# My First Rocket Stove



## DevilsBrew (Jul 22, 2013)

In between the breaks in heat & rain, I finally built a little stove.  Pretty crappy and there are definitely a bunch of things I would do different but whatever.  It is done.

Glad I used the sand.  The ground isn't level (need more sand) and the bricks got really hot.  It was pretty cool how the fire was drafted to the back of the tunnel.  A couple times I did hear a whoosh sound.  Cooked a piece of chicken before the rain came down too hard.


----------



## heat seeker (Jul 22, 2013)

Are those common red bricks? I wonder if they can take the heat, you might need firebricks…?
It looks good, and sounds like it works well. Cook on!


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 22, 2013)

Yes, they are clay bricks. Firebrick would be the better choice but I am keeping it cheap. Firebricks will cost me over twice as much. My ultimate goal is some sort of brick outdoor oven so these will do well for now. If I ever decide to go high end and look a little more presentable and permanent, then I will pick up the firebrick and use the clay as an outside liner. I'm really excited with how the clay performed today.

The other discovery that I am extremely excited about is that you don't need a hard core rocket stove to cook outside. Something simple that uses a few little branches is all that you need.  The brick is pretty forgiving.


----------



## BrianK (Jul 22, 2013)

Cool!  My son and I put together a bucket rocket stove from vent pipe and vermiculite and an old plastic 5 gallon bucket last fall. The vermiculite kept the whole thing cool enough that you can use a plastic bucket. He took it on a Boy Scout camp out last fall and it was a huge hit among the Scouts and the leaders. Amazingly simple and effective. 

I'm going to rebuild it a little stronger. I picked up a piece of 4" diesel exhaust pipe elbow that I'm going to replace the light duty 4" vent pipe with.


----------



## BrotherBart (Jul 22, 2013)

Mine needs a little work.


----------



## heat seeker (Jul 22, 2013)

I like that you can lock it so no one steals the fire!


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 22, 2013)

BrianK said:


> Cool! My son and I put together a bucket rocket stove from vent pipe and vermiculite and an old plastic 5 gallon bucket last fall. The vermiculite kept the whole thing cool enough that you can use a plastic bucket. He took it on a Boy Scout camp out last fall and it was a huge hit among the Scouts and the leaders. Amazingly simple and effective.
> 
> I'm going to rebuild it a little stronger. I picked up a piece of 4" diesel exhaust pipe elbow that I'm going to replace the light duty 4" vent pipe with.


 
Do you have pictures? I would love to see the original and the new stove.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 22, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> Mine needs a little work.
> 
> View attachment 106763


 
I'm telling you, throw some bacon on top...


----------



## Ehouse (Jul 23, 2013)

"Junk mail rocket stove", Think I'll steal the patent!


----------



## Adios Pantalones (Jul 23, 2013)

I love this stuff. I'm inspired to set something up in front of my kiln for preheating tonight (doing the pre-fire tonight and tomorrow, then 12 hrs Thurs, and probably 18 hrs Friday)


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 23, 2013)

I have visited your website.  Nice work.


----------



## jharkin (Jul 23, 2013)

The red clay bricks are fine. They get fired to almost 2000F in the kiln, they can take that heat no problem.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 24, 2013)

jharkin said:


> The red clay bricks are fine. They get fired to almost 2000F in the kiln, they can take that heat no problem.


 
Yeah, I am happy with my decision to go with red clay brick.  I went outside a couple hours later during a calm in the storm and a few of the bricks were still retaining heat.  This experience has solidified my preference for masonry stoves.


----------



## fishingpol (Jul 24, 2013)

I've done a little searching into rocket stoves when I built my mud oven.  Are there particular ratios or heights for openings of a rocket stove for best performance?   One Youtube video I found showed a guy that made a sheet metal door with a restricted air intake hole for his pizza oven to increase/direct the air to the base of the fire for more of a blast forge effect when firing.  Have you thought of messing with the intake opening size?   

Looks like a decent draft pulling through it though.  Neat project you got there.  I can see making a small oven out of the bricks with a rocket heater incorporated into it.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 24, 2013)

fishingpol said:


> I've done a little searching into rocket stoves when I built my mud oven. Are there particular ratios or heights for openings of a rocket stove for best performance? One Youtube video I found showed a guy that made a sheet metal door with a restricted air intake hole for his pizza oven to increase/direct the air to the base of the fire for more of a blast forge effect when firing. Have you thought of messing with the intake opening size?
> 
> Looks like a decent draft pulling through it though. Neat project you got there. I can see making a small oven out of the bricks with a rocket heater incorporated into it.


