Rocket Mass heaters

I just happen to come across Rocket Mass Heaters on You Tube and it seems like a really cool idea. I wonder if I could do something like this in a small building. This is basically building a stove out of dirt This would be great as I have been deciding how to build my blacksmith shop behind my garage under the old horse lean too (stable) . I have a crap load of wood to burn but I don't want to use it in the house. That is what my coal is for. This also might be pretty cool to heat water tanks with like a boiler system and use radiators in the Garage and upstairs of the garage that I am turning into an apt.

Anyone heard of these? My ground is clay just a few feet down. Just search You tube for Rocket Mass heater.

This whole idea is similar to the European mason stoves. You burn a hot fast fire and the heat is stored in the mason structure. The one big difference that I see is that the European ones have places to access so you can clean the pipes. These Rocket heaters don't appear to have a way to clean the insides. What's going to happen when creosote or ash clogs the passages?

A prior thread on masonry heaters. Check my links on the 1st post.

kachelofen or masonry heaters anyone?

Freddy wrote:This whole idea is similar to the European mason stoves. You burn a hot fast fire and the heat is stored in the mason structure. The one big difference that I see is that the European ones have places to access so you can clean the pipes. These Rocket heaters don't appear to have a way to clean the insides. What's going to happen when creosote or ash clogs the passages?

You make a good point freddy. I was half asleep last night searching You Tube and that didn't cross my mind.

Masonry heaters were developed to conserve fuel and time/energy cutting wood. They didn't have chainsaws and heavy equipment for processing so much wood... Imagine if you had to cut all your firewood with an ax Another reason was scarcity of wood. Wood would become scarce even in forested areas if everyone was using it for heating and cooking.
These heaters were very common in some areas of Europe. My wife has relatives in Italy that heat their house with a masonry heater, if I can find a photo of it I will scan and post it.
Here is a photo of a masonry heater in a barracks at auschwitz. You can clearly see it running through the middle of the aisle with the chimney at the end. There would be channels or passages for the combustion gases to flow through the whole thing. http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X ... ,r:13,s:89

It takes a long time to get a masonry/mass type heater up to temperature but once heated, it takes only a short hot fire once or twice a day to maintain the heat. Creosote isn't an issue if the heater is fired correctly.
If I lived in Alaska or someplace with a cold climate I would build a masonry heater into my house.

rockwood wrote:Masonry heaters were developed to conserve fuel and time/energy cutting wood. They didn't have chainsaws and heavy equipment for processing so much wood... Imagine if you had to cut all your firewood with an ax Another reason was scarcity of wood. Wood would become scarce even in forested areas if everyone was using it for heating and cooking.
These heaters were very common in some areas of Europe. My wife has relatives in Italy that heat their house with a masonry heater, if I can find a photo of it I will scan and post it.
Here is a photo of a masonry heater in a barracks at auschwitz. You can clearly see it running through the middle of the aisle with the chimney at the end. There would be channels or passages for the combustion gases to flow through the whole thing. http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X ... ,r:13,s:89

It takes a long time to get a masonry/mass type heater up to temperature but once heated, it takes only a short hot fire once or twice a day to maintain the heat. Creosote isn't an issue if the heater is fired correctly.
If I lived in Alaska or someplace with a cold climate I would build a masonry heater into my house.

It's good to see all these ideas. Who knows when any of us will need more primitive means of heating.

kozel wrote:A prior thread on masonry heaters. Check my links on the 1st post.

kachelofen or masonry heaters anyone?

I will have to check those out later on today. Thanks for the links. I didn't relate the rocket mass heaters to Masonary heaters until you guys started posting about them... DUH!

These thing are great for poor countries and poor people, seeing how we are heading in that direction, they are becoming popular here, just as the 3 cylinder engine cars that will be selling in high volumes soon. I am sure Richard will have his own political views on this subject as well.

CoalUserWannabe wrote:These thing are great for poor countries and poor people, seeing how we are heading in that direction, they are becoming popular here, just as the 3 cylinder engine cars that will be selling in high volumes soon. I am sure Richard will have his own political views on this subject as well.

Do you remember the geo metro? And I believe there was an Isuzu out there as well . They ran the 3 cylinder engine for a while.

You know I had a ground hog hole that I built a fire in and on top of well it lit the den on fire and when I put out te above ground fire you could see the under ground fire roaring away!