Well this was a success.
I had been enjoying using the the little charcoal cooker so much I decided I'd just bump up the schedule and install the rocket stove with the griddle top that I had been planning to do. So, scavenging the parts and pieces, a bit of stove pipe here and there and the old cooker--60 bucks worth of bricks and mortar and a 24 x 24 piece of 1/4 steel from Hilo steel and I'm done for under 200 bucks. Half of that was the steel top.
It burns with nearly unbelievable efficiency, and once hot it burns very nearly smoke free. You may smell a bit of smoke odor but there will be no visible smoke. Certainly it burns as cl
ean or cleaner than a charcoal BBQ, which is remarkable considering I'm burning not particularly well seasoned wood.It works much like any other wood burning cook stove I've ever used. Heat is simple enough to adjust by placement of the pots or the feed rate of the sticks. A little stoking will fire up or damp down depending on what your needs are. Wood stoves have a tendency to be a little tweaky to get used to, but frankly this one presented very little trouble.
It would be simplicity itself to add hot water coils to heat a tank someplace, and I imagine this addition will be in the near future. Fpr ore discussion on rocket stoves and current designs and rocket stove plans: HERE!
11 comments:
Dude... you really need to start asking for some assistance.
I have most of that stuff I could have given to you for free!
Except the Stove!
where do the exhaust gasses exit? are they routed back down, around the stack and out the back somewhere? i'm trying to figure it out from the second picture...
-"the beard" bott
Yeah, they're fun aren't they...
We put the hot water coils around the inside of the outer jacket (55gal drum with the end cut off). Gets you pretty hot water - or steam if you dont run it thru fast enough.
Like the Beard I am intrigued about your exhaust system - are you just venting back from below the hot plate? If so you are losing that heat and could easily rig it to provide you with hot water (if you need it....)
Jay,
Looks great. I also would like to know how the exhaust gases move out under the cooktop.
Allen
typical rocket stove designs that i have seen usually route the gas up a stack, then back down a larger shroud to roughtly ground level... then you can send it though a "thermal battery".
my best guess at this point is that he is using the natural holes in the cinder blocks to allow the gasses to channel back down and exit the lower back of the stove... that way the hot gasses are forced to spread out over the whole top plate for maximum cooking heat.
Actually, I'm just blowing the whole works out the back. I live in Hawaii, and I have biomass in utter abundance, and I don't care. Efficiency only matters with scarcity.
Sound like and oil man, don't I?
I plan to put a condenser on the back for hot water at some point.
I'm confused - the rocket stoves i've seen (such as the videos on YouTube, how to make a rocket stove), it's just a simply L-shape: the wood goes in the side, and the heat/flame/gasses go out the top. I don't see how your stove works at all, and what it all this about "routing the gas back down"?
Where did you get your plans for this? Say your post on TOD and I was thinking about doing someting similar.
Thanks! I try to teach kiddos new - old ways. I have been afforded the knowledge of many cultures. I hope to expose these more soulful solutions as you. Good journey!
...no one has perceived...
...you have no smoke...
...how are people going to know I'm good looking if smoke doesn't blow on me?
aw...
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