ABC acres: Heating Efficiently: Rocket Mass Heater - episode
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- Join ABC acres, a Permaculture Farmstead in Hamilton, MT as we show our rocket mass heater that keeps the workshop nice and warm through the cold months of the year, while using far less wood and creating next to NO SMOKE!
great job and presentation!
Thank you
Brilliant work! Living in mediterranean climate I don't really need such installations but one can only imagine how cosy the feeling is in the middle of the winter, just amazing workshop place to keep everyone productive.
Yes, we in the cold temperate climate must have strategies for keeping warm, while we dream of a vacation to a warm destination:)
Awesome way to heat. And I'd have never imagined you walking out of that nicely finished garage to see the cool old barn on the outside.
It's pretty slick every which way you look at it!
Beautiful! I have had a few rocket stoves and love them! Nice explanation! and man... what a nice shop!
Thanks for watching, and glad you enjoyed it!
Looked at some Rocket Mass Heaters and some looked real sketchy in their build. Yours looks first rate. Very inspiring. Would love to see the build process.
Super!
some kind of visual for whats built inside the drum and the cob body would complete the show.
👍 Thank You much sir!
Great explanation, detailed and informative. Also, well done on the build. Looks great. Keep up the good work and great vids.
Thanks!
wow!!! thats a big ass woodburner!!! bad ass my friend!!! thumbs up from this guy!!! i make novelty miniture wood burners as a hobby... totally the other end of the spectrum.... lol..
B.C.,
We all have our hobbies, so kudos to you for your pursuits. Do share a pic or link to see some of your work.
Love your design and the bench. :)
Thanks for watching!
Great practical use of ingenuity and cheap materials...
Thanks, hopefully you can do the same.
Inspired! Very well done, folks - great introduction. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to fully educate myself on the building techniques.
Thanks Travis... good luck!
great upload, respect!
We appreciate the encouragement, and thanks for watching, Branimir!
Branimir Marold Cool. sun glasses!
.. they are from old movie called "They live"! ;)
Great movie!
Nice video. Hoping to buy a house in Scotland soon and if I get a garage I'll be putting something like this in it. (Smaller)
Nice. Got married in Fort William, and we now raise scottish highland cattle. good luck!
i love it how you can see the fire
Me too
Beavis said "fire is cool! heh, heh, heh."
I built a masonry fireplace in my house in '83. Fantastic heat from nothing but kindling wood.
Nice work, that is great!
I was totally expecting snow outside when you walked. Great work sir in any case.
Yes, this was filmed awhile ago, and the snow was dragging its feet in arriving this winter. Shortly after this video was filmed, however, we started getting snow and it did not stop for quite some time! Thanks for watching!
Its a large scale Vortex tube, so cool!
Glad you like it, and thanks for watching!
A ceiling fan would help with your high ceiling unused heat problem...
Is that a fan in the corner?
Very pretty! That is also some very clean exhaust you have there.
Yep, Paul! Sneaky heat!
If the firebox is over-gassed, meaning there is a smoldering event dumping smoke into the heat riser, how does heat alone take away the smoke?
Think of it as a heat pump. Rising heat drawls the exhaust through the system. Heat from barrel dissipates and starts the heat rise flow.
Can heat pipes be add to the pipes with Clean smoke little creosote
Clean as in no visible smoke is coming out of chimney, in reality you don't know what gases are produced. Composition of wood is not as simple as propane's that breaks down to water and carbon dioxide
nice set up thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Great video! That looks like a beast of a heat you've built there. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for watching!
Great intro. Thanks!
Another thing to add for spaces you want warm is an air intake duct that leads straight outside, because the stove needs air and if it draws it from the room cold air will get pulled in from outside through the doors and windows.
Yes, that is a good idea, and thanks for sharing it!
MsSomeonenew There are many who say it's not wise, as well. Many of them rocket innovators and researchers.
The secondary burn needs fresh air, I use a 2" pipe from the basement that feeds air into the "turbo" burn area.
