Liberator Rocket Mass Heater Review

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So we've been burning this heater for about four years now but finally got around to hooking it up to a thermal mass and giving it a good firing and a review. Sky Huddleston has done a good job balancing the needs of mass production with the fine tuning that lets rocket heaters burn so clean. You COULD build your own rocket heater out of mud and scrap metal and it MIGHT work as well but it would probably not be code approved as a woodstove and UL Listed in the United States like this one or give you the choice to burn pellets or wood scraps. This is a really good heater for the money. You can find more at rocketmassheat...
#unclemud #rocketheater #rocketmassheater #liberatorrocketheater

[@orgonsolo6291]

The Liberty Man brought me here. Great vid. Looks real nice there

[@UncleMud]

Thanks for coming

[@knightmare1015]

The insurance companies need to be educated about these types of stoves/heaters. Almost no ash if you use wood pellets and the fact that you will only use one tenth of the fuel compared to your traditional wood/pellet stoves, it is a no brainer as to what I will be using if I have to switch back to wood or go with wood pellets. I use a ventless propane fireplace at the moment and I love it.

[@UncleMud]

It works really well. I got a kit build rocket heater (not a Liberator) approved one time by pushing until I got to talk to the actuary then asking "if you are insuring someone who is paying for wood stove coverage wouldn't you rather they were using one that produces no creosote?" The immediate answer was yes, followed quickly by an approval.

[@anesthesiadreamin]

If that's where the cat hangs out when it's cold, nuff said

[@UncleMud]

yep

[@jeremiahshine]

Great channel!

[@UncleMud]

Thank you!

[@beebob1279]

You're stating something very important. Those home made rocket mass heaters are having a hard time getting approval by municipalities because they aren't UL approved. Then the homeowner has to deal with their insurance companies. It's a shame too. These things (and masonry heaters) are safer then the traditional fireplace or wood burner. I thought I subscribed to you a few weeks ago. Apparently, I didn't. I am now

[@UncleMud]

thank you

[@egordon9482]

Nice setup, is the sleeping cat a standard feature? Thanks for the videos

[@UncleMud]

Pretty much a sleeping cat or dog or maybe some family time as we snuggle up and stare at our smart phones together.

[@NUMENOREAN91]

What are the considerations for building the mass portion of the heater over a wood floor like that?

[@UncleMud]

The primary considerations are 1) protecting the floor from heat buildup which is done here by first installing a 4" thick insulating layer of perlite clay containing just enough clay to stick the perlite together like a rice crispy treet.and 2) distributing and supporting the weight, done here by limiting the mass to about 900 lbs and placing it directly over the two main steel beams supporting the center of the trailer home. Both of these are done better in the bench replacing it seen in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXysfZVtlsuHeZY

[@dylandepuy3715]

Uncle Mud, how many bends, 90° or otherwise, do you have in that setup there? How many can you get away with without causing issues with your out draft flow?

[@UncleMud]

On a six inch system with a tall insulated vertical chimney you can have up to 30 feet of horizontal pipe transferring heat into your bench. Subtract 5 feet for every 90 degree bend. This setup was less than ideal but it worked to keep the house from freezing with six bends and about 12 feet of pipe in the smaller than normal bench. I replaced it with an 18 foot bench with only 3 bends in it and a better distribution of the mass over the wood floor and crawl space. Thank you for watching.

[@igounfazed]

Do you have a teardown video of the liberator? How many parts it it comes in, etc.?

[@UncleMud]

Here is the unboxing video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGG1iKyfn5qAoq8 so you can see down inside. The heater is one piece, the pellet feeder, lids, ash scraper and pellet grate are wrapped separately in the crate for safe shipping.

[@andreadidato1301]

Any plan available to build the thermal mass that the heater exhaust goes into. Or a good book for a diy build. Thanks again!

[@UncleMud]

email me at [e-mail] currently the thermal masses are mostly custom built to match circumstances like whether it is over a wood floor or concrete floor, how big and what shape the room is etc. but we might should able to pull something useful together.

[@aaemmitchell8468]

I'm so glad to find your video incorporating the liberator with a mass heating system. You mentioned using compressed sawdust to heat for longer periods of time. Are you making that yourself? If so, how do you make compressed sawdust? I'm wanting long burn times, but don't want to purchase wood pellets. Was hoping to either use wood chips or sawdust of some kind from my shop. I'll probably have more questions!!! :) Thanks again for your info!

