joseph michael

masonry stove

The rent would be determined based on the situation.

You would need to get satellite internet (about $70/month). There is already a pole for mounting the dish. You can get cell phone reception in the kitchen in front of the window.

The house for rent is on a 1 acre corner of a 50 acre property with woods, hills, and creek.

Offgrid home for rent near Ava, Missouri.

Three bedroom

Two bathroom

Full solar

Wood cookstove with hot water plumbing

Large central kitchen

Fully insulated 6 inch walls, metal siding and roof

Porch overlooking pond in yard

Live creek on neighboring property

I don't have a problem with voles.

The rotted sawdust has fungus, so it is similar to what would happen with the rotted wood. Perhaps I should not add the sawdust either? I was going to add it to lower the ph and fluff up the soil.

- joe

I am building a deep raised bed just for growing sweet potaotes. They say that soil for sweet potaotes should be sandy loam, with pH of 5.0 to 6.5, but low in organic matter.

I plan to mix topsoil, sand, and rotted sawdust.

Should I put some hugelkultur logs in a hole in at the bottom of the bed, or not?

- joe

I have built and used the system sold by Lehmans:

The 42 gallon tank:
https://www.lehmans.com/p-1388-42gal-hot-water-range-boiler-system-one.aspx

The stainless steel coil, which fits the brand of wood cook stoves that they sell.
https://www.lehmans.com/p-3420-hot-running-water-coil-for-bakers-choicepioneer-maidpioneer-princess-wood-cookstoves.aspx

The plumbing instructions:
https://www.lehmans.com/p-3148-hot-water-from-your-woodstove-booklet.aspx

It is safe if you follow all the instructions.

It also uses two pressure relief valves and a mixing valve, and is plumbed with 1 inch copper pipe.

It works; however, it is expensive.

- joe

What about using cement board for the sides of bells?

- joe

matthew boersma wrote:hey all, i am about to cast my core in a day or so. i am using kast-o-lite 30li for the refractory cement. i have already built molds out of plywood for both the core and riser. my molds are measured out to be about 1.25 inches for the outer wall thicknesses. my question is.. would you think 1.25 inches is a good enough thickness(or should i really go bigger? i have a vibrator unit so i am looking to get very solid casts. also i have noticed after squishing in my riser innards foam part that my riser dimensions are likely to be about an 1/16" more on at least one of the sides. any perceivable issues there (i was thinks at least it isn't much of a difference and not smaller)? any thoughts?

-matt

I do not have experience with casting, although I am making a mold right now. I would think that 1.25 is a good thickness, like the "split" fire brick.

I would think that it is not good to make it too thick, as that could cause cracking with the expansion. But that is just my guess.

One think you may want to do is to cast a small brick to as a test to get familiar with the Kast-o-lite, and to see how strong it is.

I notice you are casting a square riser. Peter's original model used a vermiculite board, as do the Dragon Heaters. The Lowes in this area sells vermiculite board in 36 inch squares at 3/4 inch thickness for a good price. (If you have to get it mail order, it is very expensive, since they have to make a special crate to ship it.)

I think the vermiculite is a better insulator. But if I was going to actually cast the riser, I would make it round.

But again, I don't have experience with this.

- joe