This years Rocket Stove developements

[Graham Orm]

I changed the fire box completely this year and it's made a huge difference. If anyone wants any advice please ask, I've been through a huge learning curve with this.

It's advantages over a standard woodburner are :
Hugely increased temperature output from a small amount of fuel.
Goes through fuel more slowly.
Zero smoke from the flue, so not irritating neighbours.
Fun to build.
Toasty warm workshop. (Had to open the door a couple of times today).


This is the highest temp I recorded today and as a matter of fact the highest ever. Prior to my improvements I think the top was getting to around 500 deg.

Zero emissions, just a heat haze. All the smoke is re-burned in the rocket pipe.

 

[bugbear]

I am slightly confused by Rocket Stoves. There are several people out in net-land
hymning their praises in fairly unambiguous terms.

But many of them seem a little ... eccentric. One site carries not
only rocket stove information, but promises wonderful healing things
from the "Balm of Gilead" complete with biblical references and
seminars on the "secret". This does not fill me with confidence.

Further, if the combustion mode were as massively superior as claimed,
surely (in this free market age) one of the many heat-mass boiler
manufacturers would have adopted it.

So I'm a little baffled as to what's going on.

BugBear

 

[woodpig]

I thought Rocket Stoves were for cooking on?

 

[MIGNAL]

They are, or for heating. I've no idea of the respective efficiences as I've no experience with Rocketstoves. I do know that my standard woodburner consumes a lot of wood.
One thing I do know, your insurance company are going to have a great big fat get out if anything untowards happens.
So if you are to experiment make sure it's in an outbuilding that has no chance of affecting your house proper.
Surely it can't be that difficult to test the efficiences of normally aspirated stoves and this type. I mean, it's hardly rocket science!

 

[Ali]

841 Degrees??! Wowzer!!! I wouldn't want to rest my hand on that.

Impressive, I don't know anything about this but congratulations on the hard work Grayorm, some impressive benchmark figures there! have a lovely toasty feeling in that workshop!

 

[orchard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTnr8ua54Uw

Rocket stove technology is used a lot more elsewhere than here, especially where there's a limited supply of wood, although high-end manufacturers over here do provide expensive versions

 

[bugbear]

Rocket stove technology is used a lot more elsewhere than here, especially where there's a limited supply of wood, although high-end manufacturers over here do provide expensive versions

Do you have a link to a manufactured room/house heating one? I can find lots of companies selling camping ones, but the
size seems to stop at "Yurt" scale. All the room/home size ones seem to be home made.

BugBear

 

[MIGNAL]

BB. I don't think they are legal. All the homemade Rockets mass heater flues seem to terminate horizontally. I don't see how they can comply with building regs.

 

[bugbear]

BB. I don't think they are legal. All the homemade Rockets mass heater flues seem to terminate horizontally. I don't see how they can comply with building regs.

Aah - thanks for that.

BugBear

 

[orchard]

Rocket stove technology is used a lot more elsewhere than here, especially where there's a limited supply of wood, although high-end manufacturers over here do provide expensive versions

Do you have a link to a manufactured room/house heating one? I can find lots of companies selling camping ones, but the
size seems to stop at "Yurt" scale. All the room/home size ones seem to be home made.

BugBear

OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN'T ONE (homer) :

http://www.stovedesign.com/rocket.html

I'm sure i've seen larger industrial manufacturer's doing versions whilst I was researching last year.
Like (I think) I said, they're not getting loads of attention here beyond micro-scale, whereas there's a lot out there internationally -- perhaps CE does have something to do with it, and also a lot of people who are into this currently, self-build, because from a permaculture perspective, it's advantageous to be integrated within the domestic system a lot more than a manufactured off-the-shelf solution IMO mate

 

[Jacob]

...
Further, if the combustion mode were as massively superior as claimed,
surely (in this free market age) one of the many heat-mass boiler
manufacturers would have adopted it.,,,,

The heat mass boiler makers have adopted it. Google "batch wood burner" or "gasification boiler".
The problem for heating is that either you stoke a small fire continuously or you do a big fast firing and store the heat - typically 1 to 2k litres of insulated water tank.

 

[bugbear]

The heat mass boiler makers have adopted it. Google "batch wood burner" or "gasification boiler".
The problem for heating is that either you stoke a small fire continuously or you do a big fast firing and store the heat - typically 1 to 2k litres of insulated water tank.

The first search didn't give much (apart from a post by you back in 2012!!). The second one
is much better, and leads to some fancy high tech boilers.

But they look/function nothing like the "rocket stoves" being built by the permaculture crowd, which seems to work more by convection and carefully sized/angled pipes; the commercial ones are full of ducts and fans and special refractory materials.

Still can't see any commercial "rocket stoves".

