Here are some events that we will be involved in:

• Masonry Heater Association Annual Gathering
  Little Switzerland, NC (April 16-22, 2012)
• Aprovecho’s Sustainable Shelter Workshop Series
  Cottage Grove, OR (July 30-September 14, 2012)

Here are some events hosted by others that we recommend:

• Jorge Belanko’s Natural Building Workshop
  El Bolsón, Argentina, (March 5-11, 2012)
• Two natural building workshops at Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage — check out their Timber Framing Workshop and Straw Bale Workshops!
• Cob Workshops in Denmark led by Flemming Abrahamson, a remarkable architect, natural builder and human being.

This heater was built for a family who live near Eugene, OR.  It features a see-through firebox, heated bench and a bake oven.  The outside skin is laid with Montana Bitterroot ledge stone with Three Rivers stone detailing the bake oven arch.  We cast, poured and and polished the bench which includes special embedded stones and fossils.

The heater has a compact, responsive design which serves as a partial wall between living and dining room spaces.  It could have many different facing looks, occupies an area of 48″ x 48″ and stands 6 1/2′ tall.

Read More….

• What is a masonry heater?
• See other heaters in our portfolio
• Join our mailing list to receive updates on projects and workshops

Thanks to Greenleaf Design Build for their good organization and excellent
craftsmanship which allowed our work to flow together seamlessly with their’s.

From: Max Edleson max (at) firespeaking.com
To: MHAmembers@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 07:52:43 -0800
Subject: Re: [MHAmembers] member news

Indeed, Alex, the article you have written is great and this area of research you are pointing to is very exciting.

The issues you bring up are excellent. I would like to try to add to what you have written.

As far as advantages of the rocket stove, the idea for those inclined to do things themselves to be able to build their own heating system without too much expense and without too many necessary tools is one that is very exciting – one that ignites a passion. The relative simplicity of the rocket stove design with few specific and basic parameters, allows for a great deal of customization and flexibility in design which is also very exciting and often practical when placing a heater into a space and further fuels the doers interest and passion in building it.

The particular combination of immediate heat at a usable rate and stored heat at an impressive rate of accumulation is also an area that the normal rocket mass heater design really shines in.

The bench is a wonderful aspect of the design. Both from a comfort standpoint of being able to sit your butt and back on soft, penetrating heat and also from a social perspective. I think most of us who have experienced the benches from the last couple of years at Wild Acres have experienced this.

Novelty also always has its appeal, at least to a certain sector of society!

But then there are many significant disadvantages, most of which you have pointed out. The subfloor: the rocket mass heater, as developed by Ianto Evans, evolved from experimentation in cob buildings where the heaters are built on grade (on some combination of compacted earth, gravel, and sometimes an adobe-like subfloor). Similar to the conditions of a concrete slab on grade that is found in many garages, for example. So you have a nice, solid, load-bearing floor that is also non-combustible that you can spread your design out on. This is essentially the opposite of how most homes are built in north america: light, lofted, insulated and combustible floors. This point, as you point out, ends up being pretty essential to design considerations as an on-grade subfloor generally would suggest the possibility of letting a heater’s design spread out while a joisted wooden floor with a foundation coming through the middle of it tends to suggest a more compact layout to minimize the size of the foundation and related expenses (especially in a retrofit).

Also, as you say, the user experience of a rocket stove can be summarized as finicky, at best. I have seen several rocket stoves that have been the core of people’s homes and worked very well day in and day out. I have seen others that worked ok and I have seen a surprising amount that don’t work so well or at all. The flexibility of design, the do-it-yourself style and, significantly, the fact that many I have seen were built in very-rushed workshops leads to an unpredictability that is often difficult to diagnose once things are sealed up if they don’t work. This can be very challenging.

Also, general rocket mass heater design so far has under-emphasized the importance of cleanouts, particularly in bench designs with bends in them. It is a process to remove the barrel and re-seal it, if and when this is necessary. And a plastered cob bench can require significant maintenance, at least bi-annual.

