Jay Whaley

Progress Report
The Stove worked well, at first it roared like a dragon. But as the weeks went on it got less and less aggressive. So when I opened things up this summer I noticed the riser bricks had shifted and 1/4 to ½" gaps had appeared. As noted earlier in this post, I was anxious to get heat and didn’t use slip or insulate the riser, or any of the things I knew needed done. I also noticed, after I removed the riser bricks, that there was over an inch of ash powder in the burn tunnel. I seem to remember someone telling me to add an extra inch in height to the burn to allow for this, My apologies.

So I ended up removing all the bricks down to the base. And rebuilding, giving an extra inch in height for the burn tunnel. Using slip at every joint, wrapping the riser with hardware cloth and filling with pearlite/sand/clay mix. I also added a 4" clean out at the base of the feed tube. Then rebuilding the barrel base and manifold. I also have the thermal bench pipe laid out, and am working on the shut off just before the pipe exits the wall.

Framing the thermal bench and filling it with pea gravel is going to take a little bit longer. And that brings me to a question I have. I have seen the thermal bench being filled with large rocks and gravel, and I plan to do the same, but I also have about 500 lbs of lead ingots. As metal retains heat well I thought I might add the ingots to the thermal mass, since it only get to maybe 90 - 100 deg. But I worry about lead fumes, does lead out gas at these temps?

Jay

Since I don’t know where else to put this I’ll start here.
I’m going to add water tanks to my camping trailer. I was given a large dia pipe and thought it would work nicely. I went to buy end caps, and found out it is not std sch 40 or sch 80 pipe.

Pipe dimensions inside dia is 6.25 and outside dia is 6.875 with no other identifying marks. Can anyone identify this size pipe?

Jay

I have been slowly working solar into the way I live. I have put together a small system, (2 100W panels, 2Series4 batt, mmpt controller) for camping, but would like to get started at home. I have been looking around the net for information on how to build a Ni/Fe battery. But is seem the biggest thing anyone has built is in a ball jar, I want to use a 5gal bucket for each cell. Nickel sheet .05mm x 6" x 12" is approx $15 USD and same size steel sheet is $4 but I can buy 24 awg 4'x8' sheet for $20 so that brings the iron cost down below $1.00. So total cost on the outside is $50 a cell, X10 is $500, about 1/2 the cost of Chinese cells. Assuming that gives me approx 100Ah capacity. But it seems no one has tried this, or have they and their keeping information secret???

There seems to be many opinions on construction materials.  Nickel sheet, or Nickel Silver sheet, or using Nickel Oxide and Iron Oxide on substrate material.

Or am I in left field, Has anyone tried making their own?

Jay

That is the Question, ..... I just purchased "HQST 100 Watts 12 Volts Polycrystalline Solar Panel " They look nice but should I put protective cover, i.e. plexiglass over them? or will that reduce their output?

This is going to be a camping setup, 2 panels, MPPT , 2 4DLT batteries, 750/1500 watt inverter/ 5.0 cu.in. Freezer converted to refrigerator. In years past, I would have to drive into town every 3 to 4 days for ice. Since I camp in the So Cal Desert, I have abundant sun, I am hoping this will run 24/7. But looking at the panels I worry about blowing sand.

Suggestions?

p.s. it was either buy another $500+ cooler or this
Jay

Correct me if I am wrong, I thought the charge controller had "Load" terminals, so when the batteries got to the discharge point, the "Load" could be disconnected by the controller to prevent over discharge from occurring?
If you connect the inverter directly to the battery this safety measure is by passed.

This then brings up another question, Charge controllers have an amp rating 10A thru 90A. That rating is usually in reference to the amps coming from the panels but isn't is also the amperage the charge controller load terminals can handle?

in the example above wouldn't a  80 or 90 amp controller work?
Or am I on the wrong track???

Jay

OK!
It's -3 deg F. So I decided to skip a few steps and fire up the stove. I keep a Nerf ball stuffed i n the end of the chimney pipe. When I removed it I had a terrible down draft. So I tried putting a heat gun on the pipe, but after 10 min it still  wasn't drawing. So I went out to the chimney and pulled the clean out access panel. After removing the dead Robin and snow I built a small teepee around a piece of starter brick. It caught and was roaring in less than a minute. Back inside I removed the nerf ball and lit a match, the draw sucked it out, so I put the barrel over the riser and started it up. put mud around the barrel to seal it while it warmed up....... -3 outside 70 in my living room, and the second floor is 68, it's usually in the 50's.

No thermal bench yet but we are warm!!!

Jay

Progress is made. Feed tube is 16" burn tunnel is 24" and riser is 40". I had planned on it being 48" but when I finally pulled the 55 gal drum from the barn. is was shorter than I thought it was.

So now to fill in and around the burn tunnel and the gaps around the barrel support with cob. While I was cutting brick, I also cut in the "trip wire" and plan on installing the "P" trap. then wrap the riser in fine mesh hardware cloth and perlite.

Fire coming soon!!!

Got the brick work started. I have the dimensions from "Rocket Mass Heaters edition III" which states a 6" system should be 30 sq in. I tried laying out for 7.5" wide and 4 tall, but I didn't like the look. So it's 6" wide and 5" tall. As for insulation under, I'm not trying to stop heat transfer, the basement floor varies between 3 and 4" thick with clay below that so I am going to use it to expand my radiant heat area. I had to cut a hole in the floor once to service the pipes coming from the cistern. My basement was dirt, (clay) when it had a coal furnace. In the 50's the house was "modernized". They dug the dirt down about a foot and poured concrete, and nun to level. the main support columns are still sitting on 6x6 squares of dirt sticking up thru the concrete. The house has been here for over 100 yrs so I guess that's OK.

I do plan on attaching a cob bench, but to start I will build the stove portion with 55 gal drum, and vent it straight out. Run some test burns and tune the barrel. Then build and attach the thermal battery.

Got some work done today. Make the level base on the floor, then some bricks to test design. Will be building a 6" Jtube. tunnel dimensions are 6" wide and 5" tall.

Robert Dearborn wrote:Was wondering how you are progressing ?

Slow unfortunately, I got the bricks moved from the garage to the basement but that's about it. Everyone here got sick over the Holidays. I hope to get going this week.
Jay