Two Story RMH

I will be building a house this year out of SIPs and would like to have the burn tube for a RMH in the basement, but the warm mass on the main floor directly above.  Has anyone tried this?  This way I can deal with the wood and ash in the basement and keep the mess out of the main floor, which will please my wife.

jtcweb wrote:
I will be building a house this year out of SIPs and would like to have the burn tube for a RMH in the basement, but the warm mass on the main floor directly above.  Has anyone tried this?  This way I can deal with the wood and ash in the basement and keep the mess out of the main floor, which will please my wife.

I can see that working... with some side effects. The barrel will be in the basement too, so you would be heating the basement.... maybe more than the main floor. The flue going to the main floor should be insulated. The flue exiting from the mass should go up from there... or out. The top of the barrel could be insulated to keep heat from being wasted on the basement, but the bottom of the barrel must be free to cool for it to rocket properly.... on the other hand, you could forgo the barrel and run the whole riser straight up through the floor and into the mass. In either case you are going into uncharted waters... set up a scaffold out side and play with it first.

The feed hole/burn tunnel could be higher for ease of feeding..... it may need to be to work. The heat riser may need to have a cavity at the same height as the top of the barrel would be to slow gasses down? add turbulence?

Those are my ideas, but the best thing would be to try things out.... outside first. Post some pictures here and you may get some ideas to improve it.

Len wrote:
I can see that working... with some side effects. The barrel will be in the basement too, so you would be heating the basement.... maybe more than the main floor. The flue going to the main floor should be insulated. The flue exiting from the mass should go up from there... or out. The top of the barrel could be insulated to keep heat from being wasted on the basement, but the bottom of the barrel must be free to cool for it to rocket properly.... on the other hand, you could forgo the barrel and run the whole riser straight up through the floor and into the mass. In either case you are going into uncharted waters... set up a scaffold out side and play with it first.

jtcweb could do a real tall, well-insulated riser with the barrel on the floor to be heated.  could end up drawing like a champ, though I imagine it would take longer to heat up and really get going than the standard design.  I hope somebody tries this out.