Diane Frenser

Thanks for your reply Thomas.


I embedded mine completely with cob but made sure when I put cob on top of the pipe, I built up at least one inch-relying on the power of the arch. The sound only comes from one part of the couch that is rarely sat on.

I have a brick dome with it cobbed over then an extra layer of cob so the barrel can be embedded into it.

Hello John,

What you wrote really resonated with me. I too am looking for my person. I am the eternal optimist who says "at least its not lava" when the sky is falling. I am everywhere (in my head) at once but still stay grounded in who I am. But as time speeds up as I get older the more I've come to realize that my person is not out there. To find my person would be like finding the winning lottery ticket in a rigged game. What I am looking for in a person is incredibly niche and next to impossible to find in a world full of sheeple. I have also been a loner ever since I can remember and have found myself often wandering in the woods and talking to trees. Yes, I am a sort of a hybrid hippy who has a day job in town but find my freedom in my backyard. I live in a state full of reds and some blues but find I don't fit in any group nor have any inclination to join an organized religion. The trees are my church and as long as I treat everyone and everything with respect then I think I'm doing ok.

I started this journey in 2013 after watching the movie the Hobbit and since then I have embarked on this path that has made complete sense by forming a synergy of all my experiences from growing up on a farm to living on the side of a volcano in a third world country to being a lover of history. I am an old soul and prefer the simple life yet I am a recovering mainstreamer. I admit fault where I am wrong and am constantly growing and embracing and modifying my challenges. I live off grid on 20 acres and still building up my paradise where I can teach others how to live off grid and build with cob. A lot of what I learned came from constantly eating up information from others and figuring it out on my own. I come from a big family but only converse with one brother (who has his own life and family) who has helped me but the off grid life has been very lonely. I wasn't going to wait on my "knight in shining armor" to rescue me and live off grid. I was determined to live my dream no matter how much blood, sweat, and tears were shed. And plenty have been shed. Although I may not fit what you are looking for because of having my brother and not interested in having kids, (mine is grown and out of the house) but I wanted to reach out and say I understand and can commiserate in the beast of what is loneliness. It sucks being down with the flu but no one else is going to bring in the fire wood. It sucks when I'm not mechanically inclined but yet have to find a way to fix my equipment. It sucks when I don't have the "man power" to lift something up or twist something off but yet I give it my all and its by my sheer stubbornness to life this lifestyle. But I don't regret one second, even if I have to do it alone.

So I wanted to say, don't lose hope, you will find her. If not we can make an agreement that when we are 80 years old, we can get married and gripe at each other even though we are hard of hearing. lol

Howdy!

I would like to inquire about two things that have recently been happening with my RMH. I am in my fifth season of using my RMH. I do yearly clean outs and have inspected the exhaust pipes for creosote build up but I only find just ash. I have some strange noises coming from the system. One is coming from my couch which is made out of cob and embedded inside are exhaust pipes. I hear popping noises. It is very faint and thought maybe its the metal expanding. The system will be burning for a while but then I hear the noises. I thought maybe it was a fire inside the channel but I don't see any evidence of a chimney fire.

The second noise is coming from the barrel itself. Every now and again, it will sound like something is falling inside the chamber and hitting the metal or sounds like I've dropped a brick on the metal barrel. One time it vibrated the barrel. When I took the temperature, the barrel was about 280-300 degrees. What is happening and should I be concerned? In my head I'm picturing it will explode. lol

TIA

Hello,

I’m hoping someone can provide some insight. I have a 400 watt solar panel system with a 50 amp charge controller, two deep cycle marine batteries with a 1000 watt inverter. I’m trying to upgrade my system little by little. I bought bought a 3000 watt pure sine inverter. I thought it would be just an easy switch out by just replacing the inverter itself. The only change I made was instead of plugging in my circuit box is wiring it into the inverter. We tried also plugging it in. The issue is the inverter keeps tripping and according to the manual the GFCI is tripped but I don’t have GFCI. Also we have power coming in to the inverter and I can plug small devices in the outlets of the inverter but once it gets to the circuit breaker box and I turn on certain breakers it trips. For instance it will be fine for the first breaker and it gets power but once I turn on the second breaker it trips. Anyone have any ideas on why this happens. Do I need more batteries?

So I’m trying to figure out why all of a sudden why my RMH isn’t drawing like it did before I left for vacation. Maybe my cob cracked around the barrel from being too cold (got down to -20 with wind chill while I was gone and the house isn’t heated another way but don’t think it got that cold in the house) but still a possibility. Another possibility is something is using the chimney as shelter. I have a light/camera cord to see up the chimney and noticed sticky residue which can only mean creosote. I bought a brush and a rod to clean the chimney but also bought a creosote log to help. Has anyone used one on a RMH and if so did you burn it before or after using a chimney brush?

