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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147552 09/16/06 02:01 PM
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M
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Quote:

That sounds like a Tulikivi from Finland ?




That sounds familier. It's friggin huge. It's in their great room that must be about 30X30 with 20' ceilings and it keeps the area nice and warm.

Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
michael_d #147553 09/16/06 03:26 PM
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axiomite
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Yep, that sounds like the one I was coveting. Probably cost over $30K installed, not counting foundation. Worth every penny if you can afford it IMO, but it was out of my budget. Mine was about $5K for the heater core kit plus the local mason's time for chimney, stonework, benches etc...

Your friend's heater sounds something like this :



One note for anyone interested in building a heater -- I used a mixture of Arriscraft and local granite to cover the heater. Arriscraft was recommended over cultured stone because it was supposed to transmit heat much better where cultured stone would trap the heat inside. Initial results indicate that Arriscraft is not transmitting much heat either, and it's only the granite mixed in which makes the heater work properly.

Before you ask, the reason for considering cultured stone was that the builder was finding that outside stonework was becoming prohibitively expensive as the local masons retired and were not replaced, but cultured stone required much less fitting and so the costs were both lower and more predictable.

As with the flaming torches in the great room, the outside finish started with "big slabs of limestone", the builder responded with "cultured stone", and we settled on Arriscraft which was also a manufactured stone but without any attempt to look like real stone. Since we wanted to use the same stonework on the heater to tie the inside and outside together, the supposedly better heat transfer of Arriscraft was another argument in its favor.

Fortunately, the mason thought the Arriscraft was "boring" and mixed in some local granite, which really looked sharp and didn't blow the budget. The same approach was used on the heater, and right now I think the mason's decision to mix in granite ended up saving my butt. If we had used nothing but Arriscraft on the heater I think I might be looking at tearing the stone facing off and starting over.

EDIT - Aww crap. Tulikivi's are on sale and the prices seem pretty good :

http://www.warmstone.com/pdf/TU2200%20CAMPAIGN.pdf

Last edited by bridgman; 09/16/06 03:40 PM.

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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147554 09/17/06 07:17 PM
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local
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John
The fireplace looks wonderful and I love the fact that you only have to stoke it 1 or 2 times a day yet it continues to provide heat long after the fire is out. I also burn wood to help heat the house and love the warmth and ambiance it provides, but I use a conventional airtight fireplace insert. It provides great heat when it's going but I have to continually stoke it every couple hours. If I go out for 3-4 hours, I'm lucky if there are a few coals left to get it going again. Your system will be way less hassle and time to operate. If I ever move I'll have to consider going the route you have.

How many cords of wood do you think you might burn in a fall/winter/spring cycle? I go through about 2 cords (assuming I cut that much or more the preceeding spring while out and about in the woods) but I only burn intermittently for the reasons mentioned above.

Paul

Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
PaulM #147555 09/18/06 12:55 AM
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axiomite
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Based on my propane consumption last winter I'm guessing 2-3 cords of hardwood or 4 cords of pine (I live in a red pine forest) if I wanted to heat entirely with wood. This is based on BTU content of propane vs. wood and the best efficiency information I could find on each kind of heater.

The furnace is over 90% efficiency, including both unburned fuel and heat lost out the exhaust vent, while the numbers I could find for the heater indicated 94% burn efficiency (ie 6% of the burnable gases get away) and 65% heat transfer efficiency (35% of the heat goes up the chimney) for a total of about 60%.

I'll let you know for sure in April

This winter might be a bit of a challenge since I need to find a few cords of well seasoned firewood and by September the piles of seasoned wood are getting low. The local firewood vendors are starting to sell green wood and fake a coughing fit when you ask how long ago it was cut.


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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147556 09/22/06 03:40 AM
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axiomite
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Another milestone. First baked goods out of the pizza oven. It's more like a sorry, greasy excuse for a foccacia than a pizza but it sure tastes good. Then again, since this is a "black" oven which can only be used after the masonry heater fire has gone out, I might have just been hungry.

Here's the oven door open with the bread ready to remove. I used a pizza pan rather than sweeping the ash off the floor of the oven.



Finished product, cooling on top of the oven. It's your basic beer-based pizza crust, drizzled with olive oil then sprinkled with salt, pepper, crushed chilis, sesame seeds and basil. That's what happened to be sitting on the counter.



Close-up of the finished bread. Obviously a bit too much olive oil.



Currently 48F outside, 68F inside, furnace still turned off. Still running "tiny" fires, basically 2-3 typical pieces of firewood per night, split into ~ 8 sticks each 2" x 3" or so. Parts of the house are a bit cooler but nice and warm around the heater.

Last edited by bridgman; 09/22/06 04:07 AM.

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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147557 09/22/06 01:23 PM
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I just took a moment to search for some photos of John's house...i.e., my dream house:


::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
MarkSJohnson #147558 09/22/06 05:52 PM
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axiomite
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OK, what the heck. Here are *all* the pictures. The new house pics start at around the 10th album or so.

http://community.webshots.com/user/rubikscube


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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147559 09/22/06 07:13 PM
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Cool. I was hoping you'd do that!


::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
MarkSJohnson #147560 09/22/06 09:20 PM
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axiomite
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It's not really a good dream house, more of a "dream cottage".

When we were laying out the floor plan the builder asked if I wanted the foundation stepped down for a home theater.

I looked at him like he was from another planet. "Why the ^*%$*&% would I want a theater in my house ? I have a 27" TV, not a projector and an 8 foot wide screen". Live and learn, huh ?

Even Dilbert's Ultimate House (DUH !!) has a dedicated home theater with tiered seating:



Last edited by bridgman; 09/22/06 09:26 PM.

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Re: Masonry Heater is up and running
bridgman #147561 09/23/06 10:22 PM
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axiomite
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I don't know how I've managed to miss this thread thus far....John, man that is really one nice setup you have going on there, it's amazing how that single fireplace can heat your whole house. Nice!


Rick
Our Room

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