The stove’s efficiency is decreased by using cold air. The occupied space needs fresh air for you to breathe, so it’s actually maybe counterintuitive to some people but using the older stale warm room air for combustion is better in every way.
Love Montana, from bitterroot valley.
Very informative! Thank you very much :)
You're welcome, and thanks for watching!
This is awesome! love it!
Thanks for watching!
Great presentation.I just wish that HOA that oversees my Townhome would let us have this.
Scandinavian people's and Russians have been doing this for a while now but the design is a little different than this one . Instead of cob and pipes to heat the mass they use channels through lots of bricks and a massive chimney. Both are considered mass heaters but this one is a little different and more efficient for sure,plus can be made quickly .
I've made a few prototypes using the rocket design and also gasifiers . Both have their plus side .The good thing about gassification is you can use the left over mass which is essentially almost inert charcoal to be used for other things such as water purification or it can be ground up and put into compost or to rejuvenate soils or used for BBQ coals .
By accident I made something that's a combination of both and the ash content was almost nothing but fine powder .I was absolutely amazed at how little there was left . Essentially what I did was put metal screening in place that was meant to be exposed to high temps and put it where the hottest point would be . It acted as a catalytic screen which burned off anything else the primary heat source didn't which further reduced the mass left over . It acted much the same as an incinerator .I hadn't set out to do this . I was playing around with the idea of getting more heat or utilizing the heat better and this happened . With a gasifier the volatile organic compounds are used to provide fuel for the flames and only the mass is left over because the fuel is drawn out of the mass. With this design the flame is at the bottom and top with the mass in between. I start by burning the bottom using a torch but also have a container within another one and have holes drilled at the bottom and top of the cylinder within the first one . As the fire is trying to burn up air is drawn in from the top but then the VOC's are venting out the sides and trying to rise up within the second cylinder which is then lit and looks very similar to a propane gas flame which is the secondary burn . Once most the VOC's burn off or die down the mass continues burning at the bottom like how a rocket stove works but with a second burn and then the mass is reduced to almost nothing .Its hard to explain but all I know is that it works and the end result was a fine powder similar to baby powder . I'm sure this has already been invented and that I haven't discovered anything new but it was fun playing with the design and seeing how I could use up all the potential heat and reduce the mass to almost nothing. The key issue being it has to have a steady constant air supply and must be put inside another container .
I put this design in a small free standing baby bear wood stove I have and it got the steel relatively hot . I lined the inside with bricks and put more bricks on top of the flat surface on the stove which got fairly warm and lasted awhile . The pipe went directly from the stove to the outside of the building . I also had a flap inline to equalize temps before opening it up fully . Initial temps were fairly warm but the emissions after start up were almost nill with mainly a very small amount water vapor and slightly warm air coming out of the chimney . The twin cylinder was glowing red hot at the bottom which was kinda cool to see . Essentially I think what I did was use almost all the potential energy and matter that was available which really surprised me that it did that . It was a little tricky to get going but if I refine it more,it might be a good reliable heat source .
In the meantime I'll stick to a rocket stove design and perhaps refine that idea a little bit . Heating up a 80X40 foot shop with 10 foot ceilings and a concrete slab using propane heat gets expensive especially at over $2 a gallon . I'm going through 4 gallons of LP in less than a week . So it's definitely time for utilizing what's all around me ..lots of dead fall wood everywhere .
I see my neighbors using piles of wood and it kills me that there's such waste .Also they're using alder which stinks but it's cheap and easy to get. Not to mention my son has asthma and every morning and evening there's lots of wood smoke filling the air from all the wood being burnt and especially on days when we have no real wind movement . Yes fire places are cool to watch and very relaxing but it is possible to have both as this video demonstrates . I really hope that rocket stoves catch on everywhere so we can reduce air pollution and use less wood . If all the potential energy is used not only can you heat your home but also heat water or do passive floor heating , cooking, or turn that heat into direct energy again for power usage . There's energy potential literally all around us but we don't use it properly or know how to tap into correctly .
