Brad Hengen

Nice

I'm in Central Saskatchewan, we have robins all year 'round

Give them feed and they stay

crabapple varieties that don't drop, and certain berry trees....   that's all they need

I like a recipe book that I can learn from.
Don’t just tell me to do something, tell me WHY I should.
Lose the trend to use the latest greatest ingredients. I remember when pine nuts came on the scene EVERY recipe included them!

Regarding amounts.
Grams are consistent
Ounces are not
Tablespoons are not
Quarts are not.

If using American measures, put that on the cover.
I am no longer interested in American only books.
Grams are universal.
In the same vein, do not use Imperial only measures either.

This is a very interesting thread and concept.

I have a large pile of biomass in a little spot in one of my fields. It contains a mix of grass, leaves, Spruce, Cedar, Juniper, all sorts of wood shavings, and a mess of other stuff I cannot remember. At the moment I do not have access to a loader to cover it with soil but that That is the plan.

My only comment is  that some folks may misinterpret the reason to prevent carbon dioxide from leaving the heap.

Carbon dioxide is not pollution, and is extremely beneficial in the atmosphere. And although carbon is very important in the soil, and a great fertilizer, it is also very healthy for the planet to have significantly more CO2 in the atmosphere than we have now.
The earth absolutely thrives at CO2 levels 10 times higher than today! This is proven by science.

Carbon in the soil and CO2 in the atmosphere, the more the merrier!
CO2/carbon feeds the world

I am about to do a new roof on my house.
In discussions with a major roofing company, i was told asphalt shingles have class action suits against them due to failing 50% sooner than warranty.
Fiberglass is suffering the same as the degradation is not linear and when they fail prematurely the warranty’s are not covered.
His comments on metal: ugly on a house, screws need tightening every 5 years, replacing every ten. Expansion/contraction causes loosening and leaking.
They are replacing metal with rubber shingles. 50 year warranty. Tests show them to last probably 80-100 years. They don’t curl AT ALL. They don’t lose their granules. They soften in the heat of the sun and reseal themselves and the granules restick has on.

I have seen large buildings with them and they look like regular shingles

Ithink I will be going that route.

Methyl alcohol usually dissolves glues, like labels and tape residue.

Worried about wax melting???

Try a WAXLESS SEAL!

Now you can heat your bowl with pex run very close to the base.
the only worry I would have is water evaporating faster, and running dry if you are not home for awhile.  

Perhaps a shutoff at the toilet area for when you are away?

Len Ovens wrote:

Brad Hengen wrote:I have seen barrels used over a barrel stove to steal more heat before it leaves through the flue.

not really the same thing as the ones I have seen exit higher than entrance and of course there is no mass.

I wonder, if a barrel could be adapted onto the flue exit from a standard wood stove, to act as a bell/strat chamber?
Something like Peterburg's three barrel bell, but using a standard UL approved stove vs an unapproved batch rocket heater.

There are two difficulties here. The first is that the flue and how it is run is a part of the "UL approved" part. Certainly the permit inspector
will expect it so. Secondly, without mass, the tin stove will get run at an idle because it will be "too hot". The bell will only make this worse
if it has no mass around it... that is if it is only made out of a barrel.

a bypass could be built in for easy lighting, then close it for the heat cycle.

if a large amount of mass was added to this, a small stove burned HOT could be used to cheat the local bylaws and such.

If you used the permit process either you would install as per stove manual and modify after inspection rendering it no longer inspected or
you install lots of mass and end up with a masonry heater which has different rules and probably gets rejected and you remove it.

Better to get a professionally installed masonry heater with bells and or benches that will pass inspection. A proper steel wood stove
will cost as much as $5000 installed properly and a properly installed masonry heater can be as low as $10000 depending on the available foundation.
Oh ya, foundation. Mass requires a foundation to carry the load. This is not that expensive if it is designed into the original foundation or even fitted
later if access is easy. It could be expensive if your floor falls through. Part of the reason for getting a permit is to get a mortgage... mortgage requires
insurance. If you ever use that insurance with a modified wood burning appliance the insurance is void.

So in my opinion, you either do the whole thing non-permitted or you make sure your inspector is happy with what you are doing. If you are able to do
something in a non-permitted context, a rocket stove or masonry heater from the ground up just makes more sense. A masonry heater can be made with
the same number of fire bricks as the rocket mass heater with the rest being clay or home made adobe. So the price if permits are out of the picture is similar
for both. I would suggest the skill level is not that different either.

I have no opinion on which is better between RMH and masonry heater, but Frankenstein heater... not unless you have more skill than average and just like to tinker.

I don't think you understood what I meant.

I mean modding a barrel to act like a bell/strat chamber. have it sit above the small stove, tightly surround the small stove with material for a heat sink, and support the barrel.
you'd still have a UL listed stove, unmodified.  
all you doing is really modding the flue with the strat chamber.

As long as the barrel system is sealed, and meets the distance requirements for single walled flue, it would pass inspection.

and with a small stove, you could run it HOT to get heat from the barrel, and to warm the mass around the stove to radiate.

For $10000, I could install a complete GeoThermal system and still save money, then use a Valley Comfort stove as an aux heater when needed.

Just a couple thoughts:

is your chimney insulated?  Insulated inside the garage, and the outside portion?  If not, it may be cooling too much and slowing draft

can you remove the 90* bends and use 45*s instead?

any fireplace store, or stove repair shop should be able to source it