Rocket Mass Heater in a yurt

[Bob Rowlands]

Thanks for the report.

[hierony]

Kcoad:

Awesome heater--I like how you made it the steps to your loft. Did you find it difficult to make?

30' is a lot of space to heat. How often do you fire it? Any idea how much wood you use each time?

[Prepper420]

I'm interested too since I plan on using a rocket stove with radient floor

heating

much like this design.

[Bob Rowlands]

I really like the hands on, frugal approach to doing things in general. That photo has do it yourself alternative written all over it. Very nice start whoever built it.

[paul wheaton]

Hi,

I'm Paul Wheaton. I was linked to earlier and then talked about .... apparently I took a class a looong time ago with somebody's wife!


And, as it turns out, I might make the top ten list of rocket mass heater experts. I have about 20 youtube videos, a big article and 8 DVDs on the topic.

Ernie and Erica have a new book out on the topic called "The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide." Excellent book. My name is peppered through it. The flagship demo build is at my place.

Now .... to the roots of my post ....

Yes! Ooodles of people have put these in yurts! And, if your yurt is build on a platform, as most of them are, then you will need to shore up the floor before building the rocket mass heater. Although I do have a great thread about a yurt build where the rocket mass heater was actually UNDER the yurt. Interesting design. So the floor ended up being heated. I would post a link, but the rules of this forum says that would be naughty.

But .... here is the most important thing I wanna share right now ... we put one in a tipi. Uninsulated. Bam!

The thing is that a rocket mass heater is super duper efficient for a lot of reasons, but a big part of that is that it does all sorts of stuff in a very different way. And we wanted to PROVE that by putting a rocket mass heater in an obviously uninsulated structure.

And we have a couple living in the tipi in montana. And one night it gets down to 26 below. The couple gets up in the morning ... and y'all need to note that the fire has been out for eight hours ... they don't know how bitter cold it is outside. They take off their night clothes and put on their day clothes and .... right there, that's the most important part. Apparently, when they changed they felt like the temperature in the tipi was a little over 50.

---

Another thing that was mentioned was youtube videos. There are hundreds. Maybe thousands. I think I put up the first. And I now have about 20 up there. But there are lots of problems - people are building freakshows of flaming death and calling them rocket mass heaters. So it is really tough to figure out what is the best path.

---

Most rocket mass heaters are built in a couple of days. Really fancy ones can take a week or more. And the new pebble style stuff is super fast.


I hope this helps!

[rangeroad]

Wow is there a 'bowing down' emoticon? Thank you for your post, Paul Wheaton! Permies.com is the best!!! Folks, Mr. Wheaton is THE guru for your RMH build and install.

[Jafo]

That's great. They do take up a lot of space though yeah? Paul, go ahead and post any relevant links you have about these heaters. I am okaying it.

[paul wheaton]

Neat! I'm famous-ish!

I gotta be clear: I am not "THE" authority. I think that if you squink your left eye while bouncing on your right leg in bad light, I might make the top 10 list.

However, I think I did make the first youtube video about rocket mass heaters. And the first public/free article. And I have a big gob of dvds and I host the annual innovators event.

Here is my youtube channel with about 20 rocket mass heater dvds:

https://www.youtube.com/c/paulwheaton

Here is my article:

rocket stove mass heater

Here is my new DVD set:

Better Wood Heat: DIY Rocket Mass Heater Videos

Here is a thread about a rocket mass heater in a yurt:

https://permies.com/t/40/5937/rocket...heater-finally

(note that they set it up so the fire is outside and the mass is under the floor. Note also that they elected to replace the barrel with a fabricated bell)

And here is our famous experiment with a rocket mass heater in a tipi:

https://permies.com/t/29327/RMH-Tipi

All of these are loaded with pictures, so you get a feel for how much space they take.

We have a forum dedicated to answering questions about rocket mass heaters:

https://permies.com/f/260/rocket-mass-heaters

I think you will see that that forum is very active.

Here is more information on "The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide":

https://permies.com/t/57365/Rocket-M...-Builder-Guide

[hierony]

One of the reasons I chose a masonry heater instead of an RMH was the footprint (and relative portability). Now, I didn't quite have the imagination for making the entire

yurt platform

part of the thermal mass--I like it! Maybe when I have a more permanent place, I'll setup that way.

[Bob Rowlands]

I lived in Farrand hall on the CU Boulder campus back in 72-72. It was a very old building even back then. Steam boiler radiator in every dorm room. Lemme tell yuh that sucker was niiice and warm. Those old radiators are cast iron. They weigh a couple hundred pounds-each- and of course that is why they deliver nice even warmth. I worked on an old house a few years ago that had all the cast radiators pulled to have lead paint removed. It took a crew to do it. Mass really is key to a superb

heating

system.