Helen Sullivan

If you have access to sawdust you might try that. It might take quite a bit at first, but if you keep sawdust handy and dust after every use, the odor won't be such a problem. And, adding the sawdust adds to the compostability of the material in the pit.

More great ideas, and I agree, Jordan: next time more solid packed beds, I think. Thanks all

hehehe wow. The rodentator! Yikes! Thank you all for the responses! I failed to mention that I'm in Alaska, so the snake thing is kind of out of the question. But, the idea of some kind of predator (other than a cat) is something to think about. I wonder if I could somehow encourage hawks or owls to hang around. hmmmm

Comment by Lisa Humphreys on Wednesday

Hi All - I did some hugelkulture beds last summer and they have returned great strawberry plants except where the shrews/voles agte the plants and built a big colony in there. Any ideas other than a cat (my son is allergic) that can help me keep them out of my hugel beds? did I do something wrong? Help!
(This is a repost looking for help in lots of places!)

Thank you for your reply, Roy. What would a calculation of efficiency look like? The weight or volume of the fuel in some relation to the temperature of the heater and then at the exhaust? ... I'm guessing here as you can probably tell. I'm just trying to get a handle on how much CO2 I would be adding to the atmosphere and if I can somehow sequester that much: aiming for net 0 carbon footprint.

Is there some inexpensive way to measure how much CO2, or whatever else, is exiting the RMH exhaust?