Reducing Costs On a Masonry Heater Build

[DougA]

In our area, as long as it's certified by a licenced pro, insurance will accept it. The problem is that most of the guys doing the certification know less than most experienced stove owners. They must carry insurance to cover them if they certify a wood burning appliance, then it causes a fire so they get very picky.

One problem I have for example, the masonry heater I am looking at designing has to abut a wall. Even though the stone wall shell is a foot & a half away from the refractory brick at that point and will be barely warmer than room temps, they may insist upon separation because they have never seen a masonry heater. The easy answer is to go off of federal standards or better to get a masonry heater installer to certify the plans prior to building it.

 

[alex14]

Is it easy to build masonry heater at home without taking any advice from technician guy?

 

[byQ]

Is it easy to build masonry heater at home without taking any advice from technician guy?

Maybe easy for someone who is a mason and has worked with bricks and stones their whole life. Once the mason knows where to allow for expansion he/she shouldn't have a problem. But for the normal person? Not easy, but doable if they know what a masonry heater is and how they are constructed. People over complicate masonry heaters. Look at all of the different designs, it's crazy, but they all work.

Don't use the wrong materials - especially for the core. Use fire brick or refractory cement pieces here. You don't want to even think about using regular clay bricks. But on the outer part be more flexible - use what you can get cheaply or for free. Or if you want something that looks really good spend extra and get it. But know old brick works fine, and most stones too.

 

[Kosmik]

@alex14
Well, for $75 you can buy a plan off the MHA.
Not too big an investment if you are unsure.
(broken link removed to http://mha-net.org/html/bookstore-portfolio.htm)

If those plans don't make sense, then you need a 'technician guy'.

But doing your own car work can be dangerous, too. Yet some of us save $$$ doing it ourselves.
Know your limit, ski within it.

And just like cars you can have a Yugo, or you can have a BMW.
I'm sure a custom Tulikivi Soapstone corner heater with benches isn't cheap...But a double-bell made with common brick isn't going to be back breaker either.

They are more of an investment than a $2,500 wood stove...But if it lasts the life of the house? How much more expensive is it? Plenty of people are changing stoves a couple of times...
Of course, size/build it wrong/locate it wrong and it could become an expensive lesson.

 

[byQ]

Well, I decided to follow my own advice. I drove out to a gravel company along the Salmon River, in Idaho, and picked up some river rocks to use as the outer covering on a medium sized masonry heater. I was willing to pay but they just gave 'em to me (their discard).

It took a while for my eyes to zone in on a good size. I tried to find rocks that were 3"-6" thick with at least one flat side. Also tried to find interesting colors and patterns - like green, blueish, purple, orange, red, whites, speckled and stripes. I also grabbed some smaller rocks to fill in the voids between large rocks. I got quite a haul.

 

[byQ]

I have 2 masonry heater doors but they are big, made for large masonry heaters. The house I'm building is small-medium, well insulated, open plan, and passive solar. So building a large masonry heater is just a waste of materials. So I bought some of these chimney clean-out doors to use as a masonry heater door.

They have a 12" x 12" opening and are very solid (achla, cdr-12, minuteman), cast iron weighing 25 to 35 pounds each. The bolts look wimpy and may need to be replaced. They don't latch (too bad), but screw in. I'll build a 'steering wheel' bolt with a knob to make opening and closing easier. I got 3 doors for $75 + $50 shipping, or about $42 each. I can live without a glass door. I'll just use a timer to get a good feel for when the wood is done burning (1.5-2.5 hours) so the damper and air can be closed.


This heater was built with river rock, and I'm going for this look (my masonry heater will be smaller, though).

 

[avsmusic1]

I'm very interested to see this progress.