mike Gillingham

I don't have any problems with the present system. If I want the whole house warm I use the furnace. If I just want the upstairs warm and can deal with a 55 degree basement I can run the wood stove in the living room. I would like to install a RMH in the basement so that I don't have to use the furnace at all during the winter months and can still enjoy my basement space.

Yes Stack effect is what I am concerned about. I don't want to buy a PDF or DVD to find out that the thing will not work in my situation. I really like the mass portion of the design and have even imagined that the RMH would be enough that I wouldn't have to run the upstairs stove much. It's a hard call but since Ernie and Erica Wisner have so much diverse experience in this subject I was hoping they might chime in and offer some thoughts as well. If not the masters then maybe some folks who have built a few and can suppose what I might need to do in order to make it work or not...

I have a ranch style home in Iowa that has a full 8' concrete foundation wall on the front of the home and a 4' foundation wall on the rear. It's a bit unique in that regard but I like it. I have a "higher efficiency" wood stove on the main floor which adequately heats the main level. It is vented straight through the roof and drafts well. I also have an auto damper type "make up" air intake that is tied into the cold air return of the HVAC system which helps to keep the home from developing a negative pressure condition.

The problem is that when I run the stove to heat the main level the basement temp will naturally drop into the 50's which obviously is not comfortable. I would love to install a rocket mass heater in the basement! I think the ones that have plans available on this page http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp are incredible and would love to build one. I have a place in mind on the rear of the home which would back it up against the 4' foundation wall and it would sit on the basement slab I think? The flue would have to go through the rear framed wall and ninety up on the exterior. I don't know if I would be able to stop just outside the exterior wall or have to go up through the soffit in order to avoid back drafting.

After reading a billion posts on rocket stoves I'm not sure it will work. Taking air from low ground, exterior intake for the stove/ no exterior intake, this list of options/ questions goes on and on. Basically I guess I just need to know whether it will work or not and possibly some direction on which set of plans to purchase if any. I understand that things are evolving in the RMH world and recently read about shipping manufactured cores. What an awesome idea.

I love the idea of the RMH. Less fuel consumption, higher efficiency, best of all reduced dependence on the grid. I think I like that part the best.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I was pretty sure that I posted this before but...

I was wondering if since the exhaust gases are relatively cool, if anyone has tried using a class B flue vent for a chimney. I have a Midwest ranch home and was considering a rocket mass heater in the basement. Rather than spend the $$ for insulated stainless chimney sections I was thinking of a class B flue vent instead. The chimney will have to exit the house and 90 up to penetrate the soffit so that it can draft properly.

Thanks,