Christine Fedora

Thanks Thomas,
I was thinking that mixture still allowed for evaporation. But I've never done this before and don't really know. I was planning on sealing it after it was completely dry with a mixture of linseed oil and beeswax. All advice is welcome!

Hey everyone, I have been working away building a rocket mass heater. It is mostly all done except for the outer plaster. It's a surface that will need to be durable. I wanted to mix a harder plaster clay/ sand & lime. I read somewhere that the lime will make it harder. But I don't know what are the best ratios and if lime really does make it more durable. Everywhere I look seems to have different information about plasters. I'm Looking for advice and suggestions. Thanks you!
Christine

Thank you Meryt Helmer. Those buildings are all beautiful, and it makes a lot more sense to me, and there are a ton of great ideas. I think I'm going to start planning my own little building 😃

I apologize for the stupid question, but every time I see a picture of a building like this I wonder what the other side of the wall looks like. I think these sort of buildings are beautiful and I would love to build one. Is the open ends of the bottles on the other side just open or are two bottles fitted together? How does it work?

Hi, I was living in Upper Stewiacke for 10 years, slowly working towards my permaculture and self sustaining goals. Last March we moved to Cape Breton. Now I am looking for like minded people in my area. There are a ton of amazing, like minded people in Upper Stewiacke. If you haven't done so already go in to Cochrane family farm.

Sorry for the delay in response, its been a while since I've been able to get on a computer, and it won't let me post from my phone. Thank you very much for your responses!

Roy - I have been considering using copper pipe, and it would be great to have it hooked up with a pump controlled by a thermostat. Although I am trying to stay away from using too much power, because I am hoping to get the greenhouse on alternative power. I like the idea of gravity flow, but don't know too much about it. I have read a few posts that talked about using gravity flow, but there was not much details on setting something up.

Andor- Thanks for the link. I really like Robs set up, but wished the video had more details on how he has the water heater part of the rocket stove set up. The pellet stove part of the heater is brilliant! I agree that I may be asking too much from the system. The reason I was planning to do a 6" system was the csa for the opening in the cinder blocks, as well 6" ducts and stove pipe has been much easier to find. Although I'm not sure if the 6" system can handle what I want it to do. Part of the desperation was that I was hoping the get the pond and Rocket mass heater in place while we were still in the worst of winter to see what kind of temperatures I could maintain in both the greenhouse and the pond. But alas the time has passed and spring is upon us. I'm think I'm going to try the 6" system, and connect the ducts through the cinder block wall of the pond, and if it doesn't work out so well try the copper pipe.

Beth - I agree completely about the investment of time and money, I am both on a very tight budget, and I have two small children, so the majority of work has to be done during nap time.
I know it would be far easier for me to grow trout since they are native to here so temperature wouldn't be an issue, but I don't really like the taste of trout. My family goes though a lot of talapia, and we all really enjoy it, so I would really love to find a way to grow talapia.
My plan was to intall dampers so I could control whether the cob mass was heated, the pond, or both. The walls of the tank will be built with cinder blocks, and bricks, with probably rocks cemented around the outside for additional support. I planned on making a cover for it, but have not yet figured out the details. I was thinking of using plywood with a layer of some sort of styroform. I think the place where I will lose the most heat will be through the grow beds, and to be honest, I have no idea what is the best way to deal with that aside from maintaining a high air temperature.

I will post with the progress of my project, thanks everyone!

First of all please pardon the really bad picture, just trying to get my idea across. I live in Nova Scotia and temperatures go up to 30 Celsius in the summer down to -30 Celsius in the winter. I built a greenhouse to house an aquaponics set up. I am building in a rocket mass heater to heat the greenhouse and would also like to heat the pond with it.
My plan is to build a 6" system, and after running the duct through cob mass to run the duct around the pond, which will be partially below ground and partially above. I had originally thought of decreasing the duct to a 4" flexible dryer duct and running it through the cinder blocks (which would be the wall for the pond). I have read a few different things that suggest that that could be problematic because of the decrease and the flexible dryer duct, and not enough direct contact with the blocks for heat transfer. So I had thought about setting it up so the heat will draft directly through the cinder blocks, which would be closer in the CSA, and more direct heat transfer. My thoughts were that I would add in 3 dampers to contol if the heat went through the mass and out the exhaust, or through the mass, then around the pond before going out the exhaust. What I need to know is A: is it feasible that this will work? B: what kind of temperatures could I expect for the water? ( The pond will be about 500 gallons and I am hoping to keep water temperatures between 25 & 30 degrees Celsius) C: would I be better off piping the 6" duct in the ground around the pond? D: Is there a better way I could do this? I would desperately love any feedback, suggestions, or comments!

I have an idea to build a rocket mass heater which after running 6" duct through the cob mass, decrease the duct to a 4" which would run inside of cinder blocks that form the wall of my aquaponics pond, before venting out the chimney. I have a ton of questions on my design. Is it possible for this to work with the airflow? Would installing a duct fan in the 4" section be benifitial? What sort of temperatures could I expect to get in the 500 gallon pond? Is it necessary to use firebricks to build the j tube, or could red bricks work? I would desperately love some feedback! Thanks!