Paul LeMay

Yes, I am interested in avoiding the steel oil drum design or the steel rocket tube. All brick. Thanks

Hi, thank you for the responses.  
My question is  is to find a reliable design and build a masonry heater.
I am not seeking information about rocket stoves.

I'm asking about the design of a masonry heater. Like the masonry heaters you find in Eastern Europe or Russia.
Lots of bricks, a door, some cleanouts. Something to heat a small home more efficiently than a steel wood stove.

My question was about the design of the smoke flow channel.  Some flow just up, through channels, some flow up and then down.
Is one of these more reliable, efficient or some other advantage to either model?

Forgive my ignorance but it would seem to me that making hot air flow down is sort of counter intuitive. Perhaps it releases more heat this way?

I'm interested in designing and building a mass heater, something like you might find in Eastern Europe.
Lots of bricks, build a small fire, hopefully it will radiate heat for 12-24 hours.
Here's my question: lots of designs seem to force the hot smoke to flow down, usually with a bypass valve for starting.
I want to know if you design one that flows left/right but just up does that have any disadvantages?
Will it draft better? Will it be as efficient for heat?