So, all these things have left me also in search of incorporating the advantages experienced from rocket mass heaters with all of the experience and advantages that comes from masonry heater building.

One note on hardware and expenses. I have come to realize that the door is the significant technnology that fundamentally distinguishes open fireplaces from masonry heaters. eg., that reduces the amount of air entering the combustion chamber so that it can not only be efficient but also be throttled in such a way that the combustion and long tail of combustion can be guided through the much longer channels of a masonry heater. This is probably both obvious and often overlooked. The door, especially metal doors, are a relatively new technology in the long history of fireplace building man(and woman)-kind. Perhaps one of the most significant contributions of the rocket stove is to accomplish this reduction of air into the combustion chamber without a door. It does this so successfully that you can even burn the fire upside down as we have experienced. The ideal amount of air is that which generally fits between the split burning wood. A brick is often used to close off excessive air if the firebox is not completely full of wood. This last element, for example, is critical and an example of the very important fine-tuning that is happening in a rocket mass heater burn.

At the same time, this is a very important design limitation since it prohibits sizing up the firebox without important repercussions. Those who were observing may have noticed us “barefoot builders” during wildacres 2009 really experimenting with this aspect. When we re-built the rocket mass heater inside that was eventually plastered with the lime we had made and painted with a naked lady (yes, that one!) we had built the front in such a way that we could make different fireboxes. If you remember, we tried putting a small glass door on the front of the down-draft firebox but found that even this slight modfication in widening the firebox to accomodate the glass door meant that the wood did not stay as organized as it needed to and, I think, allowed more air in than was necessary, especially when the firebox was not completely packed with wood.

As I have begun to experiment with making doors, I have come to appreciate doors a lot more and the care and cost involved in either casting or fabricating them. I have also come to think that in temperate to cold climates, firebox doors should really be thought of as a family heirloom and at the center of a family’s wealth – after all, there are times in history when money isn’t worth much more than paper for starting a fire which people in different parts of the world have experienced in inflationary situations like I experienced in Argentina and that I’m sure people in Russia have experienced. I don’t think that people consider the expense of either a vehicle, a computer (pillars of modern life) nor for kitchen appliances in a remodel in the same way they do masonry heater/cookstove hardware and the other related expenses. This may just have been my previous bias coming through to though I think it reflects the current moment and society’s related values.

One more thought before I get out into the cold to organize rock from a mountainside into some semblance of a beautiful heater skin. The issue of code. As I have begun to work building heaters in more code-respecting(/code-enslaved) situations, I have had opportunity to reflect on both its advantages and disadvantages. The only, main and significant advantage of code that I understand is that it ensures safety and formalizes that responsibility between the builder and the people living in the home, especially where this relationship is mostly otherwise anonymous. It also ensures a standard of quality to some degree by ensuring that things are done in a certain way and that certain materials are used.

On the flip side, I have come to understand that the whole issue of building codes and inspections has a lot to do with counties and other jurisdictions ensuring that what you build in your home not only serves you, but really more importantly, someone who you either might like to sell your house to or someone who would like to buy your house (hopefully under favorable conditions). While I can see the benefits of this, I get that uncomfortable feeling that in this situation, as with property taxes, it is really the county that owns your house and what you do with it… and I don’t think this is so conducive to really connecting with one’s home and where one lives.

There is also that element of stilting forward evolution.

These comments, especially the last ones, should be taken with a grain of salt. Most of this is to say, yes!, very exciting what you have written and propose Alex!

Max

Read More…..

• Buy the classic text on Rocket Mass Heaters by Ianto Evans & Leslie Jackson
• A Rocket Mass Heater from our Portfolio
• Towards Affordable Masonry Heater Construction….
• The Cabin Stove – A Small Masonry Heater at Aprovecho

We built this masonry heater in the Portland area in autumn of 2011.  Our clients had collected many beautiful bricks dating back to 1883 (a long time from our West Coast perspective!), local basalt rock, and cobble stones that originally paved the streets of Portland.

