thomas rubino

Food is nice, but not necessary. You'll be able to introduce yourself.
Hi, I'm Tim, and this is my wife. We live over there. We wanted to say hello and welcome you to the neighborhood.
And see how things progress from there.

Same stuff your thinking of.

Hi Scott,
My bell top is Durock with no extra insulation..
With the double barrels, the temps are low enough to handle it.

My Walker Black and White also has a Durock roof, but it has 1" of superwool suspended below it.

Durock is also used as a floor plate for building on wooden floors.

Hey, Jeff;
The 1/2" all-thread is to keep the core bricks snug; this is a no-mortar core.
It also firmly attaches the door backing plate to the masonry.
The 1" of superwool is for insulation to keep the core nice and hot.

Yes, the lower brick bell has angle iron T-bars that support a cement board roof.

Yup, in southern Connecticut, where I grew up right on Long Island Sound, it would be 98 degrees and 98% humidity all day.
At night, it would "cool" to 85 degrees with 98% humidity!  
Then, about 4 am, the winds would shift, and instead of blowing hot, humid air from inland, they would blow in cool (moist) air from the ocean... until the sun arrived, and then it would start all over again.
Despite my family's protests (from My Mom), at 18, I moved 2,500 miles to the mountains.
I occasionally visit, but I would not live in high humidity ever again!
My roots are in New England, but my body resides in the Northwest.

Hi Anne;
For us, open windows overnight are the equivalent of air conditioning. (There is a part of August when I wish we had A/C)
Are you in the humid part of Texas?
Having grown up in it, I moved 2,500 miles to escape 98% humidity!

June 24th 2025
While the east side of the country is sweltering in a heat wave.
Meanwhile, here in the north west, I lit off Shorty on the summer solstice, 45 degrees overnight and a high of 49!
On Sunday night, I had to light her off again!  Although it was 46 this morning, we did not have a fire last night, but there certainly were no open windows overnight!
This morning, we have thick fog, and it has warmed up to 49 degrees now, with humidity at 89%.
They are calling for it to clear off in a few hours and become sunny with a high just over 80.
Then we cool back into the 70s for the rest of the week.
The 90s and 100s are no doubt waiting in the wings to arrive in July and August, but when they do, the humidity will be around 20%.
I love the North West!

Hi Mike
Check these threads out.
I use a 4" blast gate as bypass
https://permies.com/t/155372/Installing-Bypass-bell
This one is similar to the high tech drawings you supplied.
https://permies.com/t/159700/Retrofitting-Piped-Mass-Bypass-Install

Near the end of this thread, you will see a different style bypass.
I modified a standard cast iron damper to work as a bypass.
https://permies.com/t/267527/Shorty-Core-bell

Here is another retrofit
https://permies.com/t/152857/Blast-gate-bypass

A Beautiful stove, Kevin!
But, way too technical for me to want to build.
I'll stick with one of Peter's designs.
Much easier to build, and if one is not enough, then create a second one upstairs

I buy bulk grain, GMO-free, not organic, but close. Getting certified organic is expensive and not easy.
I used to buy ground grain as it is cheaper by the ton.(Average of $400 a ton.)
Now I purchase pellets as there is much less waste.
All garden and kitchen waste goes to the piggies.
The local restaurants will not separate waste (No Meat), so we do not utilize them.
The local grocery store, however, will sell me a large box of sad greens  for $3
Everything has gotten more expensive.
Weiner pigs were $25 for years, now they are well over $100! I paid $145 each for three good-sized healthy 8-10 week old piggies.
One ton of pelletized feed costs me almost $700, including the cost of a 130-mile round-trip.
Having a hog butchered averages $200-$300. (But it is fast, easy, and the piggies ride home in the back of the Subaru.)

You might think this is way too expensive.
But, there is nothing as tasty and as healthy for you as happy home-raised animals, without hormones and with high-quality food.
There is no comparison with yucky commercial raised pork!