April 2018
On Saturday, I went to the volunteer event at 21 Acres and helped build a Rocket Mass Heater with about nine other people. The bricks were already laid, as well as the interior piping; we were there to finish it by filling in all the holes and creating a smooth top surface with cobb. Cobb is made by mixing sand, clay and water, which we did on big plastic sheets laid out on the grass. People mixed the blend with shovels until it had a sticky consistency, and then brought it into the greenhouse in wheelbarrows. Most of the work I did was taking glops of cobb and filling all the holes in the breezeblocks that make up the outer lining of the heater. This heater is going to be used to keep the greenhouse warm in the Winter. It burns small sticks and get up to such a high temperature that it completely consumes the fuel. It doesn’t produce smoke or CO2, just water vapor. Since half of all Washington residents still use a wood stove for heat, this ultra-efficient, low-emission type of heater, could be a good solution. It’s not hard to build, and not dangerous. It works by simply keeping a mass hot (the cobb and bricks), which slowly absorbs and then gradually radiates heat into a surrounding space. The mass remains cool enough to sit on, making it perfect for use in an ordinary room. Here is an illustration:
On Saturday, I went to the volunteer event at 21 Acres and helped build a Rocket Mass Heater with about nine other people. The bricks were already laid, as well as the interior piping; we were there to finish it by filling in all the holes and creating a smooth top surface with cobb. Cobb is made by mixing sand, clay and water, which we did on big plastic sheets laid out on the grass. People mixed the blend with shovels until it had a sticky consistency, and then brought it into the greenhouse in wheelbarrows. Most of the work I did was taking glops of cobb and filling all the holes in the breezeblocks that make up the outer lining of the heater. This heater is going to be used to keep the greenhouse warm in the Winter. It burns small sticks and get up to such a high temperature that it completely consumes the fuel. It doesn’t produce smoke or CO2, just water vapor. Since half of all Washington residents still use a wood stove for heat, this ultra-efficient, low-emission type of heater, could be a good solution. It’s not hard to build, and not dangerous. It works by simply keeping a mass hot (the cobb and bricks), which slowly absorbs and then gradually radiates heat into a surrounding space. The mass remains cool enough to sit on, making it perfect for use in an ordinary room. Here is an illustration:
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