Walapini Build with rocket mass heater

We been workin on this for a few days and I am very pleased so far. The front wall will be plastic and the sides will get filled in with something....I'm kind of wingin it lol. I have never built either.

 

Very nice. I hope you will keep posting pictures. What are you using for roof panels?

 

I am sure it differs depending on where you are, but I built some temp structures for livestock with green pine logs here in Florida, and quickly found out just how short that temporary could be. Here within 12-18 months, carpenter ants, termites, mason bees, and wood boring beetles will completely destabilize the structure as they devour it, starting below ground and working up. Just saying. You might have to rethink the lifespan of this structure. Check with oldtime locals. Check dropped trees in woods and how long they last intact when hard on the ground. It will vary some with different types of trees but even hardwood oak will not last long here in ground contact. Trees dropped to ground, seemed to last much longer in Midwest (Ohio) where I grew up.

 

I dont have the digger no more but trust me I had a neighbor bring his back hoe over for a few hours to get us started! The fornt will be made of poles and plastic for now as that is where our budget is. We are retired in our 40's but it aint no Robin Leach lifestyle. I wouldnt have it that way either. I'm one of those idiots if I hit the lottery 2 years later I'd be sittin on the side of the road with a black eye lookin for a place to eat. Tacmotusn, We have very good luck with this set up here. Virtually all my buildings are on wood posts or completely comprised of wood from our property. Most of the ground is decomposed granite and holds nicely.

 

You know I never heard of these things... In fact, I had to look up what the word 'Walapini' meant. I definitely have a good location for one and I am really interested but... don't want the wife to see this or she will have me out there with a shovel. LOL!

I assume you will run the heat via the solar panel? Do you have cold winters? I'm in Northern Idaho and winters can be serious here, hell'va lot of snow last year. I'm really interested in how this turns out so please continue to post.

 

Hey Bandit, The mass heater will heat the joint. We did some fartin around with it today and got temps up to 800 on the barrel and the small amount of mass is still warm. The concept is to burn it for an hour or two and heat a larger mass (gravel and whatnot) and it stays warm, above freezing anyways, for up to 24 hours. I'm near you in Washington and yes we have some winter! Temps under zero and plenty of snow. The panel is one array of two for the house.

 

Heres the new configuration, there will be "mass" covering all the pipe. not gloves lol.

 

I did some research today and asked a few questions. I think I will rebuild my Jtube and exhaust to gain a little higher burn rate then I'm done. We went to town, which blows a whole day, and got some more fire bricks. I'll be back at it in a few days. I have some other things to tend to....Winter is coming!

 

Yes, please! Please take the time to post your findings, what works, what didn't, what you would do differently... We are all watching.

 

Thank you Craigs list! Got all the wood to finish the roof for cheap. Good tight grained old barn wood. Will be posting some pics this evening.

 

Too tired to type. I dont spel so gud anyways. Didnt work on the mass heater today, figured the roof and sides were more important.

 

Ok heater rebuilt. below you will find my J box measurements.....The elusive Jbox measurements! tried and tested. Burned the paint off the barrel and heated the mass in 3ish hours. Lots of testing to do once everything is finished and dry but today I got a great wooshing and was able to burn larger pieces of wood successfully. One of the things people complain about is having to constantly put tiny "kindling" size pieces in. I didn't have this problem. Once it was hot and running good I put some...hmmm half stove size pieces in and it was idling around 700 deg and drafting good. So far I am very impressed with this thing and I think I'll put one in the house next year. It will be prettier lol. My riser (insulated piece inside the barrel) is 26" my barrel top is 28ish. Things I changed today.
Made Jbox almost completely symmetrical 6" all the way around
Made transition from barrel to exhaust 8" necked down to 6" for the run
opened up the batch box (wood feed) a little and made the front fire brick removable so I could clean it out easier.

 

Well its mostly done. We worked our asses off yesterday! Have a few loose ends to shore up but you get the idea. now to start growing....hopefully.

 

So am I! lmao. Really though we have been playing with it and the mass heater does a great job of keeping it warmish. We're not looking to grow coconuts so above freezing is fine. Just some winter greens if possible and if not it will be a great season extender. What a fun project though! I feel like a kid in a sand box. This is our fist big property together so we are just kind of playing around with shit. I'm looking into a redneck ski lift so I can blast my little mountain hahah. I could get about a 400 yard kick ass run with multiple routes and will double as DH mountainbike in the summer. This all of course after I get the big stuff done and can afford to hurt myself...again...

 

Its covered in 6mil green house plastic. some of it is kind of janky but I'll fix it in the late spring. We just wanted to get it closed in as the snow will be here tonight or tomorrow.

 

Oh yeah thats more the east wall, sorry. You plott'n on me? LMAO