This masonry heater (based on the Swedish 5-run design) has a see through firebox, a bake oven, a three-sided heated bench, and a place for wood storage.

This project brings together our understanding of the technical aspects of combustion and heating efficiency and our experience with design and use of recycled building materials.  The heater is currently curing and the exit flue will be installed shortly.  We plan to update this post once the heater is fired and make new posts about the process of this build and about the use of polished “concrete counter tops” for benches and other elements of mass heaters.  Check back on this site, join our mailing list, and see more about this project on Facebook.

Thank you to Norbert Senf and Doug Hargrave for their development of the Norccore and for generous technical assistance in preparation for this project.  Thank you also to Jerry Frisch for continual support and inspiration.

Read more….

• What is a masonry heater?
• Other masonry heaters we have built
• Excellent DVD about natural building!
• The wonderful wood-fired barrel oven!

]]> http://www.firespeaking.com/portfolio/masonry-heater-allen/feed/ 0 http://www.firespeaking.com/media/latest-news/pizza-party-in-the-dabbeni-barrel-oven/ http://www.firespeaking.com/media/latest-news/pizza-party-in-the-dabbeni-barrel-oven/#comments Thu, 20 Oct 2011 15:47:38 +0000 Eva http://www.firespeaking.com/?p=2852     

This Barrel Oven’s maiden voyage fed over 70 people with amazing pizzas!

The pizza above is one of Astrid’s special recipe- corn, mozzarella and gorgonzola.
Once out of the oven it is topped with arugula and white truffle oil.
Another pizza sauce was made with capers from Paolo’s mother’s garden in Italy.

I made chocolate truffle brownies and gingerbread cake for dessert!

During the party we cooked some pizzas directly on the
pizza stones and some on metal pans.
The pizzas cooked on the stones had a more crispy and delicious crust.
Above you can see the barrel oven with plaster still drying.

Read More

• About the Barrel Oven
• About the Dabbeni Oven
• Cool Barrel Oven Video

A good part of the month of August has been dedicated to the research, development and construction of a small multi-functional masonry heater I have been calling “The Cabin Stove”.  Eva and I have both been working as instructors in the first year of the Sustainable Shelter Workshop Series at Aprovecho Research Center in Cottage Grove, OR.  The building that is the focal point for this course has been designed to be just slightly smaller than the legal requirements for permitting so that it can at the same time be a teaching tool as well as a laboratory for a basic building system that a group of associated natural builders in the Pacific Northwest considers to be a sound and ecological way of making a home.

The challenge of the design of the Cabin Stove was to come up with something that was very compact but also still resembled and functioned like a masonry heater.  The design criteria included heating the small space, an efficient and clean fire, utility for cooking, heating water, combining some quick/immediate-releaseheat with slower retained radiated heat, relative ease of construction, not too expensive, aesthetically pleasing, and being as compact in size as possible.  A very interesting process to try to combine all of these together.

Our test firings of the prototype in our shop were very promising.  The fire burned well and had no problem making its way through the longer pathway, even notably when the door was open with the beautiful cast fire screen reducing the overall air intake to a moderate amount. I think the design meets most of the criteria listed above well with the exception possibly of cooking utility since this was compromised to accommodate other features.

For the initiated, it is basically a very compact J-loop contraflow with a bi-pass that runs directly to the flu and allows it to function even as an open fireplace.  Rather than insulating the top of the heater as is done often in masonry heater construction, there is a 1/4″ steel plate placed on top that serves as a cooktop and source of immediate heat.  I am optimistic that the proportion of immediate and retained heat will be a good one for our bio-region where temperatures can fluctuate greatly during the day and from one day to the next.  We are within but on the outer limits of the kind of climate that masonry heaters were designed for which explains the need for continued development and innovation.

I did notice in firing the prototype that the big steel plate I had placed on it arced noticeably when hot so I welded a 3/16″ frame onto the Cabin Stove we built at Aprovecho though I am quite sure that the heat will play its funny games and have its own way with the final shape of the steel plate.  Cast iron is almost certainly the way to go for the top although I do not know of a source of affordable custom sizes.

