grhouser: Try Farmtek.com, but also- Google. It's amazing what you will come up with. Just keep good notes on which seller offers the best materials at the best total delivered cost and go from there. BTW: A caution on cutting walled polycarb: Every time you cut it, tiny bits of materials get into the channels. It's virtually impossible to prevent it and even panels that will be used in their pre-cut state will attract bits of dust or insects. We found an air compressor the best means of making sure each channel in each panel was clear before we sealed, capped and installed it.

Hi DAX I had to take a look at that package and man is sure looks good, I may jump on it myself, a good value. Still looking for the air heated thermal mass floor heating link, I may have to go through old email and find the link that way, it was sent to me by a friend a while back. I have posted another interesting link below to solar heating,I had bookmarked tons of links on this, maybe to much to sort through, but i'll get there. On recessing the house into the ground "The other question that comes to mind is that obviously I need to have the trench bigger than the house so I can walk around the sides and repair it when necessary etc." I have not read any spec's on having an open space in the recessed treanch around the g/h for repair options. All the designs i've seen show direct contact with the earth using lower walls made of suitable. I plan on using just the top portion of the 10 ft. hoops which would be about 5 feet tall mounted to concrete block walls that are 4 feet high. As for the gravel thickness compactions I'll have to find the link but as memory serves me the gravel for it was less than 12 inches with 3" of finer materials on top of that. I'll get more info on this soon

I put in a Bixby corn stove about two months ago and generally like it. It burns various fuels including wood and corn pellets, either of which are available here for about $240 a ton. I've tried both corn and wood pellets and there are some interesting differences. The corn does burn hotter and the stove seems to generate more heat for the same amount of fuel. Also, burning wood pellets generate more sparks which throws more ash up out of the burn pot and onto the floor of the stove; as a result, the stove has to be vacuumed more often. With corn, the ash that falls into the ash drawer is mostly in the form of hard disks whereas with wood the ash in the drawer is powder. The disks fill the drawer faster than the powder, so the drawer needs to be emptied more often using corn. With corn, when the ash disk is dumped, the fire keeps going whereas with wood the fire goes out (it restarts automatically). If you humidify the disks they will break up easily (say, for spreading on your lawn). Wood pellets come in 40lb bags whereas the corn that I buy comes in 50lb bags. The 40lb bags stack better and are easier to carry. I think they stack better because corn is more slippery and so the bags are less manageable. I have a suspicion that wood pellets are more ecologically friendly than corn, though I really don't know for sure. My rational is that fertilizers are used in growing corn and these fertilizers are derived from oil or natural gas. Use of fertilizers for growing trees is rather limited and the bags of wood pellets I am now using say that they are made from waste saw-dust. For those considering a pellet stove, an issue to consider is how combustion air is brought into the stove. Failing to bring in outside air for this purpose will cause a suction in the building that will bring cold air in from the outside. The Bixby does this through a pipe that is built inside of the exhaust pipe, with the result that the combustion air is pre-heated and the exhaust is cooled. This is the best way to do it. If you are in the market for a pellet stove you should plan to also buy an ash vacuum (about $200). The reason you need a special vacuum is that these vacuums are built to withstand occasional hot coals that may be picked up.

When we were looking at Harmans the dealer said you "can" burn corn in there, but really it is just made for pellets. If you go with a freestanding stove the Harman PC-45 is made to burn corn, pellets, oats, soy etc etc etc.... A lot of people burn a corn mixture in the quads with no problems...but all the dealers we spoke with really discouraged using corn. To stick with pellets. In the end we are going to get a Bixby Stove. It can burn corn (100 %), Pellets or biomass pellets. And is sooo easy to clean and use. The only downfall is that is does cost more...but in my opinion it is worth it.