how do we tell more people about rocket mass heaters

Glenn Herbert wrote: I would take some issue with the idea that RMHs have higher combustion temperatures than masonry heaters. If that is the case in any particular comparison, I would venture to say that the masonry heater is getting less complete combustion and possibly generating more creosote leading to some risk of chimney fires.

I was under the impression that an RMH burns much hotter, thus the need for specific material (ceramic or clay) burn chambers?
I haven't seen many masonry stoves (Russian fireplace style) but they all were just a firebrick lined box. The RMH burns off more of the gasses from combustion, but I think even with a masonry stove or efficient woodstove you are burning hot enough and complete enough that there's not much creosote, as long as chimney temps are adequate and the chimney/pipe is insulated. Given the design, I can't imagine a chimney fire in a masonry stove.
Interestingly, the concern about barrels, at least in the conversation we had, was not about the hot surface or clearances, but the (non) thickness of the metal, and how easily it can burn through.

A second version of the infographic:

The graphic is done and available at https://permies.com/heat

paul wheaton wrote:Apparently a lot of people this year are gonna have some sadness surrounding home heat.  How do we tell an extra hundred million people about rocket mass heaters?  Surely, there are a few million people that have a bunch of dead wood in their yard.  Plenty of dead wood for heating their home all winter with a rocket mass heater. Or maybe they just have an abundance of cardboard boxes?

I have two recent videos that really cover this:


what is a rocket mass heater?

how is a rocket mass heater so efficient?

11 years ago I made video showing how clean and efficient they are.  Here is

clean, cool exhaust from a rocket mass heater - she is breathing it in!

I have made dozens and dozens of videos driving home so many points.  

And now here is an attempt at a comprehensive list of rocket mass heater resources:

   https://permies.com/w/rmh-resources

And here is the rocket mass heater FAQ



Click here to get the free quick and simple rocket mass heater plans

Heat Infographic

Click the image to see the HD version

Links to the discussion threads for each facet described in the infographic:

Cost to Install Professionally (materials+labor)
Cost to install DIY
Annual operation/fuel cost
Vulnerable to market volatility
Annual Maintenance Requirement
Total Cost of maintenance for 10 years
Carbon Footprint
Estimated Lifespan
End of Life Disposal/Retrofit
Will it Operate when the Power Goes Out
Will it operate while I am on vacation for two weeks?
Ease of Operation
Ease of Retrofit
Cooling in summer?
Off Grid
Biophillic Design Consideration
Can you build this yourself?
Able to Use Home Waste
Can you grow your own fuel
Self sustaining / Renewable
Insurance Considerations
Building Code Considerations

Click Here to see the infographic presented in a different way

We are making a movie about three new rocket mass heater designs! It is part of the kickstarterfor for and you can see it for as little as a buck if you back during the campaign.

Presenting Freaky Cheap Heat

... I just feel like right now is the time to get this information into a hundred million brains.  

But how?

Bless you, for caring.  I wish; there was more people, that had this big-picture thinking.  Would setting up dealerships  /  franchising the idea to the home-building market  /  getting them manufactured & then sold at hardware stores or building supply stores ?

paul wheaton wrote:13 years ago I saw my first rocket mass heater.  I took video and put it on youtube because I thought people gotta learn about this.  

The whole concept is stunning.  This is a world changer.  

And the world just can't seem to be bothered.  

And when I see resistance to the idea, the resistance is psychotically dumb.  So we set about to prove they work well and focus on the points made by the dumb stuff.  Crickets.

I have hosted rocket mass heater events and we have collectively built soooooo many.   We have measured their crazy efficiency so many different ways.  

I'm exhausted.  

And now people are facing some serious, serious - and we still can't seem to get a spec of information in front of them.  

We did a kickstarter on "Free, earth friendly heat" and it was one of my lowest performing kickstarters ever.

13 years I have been trying to infect brains with rocket mass heaters.  

