New Stove - Morso Squirrel or what?

[SteveA]

Hi Steve

 

Our place is not dissimilar to what you describe. 4.5m to the ridge and 300m3 of space to heat. Insulation is probably above yours but not up to current regs but it is well sealed. We have 8km stove that can heat the whole place for most of the year. Yes you get a buildup of heat in the pitch but it's not excessive. When it was my workshop I used a large ceiling fan to push the heat back down to floor level and this worked really well.

 

Thanks Woodworks,

 

Yes our roof is very well sealed and has 50mm Polyfoam insulation to reduce condensation issues.

 

I've looked at some of the wood stoves recommended in this thread and although they look like great stoves they are very expensive!.... way too much for us to afford right now, so it seems our best plan is to build a Rocket Mass Heater, which will probably cost £300-£400 at most.

 

cheers, Steve

[woodrascal]

Hi Steve - I built a 6" J tube rocket for my barn workshop using firebrick, vermiculite and high alumina cement. Instead of a steel barrel I made a hybrid firebrick bell with a flat steel plate to act as a radiator for quick heat up.

 

Works well in my cold, slate floored old barn...

[SteveA]

Hi Steve - I built a 6" J tube rocket for my barn workshop using firebrick, vermiculite and high alumina cement. Instead of a steel barrel I made a hybrid firebrick bell with a flat steel plate to act as a radiator for quick heat up.

 

Works well in my cold, slate floored old barn...

 

That sounds great - I like your idea of using bricks where most would use a steel barrel.

 

Does the steel plate on top would get hot enough to boil a kettle? And can it be removed easily enough for cleaning ash from the top of the j-tube?

Did you run the chimney along a bench before exiting the barn?

 

Too many questions!

 

Cheers, Steve

[gensetsteve]

The bricks in our Rayburn cracked within a very short time. The dealer helped us get a free set from Rayburn, he reckoned if they'd ever got damp in storage that might have shortened their life. How are your new firebricks lasting?

 

I never bothered getting bricks under warranty it's still going in the office I seem to remember it should have been £700 and the garden centre scanned it at £300 thinking it was on special offer

[Alycidon]

I never bothered getting bricks under warranty it's still going in the office I seem to remember it should have been £700 and the garden centre scanned it at £300 thinking it was on special offer

 

Fire bricks and anything else in direct contact with the fire are not normally covered by any form of warranty, they are viewed as consumable items.

 

A

[woodrascal]

That sounds great - I like your idea of using bricks where most would use a steel barrel.

 

Does the steel plate on top would get hot enough to boil a kettle? And can it be removed easily enough for cleaning ash from the top of the j-tube?

Did you run the chimney along a bench before exiting the barn?

 

Too many questions!

 

Cheers, Steve

 

The steel sheet makes up the front of the rocket bell - it gets to well over 200 degrees C after a few minutes. On the top I have a cast iron flue diverter that gets hot, but it's not totally flat so I've never tried boiling a kettle on it. It's easy to remove for maintainance, but very heavy...

 

The flue outlet from this bell goes into another brick bell, rather like a mini Russian masonry heater and then exits in a vertical flue to an insulated exterior SS system on the roof. There's no cob bench or similar connected to the system.

[SteveA]

The steel sheet makes up the front of the rocket bell - it gets to well over 200 degrees C after a few minutes. On the top I have a cast iron flue diverter that gets hot, but it's not totally flat so I've never tried boiling a kettle on it. It's easy to remove for maintainance, but very heavy...

 

The flue outlet from this bell goes into another brick bell, rather like a mini Russian masonry heater and then exits in a vertical flue to an insulated exterior SS system on the roof. There's no cob bench or similar connected to the system.

 

Very, very interesting indeed! I've seen lots of Rocket Mass Heater photos and a fair few Masonry stoves but nothing like what you have described.

 

Did you design it yourself? Would love to see some photos or video in action.

cheers, steve

[billpierce]

i reckon the jotul 602 is one of the best stoves i've ever used. heats up dead fast, chucks the heat out, well made, hot plate, nice old fashioned look, clean burn option, wood only, no fire bricks just replacable cast plates.

 

well worth a look IMO

[openspaceman]

i reckon the jotul 602 is one of the best stoves i've ever used. heats up dead fast, chucks the heat out, well made, hot plate, nice old fashioned look, clean burn option, wood only, no fire bricks just replacable cast plates.

 

well worth a look IMO

 

I'm happy with mine and have been for over 30 years.