With the current geopolitical situation happening with oil being center stage in current and future conflicts it's extremely important now more than ever to learn to reduce our dependency for oil and be more self reliant . There's great potential for energy production using incinerator technologies that use garbage as fuel . There's an energy plant on the east coast that uses garbage as an energy source for all their operations from the machines that sort through the garbage to pick out precious metals ,to the conveyor belt machines etc and all their electricity needs . Their emissions are mainly water vapor which can be reclaimed and used for other things, and very little co2 . Considering the fact that we have a huge pollution problem all over the world we need to get busy making these types of innovative ideas a reality to change our world and make our children's future a better place . And so ends my coffee fueled rant !!
😰 😸
Royal, I love the rant and the info you provide. It takes passionate people to change the world for the better, and you are doing your part!
royalspin I took the time to read. Your a good man that cares for his son , keep experimenting and be the man that makes rocket mass heaters popular in your area. Your right ! God bless
royalspin: It seems that you have quite the take on the whole situation, but I'm having a hard time envisioning it. I would love to see a diagram or get further explanation, if you please... KOIROY@OUTLOOK.COM
Holy mother of Jayzuzz on a pogo stick, that thing would heat the entire western hemisphere.
Haha! It does a good job of keeping our shop warm!
Looks very cool and very dangerous for a fire to get loose on you.
Well you definitely don't make one in the living room with mom's new carpet.
These have not been found to be any more dangerous than a standard wood stove or fireplace when designed and built properly.
Well done great video dude
awesome sauce! u got a new subscriber!
Thanks!
Have you thought of adding ceiling fans in your shop to bring the warm air back down to mix in with the cold? It would interesting to see what difference there is in the temperature readings near the floor and the ceiling when your mass heater is fully fired. Maybe you can do a video on that sometime.
The ceiling fans would work well, but if we make the place too comfy and cozy, then we'll never want to leave and get all the work we have done:) Good suggestion on the temperature readings for a video. I will keep that one in mind!
I've seen some pretty serious hearths and mantles but Wow look at that thing!
She's a beauty, isn't she?
great video. thank you.
Thanks for watching!
Well done
thanks John!
Smoke from fireplaces traditionally would be injected into the atmosphere, which provides micro particles for moisture to create new weather patterns. Think of during a field battle where there might be a good amount of smoke that's expanding upward, and during that battle it rains.
Nice! I've built quite a few standard wood stoves in my day. Going to look into how to build one of these. 👍 from....... Montana lol
You will have a lot of fun building one, and thanks for watching! I hope you have a good heat source, it looks like winter is coming to Montana now!
great idea
If I may, I'm just going to start throwing this out there... Years ago, when my son was a young boy, we loved camping and discussed ideas of all things survival. I spoke about an unknown idea I had of a human waste pit, on each defecation adding a sprinkle of fire ash to deodorise, which would also balance acidic urine. I wondered if, once the small pit is full, straw or hey may be optionally mixed in, top the pit with turf for a time to partially compost the matter, then dig up and shape into blocks which are air dried and used for fire blocks as fuel, and very possibly make great fertiliser for agriculture also! I've always wondered why society doesn't seem to know what to do with it's excrement, other than throw wash it into the water ways??!
Composting toilets are common amongst off gridders and folks that are environmentally friendly. You poop on a hole and throw a few cups of sawdust in behind ya to keep the odor down and make good compost. After a few years you move your outhouse and you have a huge patch of super fertile soil.
Gotta compost the waste or it'll be environmentally hazardous. You need dry organics to balance it out, leaves, sawdust, paper, etc. A bit of ash may work, but I'd be a little hesitent as ash is pretty alkaline, would likely end up with soil that's unusable after a few years if you used too much.
Very informative.
Glad you find it so, and thanks for watching!
Is it necessary to have such a tall riser? I have seen videos where they cut them down dramatically & they say the draw was better and the riser drum was an accessible height used to put on a pot of water for tea, cooking and to provide moisture in the air.
I love that you can see the fire. 👍
I love the way you built the fire box and bench you shold try coal in the rocket stove and make a video about it
We appreciate the suggestion, and will keep it in mind! We mostly burn our scrap wood from woodworking and building projects at this point, but it would be fun and interesting to experiment a bit. Thanks for watching!
