This is primarily to keep the pipes from freezing. Secondarily, to keep the humans warm. Thanks in advance for your help—
Good evening folks!
We are in the early drawing phase of designing our new home and are planning to build it around a soapstone masonry heater (central New Hampshire, zone 5a). I'm guessing we will have mini splits for when it's not consistently cold enough to fire up the system and for summer cooling as needed.
I'd love to get opinions on experiences owners have had with them. Our home will be roughly 1000 sf main floor, 1000 sf second floor with a full daylight basement. Guessing walls will be R-30-35ish, roof R-50 with excellent air sealing. Both Tulikivi and Greenstone share BTU output and estimated square footage heated for each model. I'm wondering if in a well insulated house the suggested size might be overkill.
I'm also wondering how well the heat penetrates the second story.
Any advice you have?
I just went house hunting and saw this in a condo. On the listing it states "Kachelofen Masonry Heater Acts As Fireplace." I've never heard of this so I did some searching online, but everything i'm seeing has a little window/door where you can see the fire. I don't see this on here. Does anyone know how this one is set up or how it works? The one opening at the bottom looks like it has some buttons/switches and a vent which makes me think its more modern and the fire is internal? but then what's the point of the other opening beside it?
Thanks!
https://preview.redd.it/2bix1fwhj4g71.jpg?width=1535&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbcb300d43d7ccb7c47f2b2ce5dac6126a6615bf
https://preview.redd.it/ukslefwhj4g71.jpg?width=1535&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bc6d74248b78e2b64b6c8170f338a2651e34a93
background:
growing up, my family heated our house with a traditional wood stove and we always ran into two big problems:
- the fact that it was burning at all times meant that air was pulled into the house through windows/cracks/whatever, so that rooms away from the woodstove got cold
- the fire would die down at night, making for very cold mornings.
masonry heaters and rocket mass heaters avoid these problems because they only draw air when burning and would hold their heat all night.
those things seem great, but rocket mass heaters are tricky to get code approval in most places (I'm in the US), and masonry heaters tend to be very expensive to install.
Question:
is there a wood stove or some kind of DIY kit that is efficient (secondary burn), and will store a lot of heat? is it something that one could build from a kit and have inspected?
including a cooktop would be ideal. I've found a small number of examples like this cookstove, that seem cool, but all of the ones I've found don't have a catalytic or hot air secondary burn, which means inefficient burn and creosote buildup.
anyone know of examples of EPA/code compliant masonry heaters (either DIY kit or totally purchased)? (I renovate houses as a side job, so building up a kit with bricks and mortar is not intimidating to me at all).
I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a major difference between these two types of heaters. It would seem to me that the real difference is the size and type of materials used. Masonry heaters appear to be larger, heavier, and more expensive. But is there a performance difference? Or do they both effectively perform the same given the same amount of wood? Obviously the mass to be heated will play a large part in that as well. Just wondering if any comparison has been done before.
so, I really want to build a masonry heater (or mass stove). rocket mass stoves look neat, but they're not code compliant in most places, so really only useful for outdoor applications.
masonry heaters will do basically the same thing, as long as they achieve a good "secondary burn"
the one in this video looks nice, and I love the extra oven part [not a requirement], but it's both pricy AND australian (I'm in the US).
I'm not afraid of doing the masonry myself, but I would like to buy the fire-box pieces.
anyone have experiences with this?
https://youtu.be/s-jGhrPX3ME
I have posted this on r/homesteading and now bringing it over to here because of how simple a brick oven is, if you’re preparing for winter or fall this can help, you don’t need gas powered ovens when you got this(you could turn this into a wood gas oven, I got a post about that)
This video is to encourage simplicity without fear mongering everything for views or upvotes, just trying to help pass on knowledge that can help without milking the subject dry, enjoy the video and stay safe
Planning a cabin build now but just been thinking about having a small woodstove and somehow creating a container around it. Even circular super strong wire fence with finer mesh inside, then filling with pea gravel or some such material while boxing out the opening and plastering it thereafter.
Anyone ever build a masonry heat retention layer outside a woodstove?
