Rocket Stoves

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moda0306
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Rocket Stoves

Post by moda0306 » Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:34 pm

I'm trying to up my "Grid-Down" game and Rocket Stoves appear to be an amazing tool to generating efficient cooking/boiling heat from small amounts of biomass. Anybody here vouch for them, have any advice on brands/size/etc? Based on my initial research, I'm surprised these things aren't ubiquitous in camping and emergency prep circles. I have yet to talk to a person who has actually ever used one.

Thanks much!
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Mark Leavy
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Mark Leavy » Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:13 pm

A rocket stove is a measurable improvement over a Franklin stove. It is a good design. Welcome to the 19th century.

You do know that all 'energy to heat' mechanisms are 100% efficient, I assume? (Physics 101) Just make sure the heat goes where you want it to.

The great thing about rocket stoves is that it seems like you get more out of it when you use the chimney heat for processing food. But... all heat is heat...
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Maddy » Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:15 am

I use one for outdoor water bath canning. It's made of 16 fire bricks and a grate from an old gas stove. You don't need to get fancy--my homemade stove works every bit as well as something you'd buy. There are plenty of YouTube videos that show how to do it.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Mark Leavy » Fri Nov 05, 2021 10:23 am

Maddy wrote:
Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:15 am
I use one for outdoor water bath canning. It's made of 16 fire bricks and a grate from an old gas stove.
That sounds awesome.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Kriegsspiel » Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:46 am

I'm in the same boat, moda. I have read a lot about rocket stoves online (example, this is interesting too), but I've never used one. During one period of military training where we were humping through the brush for a while, I watched a guy make his morning coffee with a tiny rocket stove and it was so cool to me that I remember it over a decade later.

I have a Primus camp stove that uses gas canisters and a regular outdoor gas grill that I could use if my electricity goes out.

I can't remember where I saw it (probably a Kristen Dirkson youtube), but one of the smart ideas I saw was a house that had a large rocket stove with adobe as the insulating material, where the people could sit on it to get really warm, since it held in all the heat even after it wasn't burning anymore*. That would be really great if electricity went out. One thing I want in my next home is an additional wood source of area heating and cooking, instead of only gas/electric.

* looked kinda like this:

Image
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Maddy » Sat Nov 06, 2021 6:55 am

Kriegs, what you've pictured is a rocket mass heater. Typically the stove is located outdoors, and the heat is routed inside to a heat sink (typically a bench-like structure) where it radiates heat throughout the living space. My neighbor has a similar system using a boiler. It's turned out to be less than ideal for heating his house because the temperature is so hard to control.

The same concept has been used for underground heating of greenhouses, which really piques my interest. From what I've seen, the rocket mass stove requires some engineering, as there are a lot of pitfalls that can create hazards.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Kriegsspiel » Sat Nov 06, 2021 8:15 am

Maddy wrote:
Sat Nov 06, 2021 6:55 am
Kriegs, what you've pictured is a rocket mass heater. Typically the stove is located outdoors, and the heat is routed inside to a heat sink (typically a bench-like structure) where it radiates heat throughout the living space. My neighbor has a similar system using a boiler. It's turned out to be less than ideal for heating his house because the temperature is so hard to control.
Cool, good to know.

Personally, I'd like a setup where my sleeping quarters aren't near the heat source, but all my plumbing is. If I can sleep in a nice cold room that doesn't get much of the heat, but my pipes don't freeze, that's a win.
You there, Ephialtes. May you live forever.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by moda0306 » Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:38 pm

Mark Leavy wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 11:13 pm
A rocket stove is a measurable improvement over a Franklin stove. It is a good design. Welcome to the 19th century.

You do know that all 'energy to heat' mechanisms are 100% efficient, I assume? (Physics 101) Just make sure the heat goes where you want it to.

The great thing about rocket stoves is that it seems like you get more out of it when you use the chimney heat for processing food. But... all heat is heat...
Mark,

Well yeah of course the trick isn't the creation of heat but the capturing it for as much of the desired purpose as possible... and that's ultimately where the efficiency/inefficiency lies.

