A look at Chelle Lindahl’s rocket mass heater

Chelle Lindahl, who lives in an off-grid home near Canton, NY, speaks about the rocket mass heater she uses to heat her home. She also discusses other aspects of how she tries to have a low-impact lifestyle. Chelle is also involved in the Local Living Venture, a project in New York state’s North Country that aims “to inspire and enable people to adopt more healthy, local and sustainable ways of living.” For those in the area, they are hosting a Local Living festival on April 27, 2013.

Rocket mass heaters (RMH) are low-cost, high-efficiency wood-burning stoves that typically consume a fraction of traditional stoves. Chelle’s RMH was built in the fall of 2012, during a workshop led by Ernie and Erica Wisner – who are arguably some of the most knowledgeable people in North America when it comes to RMH.

Paul Wheaton’s page on rocket mass heaters also has loads of information, videos and links on the subject, and he recently launched an already successful Kickstarter campaign to produce a 4-DVD set for those interested in learning more or building one themselves.

Below is a diagram of the basic concept of how a rocket mass heater works :

Image from http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp – Used with permission.