Trace Oswald

Scott Weinberg wrote:
Rich, I will bite,  With a simple search, you can find dozens of house fires started with chimney fires created by wood stoves that when cut back to a smolder (most modern wood stoves do this, no matter what kind of "stringent requirements" they have,  which create huge amounts of creosote. And because of this method of trying to conserve wood, almost always rule out using any type of soft wood, including all the pines.   When they do fire up from there smoldering sleep, they  then become the combustion source for the ensuing  chimney fire. (if anyone disagrees, please do tell, I will listen here as well)   Granted, if you have a old NON-efficient wood stove, the don't do much smoldering as they are busy burning lots of wood to create 80 degree rooms, or very cold rooms when out.

I am not sure what requirements a modern wood stove would have compared to oil, propane, and natural gas, but am willing to listen to what these may be. So please do tell.

And now back to business, I would like to hear about fires caused by properly designed RMH's.  Tom of Dragon fame, Glen of  high mountains in CO,  Walker of Walker stoves,  Fox James across the pond, and myself have all shown that the door of the stove can be easy to make, and almost fool proof.  And Peter V has shown the efficient production of heat. I have burned wood for over 60 years, and 50 years with no supervision from adults. And the last 8 years have been by far the safest.

Honestly, if I had to rank the REASONS for a RMH,  

#1 might very well be SAFETY,
#2 steady heat,
#3 efficient wood burning
#4 ability to burn most any dry wood.

I am fully aware of every technology, having two sides, but I want proof for the arguments, ON BOTH SIDES   I can find proof of 1000's of chimney fires caused by "approved modern wood stoves"  I am afraid, I can't find this with any RMH, built to a proven working dimensions  but am willing to listen.

Hey Scott, I don't disagree with any of your points, and indeed, I'm gathering materials and reading (and re-reading) everything I can find on the subject of RMH, including Thomas' excellent books.  My only "objection" (still too strong a word) is that, while  you are correct that there have been thousands of chimney fires caused by woodstoves, and maybe zero caused by RMH, it isn't really a fair comparison.  People have been using wood stoves for hundreds of years, and RMH have been around for a very short time and in very limited numbers during that time.  I can assure you, at some point, someone will misuse a RMH and burn their house down.  I agree that RMH have fantastic qualities and I'm fully onboard, but I think both wood stoves, of which I have two, and RMHs can both be used correctly or incorrectly.  

You are correct about the cord of wood being 4'x4'x8', but a very large number of people here burn wood, and when they say a "cord", they mean a face cord.  If you buy wood, it is nearly always sold by the face cord here.  My first thought when I saw this poll was "I wonder which "cord" people will mean when they answer."  This is like the oatmeal thread :)

Christopher Weeks wrote:FWIW:

Wikipedia wrote:Oatmeal is a preparation of oats that have been de-husked, steamed, and flattened, or a coarse flour of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground), rolled, or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called white oats. Steel-cut oats are known as coarse oatmeal, Irish oatmeal, or pinhead oats. Rolled oats were traditionally thick old-fashioned oats, but they can be made thinner or smaller and may be categorized as quick oatmeal or instant oatmeal depending on the cooking time required, which is determined by the size of the oats and the amount of precooking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oatmeal

I feel vindicated :)

Christopher Weeks wrote:When Trace writes "oatmeal" and everyone else writes "oats", in all cases are you talking about rolled oats?

I make oat groats for breakfast sometimes but haven't ever enjoyed rolled oats.

I use Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats.  I've always known it as oatmeal.

In my experience, the most important single thing for a healthy coop is proper ventilation.  Yours looks to have only that small window for ventilation.  I made the mistake of not having enough with my first coop and my chickens suffered for it.  They got frost bite and a couple had respiratory problems.  That was all before I read Fresh Air Poultry Houses.  It was written in the 1920's and is the best book I have ever read on the subject.  It talks about the importance of ventilation, not matter the temperature.  In my new coop, designed after the book, my birds thrived in a coop with an open front throughout the winter, including two nights in a row of -40F.  They had no frostbite and no health issues.  The coop is uninsulated, and as I said, the entire front is open the entire winter.  The roost area though, is completely sealed and free of drafts.  I would urge strongly that you provide as close as possible 1 sq ft of ventilation per bird.  

Brody from this forum built the same style coop I did.  I don't have pictures of mine, but his is a beautiful example.  Brody's excellent coop build  This isn't to say you have to build your coop this style, allow it is a style I highly recommend, it is just an example of the amount of ventilation these coops have.  You can get the book free here:  Open Air Poultry Houses

The book also discusses deep litter, and as Timothy said, I think it's very worthwhile.  Also like Timothy, I made my door too low in one of my coops, and they constantly kick things out.  It doesn't matter because it all turns into soil anyway, but it's easier if they don't kick it out.  

