wood stove + rocket mass heater = hybrid

http://www.permies.com

Ernie Wisner ( http://www.ernieanderica.info ) has built more than 700 rocket mass heaters. This time he creates a hybrid between a conventional wood stove and a rocket mass heater.

The first step is to try and get the wood stove to a cleaner burn. Ernie succeeds in getting a much cleaner burn, but not (yet) as clean as a rocket mass heater.




Next, the work is to try to heat the same space with less wood. The wood stove alone was using five cords of wood each winter. This prototype was able to reduce that to 2.5 cords. Ernie thinks he can get that down to one cord. He also thinks a proper rocket mass heater would get down to half a cord.

At the very end, Ernie talks about how a conventional wood stove can get a 75% efficiency rating in a lab, and operate at 2% efficiency in the home.

Relevant threads at permies:
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/1078_0/alternative-energy/rocket-s...
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/10.0
http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums/2558_0/alternative-energy/portable...
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

music by Jimmy Pardo

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• wood stove
• wood heat
• rocket mass heater
• heat
• eco
• green
• permaculture
• organic
• sustainability

[muserwood]

I've been toying with the idea of building a stone rocket mass stove, (I can't seem to find one on YouTube) any thoughts?

[paulwheaton12]

@muserwood my latest video has a rmh with a lot of stone.

[paulwheaton12]

@muserwood my latest video has a rmh with a lot of stone.

[paulwheaton12]

@muserwood my latest video has a rmh with a lot of stone.

[colleen2480]

Hello, I have a wood stove in basement of 1.5 story building. I can't figure how to use a rocket stove mass heater with the design of my home but would like to see how to make the hybrid stove. Is it in the book I am ordering? thanks

[paulwheaton12]

@colleen2480 head out to the forums at permies.com -we'll get your questions answered there.

[LibertyBooksAZ]

Hey Paul! We need a LOT more videos of the Wisners giving us every scrap of knowledge in their heads, just like this one. Ernie is so articulate (Erika too!). You are making a resource collection that is extremely valuable thru this channel and your other websites. What sets yours apart is the ongoing discussions of what works / what didn't work / what worked for awhile but failed or got revised, and WHY. My deepest appreciation.

[LightoYagasamiSan]

what happened to his hair?

[ChrisW12208]

maybe you could hook up the rocket mass heater to his unibrow

[ZeroFossilFuel]

Seems to me you could line the interior of the firebox with reflective fiberglass panels and firebrick to A) constrict the size of the opening increasing velocity and B) raise the firebox temp. Problem still is instead of continuous gravity feed and controlled burn, you're feeding by the load, making it flare up and burn out too quickly.

[Jlshepperly]

Power a small fan to direct your airflow and produce your desired effect with a turbine exaust power generator which is powered by the rising of air. Like a wind turbine or fan blades. it has to be metal though. This also will give you a chance to power small devices, like alarm clocks. You can put a light manure/hay mix at the very top of the exhaust, filtering the smoke, making it greener.

[snurf727]

When it comes to such matters, I am quite the simpleton. Upon listening to the faults explained in the video, it occurred to me that the simple act of insulating the old wood stove may be the solution, Just a thought...