Wisner Erica - The rocket mass heater builders guide: complete step-by-step construction, maintenance and troubleshooting

Praise for

The Rocket Mass Heater Builders Guide

Finally a comprehensive book about rocket mass heaters! This should put an end to the freak shows of flaming death showing up on YouTube mislabeled as rocket mass heaters. And put an end to getting the same questions asked over and over again. We can start every answer with: Have you read The Rocket Mass Heater Builders Guide?

Paul Wheaton, founder of Permies.com online community

Eagerly awaited by homesteaders both urban and rural, appropriate tech folks, and do-it-yourselfers of all stripes, The Rocket Mass Heater Builders Guide is a comprehensive, well-researched, and clearly illustrated manual on one of the most exciting home-heating concepts to come along in decades. The book is firmly grounded in the authors many years of experience, will save every builder vast amounts of toil and frustration, and paves the way to a home-heating system that is clean burning, marvelously fuel efficient, and a pleasure to live with. Rich in detail without being overwhelming, this book is an essential addition to every homesteaders and builders library.

Toby Hemenway, author, Gaias Garden and The Permaculture City

An advanced companion to Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Wood Stoves You can Build and Snuggle Up To. The second, more comprehensive work on revolutionary wood heating; thorough, technically advanced, comprehensive, well thought-out by the experienced masters of rocket stoves.

Ianto Evans, director and founder, Cob Cottage Company, inventor of Rocket Mass Heaters and Lorena Stoves

Drawing on the centuries-old tradition of masonry stoves and heaters, the rocket mass heater offers a modern, fuel-efficient way to heat a home with wood. This Guide represents more than ten years of collaboration and lessons learned from hands-on building and experimentation. The result is a frank, practical and detailed discussion of design and construction, pros and cons, and helpful anecdotal stories. While passionate about empowering the owner-builder, the authors also address code compliance and stress fire safety.

Catherine Wanek, author/photographer, The New Strawbale Home and The Hybrid House, and co-author, The Art of Natural Building

In The Rocket Mass Heater Guide, Erica and Ernie Wisner have distilled the best, most tried-and-true design for efficient, low-cost, low-effort, carbon-neutral, regenerative home heating. Undoubtedly people will continue to experiment, but it will be hard to improve upon the wisdom of this book what works, what doesnt and why.

Albert Bates, author, The Biochar Solution

You will be happy to own this book for years and years to come! There are life-changing secrets inside of Erica and Ernie Wisners most remarkable book, ways of understanding how to live better, more simply, and more beautifully while also being more snuggly and cozy that you ever thought possible!

Mark Lakeman, co-founder, City Repair and design director, communitecture

Over the years, a handful of dedicated practitioners and authors have helped the natural building movement advance their craft based on solid engineering and experimentation. The authors are among that elite and vital group, and this book is a must-read for anyone who longs for practical, detailed knowledge on rocket mass stoves based on extensive experience.

Dan Chiras, Ph.D., director, The Evergreen Institute and author, The Natural House and The Homeowners Guide to Renewable Energy

Biomass energy is sensible when used super-efficiently and locally which is the point of this book. Folks who live in cooler climates can benefit enormously from this simple, do-it-yourself technology.

Richard Heinberg, Senior Fellow, Post Carbon Institute

The Rocket Mass Heater Builders Guide provides a remarkable amount of detail for designing, building and using these elegant and efficient space heaters. In a world of ever-diminishing resources, growing populations and changing climates, safe, efficient and low-cost solutions to space-heating without fossil fuels are vitally needed. I have long planned to build a high mass rocket stove in my bioshelter/greenhouse to replace our woodstove. After reading this book, I feel inspired and feel confident to do it.

Darrell E. Frey, author, Bioshelter Market Garden: A Permaculture Farm

Copyright 2016 by Erica Wisner and Ernie Wisner.

All rights reserved.

Cover design by Diane McIntosh.

All photos and diagrams are by the authors unless otherwise noted. (See also image captions.) Cover diagrams, top and bottom row: by author. Center left: Greenhouse heater firebox, photo by owner; see color insert. Center right: Mediterranean heater with ceramic bangles, photo by Adi Segal see . Interior: Flames AdobeStock_60101445; White brick AdobeStock_69829337; Smoke background AdobeStock_72849210; Adobe mud AdobeStock_49425959

Printed in Canada. First printing April 2016.

This book is intended to be educational and informative. It is not intended to serve as a guide. The author and publisher disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss or risk that may be associated with the application of any of the contents of this book.

Paperback ISBN: 0-978-86571-823-4

eISBN: 978-1-55092-616-3

Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The Rocket Mass Heater Builders Guide should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com

Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to:

New Society Publishers

P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada

(250) 247-9737

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision. We are committed to doing this not just through education, but through action. The interior pages of our bound books are printed on Forest Stewardship Council-registered acid-free paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled (100% old growth forest-free), processed chlorine-free, and printed with vegetable-based, low-VOC inks, with covers produced using FSC-registered stock. New Society also works to reduce its carbon footprint, and purchases carbon offsets based on an annual audit to ensure a carbon neutral footprint. For further information, or to browse our full list of books and purchase securely, visit our website at: www.newsociety.com

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Wisner, Erica, 1977-, author

The rocket mass heater builders guide : complete step-by-step construction, maintenance and troubleshooting / Erica Wisner & Ernie Wisner.

Includes index.

Issued in print and electronic formats.

ISBN 978-0-86571-823-4 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-55092-616-3 (ebook)

1. Rocket mass heaters. 2. Rocket mass heaters--Design and construction. 3. Rocket mass heaters-- Maintenance and repair. I. Wisner, Ernie, 1968-, author II. Title.