It is really nice. Plz can you show this thing in detail .i want to install it in my dairy farm.
I have an afterburn chamber associated with my woodburning stove in Portugal. I get through around 2 1/2 tons of firewood over a 6 months winter burn
I'd love to see a video with a thermal camera of the bench
i-phone has such a feature, let me check on that.
How does the rocket stove fit into the IRC and NFPA code, coupled with no UL listing? Can it achieve legitimate building code compliance and home insurance coverage?
each municipality is different. Portland, OR has already made some headway to bring these to code. Here is Montana, not so much, and hence it is in our work shop.
Awesome bro
HomeValue Glass, we think so too
I notice all the relatively clean wood behind you.....What if I put a piece of that "dirty" pine wood straight into the burner, with bark and perhaps a little bitty moss and a little bit of natural dampness? Would I expect a lot of smoke?
Chris, we do use mostly scrap wood from construction projects, you could definitely use "dirty" pine many people use windfall branches, as with any fire based heater seasoning the wood is preferred, as wet or mossy wood will create more smoke which will build up in your ducting faster...
Is there any reason you couldn't feed this stove from the outside, meaning the opening to the stove is not exposed to the shop where combustible materials (paint or gas) might be in use?
I suppose you could, but I would question efficiency of loading, as well as front being exposed to unconditioned space which would lead to accelerated heat loss.
Hello sir I have a question if you dont mind. THE SET UP..As far as I know BTU requirements can be found by taking area of walls and ceilings divided by the R value of each as applicable and then multiplied by the Delta "T" or temp difference of your worst day = BTU needs. Now that being said a small average modest 1000 to 1200 square foot house would needs about 50,000 BTU's Now with that said hardwoods at less than 10% Moisture only have between 8k to 8.5k BTU max available per pound. and that would mean in the modest house you would need to burn a little over 6 pounds of dry hard wood burned at 100% efficiency to deliver the needed 50k BTU's... heavy woods have more BTU due to density than lighter ones less dense. NOW ....IF... all that is true and modern wood stoves that are put in a calorie room and actually messured with out catalytics can approach 80%... THE QUESTION... How is it mathamaticly possible to use 1/4 to 1/10th of the wood ? it would demand a 400% to 1000% more efficient burn in the rocket stove than in thewood stove and the FACT is , it is only 20% at max possibly more efficient.. THAT sire is my question.. can you please explain that to me... I will not go into why sticks and paper thing, yet..
Van, don't know why, but your comment was in the spam file of comments. The one big difference between the new high efficiency wood stoves and a well-functioning RMH is the large amount of thermal mass. The fire can be extremely efficient in the stove, but the fact remains that much of the heat goes up and out flue pipe. The RMH's superiority in efficiency comes from its ability to catch and store the heat energy in the substantial thermal mass of the bench, daybed, or whatever other iteration of mass one wishes to employ for their unique context of space and utility, as long as it fits within the design constraints for proper and effective operation of the RMH. It is not in the burn chamber itself, but rather what happens to the exhausted air after, that gives the RMH an advantage in reduced fuel consumption. Thanks for joining the conversation.
Could I extend the chimney as a form of underfloor heating or right around the walls or for heating water for radiators or other uses?
Chris, that's a possibility, although the mass does absorb the majority of the heat. That said I'm aware of people who use h2o as their mass, so you should be able to do the radiator thing for sure.
Chris, that's an excellent idea to try as an experiment!
Maybe a "warm spot" for cold feet, or for a pet to sleep.
Will please show the cross-section of the burn chamber? Thanks....Matt
Matt, we are planning a follow-up video on starting it up and will show it then. Thanks for the feedback, and for watching!
I hope one day you make a video how to make one of them
We currently have no plans to build another one at this present time, and we did not have a channel at the time this was constructed, so we have no real usable video to properly display the process. However, a quick search on RUclips would yield some videos showing different stages of RMH construction. Or, for a pro video, you can buy a how-to build RMH DVD set here: richsoil.com/wood-heat.jsp. Thanks for watching!
it is very important video and discussion
can I use intake air manifold which feeds the stove with oxygen from outside to conserve the amount of oxygen inside the room?
