stay clear of ice dams. I understand that if I go with a narrower exhaust it will move the air faster which may help with what I'm hoping to accomplish. I know that this is not a traditional build but I figured it may intrigue someone. driveway is about 30' long and drops about 8' in that stretch. my intent would be to push the exhaust that 30' right away and then climb back up the driveway. Los I'm planning on doing a copper line to help with my hot water in my house. any thoughts would be appreciated.

I don't know about traveling down that far but I do know unless you insulate your entire driveway from the ground, it will never work.  The earth is a GIANT heat sink, and will pull all the heat out of chimney.  When they do radiant flooring in concrete slabs, the whole slab must be insulated from the ground or it doesn't work.

Eric Hammond wrote:Now for insulation of the heat riser, I went with ceramic fiber blanket insulation.  It was listed in the book as really the best thing you can use.  For what its worth I COMPLETELY REGRETthis decision.  Not only is it expensive, It's probably one of the worst materials I've dealt with.  It feels like its going to give you cancer.  Have you ever dealt with fiberglass insulation?  Think of this as about 5 times as bad as that experience.  Way worse itch, plan on throwing your clothes away when your done, and wear a respirator.....unfortunately the little fibers float around your house so its not going to save you in the long run.....

Hi Eric,
 I am doing this fun task today!  Two questions:

1-do you know if the rockwool has to be as tight as possible?
2- does the end of the wrap meet the floor of the manifold? or just above?

Thanks!
Staci

Staci Kopcha wrote:

Eric Hammond wrote:Now for insulation of the heat riser, I went with ceramic fiber blanket insulation.  It was listed in the book as really the best thing you can use.  For what its worth I COMPLETELY REGRETthis decision.  Not only is it expensive, It's probably one of the worst materials I've dealt with.  It feels like its going to give you cancer.  Have you ever dealt with fiberglass insulation?  Think of this as about 5 times as bad as that experience.  Way worse itch, plan on throwing your clothes away when your done, and wear a respirator.....unfortunately the little fibers float around your house so its not going to save you in the long run.....

Hi Eric,
 I am doing this fun task today!  Two questions:

1-do you know if the rockwool has to be as tight as possible?
2- does the end of the wrap meet the floor of the manifold? or just above?

Thanks!
Staci

The tighter you make the insulation, the less insulated it becomes.  It needs to be tight against the heat riser but don't get crazy with it.  I ran the insulation down all the way to where it meets floor.

Greetings Eric,

I just wanted to express my thanks for all your detail and pictures you've shared of your build so far.  I'm preparing to make one myself and have gotten a better understanding and useful tips from your information.  The effort you've put into documenting is much appreciated.

David Huang wrote:Greetings Eric,

I just wanted to express my thanks for all your detail and pictures you've shared of your build so far.  I'm preparing to make one myself and have gotten a better understanding and useful tips from your information.  The effort you've put into documenting is much appreciated.

Glad you like it.  I promise I will get back to this and finish before winter.  Back to school time came, I'm teaching a full load plus we got a new textbook, so I've been building curriculum like crazy. My time as of late has been short.

Thanks for the update, time sure is a valuable commodity

I made a little more progress.  The chimney is done.  I was fretting the whole situation.  The step by step pictures were kind of lost.  I needed to hammer it out and get it done.   Like everything I researched and researched.  I decided I just absolutely could not come out my roof.  Not that is wasn't physically possible.  It's just that, I a sane person, cannot cut a whole in a perfectly good roof that doesn't leak. I just can't and will not do it.  The price of the kits to come through a roof are ridiculous and the roofers I talked to said they have to be resealed every five years.

Go ahead and add another $730 dollars on to the cost of this project so far.  I went with stainless double insulated pipe.   For the simple fact that I want a very reliable stove, my wife if going to run it sometimes, so I want an easy operational stove and it seems the most reliable draft can only come from a well insulated pipe.  



Also take note that if I came through the roof, my internet would have to get relocated.  I didn't want trouble with that.



From above



I went overkill and ended up with 6 cleanouts, I purchased several different handles to attach them.



I had to shorten the screws for the handles



I secured 3 caps that will not come off often with clear kitchen silicone so that it's not super secure







I wanted to test the draft, lit a small piece of paper......we have good draft!

Crap I already forgot how to post pictures.....give me a bit

Erik, a hole in a roof is nothing, if you know what to do. Roofers who talk about resealing every five years, are not worth talking to imho. I admit, it is easier with square chimneys for me. But round can be done too. With a square chimney, it's matter of going under the corrugated steel on top, in the corrugations  on the sides, and above those bellow, in form of a raised box with a cut for the corrugations.

Here there is acrylic sealant, but that's belt and braces, because the chimney is meant to be rendered afterwards.

Satamax Antone wrote:Erik, a hole in a roof is nothing, if you know what to do. Roofers who talk about resealing every five years, are not worth talking to imho. I admit, it is easier with square chimneys for me. But round can be done too. With a square chimney, it's matter of going under the corrugated steel on top, in the corrugations  on the sides, and above those bellow, in form of a raised box with a cut for the corrugations.

Here there is acrylic sealant, but that's belt and braces, because the chimney is meant to be rendered afterwards.

Satamax, I just can't do it.  When the building was finished, there was no holes anywhere.  My first hole was through the side for a plumbing vent. It took several days of planning and a couple beers to work up the courage to cut a 2 inch hole through the wall. The next was the vent for my hot water heater. I cried.

When I installed the windows in the picture, I think part of my soul was crushed and was lost for days.  It truly hurt me inside.  The only thing that kept me going was knowing that if I screwed up, I could buy a whole new sheet of metal and replace it.

While I understand a hole can be put in a roof, I personally don't think I could survive the mental anguish that would go along with such a feat.

Eric Hammond wrote:


While I understand a hole can be put in a roof, I personally don't think I could survive the mental anguish that would go along with such a feat.

Eric,
 Your skills/work are impressive.  I can understand the trepidation of cutting through that lovely roof.  Ours' was a nearly zero pitch torch down roof.  It had 2 skylights when we moved in, that ended up leaking horribly.  We had to remove them and have some guys re do that area of the roof.  My husband cut a hole in it for the chimney.  The chimney is not quite complete.  I bought a chimney kit last year, and ended up not using it and having to get new parts.  I do fear some leaking, especially here in the PNW.
Staci

I wanted to make sure that everything was good before starting on the bench.  I wanted to burn a test fire.  Today was 85 degrees.....not ideal for building a fire indoors.  I used just a handful of wood.



Wadded up some newspaper and burnt the wood.





It seemed to run best with the intake closed about half off.

There was some visible smoke out the chimney.



Some initial impressions....I had zero smokeback issues.  Was not a super strong draft.  You could start to hear the rockety sound, but it wasn't quite there.   I feel like it really needs a full load of wood to get the stove rippin and roaring, I could still touch all of the flue pipe and even the barrel wasn't that hot.  I assume the dense firebricks pull a lot of heat out of the fire until the warm up.

What do you guys think of my sort of lame initial test?  I know it wasn't a great one.... but it was far from failure.  I just didn't want a major fire when its so hot in here.  Proceed to build the bench?

I said what the hell and loaded a lot more fuel into it!  It rips!  She came to life and started roaring.....all my coconut oil on my barrel started burning off and filled the house with smoke lol.   It became dark so it was hard to tell what was coming out the chimney outside, but it appeared to be all steam.  I have a successful stove!