Rocket Mass Heater Resources Wiki

This perrenial document aims to become a hub of comprehensive information pertaining to Rocket Mass Heaters.

Look forward to diving in. Thanks, Paul!

I love it. I would recommend arranging the information in some headings such as:

What Is It?

Where to Start

Inspirational Installations

Advanced Topics

Inside of those, group by media type (e.g. audio, video, article, book)

Hi!  I hope I'm not "crashing" the party, as I am only barely beginning to read about Rocket Mass Heaters.  The problem I have, is I'd love to use Rocket Stove type efficiency as a retrofit for an existing house - one with a foundation that cannot support RMH.  My husband bought me the book without understanding that we cannot utilize any of the designs in our current home.  

Is there a "small" rocket stove design that can be used to efficiently dump a lot of heat, rapidly, into a "typical" living area, for those of us trying to move from 3 to 4 on the Permies Scale?  =)

Briana Great wrote:Is there a "small" rocket stove design that can be used to efficiently dump a lot of heat, rapidly, into a "typical" living area, for those of us trying to move from 3 to 4 on the Permies Scale?  =)

Yes, there are lighter ones that you can build. Keep looking at the resources in the top post. Your other option is to reinforce the floor support under the location where you would build a RMH. That is not very difficult or costly, though you will want to stay with a smaller/lighter stove.

Well, I don't have as detailed an order on my version of the list, but it may be of some help. I wanted a version for Ukrainian newbies, so I added in a couple of beginning-to-end videos that are heavy on imagery, light on words since most of my audience understands little or no English.

Here's a link to the page I created. There's also a PDF version to download:

https://www.roadmaptolife.org/heating-links

Only a few pages so far and still tweaking (especially for phone displays) but mostly on RMH so far since heat is a desperately high priority:

https://www.roadmaptolife.org/


It's been time-consuming and I'm sure it still needs polishing. If anyone has edit suggestions orother good links for my audience, I'd appreciate the help.

Briana Great wrote:Hi!  I hope I'm not "crashing" the party, as I am only barely beginning to read about Rocket Mass Heaters.  The problem I have, is I'd love to use Rocket Stove type efficiency as a retrofit for an existing house - one with a foundation that cannot support RMH.  My husband bought me the book without understanding that we cannot utilize any of the designs in our current home.  

Is there a "small" rocket stove design that can be used to efficiently dump a lot of heat, rapidly, into a "typical" living area, for those of us trying to move from 3 to 4 on the Permies Scale?  =)

The "pebble style" RMH is promoted by Paul as a lighter, variable version, done for his double wide (with reinforcement) and an option for something like a second floor install.

Uncle Mud's cottage rocket is also a variant that would be lighter and meant for quick heating of an area using minimal mass. He has used one for his own place and I think there's currently one in the Love Shack, but the one they had in the shop at WL had a few issues, so I suggest going to Mud's site and poking around to see where his progress is on the design...

I appreciate info on the pebble style. Thanks. I'd like to run more info about it for the Ukrainians. It looks like a technique that could be especially adaptable for their situation.

Anyone else have firsthand advice to share?

Kevin Harbin wrote:

Beau Davidson wrote:
Kevin, I believe you're right!

It'll take a while for me to get to that level of detail - if you'd be up for reorganizing a bit, I'd be happy to implement your suggestions!  If not, no worries, we'll get there as we're able!

I've taken a first pass. What's the best way to get it to you? DM? Shared google doc?

Cool, thank you! I'd say just post it here, and we can crowdsource the editorial process.

I found out about this hybrid (regular stove with an added heat riser) which helped these people to get more heat AND stop cold air getting in when it is off.

Do & be different farmily
https://youtu.be/efHNHebH8HQ

I'd like to add this to my regular recent suposedly energy efficient stove and compare. Seems like something I could try out and experiment with. I am a noob in rmh. I am wondering if I can make the heat riser smaller? I haven't measured the height, but I don't think I can fit a big barrel. Maybe I can make the chimney go lower and back up behind the stove?

I  believe this little experiement  could help building simple addon to a regular stove.

Hi Jordan;
You might like checking out Matt Walkers RMH  it uses a riserless design that can fit in any room. It uses no barrel at all.
Here is his site   https://walkerstoves.com/index.html

thomas rubino wrote:Hi Jordan;
You might like checking out Matt Walkers RMH  it uses a riserless design that can fit in any room. It uses no barrel at all.
Here is his site   https://walkerstoves.com/index.html

Interesting!

Why it doesn't need a riser? Is it because of the air intake that is being heated instead of releasing colder air? And since it is a heated air intake, would using colder air make it less efficient (on the contrary to other kind of stove)?

___

As for the  collection of resources on RMH, I believe putting all the files together (videos and text) and sorting them into some simple categories (this shouldn't be too elaborated, just something that make sens for now with what we have) would be the a good start instead of going straight to writing pages on a wiki website to explain everything in detail. The reason is that it is going to take time to have people writing these pages. So by putting files together and sorting them in a way that is useful would be easier and it would be helpful to then create a wiki with it.

Hey Jordan;
Matt's design can be seen on his website.  The gasses make a 180 degree turn and then pass thru a port similar to a batch box port before starting to rise.
When built using CFB and utilizing an RA330 liner his stoves take right off.
If built using heavy firebrick they take longer to start drafting properly but then will hold heat longer.

His stove uses the same primary air intake and a secondary air tube the same as a Peter Berg batch box.

thomas rubino wrote:Hey Jordan;
Matt's design can be seen on his website.  The gasses make a 180 degree turn and then pass thru a port similar to a batch box port before starting to rise.
When built using CFB and utilizing an RA330 liner his stoves take right off.
If built using heavy firebrick they take longer to start drafting properly but then will hold heat longer.

His stove uses the same primary air intake and a secondary air tube the same as a Peter Berg batch box.

Interesting, I don't know enough about RMH to understand exactly everything you've mentioned. I need to check out the ressources here.

new fun video from th free heat movie:

I think i have this page now set up with this shortcut


      permies.com/rmh

paul wheaton wrote:I think i have this page now set up with this shortcut


      permies.com/rmh

Awesome! The url is going to make this super easy to remember and share.

I actually meant like a downloadable folder with category folder, but I didn't notice there's also paid content in there, so it doesn't make as much sens.

Under "Plans" could you add the latest Bernal Brothers creations?

https://permies.com/wiki/rmh-plans 6 RMH Free Heat pack
https://permies.com/t/193729/Plans-Sauna-Rocket-Heater
https://permies.com/wiki/193722/Plans-Solar-Food-Dehydrator-Rocket