Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide Kickstarter - now open!

We are now live on Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rmhbuildersguide/the-rocket-mass-heater-builders-guide

Thanks for all the encouraging comments.  One thing that impresses me is hearing from so many people (by email as well as here) who are serious about building their rocket mass heater this year, or who have already done so successfully by using our self-published plans.  Experienced, creative, realistic people: those who have not already built their heater are gearing up for their projects now, during the thaw. (Instead of putting off their wood heating plans until the first frosts of fall). 

Our book will be out around June 1st, in time for the best building weather in most Northern climates.

The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide is the result of over ten years building and testing these heaters, and close to 4 years of book work.  It contains complete, buildable information, down-to-earth discussions, and some new photos that may be useful inspiration.

I think the table of contents is probably the best way to convey how much useful information is in this book:

Contents:
 Acknowledgements and Background  
Chapter 1:      Rocket Mass Heater Overview
         and Terms     .........................................................      1
Chapter 2:     General Design Considerations     ..........     25
Chapter 3:     Design Examples     .................................     39
Chapter 4:     Step by Step Construction Example     ....     59
Chapter 5:     Operation and Maintenance     ................     97
Chapter 6:     Rules and Codes     ..................................     131
FAQs         ......................................................................     157
Appendix 1:     Earthen Building     ...............................     173
Appendix 2:     Rocket Mass Heater Building Code
    (Portland, Oregon)     ...............................................     193
Appendix 3:     Special Cases     ....................................    199
Appendix 4:     Home Heating Design Considerations   ....     219
Appendix 5:     Wood Heat Considerations     ....................     235
Appendix 6:     Supplemental Practice Activities     ...........     251
Index:         ...............................................     265
About the Authors     ...............................................     275

Sample pages from Chapter 1

This book is a complete, practical summary of the state of our current work.  We're hoping that a big pre-sales Kickstarter will help pay back some of our dedication to researching and writing it, and help us move things forward over the next few months.

I'm pretty nervous as this is our first Kickstarter, despite being featured in a few previous video projects that did pretty well.  I don't want to over-promise, or indeed promise anything that I don't already have a solid plan in place to deliver: hence the item limits on things like DVDs, where we are only offering the current stock-on-hand, or events and training, where we can only physically and mentally be present for a certain number of projects in any given time span.

I could use your suggestions for a few additional reward items:
- it seems like there should be something at the $50 level. 
That would roughly correspond to book-plus-one-thing, but I'm not sure what one thing to include.  It should be about a $20 value, maybe from our existing online store, or some little personal touch.
The book contains complete, step-by-step plans for an 8" J-style heater, the table of dimensions for Peter van den Berg's batch box (with his kind permission), and scale drawings from most of our existing heater plan sets (both 6" and 8" J-style). 
So maybe we could include some plans that are not explicitly detailed in the book - one of the latest experiments?  Greenhouse heater plans, which are a little different from a conventional building, especially with regards to solar gain, water exposure, and chimney installation?

Maybe also something at the $500 or $600 level - a live training package?  A new online course or private online forum?  A "just want to see you guys flourish" donation?  I'd like to give back real value in the rewards categories, even if some of our supporters are backing us purely to support the research.

Other suggestions welcome.  We may add more reward categories and stretch goals, but we won't change anything once you've already chosen a pledge.  (We can't).

International supporters - we have looked up shipping rates for the countries where we have the most customers, but I know there's interest from other parts of the world.  And believe me, I know shipping is expensive.  (I'm biting my nails hoping that the weight of the finished book is within a few ounces of the weight of the galley proofs we practice-mailed.) 

Please be aware that the book may be distributed in Europe and Australia/NZ by a publishing partner; and possibly also in Asia.  So you might want to get a digital rewards package now, and wait for a better shipping price on the paperback book.

For our fans in Africa, upper Tibet, and South America who have been talking to Ernie about ordering options: Please keep in touch, and we can work something out.  You can even request a specific rewards package, or maybe we can do a separate deal for a wholesale package of 5 to 10 books that you can re-sell locally.  Or we could ask the publisher about releasing a high-res, print-on-demand-ready version of the eBook, with the separate cover file, that you can have printed locally for a good-quality result.  Or we just run the shipping calculator for your country, and add it to the rewards category you're interested in.  Don't worry, we'll figure something out.