It is important. You most likely could, although I'm not sure that's necessary unless you're in a very tiny air tight house, although you should check with the rocket experts at www.richsoils.com
how could one make a smaller version of this? And could the barrel be disguised somehow....perhaps with a removable top portion only for access?
Is the earthly matter dirty to sit on?
If so, couldn't you without losing thermal properties cover it with cement/perlite mix for a cleaner surface?
Love the way you decorated it.
I want to know that is this burning chamber open from the top and front. It looks like fire is burning inside the stove that seems open from top and front???
Since hot air out = cold air in why not have a cold air pipe from the outside to burn box to prevent forced cold air into the room?
We have had a few people ask about that as well, and it may very well in fact increase the overall effectiveness of the system. In all honesty, though, we have not found a need to do so as of yet. The system has worked very well for our needs of workshop heating on its own. I can see how maximizers would love to play around with making it work even better, though. Thanks!
It would be interesting to see if someone has done basic ductwork drawing air from near the barrel to a bedroom.
I think the i-phone has such a setting. i'll give it a look
Oops... wrong subject. You would either need a stack effect, so the duct work could eminate from a RMH on the ground floor and bedroom upstairs, or you could use a simply 12-volt fan in the bedroom to draw the heat on same level plane.?.
I wonder what is inside the barrel ? Is it just open? how does it heat the smoke to burn?
Wow! Really nice build! Did you not integrate a P-channel? Even if you didn't, it looks amazing! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the encouragement. There is a P-channel in it, but you may not easily see it in the video. Thanks again!
great idea but and maybe this has been answered already but how do you get the exhaust to flow into your mass heater, also what size pipe are you using and what kind of pipe?
The exhaust system runs basically just as a heat pump, drawing air in and the heat "rising" through the system until it exhausts out. The pipe is 8" diameter black chimney pipe, nothing fancy! We did put the triple wall pipe coming out of the roof to be to code, though.
Took me two years to get the approval of the EPA in CA to install a masonary heather because it was not UL listed or tested. How did you get this approved with your county? Can you post any perperwork to we can all get the ability to create as wonderful
Thanks for the note. It turns out all municipalities have varying ordinances for the permits, if any, associated with wood burning stoves, and any said paperwork would be unique to that specific city/town. The biggest benefit on our end is that our RMH was designed and installed in a workshop... not a residential home. I understand that various designers / installers are starting to navigate the legal waters for UL listed approved heaters for residential use, but we have no direct experience with any such governing body. Congrats on your persistence and success. All the best!
Thanks for the very quick response. After I went through all the phone calls and letter I posted my EPA acceptance/approval letter on the North American masonry associations website hoping to help the next person that wants to try to build a heat.
I ran into the same issue with a wood burning pizza oven!
Thanks once again, great job
Regarding issue of burn chamber at 6:35, most modern "normal" wood stoves also has extra burn systems, and so should also have no smoke. Mine doesn't have any visible smoke, for example. So that is not really relevant or proof of much. Just saying.
Wicked. Why don't you put a mass around the burning chamber (i.e. the oil barrel?)
I think it's because the barrels purpose is to radiate heat to warm the room as the primary heater. If it had a mass around it, it would take forever to spread enough heat to warm the room. That's my guess.
AGearHead4Life Possible. I own a heater(fired with wood) and it's about the size of the fire chamber in the video. That one alone should be suitable to emit instant heat (I guess).. At least it is enough to heat up my flat.
If the barrel gets that hot that its uncomfotable to sit next to it, it could be insolated...
But that's all guesses.
Thanks for the input, mate.
Mark, we want the barrel to emit that heat as an initial heat source for our shop, with the thermal mass of the bench slowing releasing it for many hours afterwards. We simply sit just a little further away from the barrel when the fire is really going! Thanks for watching!
ABC acres Thank you for the explanation. In the video it seemed as if it is uncomfortable to sit next to the barrel.