Although the heater at Aprovecho was designed to be a double-skinned heater with a compressed earth block and local stone veneer, I am very excited that we will first test the heater with a single skin.  A neighbor has offered to lend his carbon-monoxide and air-quality monitors to test whether there are any dangers that result from expansion cracks in the single skin.  Given our climate in Oregon, the prospect of building responsive single skin heaters is a very interesting one.  (Note: the variation in the firebrick is because we used firebrick out of an old heater that had been taken down.  The students re-milled each brick to cut away the old mortar to return the brick close to original dimensions).

I have recently been very inspired by the Open Source design philosophy so I share the rest of these photos of process in that spirit!  Stay tuned for more on this heater and other research and endeavors.  Click to see any images enlarged.

Almost complete construction drawings.  An experiment to offer them on-line.  Please let me know if you’ve downloaded them.

You can see some other details of the building, including one of the timber frame’s posts; the faswall and stone stemwall; and strawclay insulation packed in between Larsen-truss style framing.

Custom-made heater hardware, made in our shop from scratch.

Details of Hot Water Serpentine.  More on Plumbing for Thermosiphoned Hot Water Systems….

The light and surrounding forest were really exquisite when I took these shots of the veneer material.  The compressed earth blocks were made by the students.

Find out more…..

• About Masonry Heaters
• See Our Masonry Heater Portfolio
• Recommended Books on Masonry Heaters & Wood-Fired Cooking
• Our Research Into Affordable Masonry Heaters
• Hand-crafted Masonry Heater Hardware
• Join our Mailing List!

The Masonry Heater Association of North America has recently developed the HMED (Heater Mason’s Education & Development) program designed for masons and people interested in learning how to build wood-fired masonry heaters.

The program is designed to:

• Provide an education program that starts with basic information and skills training.
• Provide a standard curriculum that will be delivered in facilities throughout North America.
• Provide opportunities to earn continued education credits for various certification programs.
• Promote safe building practices for everyone interested in building masonry heaters.
• Establish a training system that is specific to North America.

MHA’s HMED program provides an excellent opportunity for someone to learn the basic theory and construction of masonry heater, a necessary step before taking on the task of building masonry heaters. The program was developed due to increasing interest in Masonry Heaters as an alternative method to heat homes.

Classes are currently scheduled for:

September 17 – 20, 2011 in Perth, Ontario, Canada, level one, modules 1 &2
November 04 – 07, 2011 in Shutesbury, Massachusetts, level one, modules 1 &2

Costs:

September 17 – 20, 2011 in Perth, Ontario
$399/module for MHA members
$450/module for non MHA members

November 4 – 7, 2011 in Shaftesbury, Massachusetts
$399/module for MHA members
$450/module for non MHA members
$500 room and meals at Sirius Community

What are Masonry Heaters?

A masonry heater is a special type of fireplace made of stone, brick, stucco or tile which will heat your home safely and comfortably. Masonry heaters burn wood, which is North America’s cheapest and most abundant bio-fuel. We currently use less than ten percent of available deadfall timber from our forests. Masonry heaters burn efficiently and with very low emissions, which make them extremely “green”.

Masonry heaters work on the principal of thermal storage due to the considerable thermal mass of the materials used in their construction (most of them are heavy, often weighing tons). The best masonry heaters soak up most of the heat from the wood blaze within the firebox through a cleverly designed system of channels or chambers which “harvest” heat from the hot gases as they pass by. This energy migrates through the masonry slowly until it reaches the surface where it “illuminates” the room with invisible rays of heat known as infrared radiation. This way heat from a fire in the morning can still be warming a home in the evening.

The Masonry Heater Association of North America hosts an annual workshop where masons can get hands-on practice building wood-fired masonry heaters and bake ovens. Instructional books on how to build and operate masonry heaters and bake ovens are available on the MHA’s website.

