Gary Howard

bob day wrote:Hi Gary, neat that this thread got a reply because it reminded me of the path that led me to the batch heaters.

Hi Bob! Funny about the propane torch, that how I start my woodstove up too
I love wood heat myself, best heat there is and the cloths on the line down stairs dry almost instantly. I do put a pot of water on the stove every now and then just to add some moisture to the air. Wood heat sure does dry things out.

I am trying to collect as much info and ideas on the mass heater before I start it. I'm not much on tearing things back apart. This will be in a new small house that I am building and there's plenty of other stuff that will need to be done to. Living in this old house built in 1860 has gotten just to expensive. No matter how much I try to tighten it up we still have the wood stove, pellet stove and oil heat all going at the same time all winter long.

Time to go "small and cheap."

Dave Lot wrote:me personally, I tend to build it first, then ask questions as too why its not working....
You find out a lot of new things that way.

Yup, lol! Measure once cut twice. Thanks much for the info Dave! My first thought was to put everything on top of a slab and a layer of fire brick which will call for a massive amount of bracing the wooden floor below, which I think will be ok. I'll just put some concrete block the same shape as the slab under it down stairs.
As far as the wall behind it I plan on bricking it up and keeping the barrel about 12" away. I'd like to keep it as low as possible though, certainly no higher than a bench would normally be.

Its the plumbing and chimney that has me confused. I'd hate to go thru all that and not have it draft out. That would be a big waste of time and money. I still am thinking about running the plumbing thru two cast iron tubs filled with small stones and then building a structure around them to hide them and make it look like more of a piece of furniture. There are a few of those tubs around town for sale but as far as I can tell it's never been done before. I would actually turn them upside down and cut a hole in the bottom to fill them with stone after the exhaust pipes are in place. (I think)

Do you think a duel exhaust out of the barrel going in opposite directions will work with a Y pipe connection before it goes up and out of the house? Sort of like a 2into1 exhaust on a car. And in stead of laying the pipe flat would it be ok to turn the 90 degrees at the elbow and come up over the lower pipe in the tub? I don't think there's room to lay them side by side.

Satamax Antone wrote:Gary, i think going bell should solve your plumbing problem. And  i think going batch would help too. Raising the firebox above the bench. Just my opinion.

Thanks Satamax. Yep, I think a bell will throw more heat for the money. I'm not too worried about how a barrel will look in the house, I can make it look good some how. Besides, nobody that I hang with would really care anyway.
I even thought about using two cast iron tubs filled with stone with the plumbing going thru them and building a nice stone faced masonry box for them to fit into. Then building a nice looking lid over them for my two dogs to hang out on.

Gary

bob day wrote:Hi Gary,

I'm not sure how much research you've had time to do, but yesterday it rained and I had a day, away from chores and work, to do nothing but read (talk about living the dream).

Thanks much! Bob. I will look into those also. I'm not dead set on a RMH yet but the thought of using 1/2 a cord of wood to heat a small house appeals to me after burning a couple cord of wood, a couple tons of wood pellets and a couple tanks of oil every winter. Thats the way its been going in the house that I live in now. The house that I am building will be a lot tighter than this box of pallets that was built in 1860.

Thanks again!

bob day wrote:I finally got a chance to examine that link, and it is pretty different from the basic RMH design you pictured.

Yep! some pretty nice designs there but not quite what I had in mind. Although I want it to look decent I dont want it to cost a million bucks. It will be a secondary heating system and an attempt to save as much on the heating bill as possible.
I have plenty of cord wood and a huge woodstove now that helps but its a wood eating, fire breathing smoke belching machine that I would rather put to rest.

Thanks for the info! Will be doing some more research on a dual exhaust. If you come across anything please post it, ok

Gary

Thank you also, Satamax. Lots of good info there and I will sort thru it.
This is to be a heater for my home and I would like it to look good as well as help with the heating during cold winter months. I plan to have one part along the bathroom wall to help keep the bathroom warm and the other wall will help keep an upstairs bedroom warm. I can kind of figure out the RMH part but the exhaust running thru the two benches, or in my case, (Heat sinks) to warm them up is what has me stumped.

I see instead of a barrel you use fire bricks to form a heat bell. This is appealing but will it use more wood than a conventional steel barrel as far as btu x wood?

Thanks Bob, Yeah I thought the same about running the exhaust under the fire box. First thing I thought of was dual exhaust into a single pipe but havent heard of any designs out there.
Right, the circle is a 55gal drum and each bench would be around 5' long. Is a dual exhaust fairly common? I havent been able to find any info on one.

Hi everybody! I'm new here, like 5 minutes new. I have a question about plumbing a rocket mass heater in a corner of a building.
This is a drawing that I made. The drawing sucks I know but it will give you a general idea of what I'm thinking. Any input would be greatly appreciated.