Wood Burning Stove with Thermal Mass and Update Pictures
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This house will have a very cool wood burning stove (forgive the pun). It has a closed combustion chamber with a direct vented intake that will use exterior air for combustion, thereby retaining an airtight envelope: a key element in passive house design. But the thing we are most excited about is that it has cement blocks on the upper section that act as thermal storage, maximizing the heat from the flue gases, and releasing the heat via radiation after the logs are burned. This is similar in principle to the operation of masonry heaters Thermal losses when the stove is off are a concern so we are adding dampers to avoid the circulation of cold air a reduce the thermal losses.
The special duct at the end has an air chamber to reduce the risk of high temperatures in the flue. Rockwool insulation will be surrounding the duct as it is proven highly resistant to heat and doesn’t burn.
In other news, construction is progressing well. Here are some snapshots of the progress. The deck is on and roofing is on its way. Once the windows go in the house will be weather tight.
The insulation in the roof cavity is blown fibreglass. The installers cannot believe how much insulation they had put on the roof and still a lot to be added. We love it!
To keep the ventilation cavity on top of the roof insulation a layer of paper was taped at the top edge. As much as we like insulation, we also want to have the vented cavity working properly to remove any vapour and condensation that might occur in the assembly.
Stay tuned for more updates!