Rocket Mass Heater PART 1 | An Efficient and Empowered Way to Heat with Wood

When I step back and look at our culture and the relationship to the natural world, it's fairly clear there is a severe disconnection. Civilization has created a gap between humans and the elemental world, and in doing so has severed ties with the natural world. The elements that comprise this planetary spaceship we are hurdling through the cosmos on are overlooked in favor of development or progress, but what do we lose in the process?

What is your relationship to the elements?

In the modern age it is possible to exist without a connection to our essential needs. Food, shelter, warmth, medicine and other base needs are met through outsourcing; someone else deals with providing those needs, we as good civilians are simply expected to pay for them. One of the major aspects of comfort in temperate climate is heating. We are all happier and healthier if we have a cozy space to live in during the cold months.

The ways in which spaces are heated are FAR from efficient and often depend on abundant and cheap non renewable sources of energy. Our capacities for adaptation and innovation are some of the greatest assets we have as humans. It's time we put these gifts to good use.

Wren cozying up by the stove in our cedar log cabin.

Burning wood is an ancient part of humanity.

It is unique to our genus (other species of homo created fire) and has allowed great leaps in our evolution and development. Releasing energy stored in solid fuel such as wood is an example of using a renewable resource. This alone is a more sustainable option that heating with coal, natural gas, propane or electricity.

In the picture above, we are being sheltered and warmed by wood. It is MUCH cozier than sleeping outdoors (as we had to do 2 winters ago due to a moldy yurt). This is a common boxwood stove, a recognizable way to heat with wood. But what's really happening when we feed the stove with wood? In this example, we are wasting a great deal of heat out the chimney. It's time for us to innovate!

Wood has a great deal of potential energy, and most ways of burning it are very inefficient.

When you see smoke billowing out of a chimney you are seeing a wasted resource. Smoke is not only releasing heat and carbon monoxide (a pollutant) but the creosote and gases present in wood represent an unused fuel source. If you've witnessed a clean burning fire you'll notice the absence of smoke. This is because the wood is being fully combusted.

When we cleanly burn wood, we are fully using the gasses and avoid polluting air quality. This is not only making better use of resources, but maintaining a healthy ecosystem.

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Rocket Mass Heaters, a better way to heat with wood.

To improve on the simple act of lighting wood on fire, we must understand a fews things about thermodynamics. Don't worry, there are plenty of folks geeking out on the subject so if you're like me, you can follow in their footsteps and work toward a more efficient and sustainable way to heat with wood without understanding all the science behind it all. There is also the aspect of cooking with wood, but that is the topic for another post.

If we fully utilize the potential energy in wood (burning a clean fire) and store that heat we can appreciate all the good things about fire while using up to 90% less wood than a conventional wood stove.

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Above is a beautiful example of a Rocket Mass Heater (RMH). This is the most common design of this technology using commonly found materials such as a metal barrel, fire brick and cob (earthen masonry). The marvelous thing is that they can be constructed by novice building for little money and can dramatically improve the comfort during cold weather.

Why are RMH so awesome?

The short answer is that they make the most of wood and create a comfortable environment for MUCH less effort than other heating options. In most cases wood is only partially burned and only heats the space when the fire is burning. This means that much of the heat and unused fuel is forces out the chimney, wasting fuel and polluting the air. This also deposits creosote in the chimney which can cause dangerous fires. RMH create a sustained a long lasting heat.

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A better way to burn

In this drawing of an RMH you can see the basic design. It creates a space for the gasses to fullycombust and the resulting heat to charge a massive heat battery (often made from sand and clay). This slowly releases this heat, sometimes for more than 24 hours after the fire dies out. The barrels kicks out immediate radiant heat, while the mass (often a bench) conducts heat to bodies sitting or lying on it. The way a cup of hot tea warm the hands is the same way the bench warms the body, through conduction. This is the most efficient and comfortable form of heat.

This grass roots technology is a HUGE improvement over wood stoves that don't keep heating the space after the fire dies. If you've ever woken up at 3 am to stock the fire you'll totally get this. It's time we start burning wood better!

I purchased the most up to date thorough book on the subject and have been preparing for my first stove build for our sauna. This will allow us to use a small amount of wood to create a hot healing environment and enjoy the heat produced for hours after the fire dies. It will give me a first RMH project to complete before endeavoring a larger stove in our future home. I've included a few link as resources if you're interested in digging a little deeper.

In future posts, I will document the building of a rocket cook stove and the RMH I will be building for the sauna. Have you considered your relationship to the elements?

Resources:

(http://www.ernieanderica.info/rocketstoves)
(https://richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp)
(http://www.rocketstove.org/)