For more information on masonry heaters, education classes or membership in the Masonry Heater Association of
North America, contact the MHA office:

Masonry Heater Association of North America
Richard Smith, Executive Director
2180 S. Flying Q Lane
Tucson, AZ. 85713
(520) 883-0191
execdir@mha-net.org
www.mha-net.org

Find out more…..

• About Masonry Heaters
• See Our Masonry Heater Portfolio
• Our Research Into Affordable Masonry Heaters
• Hand-crafted Masonry Heater Hardware

It’s funny how things change. Looking back, I can barely recognize the “myself” of just a few years ago. It’s a good thing we rarely get what we want, otherwise I’d be living in a gigantic box, industrially manufactured, full-to-bursting with noxious chemicals, ill-suited to the climate and attributes of my building site, and poorly fitted to the needs of myself and future family. And I would have paid for it. How? Well, if things went “well”, by borrowing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the world’s most moral and conscientious institutions. If that wasn’t bad enough, the cost of that kind of home doesn’t end when you’ve finally finished paying the bank (often three times the amount of the original loan). How much will you end up paying to heat and cool your home over the course of its useful life span? Designing a home that takes into account things like the direction of the sun, shade from trees, and a mass’ ability to store and release heat will save you tens of thousands of dollars in energy costs.

So, what am I talking about here? I’m talking about designing and building your own home out of inexpensive and often free natural or scavenged materials. To learn how, I attended a 9 day workshop on cob construction sponsored by the Cob Cottage Company, taught by Max and Eva Edleson. Cob is a mixture of clay, sand, straw, and water that dries into a concrete-like mass, used for building load-bearing walls (among other things). This crash-course in earthen home building gave its participants the knowledge and experience necessary to undertake projects of their own, whether it be a country cottage of their dreams or a lovely garden wall to complement the home they already own. I left the workshop inspired, motivated, and empowered to construct a future for myself, in ways that wouldn’t even have been conceivable to me a few years ago.

Attending the workshop with such a diverse group of people made clear to me just how varied we all were in our motivations for learning how to build with cob. I won’t try to speak for the rest of them, but I would like to list my own reasons for pursuing this ideal. If you can relate to my list, perhaps you may also benefit from learning more, either by attending a workshop near you, or by doing your own homework and helping others with their own natural building projects.

What draws me to natural building:

Avoiding a mortgage completely (and the time gained by not needing to work as much to pay for it)

Building with local or even on-site, non-toxic materials

Designing for myself, to fit my needs and interests

Involving my friends and family in the process

Working with my hands and low-tech, inexpensive tools

The surprising efficiency and effectiveness of natural materials pared with traditional methods

The breathtaking beauty and soul-nourishing qualities of cob homes

If you’re unsure that taking a workshop is for you, consider that you’ll have a hard time coming up with a better way to get so much information and hands-on experience in such a short time. It amazed me how quickly I internalized the core concepts and techniques of cob construction, just by getting my hands dirty and absorbing the information as it came.

The workshop I attended encouraged learning through observation, though the instructors were also often fielding questions and adapting their curriculum to match the needs of the participants. It makes a big difference when you know your instructors are not only passionate about what they are teaching, but also about making sure everyone is getting what they came for.

Workshop days typically started early in the morning (before breakfast) with mixing cob. The cob would then be stored under tarps (to prevent premature drying) while everyone had breakfast, and perhaps partook in a mid-morning lesson. Lessons covered many topics, such as arches, roof design, and passive solar strategies. Before resuming construction, we took time to observe the structure and make any corrections (walls out of plumb, windows crooked, etc). Next, we got to work on the wall. Various groups were formed to tackle specific tasks, such as making the fireplace, installing windows, or scavenging for that perfect ridge beam. During lunch, conversation often revolved around natural building – not by design, but because everyone was so interested in it. Afternoons saw us back on the wall, continuing where we left off, or perhaps watching a demo of other natural building techniques (adobe, bale-cob, etc.). After dinner we might watch a video about natural buildings, or just enjoy ourselves around an evening campfire. Sounds awful, doesn’t it?

Based on that, I think it’s easy to see just how much you can pack into a 9 day course. Personally, I think the workshop should have come with a disclaimer.

