Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

ya the link works, but the embedded one just shows a white box

jT

we'll try again. I had a typo in the embed!

Oh I think you will enjoy hanging out in there come true winter once you get it done!!!!!! But yes it does look chilly now.

My son asked about your dome the other day Rob, I'll be sure to show him this update. Cool!

Here’s the latest in the dome greenhouse series showing the polycarbonate installation. It’s nice having it enclosed and not working out of the wind. It’s still cold, but the heating system is next on the list!

Rob, that is so cool.
I almost wish I lived somewhere cold so I could justify trying to build one... almost

Today I finished building and fired up the rocket mass heater for the geodesic dome. Ironically, it's January and we're having record breaking warm temperatures in the 50's but I couldn't resist and started it up. I will do a full video about the construction in the future, but wanted to share a few pictures of it. This heater is a bit different than some you may see. I wanted to be sure there was enough drafting in the chimney so I doubled up the barrels.



The entire burn tunnel is buried under the floor. It took a little while to get the drafting to start. It didn't help that the internal chimney wasn't insulated yet (missing some parts for it), but once the system got warmed up, it turned into a raging inferno.


A picture without the flash shows how well the fuel is burning in the tunnel.



I ran out of sand so I wasn't able to completely bury the horizontal exhaust. It was quite hot to the touch, but as you moved down the pipe, I could hold my hand against the duct and it was slightly warm. It was quite funny to see the sand around the duct drying out so quickly. It will be interesting to study the temperatures along the system in the future!

I wish I had more than 450m^2 of land to build one first!

Tiny suburban blocks suck

I like the rocket mass heater Rob. Where did you learn to build this?

I did a lot of google searching about them. Finally came across a book titled "Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves You Can Build" by Ianto Evans and Leslie Jackson.

It goes into a lot of details about them and is worth the purchase.

Brilliant Book just got a copy of line..


Your Green house is going to be Cooking..

Thanks, I'll check it out. No plans to use the information immediately but this kind of makes sense for my area since you can get a permit to gather wood in the forests around here.

I noticed the underground heating and cooling system as well - great idea. You can take solar heat during the day and store it plus take whatever surplus comes off the RMH. Should also help with the humidity I would think. Nice system and worth duplicating. Please keep us informed on it's performance.

A little preview of my next video!

hey Rob I read the book on the rocket heater did you pack insulation around the chimney tube..?

Can't wait till you get the full clip up...

Juergen

yes, rockwool.