Cob: Wood stove in cob wall?

Thu May 15 11:20:01 CDT 2003

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<P>a lurker's comments on heating with wood and creosote buildup: based on my practical experience with hardwood (nearly all) and the straight run stovepipe into triple wall pipe section with cap, i found the hotter the fire, the less the creosote. plus i cleaned it every 6 to 7 weeks during regular use. for the hotter fire, you really need smaller fuel...if you get logs delivered here, they could be cut and split. split that is just barely big enough to fit the opening. which makes them burn slower and built up goo aka creosote. i happened to have a thermometer on the pipe to check temperature for regulation and with three dampers i was able to keep it above creosote temperature. if i recall correctly, creosote temperature varies for the dryness and type wood burned also for quantity. it was primarily used for heating as being cast iron, it took a long time to get hot enough under sustained burn to cook with. hope this helps... <BR><BR></P></DIV>
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<DIV></DIV>>Amanda :
<DIV></DIV>>Wonderful to start building. Do remember that a room laid out in 
<DIV></DIV>>the open air looks like a VERY different size and shape than the 
<DIV></DIV>>same thing once it's enclosed (or furnished). I expect that lots of 
<DIV></DIV>>people have, to their chagrin, enlarged designs at that stage only 
<DIV></DIV>>to find out that they were right the first time. Although 
<DIV></DIV>>Christopher Alexander does recommend doing most of the initial 
<DIV></DIV>>planning on the ground, as I recall. 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>I was going to put one of those neat cob benches with stovepipe 
<DIV></DIV>>running through it with the firebox outside of the little room I'm 
<DIV></DIV>>putting in the end of a pole barn. "Everybody said" that there 
<DIV></DIV>>would be a serious creosote problem. Don't know if it's true or 
<DIV></DIV>>not--I'd sure like to HAVE such an animal--but the whole thing is 
<DIV></DIV>>taking--the usual--five times the length of time it should, and is 
<DIV></DIV>>running into more and more complications as we go on, so it's 
<DIV></DIV>>probably just as well I scrapped that idea. There will be other 
<DIV></DIV>>buildings built here. 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>If it is fairly easy to do without a creosote problem, then a long 
<DIV></DIV>>pipe in the wall might work? I keep running into people who bill 
<DIV></DIV>>themselves as natural builders who are really unwilling to even 
<DIV></DIV>>think about anything except what they've already done--fifteen or 
<DIV></DIV>>twenty years ago. 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>Anybody have any information about the heated benches and creosote? 
<DIV></DIV>>I know what "Ianto says." 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>................ 
<DIV></DIV>>Chuck wrote: 
<DIV></DIV>>The one real concern that popped out during this meditation was 
<DIV></DIV>>using a wood burner in such close confines (each "room" will at its 
<DIV></DIV>>widest be only 9'). Then the epiphany: integrate the woodburner 
<DIV></DIV>>into the 18" interior cob wall. Is this possible? Given the right 
<DIV></DIV>>proportions of material (less straw, more sand) it seems as if it 
<DIV></DIV>>might work. Plus there's the added benefit of heating both rooms of 
<DIV></DIV>>the house. The woodburner is a Baron, a no-frills box made of steel 
<DIV></DIV>>plate and weighing in at roughly 300 lbs. Measurements show that 
<DIV></DIV>>about an inch of the front would stick out from one side of the 
<DIV></DIV>>wall, and on the other side there would be an inch of play between 
<DIV></DIV>>the wall and the pipe. 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>Comments, ideas, speculation? 
<DIV></DIV>> 
<DIV></DIV>>Chuck 
<DIV></DIV>> 
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