Perhaps you're thinking more of an indoor application with one of the really large stoves, which I wouldn't be employing. It'd be an outdoor small-to-medium sized stove given my situation.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by moda0306 » Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:47 pm

Kriegsspiel wrote:
Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:46 am
I'm in the same boat, moda. I have read a lot about rocket stoves online (example, this is interesting too), but I've never used one. During one period of military training where we were humping through the brush for a while, I watched a guy make his morning coffee with a tiny rocket stove and it was so cool to me that I remember it over a decade later.

I have a Primus camp stove that uses gas canisters and a regular outdoor gas grill that I could use if my electricity goes out.

I can't remember where I saw it (probably a Kristen Dirkson youtube), but one of the smart ideas I saw was a house that had a large rocket stove with adobe as the insulating material, where the people could sit on it to get really warm, since it held in all the heat even after it wasn't burning anymore*. That would be really great if electricity went out. One thing I want in my next home is an additional wood source of area heating and cooking, instead of only gas/electric.

* looked kinda like this:

Image
That big stove is cool. Definitely outside the scope of what would work for my current situation but it's always good to know these things going forward.

I have a WindBurner "cooking cup" and a bigger Coleman two-burner camping stove, which are both great, but considering how little propane I can safely/reasonably store, I needed/wanted to have something that I could employ in lieu of cranking through propane at an unsettling rate. Being able to boil water and heat up a pan will be crucial if the grid goes down for a meaningful amount of time and these suckers look about as good as you can get in the form of something versatile you can use outdoors.

And I must admit, the first time I saw a video of a rocket-stove advocate getting one of those things cranked up I thought it looked more fun to cook on while camping than my main other options.

Have you seen the "Kelly Kettle?' It's like a Rocket stove but with a container that holds water that wraps around the tube. I don't think it'd be my go-to, but it looks sorta cool.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by moda0306 » Sun Nov 07, 2021 7:50 pm

Maddy wrote:
Fri Nov 05, 2021 8:15 am
I use one for outdoor water bath canning. It's made of 16 fire bricks and a grate from an old gas stove. You don't need to get fancy--my homemade stove works every bit as well as something you'd buy. There are plenty of YouTube videos that show how to do it.
The homemade ones are my favorite. Unfortunately I don't really have a backyard and no welding experience. Luckily, my nephew is taking a Metals 2 class soon and I want him to build a small fleet of them for our family. :)
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Hal » Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:28 pm

Rocket stoves - Yes, have used them.

But for a grid-down situation we have a kerosene heater which you can also put a saucepan/kettle on the top.
https://www.corona.co.jp/en/products/

We decided on a common fuel for all the standby items
https://www.aladdinlamps.co/shop/

Worked great for us when the *%^&* power company cut our power off because they got the address wrong.
(Took a week to get reconnected)
Aussie GoldSmithPP - 25% PMGOLD, 75% VDCO
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by Maddy » Sun Nov 07, 2021 9:28 pm

The homemade ones are my favorite. Unfortunately I don't really have a backyard and no welding experience. Luckily, my nephew is taking a Metals 2 class soon and I want him to build a small fleet of them for our family. :)
No welding required. You can make a very functional one with bricks, one laid right on top of another. It's a five-minute project. Literally. Check out the YouTube videos on this--there are many of them.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by ppnewbie » Tue Feb 01, 2022 11:12 am

It would be great to be able to have one of these in a traditional stick built house. Seems like the mass would be too heavy and not feasible to install / build. Would love if you could cart in a small dense mass with all the pipes winding around in the most efficient manor to keep the stove small (kind of like the concept of a Bose Acoustimass Wave radios).

Then all you would need to do is make a small hole in your wall for the exhaust and you have your rocket mass heater.
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Re: Rocket Stoves

Post by GT » Tue Feb 01, 2022 2:01 pm

moda0306 wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:34 pm
I'm trying to up my "Grid-Down" game and Rocket Stoves appear to be an amazing tool to generating efficient cooking/boiling heat from small amounts of biomass. Anybody here vouch for them, have any advice on brands/size/etc? Based on my initial research, I'm surprised these things aren't ubiquitous in camping and emergency prep circles. I have yet to talk to a person who has actually ever used one.

Thanks much!
Biolite has some cool little stoves that can also charge your phone - more for camping

I have the biolite grilling stove - works as designed - but I believe it has been discontinued

https://www.bioliteenergy.com/products/ ... 20%2Bstove

Silver fire makes some cool looking cooking and camping stoves (rocket / biomass design)

https://www.silverfire.us/
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