 
Yes, there are specific ratios and I didn't really follow them exactly. I have done a ton of research on these things. So much that I forget where I have seen or read information. From what I understand, the riser should be twice as tall as the burn tunnel. My riser was ready to topple over so that is as high as it got. Lol. That picture is actually taken after I started playing around with the layout of the tunnel. I tried to create a narrowing at the end to see if I could get a venturi effect. It did work on a minor scale.

Honestly, I should have taken my time and been extremely organized with my build. I admit to losing patience and wanting to get something done. So much so that when the window of opportunity presented itself, I jumped in without thinking. It was a blast though.

I bought some cheap wire mesh that I am going to try out the next time. There is also a video around where someone used a three hole brick to control air intake as well. I'm also curious about a secondary air intake. It seems to work on the metal rocket stoves (see youtube). That will be tried out in time.

Sheet metal. I will take that into consideration. I have seen someone use a metal door on the main chamber to cook & smoke with. That is a possibility.

The entire design is going to have to be a hybrid and not the standard rocket since I am only using brick. I have received some feedback about this experiment from purists who state that cooking with a traditional oven requires some flame. I have to figure that one out. There are others trying the same thing so there should be a whole bunch of ideas floating around the internet soon.


----------



## Ehouse (Jul 24, 2013)

I keep thinking old style ceramic well or drainage tile could be used for rocket stoves or masonry heaters, smokers etc..  could they take the heat?


----------



## Adios Pantalones (Jul 24, 2013)

I just extended the "wombat hole" in the front- it was a 9" thick firebrick wall (before)
	

		
			
		

		
	






Now it's an 18" tube, works great- very efficient


----------



## Adios Pantalones (Jul 24, 2013)

I've seen terra cotta 





Ehouse said:


> I keep thinking old style ceramic well or drainage tile could be used for rocket stoves or masonry heaters, smokers etc..  could they take the heat?


flue pipe used


----------



## Adios Pantalones (Jul 24, 2013)

jharkin said:


> The red clay bricks are fine. They get fired to almost 2000F in the kiln, they can take that heat no problem.


They can take heat, but repeated cycling may cause them to spall. They are not fireclay


----------



## fishingpol (Jul 24, 2013)

AP, why was it necessary to extend it out? What is the purpose of that hole.  I thought all wood was loaded through the top lift door?   Nice pic there too.


----------



## Adios Pantalones (Jul 24, 2013)

Jon- at the start, you want to keep the temp really low, and don't want flames hitting pots so I normally start a small fire and keep it going in the "wombat hole" (it's based on an Australian design) to dry everything out really well  and increase temp slowly to start, and get more ash up top and in the back before the heavy duty fire starts. Extending that hole contains air flow so that it mixes with the fuel and the gases have more chance to combust before they diffuse in the fire box.

I usually don't bother, but was inspired by this thread. Just turns out that I have a big oven between the fire tube and chimney


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 24, 2013)

Ehouse said:


> I keep thinking old style ceramic well or drainage tile could be used for rocket stoves or masonry heaters, smokers etc.. could they take the heat?


 
Adios could give better advice about this but I did price out clay pipe (drainage) to use for a tandoor grill/smoker.  A clay pot would have similar results.

If you are going with the standard rocket stove that would be used as a heater, then the heat would be more intense.  My oven is going to be a subpar build that I will only use for cooking.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 28, 2013)

I played around with air intake tonight.  Bought some cheap grill mesh.  Limited the opening underneath and bent the mesh to see what worked best.  For the little bit of sticks that I burned it seemed to hold up well. I do want to add a wombat hole in the future.


----------



## jebatty (Jul 29, 2013)

This post renewed my want, not need though, for a rocket stove my wife and I could use for cooking while camping. I bit the bullet and bought the Stovetec Deluxe 1 Door Stove. Tried it for the first time earlier this evening to boil a big pot of water. The following pix show the stove and how much wood it took to do the boiling. The last pix was the leftover wood sticks. Pretty amazing. This stove is a bit heavy, will fit nicely in a canvas carry bag, and will work very well for car camp cooking and emergency backup cooking at home.


----------



## lukem (Jul 30, 2013)

What do you use a rocket stove for?


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 30, 2013)

lukem said:


> What do you use a rocket stove for?


 
I use mine to grill by sticking a grate on the top of the chimney/riser. I can cook food using only branches instead of going through logs as with a standard outdoor fire.  The brick really retains the heat.  My long term goal is to fuel a brick pizza oven with a rocket stove so that I can bake, slow cook, and grill.