I would still consider building something around the barel, ceramic tiles for example, as we have it in Germany (in very old appartments).
Unfortunately, this type of ancient oven does not use all of the heat.
Hi. Loved your video on this heater. Im wondering if a barrel can be attached to a wood cookstove, so that one could optimize the heat made from a small amount of wood, and still be able to cook and heat water? I guess it would be a rocket mass cook stove? :) Is there any such critter?
Melissa, there certainly is such a critter. A bit of google searching will lead you to some examples. When you begin stacking the functions of a RMH, then the effectiveness and efficiency of the system is definitely increased. Thanks!
Also, check out this forum...permies.com/f/260/rocket-mass-heaters where you can find examples of cooking RMH, and even ask questions from the people that made/use them!
Yeah but where does all that soot go? Does it clog up in that pipe even more?
NSMRO, there is no doubt soot, ash, debris present within the system from time to time. Though design we installed several clean out locations at turns in the ducting (where such will collect) and can clean out as seen fit. If a major cleaning was needed, a flexible chimney brush could be used at anyone of these locations to scrub the interior duct to collect remainder. thanks.
stoves generally operate at around 70-80% efficiency, this thing might operate slightly more efficiently but it's not going to be over 100% because wood and paper only contains so much potential energy and you can't release more than 100% of it. these stories about 1/10th of wood and only run on sticks and leaves do me a favor.
Well, theoretically it's possible to run only on sticks and leaves if there are tons of them in disposal) But I'd really like to see a stove with
How is your shops overall heating ? How many square is your shop ? Do you use back up heat for when your away for any time?
David, the shop is about is a little over 2,000 square feet, but has tall ceilings, so the cubic footage it is heating is much greater than either a home or shorter building of the same square footage. That being said the RMH does a nice job of heating the shop space comfortably. We do have a larger infrared heater set on a thermostat to maintain a minimum temperature in the event of an extended absence(hasn't happened yet:) Thanks for watching!
This is similar in design to masonry heaters they've been building in Russia for centuries.
Yes, masonry heaters have been around for a long time in various forms, and do a great job of supplying heat. Thanks for watching!
How can I get plans for this specific build? (dyslexic?sp) - the rocket stove specific... I love the cob couch...hope to build a home with much of that build type in future.
Glad you like it, and we are working on how to present plans for this that work for people. We will let you know what we come up with. Thanks for watching!
Nice...
You made reference to dirtier burning woods like pine ... is there a problem with any type of creosote buildup in the barrel or flues with "dirtier" wood or does the way the system functions eliminate that as well ? Thank you for the video, i love simple, efficient solutions like this.
Disregard, I just saw the answer to my question below :)
chimneys have to been cleaned out because of the creosote that collects on it. how do you access the pipes to clean them? you cant have 100% burn when starting or shutting down so there should still be some build up right?
Good question. As I understand it, and as was previously stated earlier in the thread by another viewer, who quite honestly seems to be more knowledgable than me on the subject of RMHs..."Darrell Jacob JR 1 week ago
The heat riser of a RMH (inside the drum) is basically a controlled chimney fire every time you run the furnace. It gets to 1500*-2000*F and burns all the smoke though. So there's no smoke left to form creosote in the exhaust ducting. With a RMH, the pipe going out the roof is not a chimney, just an exhaust riser to get rid of the exhaust gases (CO2 and water vapor). So you can never have a 'chimney fire'.
The chimney on a 'normal', old-school woodburner gets really hot...the hot smoke and exhaust gases rise, drawing fresh air (necessary for combustion) into the stove. When you damp it down in an effort to make the inefficient stove heat the house all night, you make alot of smoke. The reduced chimney temps allow creosote to form from the tars in the smoke. Unless you clean the chimney regularly, after the creosote builds up awhile, firing the woodburner will light the flammable creosote, which will burn so hot it melts the metal stovepipe and probably set the house on fire.
