Keep Warm This Winter

Rocket Mass Heaters burn wood more efficiently than any other wood fired stove. This video explains the basics.
Versions of this technology existed many centuries ago.

www.korea-heating.eu...
"It is said that there was once an ondol room—hundreds of years old—that had incredible thermal efficiency. Because of the design of the room's flue structure, its floor would remain hot for 45 days with just one heating! Warmth could supposedly be felt for 100 days. Unfortunately, that room was destroyed during the Korean War in the early 1950's. In 1982, engineers restored the structure, and tourists can visit its ondol room. The present thermal efficiency is not nearly as good as the original. Still, after one heating, the floor remains warm for ten days in spring and fall, and for three days in winter, even when the temperature is below 14 degrees Fahrenheit."

There's no reason to be cold this winter if you have space to build a rocket mass heater. A little industry and ingenuity will ensure warm living conditions at little cost. The wood burnt is easily collected. New tree growth re-absorbs the CO2 released. A small tree planting or woodland management effort negates any suggestion that you are contributing to weather disturbance. The bankers get zero profit.

Do some research. You'll find plenty of information on Rocket Mass Heaters. This www.amazon.co.uk... for example.

Every trick possible is used to keep you paying utility bills.

Rocket Mass Heaters allow you to cook, heat, and provide hot water for your home without paying the man.

One of the native American tribes (I want to say hopi, but I can't remember) was known to use this principle for fires as well. Instead of building above ground, though, they dug two holes and a tunnel between them.

a reply to: Mr Headshot

Dakota fire pit.

a reply to: Mr Headshot

Another one is the upside down fire. It burns the smoke that rises through it from beneath. Efficient, compared to the usual way of putting the wood on top.

a reply to: Kester

No matter the method of keeping warm i suggest everyone does so especially if they are getting on in age. Dont let those power company bastards potently jeopardize your health and well being by holding you to ransom over heat.

a reply to: Kester
No Kester your wrong. Sustainability it is not. It's OK when there is only a few using this method, but when you get thousands it becaomes unviable. You only have to look at some African rural communities that use the "brushwood method". They use the brushwood then there is not enough to go round they then attack the trees, after a couple of years there's no trees and the land becomes unproductive.
There is only one method then for the environment to recover and that is move ALL humans out of the area and replant. But it would take years to recover the lost habitat and besides there is nowhere for these populations to go, hence starvations.

a reply to: crayzeed

Waste sawdust and shavings are a useful heating fuel. We had years when our heating was almost free thanks to the waste sawdust and shavings which a local business gladly let us take. I used to go there at night and load up a months worth of fuel from the sawdust bins. Incorrectly burnt it can poison you with fumes. A well designed sawdust stove is needed.

Historically, when times have been hard, waste sawdust suddenly becomes a valuable commodity and it isn't free or plentiful any more.

Your point is well made. Care must be taken to see more is grown than burnt. Just as with all resources, there must be enough for future generations.

a reply to: Kester
That's correct about sawdust. When I was an apprentice carpenter, many moons ago, we had a sawdust burner. It was like a dustbin and you had to pack the sawdust down tight around a pipe, then when the bin was full you removed the pipe and set fire to the lower part of the centre tube. Good idea but in practice ,crap. By the way did you know that if you have a roaring fire and threw a shovel full of sawdust on, it can explode like a dragons breath. I know this as I've lost by eyebrows a couple of times by not moving away fast enough.

a reply to: crayzeed

One time I idly stirred the glowing remains, replaced the lid, and it detonated with a crack, rattling the lid and shooting a flame through the air vent. I'm still not sure exactly what happened there. Possibly wood gas? It only happened once and was definitely faster than the dragons breath of ignited dust.

a reply to: Kester
Thanks for this video and info. I have split 3 cords of wood for this winter (I have a pinched nerve in my neck to prove it) and will be using my old Russo wood stove. I'd love to go with a rocket stove in the future.

42 degrees here today, tonight may dip in the twenties. bah

a reply to: crayzeed

By the way did you know that if you have a roaring fire and threw a shovel full of sawdust on, it can explode like a dragons breath.

So can powdered creamer. We had an explosion at a powdered creamer plant here years ago, and someone nearly died. It blew some walls apart. Try explaining THAT to the individual's insurance company. "I got burned from a vanilla creamer explosion."

originally posted by: crayzeed
a reply to: Kester
No Kester your wrong. Sustainability it is not. It's OK when there is only a few using this method, but when you get thousands it becaomes unviable. You only have to look at some African rural communities that use the "brushwood method". They use the brushwood then there is not enough to go round they then attack the trees, after a couple of years there's no trees and the land becomes unproductive.
There is only one method then for the environment to recover and that is move ALL humans out of the area and replant. But it would take years to recover the lost habitat and besides there is nowhere for these populations to go, hence starvations.

I figured out a while back based on estimations that if every person in the world began to cut a tree a day then we wood last for a year.

a reply to: deadeyedick

Fortunately rocket mass heaters burn small wood. Sticks, branches, offcuts. Cutting down trees to feed a wood-hungry stove with logs is no longer necessary. Coppicing, pollarding, trimming, and collecting fallen branches is enough to keep a rocket mass heater running.