----------



## lukem (Jul 30, 2013)

DevilsBrew said:


> I use mine to grill by sticking a grate on the top of the chimney/riser. I can cook food using only branches instead of going through logs as with a standard outdoor fire. My long term goal is to fuel a brick pizza oven with a rocket stove.


 

Interesting.  My dad's property contains relics of a very old brick factory where they made fire-brick and pavers.  You can still see some of the walls from the old kilns.  There are more bricks around that place than any one person could use in 1000 lifetimes.  I bet those would be good for making one.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Jul 30, 2013)

lukem said:


> Interesting. My dad's property contains relics of a very old brick factory where they made fire-brick and pavers. You can still see some of the walls from the old kilns. There are more bricks around that place than any one person could use in 1000 lifetimes. I bet those would be good for making one.


 
If they are clay, yes. You could even eliminate the burn tunnel and build a little square tower that would have a similar effect to the Stovetec. Like this:



The thing is, these types of masonry stoves and ovens have been around forever. There are a zillion different names for them.  You could also use all of those bricks to build the standard pizza oven.


----------



## lukem (Jul 30, 2013)

Yes...clay brick.  Going to build my fire pit with them...someday.  maybe I should add a rocket chimney too.


----------



## fbelec (Aug 1, 2013)

in new england a rocket stove is great for a huge pot of water for lobsta


----------



## DevilsBrew (Aug 1, 2013)

fbelec said:


> in new england a rocket stove is great for a huge pot of water for lobsta


 
That takes me back.  I grew up outside of Gardna.


----------



## BrianK (Aug 25, 2013)

DevilsBrew said:


> Do you have pictures? I would love to see the original and the new stove.



I have not upgraded it yet. My kids were burning the rocket stove last night on our front sidewalk on lieu of a campfire. 

My oldest son just left to go back to college and had friends in last night before he left. They had this plastic bucket rocket stove running on full blast for over an hour and it started to melt a bit. See photos attached. 

So we set it aside and started playing around with a stack of fire bricks I bought earlier this summer on clearance from Tractor Supply. We just did a quick stack and burned it for over a hour and a half. Around 2:00am everyone was getting a bit loopy so we broke out a can of spam and cut it into strips like hot dogs and cooked them on hot dog forks over the fire. Best spam we ever ate. We also took the fire bricks off the opening of the burn tube, pulled out hot coals, and made scrambled eggs in a pan over the coals while cooking the spam over the rocket flame. A good time was had by all. Turn off your sound on the second video. The boys were being ... Boys. 





Edit to ad:

By the way our from sidewalk is just 15 feet off a fairly busy street. Amazing how many people slow down to a crawl when they're driving by at 2:00 am and a bunch of people are sitting around a rocket stove on the sidewalk shooting flames more than two feet into the air.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Aug 26, 2013)

That is awesome!  Isn't it amazing to experience the intense heat that comes from only using a little bit of wood?  This is why I am addicted to these little stoves.  I want to go camping just so I can use one for cooking!

By the way, have you seen the Dragon Heater Blog containing pics of the stone decorated clay flues?


----------



## BrianK (Aug 26, 2013)

We're going to try this simple design next:



Yes, I've been watching the Dragon Heater blog. They're doing awesome stuff with their cores.


----------



## BrianK (Aug 26, 2013)

This is pretty cool too:


----------



## BrianK (Aug 30, 2013)

We were playing around with the firebiricks again tonight:


----------



## BrianK (Aug 30, 2013)




----------



## DevilsBrew (Aug 31, 2013)

Liked the two videos - Insulating and an separate cooking insert. Great ideas.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the fire brick.  It is amazing to see.

I've posted on the Keyhole Fire pit thread my idea of putting a small fire brick rocket stove at the end of an open pit. That way you can cook and watch a fire burn at the same time.

This afternoon I picked up some more bricks to increase the height of my tower. I'm planning on grilling and baking over then next few days. These little stoves are so addictive. The best part is that I am cooking with little branches. I still have a ton of actual logs left over from last summer.


----------



## save$ (Aug 31, 2013)

fbelec said:


> in new england a rocket stove is great for a huge pot of water for lobsta


It is "lobstah".  Hum.... Those from "away"!


----------



## fishingpol (Aug 31, 2013)

Any thoughts on restricting the air intake where the wood goes in with chunks of firebrick?  I wonder if it would make a stronger draft or accelerate the air to the fire?  Just thinking out loud.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Aug 31, 2013)

If you are talking about narrowing the burn tunnel, then I have found it does increase the energy but there needs to be an additional air intake in the back.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Sep 4, 2013)

Some ramblings...