The only way to produce creosote in a RMH is to put a log in before you go to bed, then restrict the intake air so the log smolders all night. (Because you are too lazy to split up a handful of pencil-sized kindling to light it the next morning, and because you've seen granddaddy do it to His wood stove all your life, so it must be OK). This will produce a ton of sticky Class 3 creosote in the mass ducting and exhaust riser. If it ever lights off...chimney fire.
A RMH runs full-speed until it is out of wood. The furnace's only job is to heat up the mass, which will in turn heat the house all night. When the last ember goes out, cap the feed so it doesn't suck cool air in all night and cool off the mass. Running it this way, you will Never produce dangerous creosote. After a whole season's heating, your exhaust ducting should look like you put it in yesterday, because there is hardly ever any smoke traveling through it. The only smoke you May notice is when you first fire it up, and the core is too cool to fully combust all the smoke. It will heat up to operating temps in 5-10 minutes though."
Also, in speaking with some people who have worked with RMHs for over a decade, they have never had any build-up in their exhaust pipes. We cannot personally state this yet, as we have only had this one going for a year thus far. Thanks for watching!
Exactly!! Get out the sledge hammer!!! Back to the drawing board!!!!
My RMH stove is a J tube type and once up to full heat no smoke comes out of the vertical exhaust tube. The vertical exhaust tube is cool enough to hold your hand against 2 feet above the top of the heater while the heater is burning at full heat. To clean the ash out of the heater section I disconnect the exhaust tube from the back of the heater and blow the ash out with a leaf blower but there is never any build-up on the inside of the exhaust tube.
alaskankare no buildup
Joel, haha that's funny!
Were there any metal parts that get rusted due to the heat?
We have not seen any ware on the stove or bed since inception a few years back. Keep you posted, but hopeful no time soon
How often do you have to replace the barrel? They would not last long at those temps.
According to the authors of, "Rocket Mass Heaters," they replaced their barrel after 12 years as part of routine maintenance, but saw no physical signs of degradation on the barrel at that time. I cannot speak from direct personal experience, however, as our RMH has been in operation for just over a year. Thanks for watching!
i dont think they would be more effiecient - here in australia i have a normal wood heater and most of the heat stays in the house and it never smokes while running, only even smokes if you choke it down and put wood on it or when you first light it - i find pine burs fine aswell - i think the biggest problem you americas have is you dont let your wood dry long enough - also i notice you are using off cuts of wood ( witch would be completely dry) also helping with how effieciently your wood burns
I would encourage you to inquire of and even go and visit Geoff Lawton's Zaytuna Farms and the Permaculture Research Institute of Australia to truly test out more of the truth of wood heat in your context. Thanks for watching!
Do these things scale down, well? Reason: I'm building a 16 ft trailer (very small house) and something that big would drive me out. If it could be mini'd that would be a great way to keep warm.
Bryan Dreyfus no they dont scale well. to a certain point that is. the whole idea is to have enough mass to heat it all up And have it release heat over time. with the size of the house you're building you shouldn't have any trouble at all heating it with a regular stove.
Bryan, verteup is correct. If your living space is insulated well, a small rocket stove would serve you well, which would be very simple and inexpensive as well. It is basically just RMH without any of the mass. You could burn small fires of short duration with very little fuel consumed to heat a small space. Check out permies.com/f/125/rocket-stoves, and thanks for watching!
TY for your responses.
How about cleaning and maintenance of these heaters? I know you said it burned very clean but where does most of the carbon get stuck/stored at?
Very easy to clean. The clean-out caps on the mass allow for easy access to remove the small amounts of accumulated ash. We do this about once a year, and it takes about 5 minutes.
oh neet! TY for responding :)
BEST TOP TOP #1!!!!!!
Thanks for watching!
And when creosote needs to be removed from the barrel? How is that ever cleaned out well?
The barrel separates in half and can easily be cleaned . Thanks!
Could you add a water jacket to the side of the burn box and have a hot water supply or preheater?
People have used these to preheat/heat water, but on must know how to handle this, as the potential for steam-pressure build-up and explosion (think "Boom-Squish") is likely in an improperly designed or installed system. I would recommend poking around permits.com in this forum...permies.com/f/260/rocket-mass-heaters. Thanks for watching!
