Noticed that a rocket mass stove thread popped up, and I have to admit that I am intrigued by it.
I've been contemplating building a greenhouse, but our winter nights here are pretty doggone cold. Radiant heat leaves the area fast when it is dry and 5000 feet high. Trying to figure out how to keep the greenhouse warm has been a bit of a puzzle.
I'm thinking that maybe a rocket mass stove might be the right answer... unless it requires tending all day. I'm thinking about building one, let gravity feed the fuel in. Make a fire in the morning, and then one at night too.
Then I started considering building the plant boxes right on top of the "bench" for the stoves. Thinking about overheating, and wondering how to best keep the temperature uniform on the bench.
I think I remember that the stove exhaust pipe doubles back on itself in the bench... is this correct? That would average out the heat that the entire bench is subject to.
What is the maximum lenght for an exhaust pipe for a rocket mass stove?
The fact that you do not feed them 24 / 7 is very appealing for your application. If we ever make our move to the ranch I want to do much the same thing. I am very much hooked on greens and salads. I need to regulate them into my diet because of blood thinners, and keep a constant INR level. I do very well on my prothrombin times. But my concern is moving up there in the winer time, and sort of snow bound. Fresh lettuce and greens sort of is not all that do able but even a small green house heated with such would be very useable from Sept - Oct to Latter part of April and May....... I see it as a good way to bridge that from salad bags and God only knows what is in those critters.
Greenhouse heating with a rocket stove is a cool idea that we'd like to try someday.. Running the flue under the beds would put the heat where it's needed and be the simplest option, but I wonder if it would dry out the soil too much? And the flue is also going to be subjected to a lot of moisture from plant watering.. The other option might be to dump the heat into a water reservoir inside the greenhouse. At any rate, a rocket stove does require frequent tending as long as it's running, but hopefully you wouldn't need to run it much. I've wondered about building a sort of feed magazine for a rocket; a cabinet that you could fill with wood and let gravity-feed for a long time without tending.. It would need to be carefully designed to prevent hang-ups, and a tall feed chamber like that could lead to back-puffing. Maybe the cabinet could be air-tight with the exception of an air inlet towards the bottom--perhaps that would discourage the fire from climbing into the feed cabinet.. ???
Possibly a steeply inclined feeder of steel with a sealed lid to prevent air entry, stopping the fire from climbing up the feed tube. No oxygen - no fire. [noidea'