I have a Takagi T-K4-N that a customer wants hooked up into their existing chimney. Currently he has 2 furnaces hook into the same 6" vent pipe. (One for a small commerical building downstairs, and one for a rental upstairs)
The unit he wants installed says it requires a category 3 stainless steel vent for direct vent configurations. So, basically, he wants me to vent this water heater into an existing, single wall, 6" vent that already has two furnaces on it.
This is a bit new to me, as I have never seen a direct vented tankless heater. Not have I ever seen one ties into an existing masonry chimney. Is this an ok thing to do? I would feel okay if it was the ONLY appliance on the chimney, but having those other two appliances bothers me.
The only reason we're doing it like this is because there's no good place to terminate the vent in a PVC power vent configuration.
Hi, looking for advice on brick or stonemasonry heaters, The big heavy, built in place, wood fired type.
I want to build or have built by a professional Mason one of these in my home and I’m looking for advice from people that have or have had one in their home. I’m having a very hard time even finding a contractor to build one, so I am stalled out on this project.
Mine would need to go from basement up through first floor and out the roof I will need it to be a 2 level heater, meaning you load and burn wood on 2 separate floors. They would be directly above/below each other and Be flued side by side, but separately.
I know I could build this if I had very good drawings or designs, as I have built brick barbecues before. But need to nail down a design with details.
Anyone have any experience with this?
I’m just designing my future home in a 3D software and even though I’m young and won’t be able to buy for at least a decade I still like the idea of considering preps. It’ll be a new build because it’s cheaper to new build here then to buy. It would be a rather large two story house built from mainly concrete, brick, and plaster. I’m thinking if the economy goes down would it be best to have my primary heating be a large fireplace in the centre of the house and a furnace boilers that brings hot water through pipes into exterior rooms.
I figure that gas, electricity and coal are really not an option as my country is green so taxes the snot out of gas and coal, electricity is inefficient I hear and expensive. I figure even if there’s a mild economic collapse or a SHTF I’ll always have wood to burn?
Any suggestions?
Hi friends! I wrote this list and then saw someone (u/powerspank) ask about what individuals can do TODAY to be more solarpunk.
What are some things that you've done to make the world a better place? things you actually have control over? I'd love to add any suggestions to this list and help it keep growing and growing.
Level One
- Vote
- Remind other people to vote
- Always join an available union
- Never cross a picket line. Do not support businesses that have striking employees
- Cary a sharpie to deface fascist propaganda you find
- Stop buying fast fashion/ Buy second hand
- Research how your local area sorts recyclables
- Challenge yourself to cut down your trash output
- Go vegetarian/ vegan (or just consider meat-free meats sometimes, Impossible Beef is usually only slightly more expensive than normally priced beef.)
- If your city doesn't have recycle/composting, write them about it
- Donate goods to a thrift store instead of throwing them out
- See if there's a textile recycling facility around for anything ripped/not worth donating
- Wash your clothes less- it not only saves water, but also makes your clothes live longer
- Switch from cows milk to non-dairy milk (but be wary of almond milk, it's bad for bees)
- Research your local zoo, how they treat animals and who they donate to. Consider getting a zoo membership. It's good self care to walk around the zoo, and zoos always need the money
- Switch to more sustainable or compostable products where you can (toothbrushes, cat liter, etc)
- Avoid businesses like Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Chick-fil-A, Kelloggs, Nestle, etc
- Research your local land's Indigenous People
- Delete your Facebook
- Visit your favorite park/ beach/ roadway and pick up trash as you walk
- See if your area has a Fix-It-Fair, places where people skilled in repair volunteer their services for free and people bring in broken items
- Visit your local farmers market
- Check where your company sources products and suggest sustainable alternatives
- Talk to your coworkers, neighbors, and family about solarpunk values and how we can work together
- Leave room for ecological grieving. We are all stressed by simply living in this time period. Let yourself feel those emotions and release them
Level Two
- r/guerillagardening
- Look into repair skills, like soldering, masonry patch-ups, mechanics, sewing, darning, etc. Then you can prioritize repairing items over replacing them
- r/visiblemending
- Phase out single-use items in
Hey all, I’m pretty new to this, and am mostly just looking to use my Vigilant 1977 for the aesthetics, and smell. Apologies if that’s sacrilege here. Heat is just a nice byproduct for me.
Is it a more efficient use of my wood supply to burn low and slow fires, or should I really optimize the heat output to get peak efficiency? And, by efficiency, I mean the slowest use of my wood.
