Anyone have personal experience with a rocket mass heater?
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To the subject at hand...
Not too familiar with rocket stoves, but have looked at these for economic wood heat. Soapstone Heating Systems Inc.
It's good to see ChrisC again.
I wouldn't hesitate to buy one of their stoves. "Made in Finland'' is a recommendation of the highest order all by itself. I notice that your link is to the Canadian distributor. Does that mean that they're the closest place? I suppose it wouldn't be that much effort to drive to Canada and pick up the materials. The installers could come down as tourists.
A fireplace-stove like that could be useful for me. I don't care for stark Nordic aesthetics, but there should be a way to camouflage that.
For the genuine stoves, I haven't been able to find a US distributor, however, there are copycats using the same design if not the Finnish parts, but they're in Vermont.
I have seen a similar design/technique, though not nearly as efficient at this one, used to create a temporary shelter in a cold-survival situation. It only works well when the wind direction is more-or-less constant.
Basically the fire is built in a shallow trench that has a horizontal underground "stove-pipe," constructed out of slabs of rock (sandstone, etc.), running downwind from the trench. A reflector is built, also downwind. A thickness of dirt, sand, etc is built up over the "stove-pipe" and a low temporary shelter is set up over that.
This field-expedient device looked to be a whole lotta work, so I never tried it.
I have seen a similar design/technique, though not nearly as efficient at this one, used to create a temporary shelter in a cold-survival situation. It only works well when the wind direction is more-or-less constant.
Basically the fire is built in a shallow trench that has a horizontal underground "stove-pipe," constructed out of slabs of rock (sandstone, etc.), running downwind from the trench. A reflector is built, also downwind. A thickness of dirt, sand, etc is built up over the "stove-pipe" and a low temporary shelter is set up over that.
This field-expedient device looked to be a whole lotta work, so I never tried it.
I have seen that done as well. In more southerly climes and in summer up north, the Dakota hole is a longstanding method that operates much the same, although my usual purpose in making one has been the reduction of visible smoke while heating water or whatever I needed a fire for. The rocket effect causes a more efficient burn and thus less smoke. It is also good for windy conditions. And for leaving less sign once you move on.
To the subject at hand...
Not too familiar with rocket stoves, but have looked at these for economic wood heat. Soapstone Heating Systems Inc.
Well, I've been keeping up with the reading here, but not posting much.
I did a lot of research on rocket stoves and masonry heaters a couple of years back. And I had dozens of good links. I was going to post some of them here... but, alas, it seems my links have decided to hide somewhere in a dusty corner of my hard drive. Not sure what I have done to deserve such evasion, but perhaps they will turn up and humor me sometime soon (hopefully). The Soapstone link was one of them. Another I seem to recall was how to build (full plans) a masonry heater complete with the efficient room heating ability of masonry technology and an oven/stovetop. It was a webpage posted by some agency connected with the Missouri state government (don't remember what the connection was). But I recall it being very informative and potentially useful. However, I guess it must NOT have been useful enough for me to remember where the link is. Annoying.
Speaking of wit, I haven't seen any posts by our moderator here in months. What happened to her? Now there is a person with wit, and her posts were very informative most always.
Quote:
Originally Posted by LordyLordy
I am a chihuahua man myself, Senor. Nothing scarier than staring down the teeth of a chihuahua who thinks you have stepped onto HIS territory.
Dogs... well... let's just say my opinion of dogs has been a bit "stressed" lately. I have one neighbor who has a huge dog partially mixed with wolf. I've grown quite attached to that dog. Very well mannered, friendly, and a beautiful animal. Best of all, she doesn't have the ability to sit and bark at nothing all day. She will occasionally let out a howl if things are somehow amiss. But no ear-splitting barking. She's also one of the funniest dogs I've ever seen with some of the things she does.
On the other hand, I have (unfortunately) another neighbor with a backyard full of (8 dogs at last count) pit bulls that do nothing but try to find any and every excuse to let out a brain-rattling array of barks 24/7. The guy seems to think everyone should have to put up with that--that it is perfectly acceptable in a social setting. He should either not have dogs at all, or learn some manners and take some courses in dog training. I knew how to train our family dogs (correctly) to be well-mannered by the time I was about 5 or 6 years old.
So for me, dogs are a mixed bag (I guess depending on the IQ of their owners). Cats on the other hand... cats are typically quiet. Me and quiet are best of friends, thus Cats and I always get along very well.
Ah yes... Chihuahuas. Chihuahuas always make me laugh or at least smile. They are cute little critters, but their ego tends to be far larger than their stature when it comes to "defending their territory." They seem to think they are timber wolves.
There is tons of information on rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters, including some by Ernie and Erika, at the forum at Permies.com. Lots of pictures and hands on advise. They are going to be selling some Rocket heater how to DVD's through a kickstarter soon too.
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Annoying. 
