underfloor heating system with a rocket mass heater

[whotoinfinity]

Hi,

I saw your vid, a week ago, then yesterday I saw this.

(Please search out this video on Youtube.)

"Rocket Stove and Stirling Engine.avi "

I keep getting an error trying to link to the URL.

[whotoinfinity]

Can you imagine, (have you imagined) making your electricity (or at least some electricity) by doing something like this? And wrapping some copper pipe around your heat tube, for a heat exchanger to heat some H2O. I imagined building the stove outside your hooch, using your vent system, so that it could be used in fair weather, I'm curious what you think.

Peace

Gill

[erikofthenorse]

this is the second video of yours i have come across, paul. really great stuff.. visited permies and read some great info! really interested in homesteading here in maine. possibly subterranean or berming. really like the idea of rocket stoves an trying to find a way to combine modern radiant heated flooring with one of these cool efficient heating techniques.

[intent911]

I like!



[planot171]

@paulwheaton12 Can you post a follow up of this project and some info on the efficiency of heating the space from below the floor? I live in a pier and beam house and am trying to design a RMH system for it. I have some ideas, but before I put this immovable object in my house I would like to see how this worked. Thanks Paul. BTW....Thanks for visiting The Survival Podcast occasionally. I really enjoy your interviews.

[paulwheaton12]

@planot171 If you ask at the forums at permies I might be able to persuade erica to respond.

[planot171]

Posted at Permies in Alternative energy forum...

Thanks

[amusingisthedawn]

Obviously this is a much more affordable way to do it...but a lot of newer wood stoves are built to burn the gases just the same as rocket stoves. Nice to see main stream catching up to smarter technology. Too bad they cost an arm and a leg.

[josephdupont]

Smart very smart on the bipass valve..

[InTheSticks0001]

Inspired

[woulfe42]

cool

[DerGeist93]

have you tried this floor radiant heat model in winter? if so how did it work out? I love these ideas! unfortunately I will be moving to basically more off the land due to illness and no insurance, just wondering about costs, practicality etc... thanks and loved the vid!

[Ironboots123]

Have you performed the video of the finished product - on how it is working?

[AmNotHere911]

In principle how is what is explained in this film different from a Roman hypercoust? Recalling from memory Roman's operated their under floor heating system on similiar principles except their approach was alot more labour-intensive.

[tech2480]

Would like to see some more information on this project!!! Looks very intriguing to say the least. I'm curious what type of ratios from heater to floor area can be achieved? It appears that your building is about 150 sq. ft., I could wrong but can something like this be done in a building that is more like 400-500 sq. ft. and actually be warm in shorts and t-shirts? How often does the stove need to be fired in order to maintain a nice comfortable interior temperature?

[paulwheaton12]

@tech2480 The experts on this hang out at the forums at permies - look for the forum called "alternative energy" and ask your question there.

[changeindirection]

Thanks for this. Would love to see completed project as well as comments related to performance.

[spiderstone]

How about carbon monoxide?

[EKWisner]

@Velkoze1

We are encasing the ducts in earthen masonry before adding the wood floor. The idea is that the floor will be slightly warm like an attic room above a warm house. Not as efficient as a direct thermal-mass floor, but some folks likes wood floors.

[PWDR8S]

What type of heatsink material will you use for under the flooring? Cob? Sand? Urbanite?

[nedeljkomostar]

can't wait to see a finished product.

zoran

[spystyle]

God bless you guys for sharing knowledge :)

[Blackoutx86]

What about creosote?

[paulwheaton12]

@Blackoutx86 rocket mass heaters don't have creosote.

[DixieDiarist]

@paulwheaton12 How do you burn wood without creosote forming? I have never seen a stove/chimney anywhere that did not have creosote forming in it.

[paulwheaton12]

@DixieDiarist convention wood stoves have problems with creosote. Rocket mass heaters don't.

[Rhinoch8]

@paulwheaton12 Can you make a sideways fire frame RMH, but without the barrel and a straight flue pipe, still without creosote problems?