I have planted literally hundreds of them.  I have a particularly fertile area around an apple tree that I mulched very heavily with wood chips.  I have had comfrey grow to 7' to 8' feet near the trunk of the tree where the low hanging branches support its growth.  In areas where nothing is touching them, the ones I have planted in good soil will get higher than my head before tipping over from their own weight.  In less productive soil, they will tip over at 3' or 4'.  

If you plant them in your front yard, they will get to the soil dependent height they are going to reach, and then the stalks will fall outward creating a big daisy-shape on the yard.  If they are 2' they will fall against each other and tip over to varying degrees.  If you can spare the room in the backyard, I would grow most of them in the backyard, maybe putting a couple staggered rows in the front yard at the 4' distance mentioned earlier.  I love, love , love comfrey and have been raising it for many years.  I wouldn't want my front yard covered in it, but that would be very much a personal preference.  In the suburbs, I think you will probably get some unkind feedback.  In addition to that, having it in the backyard would make it much closer to where it is needed, and moving 10k lbs of biomass would necessitate it being close to where I would be using it, at least for me.

I don't know if I would call it "low maintenance" for a few years.  Comfrey in good conditions (for it) grows like crazy.  If you can cut it down to the ground a few times a year, you can keep it looking fairly neat, but if you do nothing, it will be organized chaos :)  I like that, some people, probably most, do not.

This is unrelated, but is one of my "pro tips" for comfrey growing.  When it gets to the point of tipping over, it will probably be flowering.  If you don't need it immediately and want the bees to continue to be able to use it, just step on the middle of the plant, breaking the stalks down to the ground.  They will continue to grow and flower, but the new growth will start from the middle again and it's like growing a new comfrey plant in the middle of the old one.  After flowering, you can cut the broken stems and use them, and by then, the middle new growth will be much closer to full size.

Understood.  The greenhouse will be as heavily insulated as I can swing, but if the winter just makes it impossible to keep warm enough the coming winter, I'll let it go for the year.  I can live without year round produce for one more year :)

thomas rubino wrote:Hey Trace;
Our greenhouse/ studio is 12'x24' with 15' peaked roof.
One 8" J-Tube did the job, but required tending once an hour.
Now a 6" Batchbox heats it easily, feeding every 2.5 hrs.
We go below zero each winter but not nearly as long as you do in the upper mid west.
One 6"-8" batchbox with a large bell, would do the job in your greenhouse.

Hey Thomas, how many times a day do you think I would need to do a burn in mid-winter?  This next winter(2025)  it would be a struggle for me to burn often enough I think, but I'm retiring early in 2026, after that I'll be home most all the time and it will be no problem.  It may be that this coming year, the greenhouse can only be used to extend my seasons, but in coming years, I would like to be able to keep cold-hardy greens alive year round.

Glenn Littman wrote:...
For your greenhouse build I'll throw out a thought that I failed to do with my greenhouse which I keep growing year-round, but did learn when I built my home which is slab on-grade with hydronic floor heating in the slab. Floor mass, whether concrete or dirt can serve as a thermal mass but up front planning will help with efficiency. If you insulate the perimeter you will minimize heat loss out the sides. For my slab I laid down crushed stone with a vapor barrier on top then 2" thick construction foam board. The perimeter was dug a little deeper and foam board was cut and laid vertically to insulate from heat loss out the sides. You can definitely count on the slab that the RMH will be built on as a part of your mass. The slab that my heater is built on maintains about 80+ degrees 12" out from the footprint of the mass. at all times. If budget allows you may also want to consider trenching around the perimeter of the greenhouse and placing foam insulation vertically to help retain the warmth of the dirt mass of the greenhouse footprint. I'm not sure how deep to go but I would think at least 18" or more.

My climate is definitely challenging in the winter.  A couple, maybe three, years ago we had -40F two nights in a row.  That was an anomaly, but we get -20F most years, sometimes for a week or two, so everything I can do to minimize that will be necessary here.  I'll definitely use those suggestions when building the greenhouse.  I don't plan on it being overly large so I can maximize the heat I can keep in, but I'm already thinking I may need a RMH at each end.  The current plan is 24'x12' with underground air tubes, but the tubes probably won't be put in initially.  It would be easier, but the time for trenching would set me back further than I like, so I think I will see how well I can do without them initially.  Anyway, I don't want to sidetrack your excellent thread overly much, but again, thank you for putting it out here in such detail.

Apples, lots.  Between 50 and 100.
Cherries, a dozen or so, some of them bush types
Pears 1
apricots 3
persimmon 2
paw paw 1
peach 2
artic kiwi, not a tree, but I have 4
lots of berry bushes of various types, not really trees though

I'm sure I'm forgetting some.  I don't think I'll ever be done adding them.  Looking for an Arkansas Black apple or two to add this spring.