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This ancient, Finnish
-style design provides for intense combustion and temperatures of
between 1,500 and 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit to heat the 6,000 plus
pounds of masonry that comprise the heater. The heat of combustion
is stored in that enormous mass then radiated out into the room
over an eight-hour period. Exterior surfaces do not read
temperatures too hot to touch.
The heater
burns any small diameter (no larger than 3" in diameter) dry wood,
pallets, packing crates, bush piles, slabs, construction scrap, and
lopped branches are all candidates, making it inexpensive to feed
and there is not need to cut trees or buy cord wood. A secondary
combustion chamber also doubles as a bake oven. The temperature in
the chamber falls very slowly over several hours after the burn
cycle is completed, providing heat for several hours.
This project
was began in 1995 after 24-plus months of inquiry, debate, design,
and finally construction, while involved students and faculty,
ALTER members, volunteers, facilities personnel, and SRU
administration. Designs were chosen over the popular Taylor stove
based on research conducted by MS3 student Tom Benevento. Fellow
MS3 student Mark Licklider picked up Benevento's research after
Benevento completed the program.
Placement of
the stove in the Harmony House, built into the wall of the meeting
room and sunspace allows for several benefits. It doubles as
thermal mass for solar heat during the winter, as sunlight is
absorbed by the back of the stove and chimney. The stove heats both
house and sunspace during the winter weather.
Construction
was completed in about 10 days, while Tim Custer of Cleveland
served as consultant on the foundation, supplied the design and
special materials, and conducted a workshop for the heater
building, which is a complex arrangement of pre-cast refractory
components and fire brick nestled inside the facing
stone.
Total cost
for the heater was $5,500, with the money provided to the
university through a grant with the Pennsylvania Energy Office. -
Source: Jonathan Beale and Darrell Frey, Alternator
Article, April/May/June 1995
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