# Traditional Russian Pechka (heating your home)



## TG

We didn't have electricity for the first 15 years of my life for heating, just a single lamp hanging from the ceiling, but the houses (not all of them log cabins, some just regular brick homes) I lived in, (Ukraine, Siberia..etc) were always very warm in the Winter. 
Every house had a Pechka, you can sleep on the side of it, some Pechkas had a double space for more family members to sleep on, depending on how you build it. Russian oven - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 
http://russianstove.com/brickyard/

A few photos I found on the web&#8230;


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## Kahlan

Those are so cool looking!!


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## TG

I find that the best Pechkas are the ones that are built right in the middle of the house, not in the corners/against walls, heat is evenly distributed and house smells amazing when bread is baked early in the morning.


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## TG

More info here, in English Simple Technology Providing Maximum Efficiency - The Russian Stove

This website have a lot of info and you can even purchase detailed drawings and ask questions, all in English: Simple Technology Providing Maximum Efficiency - The Russian Stove


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## Kahlan

If I ever get to build my dream bol I will have to serious consider something like this. I had just planned on a wood stove but I really like this.


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## TG

I remember sleeping on it when I was a kid.
Pechka was warm all night after just cooking dinner at around 5pm, there was no need at all to burn extra wood after cooking, the whole house was warm until morning.. then in the morning, you bake bread and cook breakfast and lunch to take to work.. the house will be warm until you're ready to cook dinner.


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## Salt-N-Pepper

That's really cool... but those are bigger than my BOL cabin


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## Salt-N-Pepper

BTW Siberia? In a city or were you "out there among God and his creatures?"


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## Arklatex

Very cool. Thanks for sharing.


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## TG

Salt-N-Pepper said:


> BTW Siberia? In a city or were you "out there among God and his creatures?"


I have relatives all over former Soviet Union, thanks to Joseph Stalin who liked sending my family (and thousands of others) on "vacations to nowhere" and encouraging them to learn all kinds of different new skills like logging, mining, building the railroad..etc

In Sibiria, I lived in Tomsk, Omsk and Kamchatka areas, some others..


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## Salt-N-Pepper

TorontoGal said:


> I have relatives all over former Soviet Union, thanks to Joseph Stalin who liked sending my family (and thousands of others) on "vacations to nowhere" and encouraging them to learn all kinds of different new skills like logging, mining, building the railroad..etc
> 
> In Sibiria, I lived in Tomsk, Omsk and Kamchatka areas, some others..


Ah!

I am a huge fan of Nikolai Getman's art... one of my life goals is to visit the Gulag Memorial called The 'Mask of Grief', by Ernst Neizvestny in Magadan, an amazing brutalist building/artwork.


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## 7052

Looks like it shares a lot of features w/ "rocket mass heaters" some folks build into their houses or BOL's.


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## Mad Trapper

Thank you for sharing.

Many of the earliest homes colonial homes here had central hearths that included ovens and such but this was the first time I've seen sleeping area incorporated into the design. There was a local 1680s farmhouse that was recently torn down which had such a hearth. I wish I had taken pictures

I agree having the thermal mass inside the house is a good way to use all of the energy, and being able to sleep with the heat is wonderful.

TG did you have central plumbing and if not how was the cold weather dealt with? Bathrooms? Please share more of your off-grid experiences. It is good learning.

My grandparents lived without electricity for most of their lives. They had both a glenwood cookstove and a second large stove just for heat. The glenwood was a combo wood propane like this:

Contact Barnstable Stove, Antique Coal, Wood, Kitchen and Parlor Stove Was nice to have the gas for summer use.

The farm had spring fed cisterns that gravity fed the plumbing. An uncle devised a water powered generator that provided 6V lights for many years, using truck parts and batteries.


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## TG

Mad Trapper said:


> TG did you have central plumbing and if not how was the cold weather dealt with? Bathrooms?


We didn't have central plumbing for a long time unfortunately, although some relatives who were assigned a government apartment had both, plumbing and heat. Some newly-built little houses had heating, gas stove and plumbing.

We used the outhouse in the warmer months and had metal bucket for Winter and just empty it into the outhouse. Some would just dress warm and go to the outhouse in the Winter, it was never a big deal really. I think it's a difficult change for someone who lived with modern comforts.


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## TG

Unfortunately I desperately miss Siberia when the Winter approaches here, in Toronto. Feeling painfully nostalgic helps me post about life back home 

I also lived in South/Eastern Ukraine but best Winters are in Sibir'.


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## 1skrewsloose

Those sound like hard times! Folks think I'm lying when I tell them we had an outhouse and used the Sears catalog for TP. This was rural southern Wisconsin in the 50's.


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## TG

1skrewsloose said:


> Those sound like hard times! Folks think I'm lying when I tell them we had an outhouse and used the Sears catalog for TP. This was rural southern Wisconsin in the 50's.


We used newspaper.. Unfortunately, some of us were severely behind the times. If your family was involved in any anti-communist activity (even as far back as 1905), you were a lot less likely (a couple family members were lucky) to receive government-assigned apartments because no one was allowed to build unless approved by government, lots of people had to be creative. Times are a lot better now but not for everyone.

Edited to add, I'm glad we didn't end up living in some high-rise apartment either way.


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## SARGE7402

Koreans have been using an under floor heating system Ondol ondol heating - Bing Images for centuries.


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## Old SF Guy

thanks for the Korean info too Sarge.


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## bigwheel

Hey thanks and deep condolences. When Stalin killed all your folks. Do that seem like Obummer a little? What do you think abou Pooty Poot?


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## TG

bigwheel said:


> Hey thanks and deep condolences. When Stalin killed all your folks. Do that seem like Obummer a little? What do you think abou Pooty Poot?


I'm not going to discuss your president, I'm not a citizen of your country.


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## csi-tech

I like my Southern United States winters. Siberian winters are rough on us Yankees and Germans (Paulus) and French (Napoleon). You can keep them. The fireplaces are cute though.


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## Camel923

I have heard of these heating systems but seeing them puts them in a different light. Great post. What materials are pechka made from?


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## oddapple

Love a middle of room fireplace


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## TG

Camel923 said:


> I have heard of these heating systems but seeing them puts them in a different light. Great post. What materials are pechka made from?


This link is awesome for all info: Simple Technology Providing Maximum Efficiency - The Russian Stove

Our pechkas were built out of whatever used old bricks my family could find.


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## TG

SARGE7402 said:


> Koreans have been using an under floor heating system Ondol ondol heating - Bing Images for centuries.


Sarge, thanks for the heads-up, I've been reading a lot on this topic, thanks to you


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## Notsoyoung

Oh my God, they are cooking that kid in the first picture! Just kidding. That looks both really cool and makes allot of sense. One of the problems with a cast iron stove is that it cools off quickly, while once that much masonry heats up it would take a long time for it to cool off. Thank you for posting it.


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## SDF880

I want one! Thanks for sharing this!


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## Boss Dog

This is too cool! If... I ever get to build my own place... I will consider this.


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## Sasquatch

I've seen these but never knew what they were called. Very cool. Thanks for the informative post!


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