The Earthship Project at Blackhawk Studios
Project Description      Photo Gallery

The Masonry Stove (otherwise known as a Swedish Stove, Russian, Stove, Tuli Kivi, etc.) is built into the recess in the back (earth-backed) wall. Much of the heat generated from the burning wood ia absorbed by the concrete wall and even the packed soil behind the wall to be slowly re-released into the living quarters over time.

The arch matches the one over the exterior windows for aesthetic reasons, but the beam itself is part of the bond beam for the building. All of the masonry stove sits within to recess, the chimney goes up behind the beam.

The firebox sits above an oversized ash box. An outside air source provides all of the combustion air so that no heat is pulled out of the living area. Outside air (from the greenhouse in this case) is pulled down through the ashbox, up through the ash grate, and into the combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is built of recycled firebrick and is actually quite deep and tall to accomodate long logs and large wood loads. The door is a recycled door from a Kamamazoo #21 coal stove.

Winter od 2009-10 this worked very well. The intital cycle took about threee days to heat the living area, but after that I needed only one fire in the morning before leaving for work (duration of about an hour) and one in the evening when I got home (duration of two to three hours).

I made an addition to the stove this summer: When buiding a fire from a cold start, a damper is slid open allowing the flue gasses to rise straight up the chimney. As soon as the fire is burning well, the damper is slid shut forcing the exhaust to travel through a pair of horizontal flues that capture much of the "waste" heat that would otherwise go up the chimney. I cast a copper water line into the cap of the horizontal flue.

Full notes and schematics are available for a fee in pdf format.

Household Greywater flows into a sump from whre it is pumped to the rooftop high tunnel. This is run through a screen and into a sand filter. From there it flows through a series of shallow tanks that have cattails growing in gravel. After going through this bio-filtration process it flows into a large tank containing fish. The cleaned water is then used for irrigation in the greenhouse.

All tanks (except the fish tank) are made from recycled poly drums cut either vertically or horizontally.

Full notes and schematics are available for a fee in pdf format.