My First Rocket Stove - Sort of

[Cam]

So with all the extra time I have now without classes I decided to throw together a rocket stove from some stuff laying around the house and garage. Overall it doesn't function too great but I think that's due to the air intake slanting up rather than towards the ground. Correct me if I'm wrong though (and if you see any other glaring issues please point them out, I am new to this). 

I used a drill, tin snips, and an angle grinder to create this beautiful work of art  I hope the video works. I took photos too in case it doesn't.

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[Cam]

Also I think salt is good at storing heat..not so much about how it works as an insulator. I said that wrong in the video. Finally the actual burn chamber is a soup can, I forgot to mention that. 

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[Nearingsfault]

Also I think salt is good at storing heat..not so much about how it works as an insulator. I said that wrong in the video. Finally the actual burn chamber is a soup can, I forgot to mention that.

cam I think I would try ash or broken brick as your insulator on the riser. At first glance the riser volume to air intake looks a little small maybe try adding 3 or 4 inches see what happens.

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[Cam]

Also I think salt is good at storing heat..not so much about how it works as an insulator. I said that wrong in the video. Finally the actual burn chamber is a soup can, I forgot to mention that.

cam I think I would try ash or broken brick as your insulator on the riser. At first glance the riser volume to air intake looks a little small maybe try adding 3 or 4 inches see what happens.

So maybe another soup can on top? I will give that a go. Attaching it will be my challenge for tomorrow. And the salt as an insulator was a bit of an experiment as I don't have access to sand, ash or broken brick right now. Once things thaw some more I could try sand or see how much ash I could get from our fire pit in the back yard (again all frozen over right now). Thanks for the feedback!

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[Cam]

If you want a break from the coronavirus news, give this beauty a look. I followed NF's advice and just stuck another can on top of the riser (not insulated I know) and the stove suddenly worked a whole lot better. I made myself some tea and poached an egg on it.

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[Nearingsfault]

If you want a break from the coronavirus news, give this beauty a look. I followed NF's advice and just stuck another can on top of the riser (not insulated I know) and the stove suddenly worked a whole lot better. I made myself some tea and poached an egg on it.

nice!!! Keep it up!

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[Eddie]

Sweet. You're halfway to being a metalworker and a rocket stove expert.

I gathered up the stuff to build a thermal mass rocket heater out on the stead.. Another project I never got around to actually building. I have a 55 gal stainless drum and 20 gallon steel barrels and stovepipe for the riser. Clay....pretty much everything.

The main reason I never got it built was that I saw the need to build a very big stone hearth first. Which would have been a big job.

 I got so caught up in raising pigs for a while  I had no time.  I went way too big on pigs....but I did learn that you can ramp up production pretty fast, which at the time was my primary objective. But pigs eat too much unless you can grow the chow. If I go there again I'll do it two at a time and it'll definitely be a same sex marriage.

Heat here is kind of a luxury compared to Ontario and NS....   , and besides, I had a heat. pump and grid power out there.

Lesson to self:  Stay small and don't bite off more than you can chew, Ed.

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[Cam]

If you want a break from the coronavirus news, give this beauty a look. I followed NF's advice and just stuck another can on top of the riser (not insulated I know) and the stove suddenly worked a whole lot better. I made myself some tea and poached an egg on it.

nice!!! Keep it up!

Thank you, and thank you for the tip!

Sweet. You're halfway to being a metalworker and a rocket stove expert.

I gathered up the stuff to build a thermal mass rocket heater out on the stead.. Another project I never got around to actually building. I have a 55 gal stainless drum and 20 gallon steel barrels and stovepipe for the riser. Clay....pretty much everything.

The main reason I never got it built was that I saw the need to build a very big stone hearth first. Which would have been a big job.

 I got so caught up in raising pigs for a while  I had no time.  I went way too big on pigs....but I did learn that you can ramp up production pretty fast, which at the time was my primary objective. But pigs eat too much unless you can grow the chow. If I go there again I'll do it two at a time and it'll definitely be a same sex marriage.

Heat here is kind of a luxury compared to Ontario and NS....   , and besides, I had a heat. pump and grid power out there.

Lesson to self:  Stay small and don't bite off more than you can chew, Ed.

Thanks Eddie! It felt pretty neat standing there watching flames shoot out the top of my little recycled stove that I threw together with an angle grinder, a drill and some tin snips. It's so simple yet it works so well!

I forget where you are...I thought you were in the southern states but that might be totally wrong. I like the story of the pigs. It's always one thing to watch a video or read a blog on how to do something but it's very different to actually DO it. Life always seems to throw a wrench into things eh? It's the best way to learn though. Good thing same sex marriage is legal now.

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[Eddie]

I'm in Texas where winters  are often  fairly mild, but can occasionally turn rather harsh for short periods ...not like a maritime climate. 'We get the "blue northers" that come down off the plains when the  jet stream does that wobbly thing it does sometimes....

Climate here has always been spotty, even in pioneer days....like Australia sorta. We have a long history of droughts...and  that ain't goin' away.....just getting punctuated by more floods here and there these days.

We need heat to be comfy, but not really to survive, most of the time. Thermal mass rocket heaters are one way to go.....they have pluses and minuses. A good airtight wood stove is nice to have here too. I have a wood cookstove, a good one.....not currently in use either....but it could be used if needed.