I do think; there might be more people with RMHs & benefitting from this forum, than what come out to PDCs & PTJs etc.

S Smithsson wrote:

paul wheaton wrote:

snip

I'm exhausted.  

And now people are facing some serious, serious - and we still can't seem to get a spec of information in front of them.  

We did a kickstarter on "Free, earth friendly heat" and it was one of my lowest performing kickstarters ever.

13 years I have been trying to infect brains with rocket mass heaters.  

DON'T GIVE UP!   YOU HAVE AN ACTIVE ARMY but an even BIGGER inactive army being built!  

I particularly like two ideas from above,    if we can combine, them I think it would be awesome - apartment, and plans.  How about plans for a simple small RMH for an apartment?

Sandy

Sandy

RMHs; could be a main source of heat, for entire apartment buildings too.  If; the building caretaker, was minded to look after the fire & monitor the indoor & outdoor temperatures etc.  The current GSH  /  gas furnace etc. be a backup if the care-taker goes on holidays etc.

And; I see so many people that know certain foods are bad for their bodies, but "In pills & hospitals, we trust" and they continue their self-destructive lifestyles anyway.  It seems; like many people are so deadened to their own creativity by the conveniences they love & consumerism around them, that they don't care about building anything useful with their own hands.  Until; they are "down to the wire" anyway.  Seems; how I learn, too.

Same thing, with vehicles.  Even with record-setting "heat domes" & other weather extremes; vehicle manufacturers haven't been able to sell enough hydrogen vehicles to make their investments pay, while the biggest "gas-guzzlers" continue "selling like hotcakes".  

I'm sure this has been commented on before, but this seems a reasonable place to note it again:

One thing which a heated mass stove provides that others don't, is "silence". The RMH may make crackling noises while the fire is heating the mass, but once the fire is out, there is no crackling and also no fans.

Our wood stove insert - which is what we could realistically use in the main flour of our home at this time - needs a fan running constantly to get the heat from behind and beside the stove, out into the room. Running it without the fan is far less efficient, judging from the few power outages we've had in cold weather. Fans are noisy. I have some receptive language issues which make background noise much more of an issue than it would be for many people, so for me, fans can actually be exhausting.

I have recently been visiting my sister. Her house is heated with a gas furnace and is ducted. It's been so long since I've experienced the noise from that form of heat, it seemed even more intrusive to me than in the past.

Technically, our current house uses electric baseboard heating. It is also very quiet, however, it is also very expensive. My province is blessed with plenty of hydro-based electrical generation, but there are far more environmental hazards from dams than was publicized originally, and the cost is still significant.

I'm mentioning this because it might be a "selling point" that is being overlooked in the goal of convincing the world that RMH's are "more efficient". Many people still aren't aware that "light pollution" is a thing. Big cities are I'm sure, hoping that "noise pollution" will also stay below people's radar. A reminder that "silence is golden" might be something to publicize.

Do demonstrations  /  have "expo days", at building supply stores.

Seems appropriate to note here that my home inspector training instructor (a realtor, real estate investor, and home inspector with >10-30 years experience in each of those lines of work) had never heard of a RMH when I mentioned them to him a couple days ago (see date of this comment).

He was familiar with the concept of thermal mass, and he knew what a rocket stove was (that's the basic j-shaped component I guess), but not the two being combined.

He did ask a question, which I did not have an answer for, and maybe someone here can pass me an answer: as the heat is extracted from the exhaust gasses by the thermal mass, doesn't this cause the water vapor in the exhaust to condense and drip back down the chimney? That condensation is the reason why chimneys for class III heaters (which exhaust hot gasses) have a maximum as well as minimum prescribed length: gases that are too cool will fail to completely exit the chimney and drip back down as moisture, potentially damaging the heating equipment. I haven't seen drains at the bottom of RMH chimneys, so how does their design prevent this? (Or are there drains and I just failed to notice??)