Masonry Heater Planning

[byQ]

Size will be roughly, 3ft x 4ft x 7ft = 84ftftft. This contraflow masonry heater has a 22 inch firebox.I don't need a heater this big but I want to try and follow the building plans I have. I asked a mason, "...too big?..." He said, "...no problem, just don't fire it as much...."

I went and collected my final stones for the exterior. Salt and pepper granite for the most of the heater with green and brown stone for the corners and accents. The brown stone looks like wood. I have almost everything I need - fire bricks, door, clean out doors, high-temp mortar and an air vent. I still need to get some fire brick splits to build the two side channels. And I think my 2 bags of high-temp cement got wet - oops..

Here's the stone I scrounged out of the rock quarry a couple of days ago.

 

[jatoxico]

Should be an interesting build, looking forward to seeing your progress. The idea with these is extract all the heat with a lot of passages to warm the mass of brick and stone right? Always wondered how you clean them.

 

[byQ]

Should be an interesting build, looking forward to seeing your progress. The idea with these is extract all the heat with a lot of passages to warm the mass of brick and stone right? Always wondered how you clean them.

Yes that is right. One 2-hour fire a day. The heat radiates out from the thermal mass. In this design the exhaust/ heat go straight up and than go straight down through the channels. It goes through some passages below the firebox, and than out the flue. The hottest part of a contraflow heater is right above the firebox.

With a small heater you clean it like most wood stoves by scooping out the ash. With this larger one a grate is installed with a metal catch pan to remove the ash. And little doors (4" x 4") are installed on the sides. So you open the little door and stick a vacuum head into the channel.

 

[DougA]

That looks much nicer from the ones you posted awhile back. So when are you building this thing? I was thinking about you and whether you have it built yet. I finally had to give up on my masonry heater plans as I either had to hire a specialist mason with proper credentials $$$$ to certify their own work or do it without the insurance company finding out. Impossible to do it myself and have someone inspect it. I had to give in to the BS. But I did manager to build a 16' high wall of stone and put in a soapstone stove and hearth.

Suggest you search out a rail wet saw on cs. I found one for $200 and it made life sooo much easier. They look like this:

 

[byQ]

DougA, Thanks for the heads up on that saw - I could really use something like that. I will be having a slab poured in the spring. Next, I will haul the masonry heater parts onto the slab and I'll start working on the heater. First, get the core built, wrap it with cardboard, build the shell, and install the door. After this I'll forget about it for awhile due to other building work to do.

I would also go with a soapstone if I was going with a wood stove. The small masonry heater built last February in Las Vegas at the World of Concrete gathering was sold for $2000. It was built on a steel pallet. Not bad considering it was built by professional masons. I think they are building a large one this year. I bet I could get it for $2000 if I supplied some of the parts. But I don't have the machinery to lift it into place. Probably weigh 8,000 pounds or more.

 

[bholler]

The few i have cleaned are a real pain to clean. Especially if they are burnt with we t wood and make creosote in those passages we spent 9 hours on one like that

 

[Simonkenton]

Looks good. I love the masonry heaters, and would have one here in my house, instead of the fireplace pictured to the left, except, the fiancee does not like the looks of the masonry heater. I had a TuliKivi all picked out.

Anyway, I wish I had one, keep us updated on your progress.