The best choice I ever made was to read up on how changes in pressure and temperature affect gas.  I don't see that mentioned in the majority of videos posted online.  It really helped me to understand the purpose of the many European/Russian stoves and rocket stoves.  Now it is helping learn about metal stoves.  

I've realized since fooling around cooking with these things that there is a different set up needed for heating.  If you want the hard core efficiency stove, then it has to be an enclosed traditional rocket.  It will work well as a horizontal but it won't be the same.  Personally, I like a real fire too much for either.  Cooking is completely different.  You can get away with a lot in design when using mass.  It's pretty wicked.  I don't think I will ever be able to cook without mass outside again.  I'm going to have to get some fire brick here soon.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Sep 8, 2013)

Dear Diary:  I played with fire again today.  






The rocket is a mess in that picture because I kept taking it apart and rearranging.  I am sticking with the burn tunnel which I ditched last time.  I took fishingpol's advice and created a double walled tunnel for insulation - worked great.  In the past, I have tried letting additional air in on the sides and underneath in the tunnel.  Today I tested letting air in from on top and it made a world of difference.  

Brian's firebrick is so cool.


----------



## fishingpol (Sep 8, 2013)

Can you add more bricks for the double wall towards the front on the sides the and add a horizontal brick over the tunnel? 

I generally want to know if you beef it up and make an oven chamber over the tunnel, can you get baking temps? 

Where does the bulk of the burn take place, in the tunnel or the flue?


----------



## DevilsBrew (Sep 8, 2013)

In the near future I am going to get some firebrick for the rocket stove itself.  Today's experiment really convinced me to stick with the traditional horizontal rocket stove as a core and build an oven up around it.  I am going to use the clay brick as an outer wall.  The temps reached 500 with only the clay bricks and no mortar so these changes have to make an improvement.  

The burn takes place in the tunnel but the flame shoots out the back and up the riser.  The smoke disappears when it gets going.  You can't even see any smoke in that picture and there is a fire.  The tunnel in the pic is small but I was testing air flow and insulation.  Somehow I have to figure out a way to have a secondary intake through the top towards the back of the tunnel.  The way Brian's burns so hot, I might not even need it.


----------



## BrianK (Sep 8, 2013)

We were actually putting long thin strips of wood in from the top of the riser when we were burning in the videos specifically to get visible flames for our "campfire."  It was more for fun and entertainment than for cooking. When we load wood from the bottom front it doesn't shoot flames out the top like that. It's really hot smokeless exhaust with very little visible flame or smoke. Most of the combustion is supposed to happen in the burn chamber and bottom of the riser. We had to keep feeding it from the top frequently to keep up the visible flames.


----------



## BrianK (Sep 8, 2013)

Here's a CL listing for Firebrick:

* Fire Brick and More (East End of Pittsburgh)*




Refractory Products For Sale. Whole and split fire brick, fire clay, and refractory cement available. These products are great for fire places, brick ovens, chimneys, and furnace repair. Come visit Houston-Starr company at 300 Brushton Ave in Wilkinsburg, or call 412 242 6000. We are here Monday-Friday between 7:30 and 5:00.


----------



## BrianK (Sep 9, 2013)

Set this unit atop your rocket:


----------



## DevilsBrew (Sep 9, 2013)

That is a great little oven.  And I should.  But personally, I would like a black oven.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Sep 11, 2013)

BrianK said:


> We're going to try this simple design next:
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, I've been watching the Dragon Heater blog. They're doing awesome stuff with their cores.





FYI - I did some research on Flame Resistant Aluminum Glass Tape and it won't hold up under humid conditions.  That is out for me in my climate.  I might get desperate and smear mud around the core.


----------



## denjohn (Nov 14, 2013)

Four block Rocket Stove:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kmDYUrVHPWc


----------



## DevilsBrew (Nov 14, 2013)

denjohn said:


> Four block Rocket Stove:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kmDYUrVHPWc




Ha!  That is a great easy rocket stove.

I'm on to gasifiers now.  The temps are spiking this weekend so I hope to get some good burning in.  I am building the standard large can gasifier.  The claims are gasifiers burn hotter, can burn different material, create usable biochar, and are super easy builds as compared to rocket stoves.  I guess I will find out.


----------



## DevilsBrew (Nov 16, 2013)




----------



## DevilsBrew (Nov 26, 2013)

Here's the first.  Pretty basic.


----------

