Northwest south Carolina at the corner in the mountains is where i live. The coldest night is usually 22 degrees maybe. Im curious if a trench 3 feet deep beside the garden of food with a plastic cover over them will keep them from freezing. A mini greenhouse of sorts.
I saw a video with just greenhouse air circulating underground with a blower 24 7 and his temps were great. The deep earth acts like a thermal battery and warms up in the day and discharges at night. This may be the best solution for the rig but with a wood burner as well. But my biggest question is which rocket mass heater requires the least fiddling to get it started and is cheap to build and how long does it take to get started? With a blowtorch and starter fluid? Can it be going in 15 minutes?
Also any ideas for the underground tunnel portion? 10 inch vent pipe and cheap chicken-wire and clay for the roof over a tunnel and a layer of clay and then branches laid across the top for more support? Then more fill dirt over that maybe all 4 feet deep with a layer of leaves on top for extra insulation. It sounds like fun. My lot is on a 1 to 3 grade. Under 1 foot deep is red clay dirt. I wonder if it would be just as efficient as a converted 55gal drum wood burning stove with its chimney going through the deep clay to have all the heat absorbed before the smoke gets above ground? What do you think? I can do this because of the steep grade. The chimney can have a shallow angle rise underground before it goes vertical and rises 15 feet above ground.
The rules. Of writing this added an extra 30 minutes to this editing with a cellphone for a keyboard. Its absurd but this information is worth it.
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