12 rocket stove mass heaters - efficient wood heat

[thesuperfan99]

So was this filmed in Hobbiton?

[keeperoftherealm]

How are the long pipes (under bench) cleaned out? is there an opening or just use chimney sweep brushes.

[paulwheaton12]

@keeperoftherealm check the article at richsoil - e have a diagram

[brendahodgins]

so nice to see existing heaters. and I really like the idea of the feed being separated by a wall!

[saxz99]

nose whistle

[gorgeousdzastr]

How do they build those houses?

[paulwheaton12]

@gorgeousdzastr Slowly. And with great joy.

[rickyeon]

how long do the 55 gal drums last before they rust out, my burn barrels don't last long at all. There seems to be a lot of heat and wouldn't the bottom of the barrel just rust out, ,Of course the bottom of the barrel is the top.

[sabaqat]

like the house at 3:36

[johnnnyreb51]

Thanks for the drawing of a rocket mass heater. Most videos don’t ever fully explain how to construct one. They just show bits and pieces of the building process of the unit. From the drawing I see that the draw or draft of the raising hot air pulls the smoke and heat thru the system and the mass of the bench work or other thermal mass built around the piping is used as a heat sink to produce more heat from the system before the smoke and heat exits the system.

[immatzfati]

So if you do clean out the ash ...HOW do you do clean it? Some of the stoves have such small openings I couldn't figure out how you would get to the ash without the help of a vacuum cleaner

[paulwheaton12]

@immatzfati there are several approaches. Some make a pit and empty it once a week. Some don't, and empty it just before each burn. Most people just grab a handful of ash. Some people use a shop vac.

[elhnad]

does youtube give you money for all these hits? is it sufficient for your type of lifestyle? these are great vids and tools for ppl

[eric91780]

Thanks for the crappy video Paul. Love it.

[express375]

Do you have to clean the ash out?

[paulwheaton12]

@express375 yes

[dustoin1386]

where are these houses?

[josephdupont]

why would the unit need a chimney?? It would seem that running it with a ground level exhaust exit would allow for lower exhaust temps..

[FreemanOftheMind]

You are a Gift to Humanity Paul!! Thanks buddy!

[MarineResearch]

Thanks for putting together a great, informative video

Keep on truckin and Power to the People

Down with Bankster-Gangsters & up with Humanistic Economics

[toddweller]

This is very cool! I'll have to think of a way to incorporate a RMH into our house! It seems like a design consideration might be to slant the "feed" to reduce the amount of attention that need to be paid the fuel. Your thoughts?

[paulwheaton12]

@toddweller we have huge discussions on rmh variations at permies.com

[ERICWAGNERSLUCID]

You rock it!

[tappakeggaday1]

not telling you what to do,just a suggestion.wood is renewable but it takes a long time to grow.I seen from your videos you have a lot of trees in the area but have you considered getting a pelleting machine to turn the abundant leaf source you have there into leaf pellets to burn in the winter?you wouldn't have to worry about adding some binder to it as i understand that plant matter has this chemical called lignin that holds it together like glue once it is heated in the pellet machine.

[Anvilshock]

Noooooooo, why Comic Sans??

[madamk]

Oh I love this 

[beatnic50]

I love your video technique. I assume to do the highlighting you capture a frame and then circle what you want to highlight, then use it as a still frame in your video. It is fantastic! I wonder how you got the audio to seem so seamless? I will copy your technique. What editor do you use?

[paulwheaton12]

@beatnic50 for the clay vs. concrete and all other questions - it would probably be best to take this up at the forums at permies dot com.

[Cstrife234]

@paulwheaton12 The koreans use a wood burning stove that pipes the heat through the floorboards via stones or water pipes. It'd be cool to do that. Instead of a mass have water pipes or stones under floorboards piped to the heater.

[mmaf1]

Can coal be used with this design?

[vention4wh]

Oh my god that's SO friggen cool!!!

I just paid off my condo so now I'm going to start saving for some rural property where I can build something like this (or incorporate it into an existing structure).

[Axbent]

If combustible gases gets outside the "reburn comb. ch.) I see reseaon for trouble!!!?

[peetrwilson]

Where are all these cool mud buildings?

