Efficient Wood Heat

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by craigepo

I wonder what materials a person would have to use in constructing the heater to make sure it would be approved by a homeowners insurance company?

Good question.

I talked to a guy who's building a "tiny house", and he's gonna heat it with a cement-based rocket heater with a 6-inch pipe. He says the system has been accepted in one state, and he's not worried about it.

Don't know how much you'd have to insure a 400 square foot house for, though...

[The Reaper]

I would expect that a building inspector might not approve of it either, if you were subject to building codes.

TR

[craigepo]

You know, if I were going to install that heater in a building where I was going to be sleeping, I would probably spend a little more money than what was shown on the heaters in the videos.

We don't have any building codes here, and folks used to line their chimneys with ceramic flues. Ceramic worked fine for a while, but once you have a creosote buildup, which starts an unknown flue fire, the ceramic can crack, which can later result in a house fire. So, insurance companies started making everyone line their chimneys with stainless steel.

I wonder if you could find stainless steel flue material to use inside that thing, then put your cement/stone/whatever substance on top of the steel?

Also, regarding running the exhaust out of the house, if you are installing the heater into a wood frame home, you want some temperature barrier between the flue and the wall/roof. I have a pellet stove in my present farm house, and they are so efficient they only need 3-inch flue material, with a pre-fab fitting holding the flue in place in the wall. I wonder how these folks are setting up their chimneys...

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I would expect that a building inspector might not approve of it either, if you were subject to building codes.

TR

No such thing up here.

[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by Dusty

No such thing up here.

Anyone here remember the number of GIs lost in Korea from charcoal floor heating?

I would definitely want a carbon monoxide detector with a heating system like this.

TR

[JJ_BPK]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I would definitely want a carbon monoxide detector with a heating system like this.

TR

The box (both bricks and mortar) needs to be refractory grade materials.

The different youtube flicks for rocket stoves, fire pits, and these mass type heaters built using concrete block or pavers is a fail. The pavers are air dried and don't use clay. Concrete will dry rot, crack, and fail after moderate use.

[cbtengr]

It looks like a great concept, but certainly not refined. I did not get the impression from any of the folks in the videos that they were the type to be bothered by insurance company approval, and these were not quarter of a million dollar houses that these things were installed in. The first several years that my wife and I lived here we burned corn, it was less than $2.00 a bushel then, we could heat 1700 sg ft for about $300.00 a season, the stove vented horizontally out the side of the house, triple wall SS pipe very efficient, it too was a QUADRA-FIRE.

I would have to believe that this concept has a lot of potential were it to be more than cobbled together by the Mother Earth Crowd . I do like it though.

[Dusty]

Originally Posted by cbtengr

It looks like a great concept, but certainly not refined. I did not get the impression from any of the folks in the videos that they were the type to be bothered by insurance company approval, and these were not quarter of a million dollar houses that these things were installed in. .

I'm building one for the "E" section of "PACE", when insurance companies no longer exist, and firewood becomes a hot commodity.

The stove I have now is fine for the status quo.

[Golf1echo]

Always thought rocket stoves were external type stoves however IIRC I have seen similar used as part of a forge in work shops. Older wood stoves often had pipes with in to heat water as the stove was fired and stored in an adjacent tank ( convectively heated ). There are also external wood furnaces that burn large logs and scrap wood and transfer the heat underground to the home, perhaps a similar application would work?
As for what material would work best for inspection? I would say a tarp, Inspectors tend to have little imagination and their job is CYA mostly." Out of sight out of mind". My last insurance inspection said " Suspected of using solid fuel". WTF? That house is in the mountains and most everyone burns wood there...

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by Golf1echo

As for what material would work best for inspection? I would say a tarp, Inspectors tend to have little imagination and their job is CYA mostly." Out of sight out of mind". My last insurance inspection said " Suspected of using solid fuel". WTF? That house is in the mountains and most everyone burns wood there...

Suspected?? That is some pretty funny shit, did that statement serve to cover his ass?

[Paslode]

Originally Posted by The Reaper

I would expect that a building inspector might not approve of it either, if you were subject to building codes.

TR

Like this lady....

Robin Speronis decided to live without utilities such as running water and electricity in a modest home in Cape Coral, Florida, but she made the mistake of discussing her lifestyle with reporter Liza Fernandez from Channel 4. The day after the report on Speronis aired, a city code enforcement officer designated her home an “uninhabitable property” and gave her an eviction notice.

Yet a code enforcement officer found her home and declared it unsafe and unsanitary because it lacked running water and electricity, Speronis said. Speronis alleged that the officer never entered her home or checked to see if it was unsanitary. The official simply posted the notice and left.

City officials said they were simply enforcing the International Property Maintenance Code. That code states that properties are unsafe to live in without electricity or running water. Of course, Speronis does have electricity and water; she simply gets them from alternative sources.

Under the terms of the code, the city could seize the home and evict Speronis.

http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/1...-off-the-grid/


Per the ICC Code the Building Official, members of the Board of Appeals, or employee charged with enforcement of the code cannot be held liable.

Per ICC Code the Building Official can enter your property anytime they damn well please.

Per ICC Code the Building Official is the last word in regards to a Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down rulings on your property.


The God Complex is a common trait among Building Officials, members of the Board and Adversary Council.

[Dusty]

This model's easy to throw together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDYUrVHPWc

[cbtengr]

Originally Posted by Dusty

This model's easy to throw together:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmDYUrVHPWc

That's pretty slick. It would be easy to diffuse that heat over a larger surface.