Okay, I'm a bit of a fire bug, and this got me thinking about a new fire pit design. If you had a whole house that you wanted to reduce to a pile of fine white ash, this barrel stove would be just the ticket. No economy here, just voracious wood gobbling fire. It ate up scrap 8' 2x4's all night long. I've already experimented with vertical feed rocket stoves built from stacking fire bricks out onto the outer hearth of my outside fireplace. It's educational, and nice to sit around on a cool evening. My plan now is to build a fire pit on a hillside that will include an ash clean-out that will double as a rocket stove. That way I can use the fire pit base to support other stacked fire brick chimneys and more. Initial plans call for no mortar construction, so it can be easily reconfigured or expanded. Here's a couple configurations. I could get more interested in a rocket mass heater with it being outside and allowing lots of dirt and stone construction without making a mess in the house. Outside butt warming bench would be nice in the winter. Anybody have any fire pit design ideas to share?
I can't add a lot to what you may already know, but I've studied on the idea a bit ,, haven't had the chance to try and build anything,, but I've see some of those seats with the exhaust running thru them and acted as the radiant heat systems in some off grid homes in Mother Earth news and a few mags and web sites like that. Will be watching to see what you come up with. Keep us posted
I was thinking about this on my drive home (another benefit of having no radio) and wondering how I could make this fire pit useful in the summer. Summers here we rarely have a fire due to dry conditions (even with 56 inches of annual rainfall) or just heat. I thought... line it with plastic and fill it with water. Pool noodle arm rests are a nice touch. (Image is not to scale. My fire pit plans and I are both considerably smaller than this.)
One of the Homesteading YouTube channels I subscribe to did the exhaust heated bench for her tiny home. She has a few different videos about it, here is the play list about the construction and use of it. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7HyeNfbqtFSnOM2Mc2BJz29vSArGs2za -JediWoodsman
I've been watching and re-watching Ernie and Erica Wisner's heater and oven builds for many years. They gave me lots of helpful tips on construction. The thing I have going for me is that I don't need heat, but I do need a way to dispose of dead limbs and trimmings. My fire pit concept is a learning exercise as well as a practical addition to the yard.