[paulwheaton12]

@peetrwilson cobville - i have some more videos of cobville - click on my username

[lulu8332]

@paulwheaton12like your videos alot :::i am from skandinavia DENMARK and we have a big tradition building littel summer houses mostly from reused matiarels ::: those Rocket mass heaters were a reel good inspiration to me the thermal bench is taat normal clay-? you dig up? could you use concret were theres no clay too be found? i like very much that you burn all comburstble gasses... i dable whit something similar i make woodgas powered generators cars e.t.c that is also very economical .regards

[BarberProductionsInc]

Great stuff!

[InsomniusPFA]

thanx ur vids are very helpful!

[Paul07901]

Nice illustration of heating your abode off the grid. How does one go about evacuating the ashes? Is there a clean-out, hand hole or something to get rid of the ashes?

[jeansl10]

@Paul07901 i am pretty sure that the combustion is complete enought to not produce ashes

[yesiamanalien]

Great video, not perfect but nobody's perfect lol. I liked your video because it showed me the concept in a way that is easy to understand. Video isn't too crappy and narration easy on the ears. Overall 5 stars and a favorite.

[fedaikn]

just a idea .....one may choose to create a better heat exchange for the barrel by adding sheet metal chicanes to the outside of the heat riser. the chicanes would sit in the space between the barrel interior and the heat risers exterior, directing the hot gases into certain directions.

[tribalwind]

wonderful Paul, thanks for sharing !

cant wait to check  out the forum community you mentioned.

got home this morning from the North-East Permaculture Convergence in Montpelier VT, where David Ludt gave a nice quick and dirty demo/workshop on rocket stoves/heaters... this is exactly the thing i need for my 2-car garage woodshop.ahem,i meant "artisan -craft studio" ;)

there was also a rocket heated Hot-Tub there made of a galvi-bath tub and Cobb,thing worked great,just missing the bubbles!

[glennzville7]

i bought the book, i made a 55 gallon rocket using a firebrick chamber and no mass on the exhaust. I draws like a jet and i heated my sorry cold ass all winter for armfuls of sticks and scrap wood. F the regulators. I will take mine down when they ask. Thankyou ianto and leslie

*and mud is beautiful*

[josuha2006]

I don't mean to sound critial, but professional contractors, they are not.

I think the concept has potential, but the design and materials could be cleaned up without the project looking like it was done by Hobbits.

[CatMacLean]

don't be such a snob!

[virus256]

hehe. I will give you credits for the Hobbits comment. :p

[leighblackall]

Great video Paul.. I'm trying to determin how well these draw initially. By the looks of the design, I imagine they take a while to draw and so smoke might issue from the log feeder to start with. Have you found this to be the case?

Also, my wife and I live in NZ and are planning to visit Vancouver and Seattle in August, can we get eyes on these heaters up that way you know? Maybe participate in a build?

[paulwheaton12]

(youtube at my previous two attempts to say something here)

Draw: if you had a fire yesterday, you still have sufficient draw. Otherwise, the single wad of newspaper trick will work.

August: I'm trying to get a workshop lined up to make one around here this summer. The ones you see in the vid are all in southern oregon.

[leighblackall]

AH.. good point on the draw..

I have been in touch with Erica and Ernie, they are planning a workshop in Portland August 14. Not sure, but I think we'll miss that by a few days... hope you can arrange a build perhaps the next weekend after that? We'll be over from NZ, so keen as.

[TonyKaku]

I've been interested in rocket mass stoves for about 3 years now. The only problem is over-regulation. Were I to put one of these into the home I'm building, I could only do so clandestinely and hope that no inspector ever came across it. I could go for a little more regulation of business and financial sectors and a little less interference from those sectors in the area of building regulation (at least here in Canada where banks have had their ill-thought-out way with the building codes).

[paulwheaton12]

One of the instructors is currently attempting to get one of these certified in portland, oregon. Also, there is a place in BC that has had great success with getting cob stuff passed.

[LolaGranola1960]

Thanks for posting this... love your sense of humor. Your pictures may not have been professional -- but your did a great job!

[paulwheaton12]

I've been tinkering with my camera a bit to try and get better stuff to come out of it. I bought a video camera and fiddled with that a few weeks - I ended up taking it back.

I have lots more crappy video to subject you all to!