Steve Mildfelt

I'm still in the planning/searching for the right piece of property stage of building my Ultimate Off-grid Homestead and I've run in to a problem with how I'm going to heat my waterbed. Since I refuse to sleep on anything else, it's a big problem.

I can't run a regular AC powered heater because it will burn up my power inverter. If anybody makes a DC powered one, I haven't been able to find it. Then I hit upon the idea of using a rocket mass heater after learning about them here.

Since I have zero experience with one of these contraptions I have a couple questions. The first is just how hot does the cob surface get? I don't want to roast myself out of bed. The second is will the cob structure support the weight? Close to a ton spread out over about 40 sq/ft.

Anyway, there's my problem and my idea for fixing it. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

And one more question that's a little off-topic: Why does everyone use cheap galvanized duct work on these things? There's a lot of moisture flowing through there and galvanizing only slows down the corrosion process. It's seems to me that cast iron drain pipe would be a better choice. It may cost more but, I guarantee it will last a lifetime...or two and the pipe itself could serve as part of the thermal mass.

Has anyone considered biodiesel? It's supposed to be an excellent wood treatment. You could treat the ends of your posts the same way Mr. Oehler originally treated his with penta, i.e. stand your post up in a half-buried 55 gal. drum filed with biodiesel and let them soak it up for a day or 2.

My heart says 10, but my head says 1.

There's nothing in this world I want more than to purchase 10-20 acres somewhere in the back woods of Wy-mon-kota. Get some goats, some chickens and hopefully a like-minded, moderately attractive female and disappear. Never to be seen again.
Everything I do is, in some way, working toward a reasonable approximation of that goal.

I grew up on a hog farm. We also had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, and an ass-load of barn cats. We grew all our own grain for feed. Ground and mixed it ourselves. We butchered all our own meat. A huge garden every year. Blah blah blah yadda yadda.
I like to think I've already got most of the skills I'll need to make my dream happen. And I'm working like a mad-man to learn the skills I don't have. I'm also starting to realize that a few co-conspirators would make things a lot easier.

I think I would be OK with the idea of a 'Benevolent Dictator' but I would absolutely have to meet him in person first and spend some time getting to know him. For the right person, I'm willing to work my ass into the ground, but I have to be sure he's the right person first.
You seem like a nice guy, Paul, but you can only learn so much about somebody through the internet.

Erikgreen Hatfield wrote:

Also, I think a chest Frig would be better made from an old vertical frig because they aren't as deep.  An old frig, laid on its back and elevated off floor to countertop height would be easier to reach in and retrieve items.  They are more prevalent than old freezers and newer ones, better insulated.  Also a two door frig would give you a way to separate things.  Maybe the small door could be used for beverages, easier to get.

I'm HVAC certified. I spent several years working with air conditioning and refrigeration. This idea would require major modifications to make work. And it's not something your average weekend warrior could do. You'd have to almost completely re-plumb the refrigerant system.

Your first problem is the condenser coil (the one that dissipates the heat drawn out of the compartment by the refrigerant) is now directly under the compartment (the part you wanna keep cold). It doesn't take a genius to figure out what kind of problem this will create.

Your second problem, and this is the big one, is that the compressor MUST be oriented properly. If you lay an upright fridge on its back, all the oil in the compressor meant to lubricate the moving parts will leak into the cylinder(s). Now your moving parts are not properly lubricated and your cylinder is full of liquid (liquids don't compress).

If you lay an upright fridge on its back and just plug it in, you will ruin it.

I think this is an awesome idea. The amount of energy needed to pump the water to the reservoir is irrelevant. As long as the reservoir is high enough to generate decent head and you've got enough Wirtz pumps to keep it full, I see no reason why you couldn't generate considerable electricity with this setup.
A lot more than you would ever get from hooking a generator directly to an under-shot waterwheel floating on a slow, lazy river. You pretty much eliminate the possibility of large debris damaging your turbine too.