Rocket Stoves! Clean, Super Efficient Heat

SavedByGrace3 · Aug 27, 2015

We have been working on a way to install a rocket stove in our house so that the exhaust exits our fireplace. These stoves are super efficient. The top of this stove can reach in excess of 700 F. You cook, heat a large room, and direct the exhaust though structure to utilize the heat for many purposes. The heat becomes so high in the riser that most of the smoke particulate is burned off and all that is left is CO2 and some water vapor.
Anyone ever played with on of these? I am going to start experimenting with a smaller brick model.

from http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

Fireinfolding · Aug 27, 2015

I think its a great idea, I cant get anything past my husband, so that is out for me, but there are youtube videos on building your own indoor rocket stove. We have purchased one particular model over at amazon that is more portable (although not a miniture one) but for outdoor cookind (to diversify).

Then we rigged this one (with the exception of the two half cinderblocks)

El-cheapo (easy assembly and dissembly) right up my alley.

Although, I cant find where to get those two half cinderblocks (so we must off set a double under each grate) most of those cinderblocks are on our new roof holding down a tarp (because its more like an indoor water catchment system then a roof) thanks to the big orange box store.

I know you are talking about these as heaters, they seem very efficient, and I dont mind rigged stuff, whatever works to get you by.

I cant get hardly anything less conventional past my husband, without a "You are kidding me right"? ^_^

There are things I hate about being a woman sometimes

I think its a cool idea if it will work for you.

FreeinChrist · Aug 28, 2015

That looks interesting!

It reminds me of the old Girl Scout coffee tin stove.

from:
http://guidezone.e-guiding.com/jbvagst.htm

Method

1. Cut out one end of the large can with a can opener if not already done.
2. On the side and at the same end, cut an opening slightly larger than the small tin; bend in the cut tab.
3. Punch two smoke holes near the sealed end of the larger can.
4. Roll the corrugated cardboard and fit it snugly into the small tin. Trim the cardboard flush with the top of the tin and insert a few candle wicks.
5. Melt the wax in a double boiler.
6. Carefully fill the tin with hot wax and wait until the cardboard has soaked up much of it. Then refill the tin to the top and leave to cool.
The smaller tin is called the buddy burner

The rocket stove is superior in that you only need twigs once it is made, where a vagabond stove needs parafin wax and cardboard and a wick.

FreeinChrist · Aug 28, 2015

Didaskalos said:
We have been working on a way to install a rocket stove in our house so that the exhaust exits our fireplace. These stoves are super efficient. The top of this stove can reach in excess of 700 F. You cook, heat a large room, and direct the exhaust though structure to utilize the heat for many purposes. The heat becomes so high in the riser that most of the smoke particulate is burned off and all that is left is CO2 and some water vapor.
Anyone ever played with on of these? I am going to start experimenting with a smaller brick model.

from http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

This looks like a way to heat the house or a room. You would need real good ventilation though.

I read about a guy that used a propane generator inside the house and then died because of the fumes. Without ventilation, this could be a problem too

Goodbook · Aug 28, 2015

I think a wetback stove or those pot belly ones are the best you can heat the whole house and do your cooking and dry your clothes at the same time.

But you would need to collect firewood and thats the peparation part.

Most people cooking with gas sswear by it cos it cooks better than an electric stove that takes too long and of course a microwave is just beneath consideration. Who eats nuked food!

Poster0 · Aug 29, 2015

Rocket stoves seem like they make so much sense. I plan on building one very soon and i will see if they live up to the hype, although i believe that they do. I have seen many rocket stoves online that people have built and i'm impressed with their simplicity and efficiency. When built correctly these stoves supposedly burn clean (smokeless) and they use far less wood than conventional wood burning stoves. Of course like any other stove they would need to be well vented when used indoors, and its good to have an external air supply feeding the stoves combustion chamber.

These stoves can be used to heat hot water, cook food and heat homes. I have also seen them used to make charcoal which can be used in outdoor grills, bio char for gardens, and any other use that one can think of for charcoal. i have seen people use wood pellets as fuel too. Wood pellets have the advantage of using a hopper filled with pellets, which can be useful. I'm interested in building this stove to be used in charcoal making, and it can be also used as an emergency stove to boil water and cook food in a power outage situation .

