Permsteading.com

Hi Folks.
Back-story=>
In my searching for RMH info, I stumbled across info shared by a cool guy who seems to be quite the idea guy, experimenter & fabricator.
The only contact I've had with him is via youtube.
I'm guessing that he's at least semi-retired and it seems like he lives in Missouri (IIRC) - he always says his name is Kevin Bacon.

Since I'm subscribed to his YT channel, last night I got the link for this video:

This - well... seems quite exciting to me and now I'm wondering how I could make a variation of his idea all out of firebricks ???

Thoughts ?? Ideas ?? Suggestions ???

Thanks.

This is similar to the channels of the traditional Russian masonry stoves which are often made of brick. Be careful of the brick zapping energy in the design. If I recall, Peter van den Berg has a channel rocket Russian on his youtube channel.

Russian masonry or masonry stoves have been around for centuries, mainly overseas. RMH's base their benches and bells off the masonry heater design. Both systems use the same concept: using pressure and temperature to move gas and mass to retain heat.

A basic example:


The best place to start discovering masonry stoves:
http://www.mha-net.org/

Google "Kuznetsov Stove" for bell designs.

The Gymse by Lars Helbro was a masonry stove entered in the Green Heat Alliance Challenge. This is his website where you can see where the benches are put in use:
http://www.stenovne.dk/englishpage1.html

Peter's channel. He has a video where he builds a range/oven rocket. I will try to look for it here in a little bit. (Most of the European designs I have seen include a cooktop and oven of some sort)
http://www.youtube.com/user/peterberg10

I was down in Squirrel Hill near Pittsburgh a week or so ago to hear a talk about Ecological Journalism and talk about solar energy. The Lady who opened her home to about 100 people for the event had a Masonry Stove in her home that they used for heat. It was a modern home that bordered Frick Park . The house was very unusual with many distinctive features. I particularly like the Roof Top garden on the flat sections of her roof as well as the Food Forest she was planting in the yard. She told me that the heated worked very well, and I believe they did have an oven built into the design, However I really did not take the time to study the unit. Bottom line, it was a large modern house with some cathedral ceilings and she was very happy with how it heated her home.

Here is Peter's kitchen range video:

Thanks Folks !!
As to the video - that is very, very cool - thanks again.

What they show is wonderful and I have doubts that I could adapt it to this setting - but if I could find a detailed layout of the bricks and dimensions I would know better.

One thing I like alot about Kevin's way of doing things is that he has made it clear that in his opinion - all the scientific mathematical expert stuff is excessive for making RMHs and stoves - and he has showed this to be true with his successes.
He is obviously more of a metal worker than most folks and well equipped for it too.

I have a goodly stack of firebricks, so I have intentions of making mine with the absolute minimal amount of metal parts if one of these is in my future...

I am also not an experienced mason by any means - so if I imagine making a brick version of that omega shape it seems to me I would need some metal strips to help create the raised horizontal portion unless it was just a single brick spanning the 2 verticals somehow.

Seems to me that if it were possible to get the shape made all of bricks & sealed that Kevin's idea could make a great basis for a heat source - and could be even better if some mass got into the exhaust as well...

Making one with bricks that is bigger than Kevin's - but smaller than the range in the video is what I'd love any ideas on, please ??

Thoughts ?? Suggestions ???

Thanks.

More Mass, to me that is the key. These stoves, to be at there most efficient , must be burned Hot. That is the only way to have a wood fire with no smoke, you burn all the combustibles, all the gasses. To do that you must have a very hot fire with a second combustion chamber. To be able to capture that heat, to make it usable in your home you have to store it so it can be used over time. The only way that I know how to do that is Mass. The Mass is the flywheel that makes a Rocket stove work, and its what heats up in a Masonry Stove to be given off later. Mass is the Key to both of these types of stove. Kevin's design may Burn well, but with out mass it will not Heat well. You would constantly be bailing in the wood. When you add the mass, then you have something. Heat up the mass [ The Flywheel ] and you have a unit that will heat your home for a long time with a small amount of wood.

Right. Understood and agreed. This is why...:
- I want to make one of bricks, if possible;
- I would add a bell with mass to it, if possible.

Looks like I'd better get with me old bricks and start a-stackin them to see how this might be do-able...!

Thanks.