Tony Panoochi

paul wheaton wrote:And you built the whole thing just using info from which of my movies?

Building a Cob Style Rocket Mass Heater.  Didn't see a gravel one at the Expo, but figured a mass is a mass - my focus was getting the info for the heater itself.

paul wheaton wrote:Tony,

I had a lovely time at that event.  Do you know of any other events like it in the PNW where I might speak?

Your rocket mass heater looks lovely.  

And ...   the big question ...  do you feel, yet, like you are heating with one tenth the wood?  I know it might be a bit early to be sure, but I would think you would have some vague notion.

Paul,

I'm not aware of any other events but will certainly let you know if I hear of anything.

As far as usage It's difficult to tell (at this time) as I am trying to get my son used to not tossing in wood every time he walks past.  Additionally the first few days we burned quite a bit as the gravel was wet so it took a couple days to get that 2 tons or so dried out and heated up.  

Thus far for a week + I have gone through about 2 wagon loads of wood.  Normally this time of year about 1 wagon load a day. The past few days as the mass has warmed we have cut down significantly, but we are running it twice a day to keep the space within a 3 degree range.

Infrared thermometer shows the mass getting down to about 80 between burns (approx 10 hrs) - but due to high ceilings it is heating over 9,000 cubic feet (plus a spoiled goat's butt).  If I close off the feed tube after burning the thermal fan on the barrel top will easily run 8 hours.

So after all that rambling based on what I am seeing, probably 1/8 to 1/10 the firewood.

paul wheaton wrote:

Already showed the neighbors and have been posting on prepper pages, and trying to get some other Y.T. prepper channels to talk about it.  

And THAT is the core of this thread.

I cannot reach 100 million people, but I can reach a few thousand.  And out of those, maybe there will be a hundred that will reach a dozen per month ...  and then those people ...  

It isn't about getting the love of a celebrity, or the love of big media.  It's just us.  Sharing over and over.

For the next build I am going to put out an invite to a couple prepper groups - thought being get a couple people to actually walk through building one and say "I can do that" and hopefully become evangelists.

I had been thinking about doing an RMH for years, but the no chimney fire threat and not feeding a woodstove every two hours (I have had a couple chimney fires) pished me over the edge.

Add that my house temp has varied by 3 degrees since putting it in has definitely turned me into a convert.

After speaking with Paul at the Panhandle Preparedness Expo I came home, tore out my wood stove and got to work.  Not having a parts list or step by step instructions made it a challenge.  Lots of pausing the video trying to count bricks, guess distance, etc.

That said I have had it running over a week, my gravel is dry, and I am loving it.  Already showed the neighbors and have been posting on prepper pages, and trying to get some other Y.T. prepper channels to talk about it.  Meanwhile working on gathering parts to build a smaller one in my bedroom.