[EKWisner]

@DixieDiarist

Creosote is smoke (unburned fuel) condensed onto stovepipe. Woodstoves send smoke quickly through hot stovepipe to limit condensation. (Damping fires at night, or burning green wood, make the worst smoke and buildup.)

Rocket and masonry heaters burn briefly, hot, and clean = mostly smokeless. Heat for later is stored in mass, not smoldering fuel. Clean fires make ash, steam, some soot, no gooey creosote nor chimney fires.

[NewJura]

@DixieDiarist creosote is formed from the slow burn of carbon materials, mainly from conifers or soft woods like Cedar, Western Red Cedar, Yellow Fir, Douglas Fir, Silver Larch Pine, Southern Yellow Pine and White Wood. This is not to say that over a great period of time it cant form from hard woods also, what a rocket stove or heater does is super heat the gases released from burning the wood to the point that EVERYTHING ignites, so there is nothing left but ash.

[valorie1111]

I have ALWAYS wanted a heated floor (especially those years living in the UK, let me tell you) but thought it would be way out of my budget. But you did this for around 100 bucks? You just blew my mind!

[EKWisner]

@valorie1111 Happy to offer hope.

If you have about 10 square feet you can dedicate to the combustion unit, and at least 10" of vertical space for ducting, you can do a direct-heated floor using the exhaust from a rocket stove. About 18" is a more practical height, which is why so many rocket stoves are heated benches or beds instead of floors.

[NibiruMagick2012]

Thank you

[CurrentWave]

Great vid - I love the innovations Erica ♥



[ahnamay]

Kudos, Erika and Paul! Wish I'd been there to see it, too! (Jocelyn)

[odin422]

VERY COOL!

[chickenbonewatt]

This is grand, love it. That valve/cut off is brilliant.

[EKWisner]

@chickenbonewatt

Thanks. We borrowed it from the Masonry Heater ASTM specs - most of them have either a sliding damper, or a permanent small slot, to pre-heat the chimney.  That's one of the more specialized elements to fabricate, and sometimes fails over time. You'll note the access cap right next to it in case of repairs. But the convenience and control it offers may be well worth it, especially for intermittent heating situations like vacations or unseasonal weather.

[GoatHollow]

Great work!!! Have been trying to design an earth sheltered greenhouse, and had considered installing a small rocket stove heater in there. I've opted for an interesting idea of pumping solar heated air into a thermal mass under the grow bed instead. Keep us informed as to how well the underfloor heating works, will you?

[yeahifell4it]

Im new to passive heating but does anyone use rocketstoves with a copper coil at the trunk to also heat water for washing etc. kinda like they do with a woodfire hottub? maybe in cement?

[EKWisner]

@yeahifell4it , @GoatHollow

Ernie is eager to try that very thing - a rocket-heated hydronic floor, for installation in existing buildings without enough clearance for the air ducts. We'll be prototyping a Rocket Mass Heater water-heating unit this winter, and also working on a direct-solar hot water option. Hot water is more expensive, though - we've already put about $400 into copper tubing and related materials. And the risk of steam explosions is significant. We'll keep you posted.

[yeahifell4it]

Bravo Erica. Paul, I have just discovered your page and am currently working through it. I want to help and will try and post some fun stuff we have going. You are doing Noble and Facinating work.

[dmacosta1]

Thanks

[paulwheaton12]

Erica, how much did this cost?

[EKWisner]

@paulwheaton12 - I think we spent about $40 on ducting parts (most of it was reclaimed, but we bought a few new elbows and T's), plus we bought some sand. The bricks, earth, barrel, wire handle, and aluminum tape were on site already, or sourced for free. So something under $100 for the whole system.

[jmg1957]

very nice,.

[EKWisner]

@jmg1957 , @yeahifell4it

Thanks. Will post more pictures when it's done, but in this vid you can actually see what's going on beneath the floor.