225 – Rocket Mass Heater Workshop Part 1

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:25 — 8.8MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | RSS

Buy Ernie and Erica’s detailed plans

Paul Wheaton is with Ernie and Erica Wisner. They talk about the Rocket Mass Heater workshop held at Caleb and Krista’s in Missoula at the end of October 2012. They point out that it was a great success that brought together many interesting people with varied skills.

Ernie and Erica talk about how they travelled across the country to give workshops. They talk about some Rocket Mass Heaters they troubleshooted. They point out that it is difficult to get the manifold right the first time, especially since it is not necessarily clear in the Rocket Mass Heater book. Paul points out that Ernie and Erica have very complete plans available and that the Rocket Mass Heater described in those have been in used for at least one year without any issues.

Paul, Ernie and Erica then move on to the controversial hot water Rocket Mass Heater, also known as boom-squish. They emphasize that it is extremely dangerous and that unless one has lots of experience with pressurized hot water, one should not attempt to build such a system. On the other hand they point out that non-pressurized systems are much safer.

They talk about the big reveal that was one of the highlights of the workshop: a shippable Rocket Mass Heater core, manifold and barrel. They explain that the core is made out of a castable ceramic and that the system is 80% hotter than regular Rocket Mass Heater.

They also talk about few Kickstarters that are about to be launched: Two for the shippable Rocket Mass Heater and some for DVDs of the workshop.

This podcast continues in part 2.

If you would like to discuss this podcast, come on out at the forum at Permies.com.