Jef Verbeelen

Peter Ellis wrote:

I would not want to use long continuous fuel rods, in part because I have visions of them burning upward and falling out of the tube, rather than nicely dropping into the feed tube. I have frequently experienced fuel that has "hung up" in the feed tube and needs to be pushed in. Gravity does not always address the issue.

.

Hi Peter,

It looks like Rob has done a good job with his pellet feeder. It doesn't look like he has problems with the fire traveling back up the
feed tube. Here is a link to his Rocket mass heater on pellets:



All the best, jef

Hi Jacob,

I think web4deb Rob has made an excellent pellet feeder for his rocket stove.

He can also switch from wood to pellets and back quite easily.

I have been looking at the same problem. I want to build a rocket stove that can burn pellets
as well. Only, I want to be able to start up the rocket stove automatically. Sometimes I am gone for a
few days and then the temperature in my greenhouse would get too low (for aquaponics)
After seeing one of Rob's videos where he says that he pours a little diesel on the pellets to make em light up
faster, I am thinking of constructing an automatic fire mechanism with an injector that squirts a little
gasoline onto the pellets and ignition with a spark like from a gas heater. I don't want to use propane
gas in an unattended situation.
I think a little tinkering with an arduino, a few sensors and a few dc motors, I'd be able to accomplish it.
I am just brainstorming here off course. Maybe someone else has found the perfect solution already?

Jef

Nice setup Amos!

Jef

Amos Valenti wrote:

Joseph Fields wrote:I know this is a little off topic. Does anyone have any kind of removable insulated hip walls in your greenhouse. I was thinking of filling some sandbags and building hip walls around the inside to keep the cold from creeping in at ground level. Then I recalled how much filling sandbags sucks and thought I would ask for advise. I was thinking wood chip filled bags would be a lot lighter to take down in summer time.

We have used bails of hay/straw in the past and it seems to be effective.

Hi Joseph,

To add to that, sandbags won't do the trick I am afraid.
In my opinion, sandbags get as cold as a brick non-insulated wall. Bails of hay like Amos mentions or wood chips
in a bag (because it traps air) would do it.

Jef

Brooks Miller wrote:hi frank - thats awesome - looks like you've spent some time with sketchup!

i have a few questions/critiques.

my only immediate concerns with putting the pipe directly into the water would be water tight welds/unions, loss of volume (space for fish to live in considering size of an aquaponics greenhouse), and how you would control the heat.

my idea with heating a tank of water and then moving it was because you'd be able to put the circulation loop in the pond on a thermostat so you don't go overboard on heat....but maybe you kinda can't go overboard?? i think the cool part to me about heating the water is that then whe you use water to irrigte, you're irrigating and spreading that heat out into the whole greenhouse more evenly.

questions:
1. how hard is it to cut rock wool plates, where do you get them, and how good are they at insulating?
2. whats up with leaving the top of the first piece of the heat exchanger uninsulated?
3. how would you make the stainless below the surface watertight? do you have access to a TIG welder onsite? what size pipe wall?
4. are the pipes in the bottom of the water representing your irrigation pipes?


looks great, and thanks for sharing.

an update to my design is that we've done some rough figuring and think that just heating a mass beneath the fodder trays may actually be enough to heat the whole thing....that way our cob mass running through the brooder sections radiates up and warms trays, and the plant water pulls the heat into the pond.

cutting and setting posts today - ill "post" some pics tonight!

Hi,

I think you do need the barrel in your system anyway. Sure, you need the heat riser foremost, but if i understand, you need the barrel to radiate some of that heat off, to keep the
flow of the gasses going. What you could do is have tubing with water go around the barrel? I'd keep the system open as well, so there is no pressure buildup.

Jef

Hi Everyone,

I have been reading the forum for a while. I have also looked at all the web4deb videos. There is one thing I couldn't find.
Has anyone insulated the ground where the exhaust is running through?
I was thinking of excavating a foot of dirt, putting in blue board or another type of waterproof insulation, so that no energy is
waisted on heating the ground beyond a foot or so deep. And of course also vertical insulation at the perimeter of the greenhouse,
so no heat escapes laterally away from the greenhouse. (oh, that seems to have been answered... twice the depth of the frost line)

Second question. Has anyone calculated how much wood they burn to heat their greenhouse with a RMH?

Third question. Sand is not an ideal medium for storing heat. (I think). what are people using for thermal mass around their exhaust?
Gravel?

I am planning an aquaponic system in a geodesic dome, made of wood, covered with polydress keder film (bubble film but better).
The dome is 22 feet in diameter. I want to heat it to be able to keep fish through the winter. Also, apparently the necessary bacteria
to keep the aquaponic system going don't do very well below 55F or 15C. I live in Belgium. Mild winters (average but not too much sun.
Average max temp 6c and average min temp 0C, november through mid march)

Jef

Hello Paul,

Youtube is probably not a very good option anymore. I had access for a while, but now I get the following message:

500 Internal Server Error

Sorry, something went wrong.

A team of highly trained monkeys has been dispatched to deal with this situation.

If you see them, show them this information:
W74vspHn5A2KnnE8RIFpCpLBMCu5kXWEyrg5tUkvQCkMplDMkqJVK9_oeZpN
kmbqo7o0rlDdP1niVBHg3qMFe934C-CZZ7cT9FsOElbh8z5PMyFAoENSDHd2
DyXNXhLZ9YAoYDlmX38f9YeknMc4zC5ziGzmpIDHiX6YrEtDvfouTpe5aJso
KI7Rn7-Y5cflqi8Eo0OQiaua8gywKxBAmbDv7y5JvTPfFWwCB3TrvYmm2BTT

And then there is about 20 more lines after that. I was patient, so I tried for a week, just
to see if it would recover. And it doesn't.

sincerely,

Jef

Thank you Paul.

I have received the other 3 as well.
So, it looked like getting a new youtube account did the trick.

Now, I am quickly going to grab a few refreshments and start watching non-stop!

all the best,

Jef

Yes! It works!

I got an email on my .mac address with an image and a link to the

"FIRE SCIENCE - Full DVD" running 1 hour and 37 minutes.

Thank you Paul. For others with the same problem. Maybe they should try to make a new youtube address as well.
Mine was really old and almost never used. When I created another youtube address, it seemed like it looked more modern
and with more features.... but that is just a guess. Anyway, it worked for me.

Jef

Jaikiran Pai wrote:Jef, did you receive the email from youtube telling you about the private video? Also, is it your gmail email account id?

Hello Jaikiran,

No, I never got the e-mail from youtube. I don't have gmail. I have a yahoo adress coupled to it. But it should make no difference I guess. I just
sent Paul a new youtube address, which I just created. And this one goes to my .mac address. Maybe that will work.

Jef