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here is a list of all the rocket mass heaters and rocket stoves at wheaton labs. there are links to their individual threads as well, some of them have great, super-detailed threads, some of them don't. feel free to start a thread about an individual one if you think it necessary and post a think to it in this thread. and there are some videos too!

pebble style rocket mass heater in fisher price house





You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


________________________________

rocket mass heater in a tipi





You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos

___________________________________


6-inch RMH in the red cabin (installed October 2022)






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pebble style rocket mass heater in 'the library'




You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


__________________________________



8" batch box rocket mass heater in the shop/classroom


You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


__________________________________


minnie mouse heater for tiny houses





You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


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rocket mass heater in cooper cabin





You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


________________________________


6-inch RMH in Bartell's Bunkhouse




________________________________



6-inch pebble style RMH in the solarium





________________________________


Batch Box RMH in the Wood Shop[/url]




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bun warmer




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season extender




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The cottage rocket mass heater as it is being constructed:



It has now been fully installed and tested - we just need to take some pics!


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the new double shoebox



The double shoebox has been reworked and installed. It still needs a bit of polish and proper pics/video




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Rockety Things
(that are not rocket mass heaters)


______________________________



rocket oven




_________________________________



rocket water heater at the dish washing station






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rocket water heater at the shower shack




_________________________________



8-inch modular rocket forge, kiln, and crucible






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rocket stove kiln




_______________________________


lasse's rocket cook stove




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the lorena cooktop with rapid boil dutch oven






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Rockety things that are currently not installed



_________________________________


fat rabbit batch box rocket heater




_______________________________



Rockety things that are no longer here


_________________________________


rocket oven, griddle and water heater (cockit-lockit-rocket)



Tim Barker scavanged this to create ....
You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos


_________________________________


the barker's baker: a rocket oven, griddle and hot water heater



Tim scavanged this to create the stand alone rocket oven and the standalone vertical rocket hot water heater.

_______________________________



rocket mass heater in allerton abbey (first wofati)



The person that created this tried too many new things at once and ended up with something that didn't work. Peter van den Berg modified it to work in the short term as a "rocket heater" but then created the double shoe box rocket cook stove to replace it.


________________________________



ring of fire rocket mass heater



This lasted several years. It was built quickly and because it was exposed to the elements, it wasn't expected to last terribly long. It's parts were reclaimed for other projects in 2017.

You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos



__________________________________



rocket mass heater cooker/smoker



You can see the build of this one in the better wood heat videos



__________________________________



quartz barrel rocket mass heater



This was a one time thing so we could what it looked like inside the barrel.


_______________________________



2 inch system




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cyclone heater in the red cabin






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COMMENTS:
 
author and steward
Posts: 46966
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Evan is putting on some low cost workshops here - like $50 for a week - where you can try out heaps of rocket mass heaters:

https://permies.com/t/52318//PEA-Workshops-Permaculture-Experience-Ava



Or, you can just come out and, say, stay in the tipi for a few days, or one of the other buildings with a rocket mass heater:

https://permies.com/t/52814/labs/rent-tipi-cabin-wofati-wheaton

 
Posts: 616
Location: ontario, canada
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I've seen about 7 or 8 of these online already. I've been all over the highway, like horse tracks .

I really like the 8" batch box, near the top of your list.

Is your lab here in Canada?
 
Rocket Scientist
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Wheaton Labs is in Montana, near Missoula.
 
Posts: 5
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So I bought the dvd sets and Love the info off of them.
As I'm going through these i don't see something that I'm  curious if anyone has tried. Most of the piping runs on an incline then to the stack.
And all the pipes run in a mass for sitting on , etc. Has anyone tried to do a vertical mass against a wall?
My thinking is if someone had a basement like a dirt floor basement, running the pipes so they zig zag up the sides of the wall, then packed in with cob, masonary work or what have you creating a radiant heat in the basement that warms the floor above or something to that effect.
 
