Greg Harvey

elliott williams wrote:I'm not using a Rocket stove, but I did find this:
http://snorkel.com/
It's a wood burning hot tub, where the wood stove is submerged in the water.

I was surprised that the Snorkel said it was 120,000 btus. Can it get hot enough to not smoke like crazy?

I have a tiny home/cabin, 8x24, that I'm wanting to use an exterior stove to heat water for heating as well as hot water uses. We're talking temps much higher than a hot tub, 140+ degrees. I was wondering if a broken chest freezer could hold the water safely. It might need some crossbars across the middle to keep it from bowing out. A 22 cu ft chest freezer could hold 160 gallons of water, over 1300 lbs of water.
Any thoughts on whether a chest freezer can structurally hold water? I'm thinking the long sides would tend to bow out and fail.
Edit: I found this discussion http://ecorenovator.org/forum/solar-heating/809-chest-freezer-water-storage-tank.html He said the 14 cubic foot model didn't bow out. Putting it in the ground with an extra couple inches of styrofoam all around might be an option.

I would want to run the hot water through radiators for heat in the winter and for hot water year round. The hot water would be from a coil of copper tubing in the hot water. An anti-scald valve would be necessary too.

I do have one cautionary thought about using scalding hot water for a thermal mass. It wouldn't take a steam explosion to kill someone, just a rupture or major spill that could scald someone to death. So, safely mounting 1300 lbs of water is one thing, but 160 gallons of scalding hot water is another.

I saw an Instructables where a guy was installing radiant floor heating in a bus. This looks much like what I want to do with an exterior water heating RMH like I mentioned earlier.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Putting-A-Heated-Floor-In-A-Bus-part-1/
He said he got free design plans from PEX so I may do that too. My trailer is 8'x24' and well insulated so I think I'd go with just one zone for heating and thus just one pump and one thermostat. Simple.

I was also debating whether a 55 gallon drum of hot water for heating the floor would be enough for a full 24 hours of heat in a tiny home. I was thinking that the RMH could connect by stove pipe to a horizontal barrel and exhaust out of the other end. About a third of the side of the barrel could be cut away and on top would be nested in the barrel of water. It would need strong supports to keep the top heavy barrels from falling over. It would look a bit like the number 8 from the end. The water barrel for radiant floor heating water would have the copper tubing coil inside to heat the bath and kitchen hot water. An anti-scald valve would be needed to control the heat going into the tiny home. The barrels could be well insulated inside a nice looking 'shed' that matches my trailer/cabin. The RMH with the glass door and cook top would be inside the screened in porch and the water barrel part outside the porch connected by stove pipe. Without water the two pieces should be manageable to move when needed.

I posted a request in the innovators wish list for a tiny home model. Someone else already had posted some ideas for that already. What I'm wanting is a batch type with a glass door that sits outside the trailer so you could sit and watch the fire most of the year and not take up precious inside space. Next, it could be used to cook on top of the barrel, maybe with a Webber grill modification. That's two uses. It could also heat a tank of water and have a copper coil going through it for heating your hot water needs year round. That's #3. The unpressurized tank of water could then be used for radiant sub-floor heating with only one pump. That's use #4. If you want a hot tub you could also use that hot water for that too and not have the heater right in the water with you. That's use #5.

The mass in this would be the water and empty tanks will not be that heavy when you need to move. The tanks could also be disconnected from the rocket stove as well to make it more manageable to move in two pieces.

I think the whole shebang could be outside your front door under a porch roof so you could enjoy your fire making/water heating even if it rains or snows.

What do you think?

Greg

Hans Quistorff wrote:Been thinking and researching floor heating for a tiny home on wheels. there is a floor underlayment that that allows the heat tube to wind through it.

4 inch batch heater with glass door for fire viewing, Water jacket around barrel for mass, insulated to hold heat for washing and or floor heat. Separate from house to be transported separately.

So, we could have many uses:
1. Fire viewing year round.
2. Cooking on top of barrel
3. Hot water possibly through coiled copper tubing in large tank.
4. Hot water from large unpressurized tank for radiant floor heating and
5. also water for a hot tub and/or scalding chickens, etc.

I think the whole unit could be built in parts and linked together with stove pipe so it could more easily be taken apart into manageable pieces when being moved with a tiny home. Designing for lighter weight when there is no water would be ideal. I would want to put this in a large screened in patio and not need any tanks inside the tiny home trailer.

Hans Quistorff wrote:Been thinking and researching floor heating for a tiny home on wheels. there is a floor underlayment that that allows the heat tube to wind through it.

4 inch batch heater with glass door for fire viewing, Water jacket around barrel for mass, insulated to hold heat for washing and or floor heat. Separate from house to be transported separately.

Yes, that is what I'm thinking would work. It should not have a problem with fire codes or insurance then and you wouldn't need a chimney through your roof or wall.

Tiny Home RMH
Since many tiny homes are on trailers it would be interesting to consider a RMH that could do two functions, heat from underneath and outside the trailer, and also heat water. Since tiny homes have so little space then maybe a Rocket water heater that could also be used for sub-floor hot water heat or a radiator? A third possibility is for outside heat and fire gazing since you'd like to get out of your tiny home with friends.

I've turned an 8'x24' trailer into a cabin and there is lots of room underneath but not much inside. Even a six-gallon electric water heater takes up quite a bit of room and require a lot of maintenance. That is a year-round need but heat is not and it doesn't take that much to heat this small space. I'd like the fire gazing aspect outside too.

There is an interesting article showing an easier way to desalinate water with solar. It looks promising.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2014/09/05/342469699/cheap-drinking-water-from-the-sun-aided-by-a-pop-of-pencil-shavings?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social

I saw a webpage of 7 gadgets from Japan that we need. This one fits what Paul is saying about heating your body and not the room. It is the Kotatsu and is a heater you put under a table with a blanket that goes to the floor and you stick your lower body under the table and blanket.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44NE37YSjjU#t=61

There is a related article to an honor system coffee shop in this article and they collect about 15% more than charged. So, if you have a farm stand then maybe you want to put a Keurig machine in it too!

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/slices/%E2%80%98honor-system%E2%80%99-coffee-shop-has-no-employees

I've heard that a large shade tree cools as much air as forty window air conditioners. The trouble is that if you have high humidity like we get here in Missouri then the effect is minimized a bunch. Even the air misters end up just making you more miserable.

Greg