Thanks so much for any input
So, should I just build it downstairs? If so, should I just let the heat radiate upstairs, or incorporate existing ductwork somehow? Would a 55 gal barrel produce more heat as opposed to 35 gal barrel? Also, I was thinking I could position some 55 gal barrels filled with water throughout the home to capture some heat, would that work the same way as a thermal battery in a greenhouse?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/smallape/3479430795/ image of bench build
I'm not referring to the simple J style stove, I mean the kind that features long labyrinthine exhaust path to leech maximum heat from the combustion. Conventional woodstove installation places a high emphasis on ensuring a good clean path without too many bends, and even the chimney outside of the house has to be raised above the ridge of the roof, all in the name of safety (maintaining stack effect), otherwise the fire may not stay lit, and exhause can flow backwards. How is it that rocket stoves that claim to have virtually cool output can keep flowing, why isn't it dangerous?
We met with our architects this week to go over initial drawings. It's a beautiful transitional design that takes great advantage of the lot, solar angles and the mountain views and will feel light and sunny year round, even in northern New England. They mostly nailed it on the first go thanks to very clear requirement groundwork we did.
Husband and I both agree that we don't want to skimp on the window budget, but with everything home building it's one big moving puzzle. And that's a lotta windows! The septic is already going to cost more than we hoped due to some good ol NH ledge and site work is our big mystery number at the moment.
Our builder prefers to use Marvin windows but will use others, our architects typically design for Marvin, Loewen or Andersen 400. We are hoping to just go with Marvin Elevate wood and fiberglass windows for all of them, no special upgrades or anything. The nice thing is that at this point nothing is fixed. Our builder will weigh in after the next iterative round of design work on the budget side. We just want to be ready with possible ideas and/or concessions if needed.
With that in mind I'd love feedback, especially from cold climate dwellers on window brands you've been really happy with. Any tips on achieving the architectural look while building in some savings? (E.g. subbing in picture windows for some of them) Any votes of confidence from Marvin fans? (Our builder is well aware of crazy lead times for them right now)
None of the windows are particularly oversized. It's a lot of clusters of 2 or 3 standard sized awning or casement windows. There's also two 2 panel sliders, a pair of french doors and two main entry doors.
Thanks!
Greetings,
My wife and I have moved into a home built originally in 1876 and like most everyone that moves into these places we're finding a lot to fix. Thankfully, the both of us are competent at electrical and plumbing or at least enough to measure twice first.
But I'm here because we have an issue that seems like it will be a bit more than simple tab goes into slot. We have strong reason to be measuring the height of each section of the first floor due to almost none of the doorways being square. And ventures into the basement to track this down have returned reason to decry the previous owners as incompetent, or at least the maintenance company they hired.
Note: The party that is actually at fault is impossible to prove from our perspective due to the age of parts involved, but at least some pieces are assuredly the fault of said maintenance company.
So our basement is divided into three parts north, middle, and south.
The north part is the smallest and includes the water main into the home and the old gas main in. The wall between it and the middle is in the worst shape and is depended on for the most support. (Internal Screaming)
The middle section is where the furnace and water heater are set up and vented into the chimney. There is evidence of a boiler system that took up most of the space that has since been retired and removed.
The south section is where most of the storage from previous owners and tenants was contained alongside a defunct basement shower room setup. The interesting point is that the floor joists in this section run a different direction than the other two sections and there is a "proper" support beam in the middle.
I have done a bit of research, a bit of planning, and a lot of cursing. To that effect I have an idea using a pair of 50 ton bottle jacks and four to six floor jacks to level the worst section of flooring next to the chimney and furnace so the masonry can be built up to support the floor where it should be proper. Its a rough approximation of what would work, but thankfully the cement slab floor of the basement is at least 5 inches thick with further materials packed under it and the floor sag is small enough compared to the glaring damage that the remaining parts are holding for the moment.
I wanted a few more sets of eyes to see this and to hear what details they notice that I overlooked. I'm willing to go and hunt down more details and images to
... keep reading on reddit ➡I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.
Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.
Do your worst!
I'm surprised it hasn't decade.
For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.
I said "hey look, an escaPEA"
No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!
Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂
It really does, I swear!
Does anyone on this sub have these? Do they work well?
