Courses

Join Ernie and Erica Wisner, world-leading rocket mass heater trainers and builders, for hands-on learning as we build a range of rocket stove prototypes over this weekend.

Clean burning and super­ efficient, Rocket Mass Heaters set a whole new standard for affordable, sustainable heating for homes and water. Most are owner­built at less cost than a conventional woodstove, and deliver savings of up to 80 or 90% on fuel.

This workshop will enable even the most novice non-builder to gain the skills to effectively build multiple different types of rocket mass heaters themselves, using simple materials.

This course will cover:

• Planning different types of rocket stoves
  
• Designing different types of rocket stoves
• Constructing a Rocket Mass Heater demonstration project
• Rocket stoves at water heaters
• Brick masonry and earthen masonry skills
• Working with metal ducting and/or stovepipe (hand tools only)

Rocket stove resources to get you fired up:

• Rocket Stove resources at Milkwood.net
  
• Ernie & Erica's homepage
  
• Rocket stove resources at Paul Wheaton's site
  

Please note this course begins at 5pm on Friday 5th with an evening session, and concludes at 5pm on Sunday 7th. If you can't make the Friday evening session, it's not the end of the world, but we'd love to have you there for the fire science demonstration (and dinner, of course).

Booking your place:

Book your place below with your credit card or paypal account for this mworkshop, or contact us if you'd prefer to pay by phone, cheque or direct deposit.

Included in your workshop fee:

Your course fee includes our famous organic farm-grow catering for lunch, drinks and tasty treats each day of your course. You will also receive extensive post-course notes following this workshop.

For a small additional fee you can camp at Milkwood Farm for the duration of your course, and this option includes breakfast and dinner each night. See our Staying at Milkwood page for full info on accommodation and facilities.

How Rocket Stoves work:

Wood is gravity fed into a 'J shaped' combustion chamber, and the hot gases draft upwards through a heavily- insulated, vertical secondary combustion chamber. After complete combustion, the exhaust then passes down a radiant bell and through horizontal metal ducting embedded in a massive cob thermal store. The thermal store is large enough to retain heat for many hours, and often forms part of the structure of the building or built-in furniture.

The special combustion design requires no fans or electricity, yet ensures an efficient high-temperature burn and creates enough draft to push exhaust gases though the rest of the system. Flue gases are cooled to a relatively low temperature within the thermal store (50°C or less), conserving most of the fire’s heat within the building for release over the following 24 hours or more.

About your teachers:

Erica and Ernie Wisner are hands-on teachers of creative, ecological and practical skills. Ernie’s practical knowledge and Erica’s teaching skills combining to form an excellent and dynamic team. Together this dynamic couple have led workshops across the US and Canada, and consulted on projects in Argentina, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Ireland, NZ, Mongolia, Kenya, and South Africa.

Erica is a science and art educator with a degree in Physics and Art. She also has architectural, drafting and engineering knowledge, and loves wild- crafting and outdoor recreation. For 5 years she taught chemistry for all ages in the world’s first public wet science lab (at OMSI in Oregon).

In 2005-6 Erica worked for the City Repair Project in Portland, Oregon USA. City Repair promotes ecological and natural building methods in several ways, including a yearly Village Building Convergence which attracts people from around the world. It’s here that Erica and Ernie met.

Ernie is hands on, versatile and self sufficient. He’s a trained fire fighter, mariner, botanist, an excellent cook, and a handy man. He can fix practically anything. His motivation in learning many of these skills was to stay alive. Growing up on commercial fishing boats, a kid learns to watch everything, and maintain all the equipment, in order to get home again.

On a boat voyage in 1996 that reached the North Pole, Ernie realised that fossil-fueled lifestyles won’t last forever. After casting around for more sustainable options, in 2004 he joined the Cob Cottage team, working with Ianto Evans and builders from around the world. One of their projects was researching and testing approx 700 stove designs for the 2006 book, “Rocket Mass Heaters”.