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

The heat mass boiler makers have adopted it. Google "batch wood burner" or "gasification boiler".
The problem for heating is that either you stoke a small fire continuously or you do a big fast firing and store the heat - typically 1 to 2k litres of insulated water tank.

The first search didn't give much (apart from a post by you back in 2012!!). The second one
is much better, and leads to some fancy high tech boilers.

But they look/function nothing like the "rocket stoves" being built by the permaculture crowd, which seems to work more by convection and carefully sized/angled pipes; the commercial ones are full of ducts and fans and special refractory materials.

Still can't see any commercial "rocket stoves".

BugBear

They are the same in that in both the whole point is to achieve a rapid high temperature burn, which is most efficient in terms of heat output and cleanness. Needs dry wood so the small stick size helps there too.
As compared to say a heap of dryish logs smouldering away with the dampers closed in a normal log burner i.e. very inefficient.

 

[Robbo3]

Yes please Grayorm. Would be very interested in the internal layout.

Presumably welding skills are required

 

[Graham Orm]

I am slightly confused by Rocket Stoves. There are several people out in net-land
hymning their praises in fairly unambiguous terms.

But many of them seem a little ... eccentric. One site carries not
only rocket stove information, but promises wonderful healing things
from the "Balm of Gilead" complete with biblical references and
seminars on the "secret". This does not fill me with confidence.

Further, if the combustion mode were as massively superior as claimed,
surely (in this free market age) one of the many heat-mass boiler
manufacturers would have adopted it.

So I'm a little baffled as to what's going on.

BugBear

Yes they do bring wonderful healing powers. I was going to come onto that later, I'll be doing a thread about the "secret" as well. :mrgreen:

I believe they are available commercially now BB. They are fed by pellet so large storage bins are required that will provide a constant feed so not really practical for domestic use. Possibly why you haven't seen them.

 

[Graham Orm]

Yes please Grayorm. Would be very interested in the internal layout.

Presumably welding skills are required

Yes, you'll need to do a lot of welding and cutting with a grinder. This guy has been developing them for a couple of years, this video shows the inside design pretty much how mine looks. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhUpghEy1D8
The cylinder provides radiant heat as well as containing the open flame.

The fire box on mine is surrounded with this stuff http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/26149060 ... 108&ff19=0 It insulates it which helps it get hot.

After a test I took the wood out mid burn and the firebox inside was glowing red!

 

[Graham Orm]

I've been playing with these for 2 years now on and off. I think I've had about 4 different fire box designs with varying results.

This was the first shape that I tried. It simply wouldn't work, no matter what i did. (Thanks to Orchard for his diagram).

There has to be a feed of air to the back of the fire box which then goes straight up the rocket pipe and burns with the exhaust gases. You'll notice on mine a plate held by mole grips at the bottom, the wood is put on top of this, so allowing air to pass underneath it to the back of the burn chamber.

 

[Graham Orm]

OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN'T ONE (homer) :

http://www.stovedesign.com/rocket.html



I'm sure i've seen larger industrial manufacturer's doing versions whilst I was researching last year.
Like (I think) I said, they're not getting loads of attention here beyond micro-scale, whereas there's a lot out there internationally -- perhaps CE does have something to do with it, and also a lot of people who are into this currently, self-build, because from a permaculture perspective, it's advantageous to be integrated within the domestic system a lot more than a manufactured off-the-shelf solution IMO mate

My original search was for a smokeless log burner for the workshop as I live on an estate with small gardens and properties are close by. I knew nothing of Rocket stoves and have been fascinated ever since by the concept. Do you make them commercially? Did you make the one above? Lovely job!

 

[Jacob]

I think that stove above is just a normal wood-burner with "Rocket" in the name. Nothing to do with your rocket design.

 

[orchard]

OBVIOUSLY THIS ISN'T ONE (homer) :

http://www.stovedesign.com/rocket.html



I'm sure i've seen larger industrial manufacturer's doing versions whilst I was researching last year.
Like (I think) I said, they're not getting loads of attention here beyond micro-scale, whereas there's a lot out there internationally -- perhaps CE does have something to do with it, and also a lot of people who are into this currently, self-build, because from a permaculture perspective, it's advantageous to be integrated within the domestic system a lot more than a manufactured off-the-shelf solution IMO mate

My original search was for a smokeless log burner for the workshop as I live on an estate with small gardens and properties are close by. I knew nothing of Rocket stoves and have been fascinated ever since by the concept. Do you make them commercially? Did you make the one above? Lovely job!

Hahaha, no, I was rushing to find a commercial rocket stove for Bugbear, and came across this and took the name a bit too literally, Bugbear rightly pointed it out, so I swiftly edited it with a 'Homer' mate.
Have you checked out the Youtube link I posted earlier ? Geoff Lawton has a few useful applied examples.