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I couldn't find an edit button sorry for the double post.

Do any of you use a small "barrel" for your feed tube? Ianto mentions one in his book and I could see the benefit of using a stock pot or something that I could close off my feed tube with.

If I put a 12 quart stock pot over that area that will get the feed tube 8 inches higher to catch more smoke coming out and at the end of the night I could put the lid on to close off the air supply. I'm only feeding this thing 8-12 inch hardwood slabs and I wouldn't change the length of my wood. I am concerned that I could create another chimeny with it though.

Thoughts?

There will be lots of smoke at first. Cold bench/flue means slow gas, which means less complete combustion. Then you've got all the stuff in the cob inside the manifold and elsewhere that will slowly burn off making lots of smoke for a few days/weeks. Don't sweat it, it will get better.

I don't care for the little feed barrel, it makes a large opening that has slow air velocity and creates a smoke back point. Keep the feed tight, and cover with an inverted pot as a cover if need be. For the most part, you will run it with a brick obstructing part of the feed almost all the time, and the barrel as the feed makes that a pain.

A few pics, none of a fire though. I'll grab my wife's phone tonight and take some more pictures. Ignore the mess.


Side shot of the mass, we are putting a counter over it with vents to allow heat to radiate out.

mass and you can just see the exit going through the wall

Manifold and clean out, still very much in progress. We have a ton more cob to go, I want to cob up the side of the barrel at least 6", maybe a little higher, I have a 1 year old lol

and the feed tube, my layout dictated that I have my barrel exit to the system right and that moved my barrel location off center by 2-3 inches, which closed the distance between the feed tube and barrel.

But now that it has been burning a few hours a day for a couple of days it starts up nicely (provided I use dry wood) and draws quickly. My wife loves it because it heats our space up so fast and when we wake up in the morning its never much below 70 degrees. Last night it got down to 20 F outside and we woke up to 68 degrees. I call that a win considering the bench is still wet.

So now more cob, more finishing touches and more pics! Thanks for following me on this journey!

Great to see some photos. Thanks for sharing!

I thought I'd post an update since SE TN is in the middle of the Polar express. I'm 32 years old and have don't remember ever having temps below 0. We woke up this morning to actual temps at 6 degrees F and a windchill of -10! I burned the dragon hot last night from about 6 pm till bedtime around 10 pm and woke up this morning to temps inside the basement (keep in mind this is a basement with and uninsulated unfinished house above it) of 65 degrees F! I call that a success!

I would say that you are doing great wiley. Holding the heat when the temp drop that much isn't easy. This is really a great test for how well the unit heats your home. Raising the inside temp from a night time low of 35* or 40*s up to 70* is a lot different than increasing your inside temp to 68* from an outside low below 0*. I would be very pleased if I were you. Stove is working wonderfully. Keep us posted about your progress.

Sounds like you've got it licked, Wiley. I often wake up to 65* and I've got a highly insulated fully finished house upstairs. I'd say you're doing pretty well!

hello everyone I am new here and enjoyed all I have seen here. This looks like a pretty smart bunch of guys ,or I am just dumber than I think,LOl. I hav my core built as dimensioned by Matt. Outside form is ready al I need to do is pour it. I need it to be strong enough to move and not brittle,didnt really want to have to cover it. can anyone tell me if castable refractory cement mixed with vermiculite. REALLY NEEDS TO BE STURDY

The strongest way I know is to use refractory without additives. Vermiculite will help insulate but will weaken the mix.