Trevor Balch

Ernie Wisner wrote:it has been done but it doesn't work out so well. it also doesn't make one whit of difference to the insurance company because the fire is still close to the house.
extending the burn tunnel makes you have to extend the heat riser. the barrel in the house can be dressed up pretty well if you just use your imagination.

pretty much you need to work with your building code and insurance folks. In Canada i dont think this is all that hard to do. at least from what i have heard.
thanks for your interest.

I thank you for the reply. I have as of yesterday joined the ranks of "rocket men" and of course women having built my first one which worked quite well considering there was no cob to seal the joints however watching flame go sideways was an experience. I had pondered your response and this morning contacted my city rep who suggests I build it and go from there. That is the next step will let you know How I go.

Ernie Wisner wrote:Current code in most places could allow a RMH however; the insurance wont. the typical RMH is not under epa classification as a wood stove due to weight. testing an RMH is hard because they simply cannot eat enough wood to fall into the testing criteria. We are currently working on getting RMH code in portland oregon but that is taking time.
Any efforts in other parts of the country are welcome. we can share our experiences and drawings code write ups ETC. with folks who are trying to get them coded and insured. Yes we wrote the inspection criteria and code our selves cause no one else was qualified. We find this terribly ironic.

I was thinking about this and I have a question to you sir. Has anyone considered building the rmh portion outside of the dwelling and just running the exhaust into the house? Would that work? I am a complete newbie other than about 24 hrs now of you tube viewing including all of your VERY informational posts sir.
I am all over installing these up here in Canada.
I understand that the main source of heat i.e. the oil drum would be outside but would that not also remove the (An Oil Drum in my sitting room) issue?