Thanks in advance

Gerry Parent wrote:Hi Diane, When was the last time you cleaned your stove? In other words, lifted the barrel, cleaned out the ash in the horizontal ducting, roof cap inspection etc...
There may be enough room for the exhaust to travel around ash build up most of the time but perhaps when coupled with a warmer day (less delta T) and/ or wind, you may see problems like this.

I clean it out every year. I take the top off clean out the barrel as well as the heat riser. I also take the clean out lids and use a shop vac to clean out the exhaust. Maybe I didn’t clean it as well as I thought I did or maybe I missed a spot. Or when I dig the ash out I don’t go back far enough. I’ll have to investigate.

One creepy thing that happened to me on this site was someone googling me and contacting my place of work then contacting my co workers on my behalf as well as sending about 30 emails in a 24 hour period. Mind you I dont have my place of work available on my profile but it’s easy to google almost anyone now days. I think googling someone is ok just to make sure they are real or see if they are a serial killer but the length they went through was scary.

I’ve also did the online dating websites thing and then quit. Lol it’s scary out there and my picker is broken. I’m content being single and working on my place.

Other creepy things:
Moving too fast, moving in together and saying I love you within a very short time is too red flagish
Stalking
Having meat suits in your basement and calling yourself Buffalo Bill
Eating ketchup on your eggs
Not having a sense of humor

Hello. So I have been using my RMH for three winters now. This winter I have noticed some blow back here and there. The first time was because too much cold air was sitting in the exhaust. So I opened the clean outs and turned on a fan to push the cold air out and the RMH was fine afterwards but now I have noticed that from time to time fire will be kind of chaotic with its direction. The fire in the bottom of the feed moves horizontally but sometimes the fire will travel up a piece of wood and flames or smoke will come out the feed. Then will go back to normal. This will only last as long as let it by moving around the wood frantically or place two fire bricks over the feeds. I don’t know why it’s starting to do this. My design is from the Wisner’s book, to the T. The J tube with a 35 ft run, chimney is out the roof and above the peak 2 feet. Any insight why my fire acts up from time to time?

I imagine it depends quite a bit on the man. I get the impression that most men would do this as a result of not being serious about the relationship in the first place. They were probably putting on a show the whole time, and either they got what they wanted and see no further reason to continue, or they perceive that they will not be able to get what they want (or not within the time frame they want) and don't want to waste any more time.

I also notice that in many dating profiles I have seen over the years, many women are very adamant that a man not be boring, and likes to constantly try new things. I have seen many relationships, even marriages, end as a result of the woman thinking the man is too boring. The problem with a person who likes to constantly try new things, is that very often they also have the wanderlust and do not like sticking with the same thing for a prolonged period. One hazard of dating such a person is that there is a fairly good chance that they will rather shortly do what they have always done and move on to something new by their nature. The irony of this situation is that the person who is actively seeking out someone who mustn't be boring can in the end lose that very person as they themselves are perceived as boring. I imagine in these situations, what is going on in these men's heads is basically "nothing," at least with regards to the woman they just left.

Not all men are like that, though. Some men want commitment, and would never initiate a relationship unless they truly want to see it through. If this type of man ghosts a woman, then it is most likely because she did something to cause him so much pain that he virtually had no choice but to cut things off immediately. Particularly if the act the woman committed was so egregious that there is no way she could not have known how hurtful it would have been. In this case, there is no way he can rationalize or justify her actions, other than the idea that they were done in malice or at least total indifference. In this instance, I would say what is going through the man's mind after ghosting the woman is pain.

Hmm explains that explains a few things…the last guy was upset because I didn’t want to watch him and his ex have sex then he just did a 180 on me and was this to totally different person. I had been talking to this guy for two years off and on and we would talk every night for hours when we did finally date. He was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The last one before that he just decided he doesn’t want to date me because he wasn’t sure what he wanted. He said he was jealous of my lifestyle and he wanted his own place. And the one before just totally ghosted. No explanation. My motto was shit or get off the pot and say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t invest all this time and say/do beautiful things then change your mind. The problem is people are so fickle now days. I will make a situation awkward because I won’t say I love you back if I don’t feel it. I just don’t understand how someone can put in so much time and effort then change their mind or turn on you. It’s a waste of time. I think after this last one I’ve turned a little jaded towards dating and feel I can’t trust any man given my dating history. I tried looking for men from different backgrounds, interest groups, dating apps, you name it, I tried it all. And somehow I attract the projects or commitment phobes. Im an optimistic person and always see the bright side of things but this last one really through me for a loop. I know not all men are like this but the ones I attract seem to fall short. I think I’ve given up on dating and have no interest in it and turned a little cold by it all. Besides im happy being single and there is no way or statistically speaking I will not find my match. And I’d rather be single than deal with a miserable relationship. Sorry lol I got on my soapbox, it’s just frustrating and seems hopeless.