The only thing that impresses me more than a rocket stove is a wood gasifiyer. It uses wood gasification much like a rocket stove also does, but it is designed to turn wood into gas that can run a combustion engine on a generator. I am planning on building one of these as well, although they are a bit more complicated. FEMA has designed and wrote plans for building an emergency gasifier.

Poster0 · Aug 29, 2015

Here is a YouTube video demonstration of a gasoline engine using wood gas fed directly from a gasifier. No gasoline is used to power this generator, and its fueled exclusively with wood only. This man also shows the blue colored flame that his gasifier produces during the burn. This means that its a clean burning gas comparable to propane or natural gas. He used the FEMA plans to build his gasifier.

SavedByGrace3 · Aug 30, 2015

Poster0 said:
Rocket stoves seem like they make so much sense. I plan on building one very soon and i will see if they live up to the hype, although i believe that they do. I have seen many rocket stoves online that people have built and i'm impressed with their simplicity and efficiency. When built correctly these stoves supposedly burn clean (smokeless) and they use far less wood than conventional wood burning stoves. Of course like any other stove they would need to be well vented when used indoors, and its good to have an external air supply feeding the stoves combustion chamber.

These stoves can be used to heat hot water, cook food and heat homes. I have also seen them used to make charcoal which can be used in outdoor grills, bio char for gardens, and any other use that one can think of for charcoal. i have seen people use wood pellets as fuel too. Wood pellets have the advantage of using a hopper filled with pellets, which can be useful. I'm interested in building this stove to be used in charcoal making, and it can be also used as an emergency stove to boil water and cook food in a power outage situation .

The only thing that impresses me more than a rocket stove is a wood gasifiyer. It uses wood gasification much like a rocket stove also does, but it is designed to turn wood into gas that can run a combustion engine on a generator. I am planning on building one of these as well, although they are a bit more complicated. FEMA has designed and wrote plans for building an emergency gasifier.

Great stuff postero. Keep us informed when you do these things. The wood pellet idea sounds very nice if you just keep the hopper filled, that would eliminate the continual attention to the fuel.I have seen the gasifier on TV. I wonder what the wood to gas ratio would be. It all seems to be a sensible energy source when mabell is down for the count.

SavedByGrace3 · Aug 30, 2015

Poster0 said:
Here is a YouTube video demonstration of a gasoline engine using wood gas fed directly from a gasifier. No gasoline is used to power this generator, and its fueled exclusively with wood only. This man also shows the blue colored flame that his gasifier produces during the burn. This means that its a clean burning gas comparable to propane or natural gas. He used the FEMA plans to build his gasifier.

Great. So FEMA is not always the bad guy.

Poster0 · Aug 30, 2015

Didaskalos said:
Great stuff postero. Keep us informed when you do these things. The wood pellet idea sounds very nice if you just keep the hopper filled, that would eliminate the continual attention to the fuel.I have seen the gasifier on TV. I wonder what the wood to gas ratio would be. It all seems to be a sensible energy source when mabell is down for the count.

Thanks, i will. I dont know what the wood to gas ratio would be for the gasifyer but i do know that it burns wood very efficiently, just as the rocket stove also does. That's the magic of gasification. It doesn't waste any energy from the wood, and little is lost through the chimney.

Poster0 · Aug 30, 2015

Also, the gasifier will only burn as much as it draws. If it draws only a little it will burn slower. If you hook it up to an engine requiring more fuel, then it will burn faster and consume more fuel. A comparison would be driving a truck from point A to point B. If the truck is unloaded then it will use less fuel from point A to B than it would if it were loaded down going from that same point A to B. The gasifier must also be of a size that matches the size engine that's used. A small gasifier will run a small engine but a larger gasifier with a larger burn tube is required for larger engines.

Poster0 · Aug 30, 2015

Didaskalos said:
Great. So FEMA is not always the bad guy.

No, i guess not.

Poster0 · Aug 30, 2015

One more thing. The gasifier is not really that complicated, although it looks complicated in that video. A lot of that stuff you see is nothing more than pipes and filters that cool the gas and filter out particles before it goes into the engines carburetor or intake manifold. I have seen people hook these directly up to a carburetor without any major modifications, and have seen them remove the carburetor completely as well. Both ways seem to work. These filters and coolers are easily made as well and not all that complicated.