Probably the biggest plus for a rocket heater on my place would be fire safety. I have so many dry leaves and deadfalls. A properly built rocket heater does not have a hot exhaust to set the woods on fire. A regular wood stove can be fitted with a spark arrestor.....in the old days nobody around here did things like that. It's new-fangled technology. Expensive too....and everybody has a budget.

Houses are not built here with internal thermal mass in mind. This is a key concept in building good houses, however. My cabin at the stead is an old DW trailer (much modified)  and sits up off the ground......it needs a hearth that goes down to ground level and up to floor level...several tons of rock...which I do have. Once the hearth is there and the crawl space is well insulated, then the stove is the easy part. Most things are easier to do if they are part of the original construction.....but most houses of all kinds need to be retro-engineered.

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[Surly1]

If you want a break from the coronavirus news, give this beauty a look. I followed NF's advice and just stuck another can on top of the riser (not insulated I know) and the stove suddenly worked a whole lot better. I made myself some tea and poached an egg on it.

nice!!! Keep it up!

Thank you, and thank you for the tip!

Sweet. You're halfway to being a metalworker and a rocket stove expert.

I gathered up the stuff to build a thermal mass rocket heater out on the stead.. Another project I never got around to actually building. I have a 55 gal stainless drum and 20 gallon steel barrels and stovepipe for the riser. Clay....pretty much everything.

The main reason I never got it built was that I saw the need to build a very big stone hearth first. Which would have been a big job.

 I got so caught up in raising pigs for a while  I had no time.  I went way too big on pigs....but I did learn that you can ramp up production pretty fast, which at the time was my primary objective. But pigs eat too much unless you can grow the chow. If I go there again I'll do it two at a time and it'll definitely be a same sex marriage.

Heat here is kind of a luxury compared to Ontario and NS....   , and besides, I had a heat. pump and grid power out there.

Lesson to self:  Stay small and don't bite off more than you can chew, Ed.

Thanks Eddie! It felt pretty neat standing there watching flames shoot out the top of my little recycled stove that I threw together with an angle grinder, a drill and some tin snips. It's so simple yet it works so well!

I forget where you are...I thought you were in the southern states but that might be totally wrong. I like the story of the pigs. It's always one thing to watch a video or read a blog on how to do something but it's very different to actually DO it. Life always seems to throw a wrench into things eh? It's the best way to learn though. Good thing same sex marriage is legal now.

Got any pix? Glad it went well.

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[Cam]

If you want a break from the coronavirus news, give this beauty a look. I followed NF's advice and just stuck another can on top of the riser (not insulated I know) and the stove suddenly worked a whole lot better. I made myself some tea and poached an egg on it.

nice!!! Keep it up!

Thank you, and thank you for the tip!

Sweet. You're halfway to being a metalworker and a rocket stove expert.

I gathered up the stuff to build a thermal mass rocket heater out on the stead.. Another project I never got around to actually building. I have a 55 gal stainless drum and 20 gallon steel barrels and stovepipe for the riser. Clay....pretty much everything.

The main reason I never got it built was that I saw the need to build a very big stone hearth first. Which would have been a big job.

 I got so caught up in raising pigs for a while  I had no time.  I went way too big on pigs....but I did learn that you can ramp up production pretty fast, which at the time was my primary objective. But pigs eat too much unless you can grow the chow. If I go there again I'll do it two at a time and it'll definitely be a same sex marriage.

Heat here is kind of a luxury compared to Ontario and NS....   , and besides, I had a heat. pump and grid power out there.

Lesson to self:  Stay small and don't bite off more than you can chew, Ed.

Thanks Eddie! It felt pretty neat standing there watching flames shoot out the top of my little recycled stove that I threw together with an angle grinder, a drill and some tin snips. It's so simple yet it works so well!

I forget where you are...I thought you were in the southern states but that might be totally wrong. I like the story of the pigs. It's always one thing to watch a video or read a blog on how to do something but it's very different to actually DO it. Life always seems to throw a wrench into things eh? It's the best way to learn though. Good thing same sex marriage is legal now.

Got any pix? Glad it went well.

I think you might have scrolled past them by accident. Just look at my recent post before my response to Eddie and NF and it should be there. If not I'll send them to you in a pm.

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[Cam]

Another update on the little stove. My family finished off another can of coffee (I don't drink coffee so I wait for them) so I decided to put it to use. I stuck it on top of the riser, swept up some sand off our driveway and used that as an insulator. At first the sand fell into the little crevice between the two cans, so I dumped it out and put some used tin foil down and stuffed the crack with it. Now that it's all sealed it should work. I REALLY wanted to test it out but for some reason Ontario is under a province-wide fire ban. I'm very excited to see if this improves the function or if the riser is too high now. I just have to wait for this fire ban to be lifted to find out.

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[Cam]

It works! And very well at that.  Take a look at the pics and you will notice that there's NO smoke  NF to one of your very first comments about sand as an insulator, that works too. The bottom half which is filled with salt (part I built in the winter with no sand or ash available) was too hot to touch after a few minutes of burning, but the sand filled part was just toasty even after 10 minutes of burning. I think I officially have a functioning rocket stove. I might try making some more tea on it tomorrow. Or some pasta. Why not?

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[Eddie]

Nicely done....and the garden bed hoops too. 

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[Cam]

Thank you! Today was a busy day and tomorrow will be too with more gardening stuff.

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