paul wheaton wrote:
Don Dufresne wrote: I'm curious as to how a RMH works with poplar. Is there a build up of creosote?
Rocket mass heaters don't have creosote. A rocket mass heater tries to create a "chimney fire" every burn. The chimney (or "heat riser") looks spotlessly clean every inspection.
S. G. Botsford wrote:
I don't see a half cord as being impossible. I'm in Alberta near Edmonton. We have a similar climate to the plains area of Montana -- what Montana gains by being south of us, they lose due to higher elevation. We run a heating season of about 10,000 degree F days per year.
We have a 2500 square foot house that is mostly heated with a moderate efficiency (80%) airtight steel stove, and a low efficiency century old cast iron wood/coal range. (we do not burn coal in it.) We burn about 3 cords a year.
Paul is gaining a factor of 2 in efficiency by using a rocket mass heater. Montana isn't as dark as Alberta in the winter. Longer winter days give him another, what 20-30%.
Wood energy is directly proportional to dry weight. Hardwoods tend to be denser than softwoods, but larch or tamarack is more dense than poplar. Spruce and poplar is about the same.
Drying time is important. I now have covered storage for 16 cords. I figure 4 cords a year, but usually don't burn that much unless it is a bitter winter.
I burn mostly poplar. Not a lot of heat per cord, compared to other hardwoods, but it's fast to cut and fast to split.
Jesse Grimes wrote:Three and a half weeks straight of working every day, in the cold, tired and sore, but I managed to get my house built and closed up enough to stay dry over the winter. It is certainly not finished yet, and I don't have a stove to heat it, but it is somewhere to keep my stuff protected and dry over the next few months. Even though I didn't get it finished enough to stay in myself over winter, it sure feels great to have built it myself and see it standing there on my plot. I have arranged to stay with Mike Oehler for the winter, to help him finish the amazing ridge house and learn all I can about underground houses and earth sheltered greenhouses. I will be back in early spring to start working on all the plans I have for next year, now that I've made enough mistakes to know what not to do... hopefully. More about all that in the coming videos, but for now I present part three in the saga of building my house.
It's getting Cold! The days are filled with chilling winds and flurries of snow, but I've still got a house to build. Luckily the main structure is up and all that is left is to install the walls, windows, and doors to close it up. As I fill in the spaces the house starts to show its final form, and I develop an appreciation for the Ant Village's cordless electric chainsaw. Close to running out of materials, I get the house closed up and get to experience the feeling of standing inside a house I built with my own two hands...