[@aaemmitchell8468]

I saw that they're enviro bricks, I got ahead of myself. However, do you have a more detailed video or plans where you show how you hooked up the liberator to the rocket mass?

[@UncleMud]

Hello, We have not found a DIY for sawdust blocks that was worth the time. One of our batch rocket heaters is in a house that went from perfect rocket scenario (someone was always there)to single mom not home long enough to charge up the thermal bench each day, so the 4-ish hour burn time we get with the enviroblock lets her keep the place warm with three burns a day. The enviroblock produces more ash and some creosote so we have to keep the pipes clean which we didn't have to worry about with the hardwood floor scraps. Pellets work very well and actually cost less than even the almost free scrap wood fuel costs if we include $10 per hour for the extra time it takes to sort and store the scrap wood.

[@UncleMud]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/baDRe35vfbmimtE

[@UncleMud]

The price of the Lberator RMH-2 will be $2300 after August 2021. Right now preorder price is $1987. Fulfillment on preorders expected in December 2021 Tell them Uncle Mud sent you.

[@Junglebrute]

I am new to rocket heaters. As far as comparison to a conventional wood burning stove do these have fans or can a fan be added to the heater to help spread the heat throughout the house too?

[@UncleMud]

I usually have one of those non-electric fans sitting on top of the rocket. It helps a little. The best way to stay warm by is to sit right on the cozy mass bench. You use very little wood because you don't care if the rest of the room is cold. The second best way to be warm is to be in direct line of sight of the hot metal radiating surface. It will warm you clear across the room. Pushing warm air around with a fan is a distant third. It works kinda but kicks up dust, cools you by evaporation, and bleeds warm air in and out of the house through every tiny crack by having slight pressure differences. I have small fans mounted in the upper corner of every doorway in the house to help circulate the warm air but being in the room with the rocket is so much nicer. Forced air furnaces are the worst--convenient, but not good. Thank you for watching.

[@vivahansen]

How did you finish the bench? Is it possible to linseed oil proof cob in heated situations? or will the oil do funky stuff under the heat?

[@UncleMud]

I used hemp oil. It will work or linseed oil will work even with the heat.

[@lancerudy6584]

Can you do video the mass bench

[@UncleMud]

Here is the link to the bench video I did a while ago kzbin.info/www/bejne/gXXPeZaIr9OZmMk

[@hungrywizard]

I'm also in Ohio (central), and am considering a rocket stove (possibly a next generation liberator) with a "square" cob base along the lines of what you have there - placed in the corner of my living room a couple of feet from the big screen TV. What is the sq footage that I should plan for - yours looks roughly 5' x 5'?

[@UncleMud]

I only went as small as 5at because I needed to make sure my crawl space would support the weight. If your floor supports more weight you will have more thermal storage and it will be warmer in your house when you wake up.

[@lancerudy9934]

What is the riser made of?

[@UncleMud]

Lance, The riser on the Liberator 1 is steel. I have been using mine for three + years and nothing is burned out or even eroding. The riser on the gen 2 model is ceramic, but it has not finished UL and epa testing

[@jstewartproulx2179]

...and it keeps the cat from trying to get under your blankets every night...

[@UncleMud]

cat learned to stop trying a long time ago

[@bendaves77]

They look great and seem to function well except the price of them are astronomical.. person could probably build one I'm guessing

[@UncleMud]

I love building rocket heaters. They are not that expensive to build if you are handy, don't pay yourself for your time, and use mainly mud and scrap metal. But a super efficient UL listed EPA APPROVED wood stove is not cheap to develop or produce.

[@bendaves77]

@@UncleMud I completely understand.. just don't see myself living in Illinois with a wife and 2 kids ever have that kind of money to spend but I love their design

[@UncleMud]

Ben. I hear you. My propane bill was sometimes $1000 in a month and now my fuel bill is less than $100 per year so a rocket heater was a stretch but it paid for itself pretty quickly. I encourage anyone whose code and insurance people will let them to build their own but this is the first reasonable commercial alternative.

[@airscoutborne]

Anyone in Ohio install these sir?

[@UncleMud]

Good morning. Thank you for watching. I live in NE Ohio and yes I do install them. Drop me a line at [e-mail]