RMH uses EIGHT TIMES less wood to heat a house than a wood stove

[paul wheaton]

I just now uploaded this. Ernie Wisner talks about using four cords
of wood every winter using a wood stove. And now he uses a half a
cord of wood each winter with a rocket mass heater. Since he uses so
little wood, it ends up being just tree trimmings from his urban lot.

http://www.youtube.com/paulwheaton12#p/u/0/_jfag47dRCs

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I find the science of it difficult to grasp, at first try. I think I would need some booklets or such to study during my quiet time. I'm sure there is a very good reason for its efficiency.
If I could make myself to understand why it works and how to construct one, I would be willing to try it on a camp we are talking about making.
But I feel that being from a wet climate, I would need different construction materials.
I use a potbelly in my house, which replaced a boxwood stove and surpasses it in effiency and I was planning on using the old boxwood in the camp, but I might change my mind if the RMH looks like something do-able.
8 Xs less wood would be nice. I normally get my firewood from felled hurricane trees, but it is still a big chore to cut and split all those logs.

 

[paul wheaton]

That guy was in portland. How wet is it where you are?

 

[valmom]

I love the concept of rocket stoves and heaters. As I understand it they are better heaters because the rocket stove is a very efficient burner, and because of the mass it heats up (the clay bench) that continues to radiate heat and smooth out the hot/cold cycles. You are actually using the "waste" heat that normally goes out the chimney to heat the mass.

I sort of wish I had an excuse to build something like this. It sounds cozy warm to throw an afghan on and nap

 

[paul wheaton]

I think the best way to think of it, in terms of efficiency, is what leaves your house.

A super efficient wood stove has smoke shooting out of your chimney at 300 to 600 degrees. A well built rocket mass heater has exhaust dribbling out of your house at 70 to 110 degrees.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I am from south/eastern Louisiana and we don't use clay, adobe or any other kind of mud. If we need to form something like that, we mostly use concrete. There may be an other alternative. I would just have to read on it, but amazon's book seems to cost 126 dollars, used.
I wouldn't mind knowing more about it.
Also FEMA demanded all our homes be elevated to 10 ft or they wouldn't allow insurances to cover us.......I'm sure I don't understand that, but the result is that the thing wouldn't be able to be too extremely heavy because we are no where near sitting on the ground on a slab. The floor would have to support it. Even when we build the camp, it would not be advisable to have it sitting on the ground.

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Rhoda, you wouldn't have to have a mass bench to reap some of the benefits of a rocket stove. The original rocket stove was just a barrel with a couple of lengths of stove pipe.

You can purchase the book in hardcopy or as a pdf file here.

http://www.rocketstoves.com/

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Thanx. I would have to order an old fashion book and study it while at work (I have a super easy job).
My 14 year old was having to study rockets in her homeschool science class. There is something about the video and her lessons that seem related, so I might sneak a peek at the lesson to see if it enlightens me to the science of the matter.
That would be something, if we would construct a heater to use in a camp that would work better than the one in the house.

 

[ChickenToes]

I checked out the videos on youtube, and my husband is thinking about building one to heat a greenhouse. Any thoughts on that? Would it work well or would it be better to have a regular ol' woodstove?

 

[paul wheaton]

Here is the greenhouse and rocket mass heater video.