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OS:DIY Rocket Stove

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Page first featured August 22, 2009

My dad, David W. Allan is standing next to the Grover Rocket Stove at the Blackhawk campground at the Nebo Loop in Utah during our camping outing Aug. 22, 2009.
My dad, David W. Allan is standing next to the Grover Rocket Stove at the Blackhawk campground at the Nebo Loop in Utah during our camping outing Aug. 22, 2009.

I went camping last night and was very impressed with the Grover Rocket Stove my dad brought along. Perhaps most of you have already heard of Rocket Stoves. This was my first exposure. Below is a brief video interview I did with my dad this morning.

While our traditional camping methods consumed copious amounts of firewood, the Rocket Stove consumed just a small amount to produce focused heat more reliably and with very little smoke.

The short chimney is surrounded by a vermiculite-insulated chamber, directing the heat upward to where the pan sits. An air portal helps the combustion be optimally efficient.

The stove is called a "rocket stove" because the heated chimney causes the air to rise rapidly (rocket), pulling air in quickly to replace it, creating a stoking effect.

In looking into this, I see that the concept has been around for a long time, with many do-it-yourself videos and tutorials available. Below I've embedded and linked to a number of these. I particularly like the vertical feedstock design that keeps the hopper fed via gravity so you don't have to manually move the feed every five minutes or so. Just put in a 2x4 and you're good for the day for heating your sustainable home.

I might also mention that I notice that the Grover Rocket Stove is made in Ephraim, Utah, where I lived before moving to Eagle Mountain, and the town just south of Spring City where we're looking to help establish an intentional community. -- Sterling

The rocket stove/Rocket mass heater can be used for cooking, space heating and water heating. It uses less wood than a traditional open fire, can burn smaller diameter material, produces less pollution and can be easily constructed from low-cost materials. (Wikipedia)

Contents

About

Key Websites


Videos

See http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=rocket+stove

Grover Rocket Stove demonstration by David Allan


  • My dad's demonstration mentioned above. -- Sterling (YouTube; Aug. 22, 2009)

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Rocket stove homemade

  • I am the "common man" I didnt want to pay for one of these so I ...made one! (YouTube; November 07, 2009)

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The principles of a rocket stove and how to build one

  • Easy to make with a few friends and things you can find in the barn! (YouTube; July 03, 2008)

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coffee can rocket stove

  • This is a first attempt at building a coffee can rocket stove. There are a number of things I plan on changing for the second version, like a smaller and slightly taller combustion chamber, to use the full height of the can for maximum draft. (YouTube; November 09, 2007)

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Rocket Stove Workshop

  • A pictorial series of slides showing how to build a rocket stove from scrap material. Uses a top-down feed so you don't have to manually feed to fire so often. (YouTube; June 29, 2007)

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16-Brick Rocket Stove

  • Dr. Larry Winiarski makes a clean burning rocket stove using 16 adobe bricks at the Rotary International-sponsored Integrated Cooking Workshop in Tlautla, Mexico (YouTube; July 31, 2008)

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Grover Rocket Stove

  • A Rocket Stove uses very little wood to cook a meal. (YouTube; November 10, 2008)

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rocket stove mass heater workshop summary

  • "I attended this workshop in February 2009. The primary instructor was Ianto Evans, author of "Rocket Mass Heaters: Superefficient Woodstoves YOU Can Build" other instructors included Ernie, Erica, Max and Kiko. Basically, this is a super efficient wood burning stove, with a cob bench bench thermal mass to hold the heat. One tiny fire can heat a room (and warm your butt) for a day! Please forgive that my camera is not the best, but I think I got the main information across. Lots of discussion about this sort of thing on the forums at http://www.permies.com " (YouTube; February 07, 2009)

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how to make a rocket stove :: part 01

  • be sure to use BLACK STOVE PIPE when building rocket stoves... apparently, the silver galvanized piping used in this video releases toxins while burning. will be recreating this video soon to reflect my new understanding... vavrek shows how to make a large rocket stove and introduces solar cooking. (YouTube; January 11, 2009)

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how to make a rocket stove :: part 02

How it Works

Here's a little diagram from a YouTube video:

Image:Rocket Stove diagram 500.jpg

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Quoting from Wikipedia:Rocket stove

The rocket stove achieves efficient combustion of the fuel at a high temperature by ensuring that there is a good air draft into the fire, controlled use of fuel, complete combustion of volatiles, and efficient use of the resultant heat.

The rocket stove's main components are:

  • Fuel magazine: Into which the unburned fuel is placed and from where it feeds into the combustion chamber
  • Combustion chamber: At the end of the fuel magazine where the wood is burnt
  • Chimney: A vertical chimney above the combustion chamber to provide the updraft needed to maintain the fire
  • Heat exchanger: To transfer the heat to where it is needed, ie the cooking pot.

The fuel magazine can be horizontal where additional fuel will be added manually or vertically for automatic feeding of fuel. As the fuel burns within the combustion chamber convection draws new air into the combustion chamber from below ensuring that any smoke from smoldering wood near to the fire is also drawn into the fire and up the chimney. The chimney should be insulated to maximize the temperature and improve combustion. From the chimney the heat passed into a suitable heat exchanger to ensure the efficient use of the generated heat.

For cooking purposes the design keeps the cooking vessel in contact with the fire over the largest possible surface area by use of a pot skirt to create a narrow channel which forces hot air and gas to flow along the bottom and sides of the cooking vessel. Optionally baffles guide hot air and flame up the sides of the pot. For space heating purposes the heat is transferred to a heat store which can in some cases be part of the structure of the house itself. The exhaust gasses then pass out of the building via the chimney.

The design of stove means that it can operate on about half as much fuel as a traditional open fire and can use smaller diameter wood. They are insulated and raised from the floor which reduces the danger of children burning themselves (an important improvement over traditional open pit fires). Some more recent designs use are self feeding using gravity to add fuel to the fire as required.

Costs

The Grover Rocket Stove costs $125, including shipping in US 48; but to make one yourself is probably just a matter of getting the right scraps for free and knowing how to put them together.

Advantages

  • Very efficient, uses much less wood

Applications

  • Cooking
  • Heating

Coverage

In the News


  • Featured: Biomass >
    Rocket Stoves Rock - I went camping last night and was very impressed with the Grover Rocket Stove my dad brought along. While our traditional camping methods consumed copious amounts of firewood, the Rocket Stove used just a small amount to produce focused heat more reliably and with very little smoke. (PESWiki; August 22, 2009) (Comment)

Other Coverage

list here (see "Key Websites section above).

Comments

See Discussion page

Feel free to view and post comments over on our Examiner.com version of this page.

Contact

Allen Grover
Stock Storage, LLC
125 W. 300 S. Ephraim, UT 84627
phone: 801-361-6984
email: sales@stockstorage.com

See also

ALT FUELS (alphabetical sequence)

APPLICATIONS

- Other Open Source Projects
- PESWiki main index
- PES Network Inc.

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