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Brian - check this out - http://www.heatkit.com/research/2009/lopez-rocket.htm
(sorry for temporarily hijacking the thread.  back to your regularly scheduled RMH tour at Wheaton Labs)
 
Brian Clugston
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kinda....but i was thinking with the duct work starting at the bottom and winding its way up to the top inside kinda like an old wooden marble machine toy, then filling in the wall with stone or something. instead of an giant open center.
 
pollinator
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Every turn in the chimney is like adding feet to the length. After a few turns the chimney is in danger of not drawing. Thus the stove develops an airlock and the fire goes out (or smokes into the room). I don't know the formula for determining the maximum amount of chimney the stove could support, but in my early years of heating my home with a wood stove I made the mistake of putting too many bends in the stove pipe.
 
paul wheaton
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Tracy and I updated the first post a lot.   Anything we left out?  Any mistakes?

I'm gonna add this image to a few ...
wood-heat-videos-220.png
[Thumbnail for wood-heat-videos-220.png]
 
steward
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any more pictures of the cottage rocket mass heater? Some people are having difficulties to visualize it from the discussion in this thread
 
paul wheaton
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Adrien Lapointe wrote:any more pictures of the cottage rocket mass heater? Some people are having difficulties to visualize it from the discussion in this thread



I think there are a few more pics in the jamboree thread.

 
pollinator
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Adrien,
Cottage Rocket, Workshop Model
Here you go, thanks to Attilio.
Cottage-Rocket-Workshop-Model-(short)-Wheaton-Labs-October-2017-Jamboree.jpg
Cottage Rocket, Workshop Model
Cottage Rocket, Workshop Model
Cottage-Rocket-Workshop-Model-(short)-Wheaton-Labs-October-2017-Jamboree-3.jpg
Cottage Rocket, Workshop Model
Cottage Rocket, Workshop Model
 
pollinator
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The allerton abbey


Best before photo I have



















 
paul wheaton
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A new video about the rocket cooktop at allerton abbey

 
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I watch every video that I can find and have heated with wood for many years.  Want to build in my building have an auto shop and apartment all in one building so I am able to feed fires regularly, my biggest question is chimney draw in the fisher price house there must be a really good draw and you stated it was very hot.  Could you incorporate a damper in the system?    Thanks Joe
 
master gardener
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Hi Joe,

Welcome to Permies!
 
Joe Repella
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Joe Repella wrote:I watch every video that I can find and have heated with wood for many years.  Want to build in my building have an auto shop and apartment all in one building so I am able to feed fires regularly, my biggest question is chimney draw in the fisher price house there must be a really good draw and you stated it was very hot.  Could you incorporate a damper in the system?    Thanks Joe

 
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Can a clay flu be used as the heat riser of the j tube in the barrel as long as it is cut to the right height? P.S. What is the correct clearance required between the inside of the barrel an the top of the heat riser?
 
gardener
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Hi Collin,  Welcome to Permies! Nice to see a fellow Canuck interested in rocket mass heaters.

A clay flue liner or tube will not make for a very long lasting heat riser. It just can't handle the thermal shock and will more than likely crack and break apart in a very short time.
The bronze option would be to make a perlite/clay riser. The silver option would be to make an insulated firebrick riser. The gold option would be to make what is called a 5 minute riser out of ceramic wool. Lots of information has been written about all three of these (including more) in the forums, so let us know if there is more information your looking for.

There is no real correct clearance, but rather a minimum clearance of at least 2-3". This is to help avoid a bottleneck which can lead to drafting problems when it starts to accumulate ash over time and restricting the flow of gasses. So based on your goals, if your looking to cook on top, then stick to the minimum, but if not then it would be better to go more and not have any problems.
 
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This thread has a  bunch of things that are not up to date should we move them to Rockety thing that no longer here?


Updates:
Cyclone Heater Doesn't Exist
Minnie Mouse in Love shack??
rmh cooker smoker n/a?

 
paul wheaton
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cyclone has been removed

minnie mouse is in the love shack now

smoker has been removed

the old kiln has been removed

---

new kiln / forge

new rmh in the solarium

new rocket heater in the wood shop (liberator)

new rmh in the red cabin (gamera)

new rmh in bartell's bunkhouse

what about the two water heaters?  We even have videos about them.

the cottage rocket is now in the dog star

the lorena


 
That new kid is a freak. Show him this tiny ad:
rocket mass heater risers: materials and design eBook
https://permies.com/wiki/188812/rocket-mass-heater-risers-materials
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