CAUTION: May cause severe desire to design and build cob homes. Max and Eva may not be held responsible for any of the following: 1) Abrupt change of priorities, 2) Moving to the country, or 3) Living peacefully and in harmony with your environment, and being happy with your home.

Through one contact and then another, we found out about Lise Hubbe who has been working with draft horses for many years.  Upon contacting her by phone, she asked us about what we wanted to learn and we agreed to do a one-day workshop together (that would be paid in part with cash and other part with help bucking hay).

From the moment that we stepped down at Sweetwell Farm, we were inspired by the kind dedication of the Hubbe family.  They have a small-scale dairy operation, some pigs, and an impressive troupeof draft-horses.  After chatting a little to get to know each other better, we went into the barn and Lise called her horses in.  Alex  and I’s experience with horses in harness was mostly with smaller horses so it was very impressive just to see the sheer size of the Belgians and Percherones as they processed in to the feeding area.  Lise told us a little about their history, how different horses had arrived at the farm and who was related to who.

Lise then took one horse aside and gave us a master class on relationship building with a horse and the fundamentals of developing good communication with your horse.  She showed us how to harness a horse and gave us basic considerations in choosing a horse.  We talked a little about horse health and dietary recommendations.

By mid-morning, two horses were harnessed up and the three of us were sitting on a forecart headed out to one of the hay fields to side-rake some hay.  Lise and her horses are so practiced that the undeveloped eye would easily miss how much skill and agility go into completing the task of perfectly raking the cut hay into lofted piles that continue the hay’s drying process while reducing the exposed area to sun bleaching.

The three of us chatted as we rode along raking up the rows.  Sometimes Lise gave us pointers including how to hold and manage our lines.  At other times we ventured into the realms of philosophy.  We also talked about the cultural differences between different continents and what these different cultures have to offer each other.

Lunch time came around and Lise’s mother had prepared an excellent farm-grown meal.  It was a celebration to all take a break together and get to know each other better.

The day was an ideal day for drying hay – sunny with a moderate breeze.  After lunch, we walked the fields with Lise and Suzanne to assess their readiness for baling.  The clover field was determined ready and then baling began.  Alex and I helped to organize the bales as they came out of the tractor-pulled baler into piles that would be easier to load onto the flatbed.  Lise went off to “ted” another field, pulling a graceful old tedder with two horses.  The tedding implement reminded me of mechanized chicken feet as they lofted the cut hay to increase its speed of drying.

We had some cold haying drink that Suzanne had prepared half-way – a delicious cold blend of lemon juice, maple syrup and a tang of vinegar.  Then back to work to get the bales onto the flatbed and into the barn.

As the sun began to set, Lise showed us how to hitch a single horse to a chore cart since my brother and I had expressed that we were both interested in being able to perform simple tasks on the farm with a light cart.

It was a full day of exchanging folk knowledge through a great combination of work and stories.  We all felt satisfied about our time together and look forward to staying in touch.

Lise is a master at what she does, so much so that I would advise that anyone interested in learning from her make sure they gather general experience of being with and working with horses so that they can better comprehend what Lise has to share.  Here is one way that you can get in touch with her if you are interested in taking a workshop or otherwise learning from her….

The new Wood-Fired Barrel Oven and Canning stove at Vistara!
Built with students during the Outdoor Kitchen Workshop Series!

These two cooking devices will soon be part of a full kitchen with shelving, a sink, wood-storage and more!  They will be connected by counter tops and sheltered by a roof providing ample space to prep and to gather. This will be a resource for the local community!

Vistara has a beautiful garden and many neighborhood fruit trees from which to harvest abundant produce to preserve.  The wood-fired canner is quick to heat up and can also double as a soup pot, stew pot, sauce pot, steamer, etc. Both the barrel oven and the canner were constructed with homemade adobe bricks and plaster formed with Vistara’s clay rich soil.  Thank you to our hosts and the amazing team that helped make this happen!

 Find out more about The Wood-Fired Barrel Oven.