ross brubeck

Awesome! Thanks Glen! I'm feeling more confident about this idea than ever now.

I think the value of putting extra money & work into an experimentally- and field-tested design like this is pretty apparent. In my construction of past RMH's I have had increasing success making my own refractory cement mixes and casting bricks for use in heat risers. I might even feel competent dialing in the precision enough to match the geometry in these diagrams I've been studying on the batchbox.eu site.

I guess that settles it - I'll give the rocket mass wall a quick re-sketchup and post the results here! Stay tuned ~

Thanks for the thorough reply! Very informative. I've looked into batch boxes in years past, but I haven't found a proper application for the method yet. Maybe it's time to take this idea of the shelf and go for a redesign!

Before I commit to that, though,I have some followup questions about the current design.  it is indeed a medium size wood stove pictured in the model. The client would like to try incorporating it into the design of the greenhouse to keep the project cost down - something I'm committed to helping her do to the best of my ability. If we were to insulate the stove - say with firebricks on the inside, and a ceramic blanket around the exposed flue pipe, would that make a significant difference?

I do love the idea of incorporating a large firebox into the wall itself, and I can see it becoming a very distinct and beautiful feature of this greenhouse. As this is a shoestring project though, I'm obligated to optimize the value of what we already have on hand before moving on to something new altogether.

Hey folks! I'm in the design stage for a greenhouse which will use a wood stove for secondary heating during colder months. The flue pipe pattern will direct the gasses down the length of the wall and back again before exiting at the top, ideally warming the lower half of the wall and letting thermodynamics take care of the rest. As the flue runs only about 25' total, and considering the client has requested a wood stove as the fire box, I thought the system could use a bit of extra room to combust and release heat into the mass before traveling through the wall.

As you can see in these pictures, I am planning to build a hollow into the wall itself which will use a blast gate style baffle to direct flue gases two directions to travel in one of two directions depending on the temperature of the system. The secondary burn chamber is designed with cob baffles to lengthen the distance the flue gasses must travel before entering the pipes. The other side of the wall will be the toilet area for the adjacent potting shed, so this would provide a comfortable temperature in there as well.

As this is the first time I've attempted this configuration for a rocket mass heater, I was wondering if there might be any big design considerations I've overlooked here? If anyone has suggestions, recommendations or questions I'd love to talk about this thing before I build it!