Golden Tamarcks: Firing up the new Wood Stove in the new Hermit Hut

So I needed to "cure" the new "furnace cement" I bought to seal up any potential smoke leaks on the duct pipe and wood stove "collar" (the 5 to 6 inch reducer black stove pipe part that connects to the new wood stove).

Maybe I over did the furnace cement but in my research I discovered that this type of stove pipe elbow can leak smoke - through the rivets and seams. So might as well make sure it's sealed! This furnace cement is good up to 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. I bought two kinds since the pre-mixed type was reviewed as being too runny. I needed to make sure the cement sealed to the bottom of the duct pipe since I'm only going off at a minimum 30 degrees from the wood stove!!

So then you need 50 degrees Fahrenheit minimum for the cement to dry first for 24 hours. That was my first night - it needs to stay above freezing. So this was very likely the LAST night I had those conditions - over 50 during the day and above 32 during the night!! So I went for it.

Here's the Sol-Tree Shiitake Shroom mycelium for the winter. Four pallets of Alder and Birch.

I got very lucky to find this set of fireplace cleaners - for only $3.50 at a local thrift store. Both the "big box" DIY stores did not even carry a fireplace shovel - much less a poker and sweeper! Now I'm set and so I was able to clean out the wood stove from my last time, when I "cured" the paint on the stove. And where did my ashes go? Right into the composting toilet - so there's NO smell even though the composting toilet is right in the Hermit Hut. haha. So it's very easy to clean both places to make Terra Preta! (Living Soil compost).

Night two it started to get cold and it had been over 24 hours on the furnace cement - it did not look "runny" anymore - and so it was ready to cure!! The stove really cranked out the heat - so much that I had to add another layer of bricks on the bed side of the stove. Too hot!! And when I checked the chimney - at first I had smoke from moisture in the wood. But once that cleared then I had next to no smoke - a clean burn! AWESOME!

If there was smoke you'd be able to see it - No smoke at the top of the chimney and the wood stove?

Still cranking - this is through the front air vent - with the door closed. You can't see it but there's BLUE flame inside! That means I'm getting a clean secondary burn due to the baffle (that forces the smoke back into the fire). So after talking to the owner of this wood stove business - he and I both agreed that it is best to have HOT and short burn times - so I kept the front vent fully open and I have NO damper! But since I have a 30 degree angle on the duct pipe then I still get any heat off the duct into the hut.

And here is the furnace cement now fully dry and cured. I tried touching this as the fire was going and I immediately got burned!! Wow - super hot!!

So this is my "intake" air - a duct pipe that goes from the front door where I have a crack under the door angled up through the chair - to the intake air vent on the wood stove. So the best news is that I was able to open the wood stove to reload wood and still maintain an awesome draft! No smoke came out of the wood stove!! I was able to reload more wood and the smoke just kept sucking strongly up the duct stove pipe!! So this made me very very happy.

So these bricks got hot on the side facing the stove. I only did a 2 hour burn. I never had the stove "fully loaded" except when I started it I had lots of twigs on top and I did a top down burn start. I put paper near the top of the stove pipe, to warm up the draft. Then I used a vaseline (petroleum jelly) cotton ball with a fire starter Swedish "Light My Fire" Metal Match (as they are called). And a couple sheets of newspaper - just to make sure it all started. Then the heavy wood I put on the bottom to build up coals - just as the owner of the wood stove company demonstrates on youtube - the Swedish method of building a fire.

More bricks around the wood stove.

So then I put a huge pot of water on top of the stove - I'd guess it was four gallons?

So our local corporate-state newspaper had an article promoting the Golden Tamaracks at this time of year.

So I took these photos from the car on the drive up.

The evergreens are probably Spruce. The Tamarack is a conifer that looses its needles. The chipmunks love to eat the seeds - as do the birds.

So despite have trepidation about my 30 degree angle - instead I got a very amazingly strong draft and a clean burn with no smoke!! So I do not think I'll get much creosote build up - if I keep burning with the same tactic. The stove kicked out tons of heat and the water pot stored up the heat, along with the bricks. I didn't boil the water - as I did not want to boil the water. But it did start steaming after a two hour burn.

So then I put another load of rock wool ($25) on the south end wall since that was just OSB (Oriented Standard Board) and then on the north wall I had some holes in the wall that were hiding behind the wattle (willow branches).

 Because rockwool fibers are short and thick, the body can easily expel them....Mineral wool is a heavier and more dense insulation material that fiberglass, giving it better sound-control properties and more effectively restricting air movement through it.

So this morning I got blue jeans (Green Fiber) that are shredded - as insulation ($6.50) and so I stuffed the Green Fiber in behind the wattle and in the cracks in the wall. then I had to use the loppers to cut some of the wall wattle going vertical as it was propping up the tarp too high. Basically I had lots of holes on the north wall! Good thing I had that ventilation as the stove was still curing the paint fumes off a bit.

So then I splashed clay water (clay slip) onto the blue jeans (shredded as Green Fiber) - to fire proof the cotton fiber with clay covering.

 GreenFiber Insulation is a cellulose insulation that consists of 85% recycled paper, mostly recovered, post-consumer paper fiber that contains additives for fire and fungal resistance...Green Fiber and National Fiber are just 2 U.S. manufacturers treat their product with borates which, from what I gather, is pretty benign stuff.

Here's the Hermit Hut hidden in the mini-forest - you can see the chimney up higher than the roof.
So I'm very glad I insulated the chimney to ensure I get a good draft.

The hammock is not the best to do full lotus padmasana meditation on. But if I fold over in half the insulated sleep pads plus my comforter - then I can sit on top of those. And with the wood stove cranking out - I could bask in the heat!! And also I had some tummo internal heat kick in (after I cleared out the lower body of course).  So I can just do standing active meditation right by the toilet and be comfy in the heat and make some humanure compost and cover up with wood ash. Then I can meditate in full lotus.

Since I got free bricks, free wood, some free cushions - and harvested most of the insulation and walls from the Mini-forest (hay and willow branches) and framing (willow trees) - so an uninsulated shed this size would be at least $2000. Since I don't have floors and I have tarps as roofs this is arguably more like a tent - but it also has super insulated roof (r-30 rock wool plus three sil-poly canvas tarps) and walls (r-20 aka 6 to 8 inch straw-willow wattle) - using rock wool and the Bronze Age wattle and daub design. So what's the price on a good living Hermit Hut? hard to say!! But including the stove cost - then I spent about $1000 (including gas money).

The previous Hermit Hut blog post

Yes part of my concern was how hot the duct pipe would get next to the tarp. The burn rate on the tarp is 500 degrees Fahrenheit but the chimney is insulated with rock wool and then another metal heat reflector duct pipe (8 inches) around the rock wool. Plus it's outside. So it was barely warm at all. In fact the chimney duct pipe on the INSIDE was "touchable" going towards the wall side. So with it being a larger (increased to 6 inches) you get more heat release off the duct pipe before it hits the wall. But since it's insulated on the outside - it just needs to be over 212 Fahrenheit (boiling) temp to prevent any creosote build up.