Truthfrees · Aug 30, 2015

Didaskalos said:
We have been working on a way to install a rocket stove in our house so that the exhaust exits our fireplace. These stoves are super efficient. The top of this stove can reach in excess of 700 F. You cook, heat a large room, and direct the exhaust though structure to utilize the heat for many purposes. The heat becomes so high in the riser that most of the smoke particulate is burned off and all that is left is CO2 and some water vapor.
Anyone ever played with on of these? I am going to start experimenting with a smaller brick model.

from http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

FreeinChrist said:
That looks interesting!

It reminds me of the old Girl Scout coffee tin stove.

View attachment 162569

from:
http://guidezone.e-guiding.com/jbvagst.htm

The rocket stove is superior in that you only need twigs once it is made, where a vagabond stove needs parafin wax and cardboard and a wick.

Poster0 said:
Rocket stoves seem like they make so much sense. I plan on building one very soon and i will see if they live up to the hype, although i believe that they do. I have seen many rocket stoves online that people have built and i'm impressed with their simplicity and efficiency. When built correctly these stoves supposedly burn clean (smokeless) and they use far less wood than conventional wood burning stoves. Of course like any other stove they would need to be well vented when used indoors, and its good to have an external air supply feeding the stoves combustion chamber.

These stoves can be used to heat hot water, cook food and heat homes. I have also seen them used to make charcoal which can be used in outdoor grills, bio char for gardens, and any other use that one can think of for charcoal. i have seen people use wood pellets as fuel too. Wood pellets have the advantage of using a hopper filled with pellets, which can be useful. I'm interested in building this stove to be used in charcoal making, and it can be also used as an emergency stove to boil water and cook food in a power outage situation .

The only thing that impresses me more than a rocket stove is a wood gasifiyer. It uses wood gasification much like a rocket stove also does, but it is designed to turn wood into gas that can run a combustion engine on a generator. I am planning on building one of these as well, although they are a bit more complicated. FEMA has designed and wrote plans for building an emergency gasifier.

Poster0 said:
Here is a YouTube video demonstration of a gasoline engine using wood gas fed directly from a gasifier. No gasoline is used to power this generator, and its fueled exclusively with wood only. This man also shows the blue colored flame that his gasifier produces during the burn. This means that its a clean burning gas comparable to propane or natural gas. He used the FEMA plans to build his gasifier.

Thanks great info.

Poster0 · Sep 4, 2015

I did build a rocket stove and it worked well. I made it using a steel trashcan and some stovepipe. Its slightly modified so i can use it for making charcoal. I got this idea for a modified stove off of YouTube. Below is a link for the trashcan rocket stove design that i used, but i modified the stove pipe elbow like the guy in this video did. If you look you can see that he drilled holes in the elbow so the wood gas being released from the charcoal can escape into the combustion chamber (i think it may be called the reactor, not sure) The gas burns and increases the temperature more than normal. Normal Rocket stove designs do not have these holes drilled in the pipe elbow, this is only done if its used for making charcoal. In the video the rocket stove does smoke quite a bit and has a lot of flame shooting out of the top, but that's only because its making charcoal, normal stoves do not smoke and burn like that.

Here is a link for the stove design that i used.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Building-A-Rocket-Stove-For-The-Cabin/?ALLSTEPS

Poster0 · Oct 16, 2015

This is a cool idea. Its basically a downdraft, forced air, rocket stove. It seem to be serving as a torch. I may need to experiment with this idea for heating my forge.

Poster0 · Oct 16, 2015

Same idea as above. The flame may seem cold, but if you force more air into this stove then it will get much hotter.

MrJim · Oct 16, 2015

I've heard about Rocket Stoves on Spirko's podcasts but never got one...everything sounds good about them...

Poster0 · Oct 17, 2015

MrJim said:
I've heard about Rocket Stoves on Spirko's podcasts but never got one...everything sounds good about them...

They have small camping rocket stoves, and they also have much bigger ones as well. The bigger ones are usually insulated and that helps it burn even more efficiently, however it doesn't need to be insulated necessarily.

What i like about them is that they don't smoke. When you first fire them up they do smoke a little but in a couple minutes they start to burn clean. I love their simplicity too. They are actually very easy to build.

Poster0 · Oct 17, 2015

Rocket stoves are basically nothing more than a J shaped pipe. You could easily make one out of black stove pipe and sheet metal screws. No welding necessary.

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