Awesome video, thanks for sharing. What resources did you use to learn how to build one of these things?
Adam, thanks for watching! I went to a workshop hosted by Paul Wheaton with Ernie and Erica Wisner teaching, and we also watched some educational DVD sets. They can be found here...richsoil.com/wood-heat.jsp. However, we did not build this, but had a couple of guys named Rick and Jason build it for us. We wanted one, but just did not have the time, and they did a great job on it!
How do you build the "batch box" style? Is it just a wood stove connected to the combustion chamber?
Cameron, the batch box was custom made by welder/fabricator nearby.
Do you show how you built it , measurements and all?
Joe, ABC can provide you with some details sketch up images of all the parts for fabrication / build-out. Visit our site, www.abcacres.com, enter your info on the contact page, and we will send forth what we have. I have hours upon hours of the build out, just need find time to review, edit and post. We will see. Thanks, Tim
I have not found a glass window that has held up yet! Ceramic might be the only way to go. I haven't found any were to order ceramic in custom sizes. My wood stove glass, grill glass & even used a Pyrex glass meat loaf pans but they have blown out! What did you use? Nice vid btw! Peace Out!
I think tempered glass works, but you have to have it sized to you fire since once it is cut and tempered you cannot cut it again, unless you want many very small pieces:-)
I've seen what looks like a front loading washing machine glass. Our machine runs at 90°C (Not far off boiling) on its hottest cycle. Might be worth looking into
Dan, I will see if I can track down the exact type of glass that the welder/fabricator of the batch box used and let you know if I do.
Doohan22 I'v taken oven glass, same results as grill glass. It shatters.
thanks ABC, my next rocket is going to be made mostly of glass, tubes that is. Check out fire tubes, some of Japan's people are experimenting with. Kewl chit! As soon as my silo build is done & my wife's solar business is set-up & can get back to playing. piece out!
Awesome video! New to the channel, do you have a video on the build of the stove?
Well made and presented too. No flannel, just clear facts. Loved it.
Thanks JS... time is money, and we don't want to add fluff as you have vids to watch and tasks to execute. good luck!
That's fabulous. I'm excited to utilize this concept.
That is super awesome...now to find info in your videos about the bench!
Looks like a fancy shop inside & an animal barn on the outside!
VestaLouise, it is kinda fancy pants huh? ;)
I stacked up four barrels in my shop and piped into the bottom one on the floor. I cut an 8 inch hole between barrels which created a baffle. I took the upper pipe out of the side to prevent water from dripping down into the barrels. The paper labels on the top barrel never browned.
It only took a couple of cardboard boxes to take the chill off in the morning.
Love this unit and good quality video. Thanks bud. Well done great job !
Nice job! If "tuned" correctly the burn efficiency is so high that cleaning is not necessary, yours looks great! Aesthetic screen can be added around the barrel to dress it up too if it is in living spaces.
Thanks Jim! It is simple and quick to clean, with us only having to remove the clean-out caps and clear a small amount of ash about once a year.
Very nice vid! I was appreciating how nice the bench looks and wondered whereabouts you were located. Turns out you're 9 miles away! Hello neighbor! We will definitely be pouring over your vids and website, as this year we purchased 10 mostly wooded acres in Hamilton with the intention of homesteading.
Michael, that is great! Small world:) Hope we get a chance to meet...maybe you can stop by some time and take the RMH bench for a test drive on a cold winter's day!
Wow ...that's awesome ..no smoke at the exhaust pipe..Nice!!!.
Yours is very good looking. And it looks like it works wonderful
Thank you Kathy!
Liked, subscribed and shared on FB. This is the way people should be going, taking small steps to improve the world rather than having Govt riding rough shod over peoples way of life, with punitive regulations and banning fires altogether.
Thanks for subscribing and sharing! Clean fire heat technologies like this, and others, paired with regenerative fuelwood agroforestry, is a much more viable option for many in the cool-to- cold temperate environments, so let's keep keeping on!
NIIIIIICE...love your seating area, very unique..love it alll
Thanks for watching Margie, and I am glad you liked it!