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> - I personally think burning wood in housing areas should be banned entirely for health reasons. From what I understand, modern fireplaces and wood stoves ca
by rascul 4y ago
> - I personally think burning wood in housing areas should be banned entirely for health reasons.
From what I understand, modern fireplaces and wood stoves can be 70% to 80% efficient. Rocket mass stove can be over 90% efficient. I don't know how efficient pellet stoves can be. Smoke is from the wood that isn't completely burned, so more efficiency means more combustion and less smoke. My guess is that this is also going to be a lot better for health than an older and less efficient wood heat source. I would be interested in knowing how accurate I am but a quick web search hasn't turned up a whole lot.
- mountaintimefrm 4y agoI had a rocket mass heater for a few years and it was awesome - no smoke out the chimney, just steam. I burned sticks raked up out of my yard, pinecones, construction scraps, etc. There have been a lot of improvements in RMH design in recent years, led largely by the RMH enthusiasts at https://permies.com/f/260/rocket-mass-heaters https://permies.com/f/260/rocket-mass-heaters IMO traditional metal wood stoves really suck compared RMHs, but they can be made better by routing the exhaust through a stratification chamber (eg a large metal container like a barrel or a old water tank; hot flue gas enters the top, cooler flue gas exits the bottom). Pretty easy to set up next to an existing wood stove, and you get a lot more heat and a lot less smoke out of an otherwise crappy stove.
- rascul 4y agoI've always found rocket mass heaters to be quite interesting. One day I'll get around to making one. I'm in an area where I might be able to use it a couple weeks out of the year so it's not much of a priority.