Thought some might like to see this Russian fireplace masonry heater that is in my MIL place. She recently died and we have been cleaning out her house getting it ready for sale. My FIL built the house and the Russian fireplace in 1981. He says he only used it a couple of times when it was very cold out because it would blow you out of the house with heat, for the most part they used the VC stove on the hearth at the other end. It hasn’t been used since he left the house. Fire chamber access to the smoke path just above the fire chamber. The smoke path makes two more complete lengths of the brick and then out and up the 20 ft chimney.
Thats pretty cool. Never seen on of those before... I bet when you got those bricks all warmed it was a heat mass...
I’m guessing the burn strategy would be to just let it rip as hot as possible which would necessitate very dry wood. The front of the house faces South with a sunspace, which is where he kept the firewood. There is still about a half cord out there, you can see it in the first pic, been there since 1989 just baking. I should snag a few pieces and get a moisture meter just for kicks and giggles. I have no intention of moving the wood out of there.
We have a member here with a masonry heater. Awesome stuff. The batch box rocket stove is a direct cousin of these setups (not the stick burning, 55 gallon hippie rocket stoves)…
That is really cool, shame it didn't get used more, but I guess if it heats ya out of the place what's the point. I'd be curious to know how long that mass would radiate usable heat after a good fire.
The rule of thumb is 1” per hour for heat to travel thru mass like that… so I’d say a good while after a suitable firing period. BrianK can maybe give a more precise answer.
They usually burn big hot short very efficient fires for about two hours, but only once or twice a day. The masonry heats up during that two hours then radiates the heat for 12 to 24 hours. I think well designed and built masonry heaters have an advantage over typical rocket mass heaters, but I honestly haven’t kept up with developments in either technology. Typically Russian masonry wood stoves had an open fireplace, so they cooled a lot quicker because they let the hot chimney continue to pull colder air up and out of the house, whereas modern masonry wood heaters have airtight wood boxes with a door. Decent video here:
Follow up: it occurred to me that I hadn't linked the thread I was thinking about.... Masonry Heaters
That's a very cool system, gotta have room though. My little place get's blown out by our Grandma Fisher. I can only Imagine the heat that throws!
Very cool indeed. Never saw a set-up like that. Bet you'd have no problem makin' the wife peel layers as the temps rose "out of control", lol.
Very interesting video, IF i lived in Deep north alaska or canada, that is what i'd have, thank you for posting that.