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