My First Rocket Stove

[DevilsBrew]

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]

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]

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:

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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]

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

 

[fbelec]

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

 

[DevilsBrew]

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]

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.

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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]

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]

We're going to try this simple design next:

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

 

[BrianK]

This is pretty cool too:

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[BrianK]

We were playing around with the firebiricks again tonight:

 

[BrianK]

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[DevilsBrew]

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$]

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

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

 

[fishingpol]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Here's a CL listing for Firebrick:

Fire Brick and More (East End of Pittsburgh)
(broken image removed)
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]

Set this unit atop your rocket:

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[DevilsBrew]

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

 

[DevilsBrew]

We're going to try this simple design next:

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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.