Water leaking from RMH

It's not burning as good as the first try either. There's no way rain water got into it. Has anyone had this problem?

when there is wet clay drying out, coupled with water which is a byproduct of combustion, on cold pipes it will condense out

 If you have sized the riser and length of exhaust pipes correctly, once there is clay built up around the pipes, and everything is dry, eventually on longer burns the mass around the pipes will warm and the exhaust will maintain more heat farther along taking the water out. Some of this also depends on your normal patterns of burning, ie longer/shorter burns

Of course a bigger core  or a shorter bench might be in order if you're trying to extract more heat than the riser and firebox can produce

Yes, I have water that drips down from where the pipe goes outside, and my exhaust temps are around 100- 120 F there. and the pipe is exposed to the cold air.

If your system has wet clay/cob give it a bit of time to dry out before trying to troubleshoot the burn

bob day wrote:when there is wet clay drying out, coupled with water which is a byproduct of combustion, on cold pipes it will condense out

 If you have sized the riser and length of exhaust pipes correctly, once there is clay built up around the pipes, and everything is dry, eventually on longer burns the mass around the pipes will warm and the exhaust will maintain more heat farther along taking the water out. Some of this also depends on your normal patterns of burning, ie longer/shorter burns

Of course a bigger core  or a shorter bench might be in order if you're trying to extract more heat than the riser and firebox can produce

Yes, I have water that drips down from where the pipe goes outside, and my exhaust temps are around 100- 120 F there. and the pipe is exposed to the cold air.

If your system has wet clay/cob give it a bit of time to dry out before trying to troubleshoot the burn

I haven't put no clay into mine yet.  I was doing my second test burn and it went horrible.  

Wet wood & condensation from not being cobbed.    Expect a lot of this until your cob & wood are dry.   My bench took 6 weeks or more to quick leaking.

Denny Romero wrote:It's not burning as good as the first try either. There's no way rain water got into it. Has anyone had this problem?

Yes, I also find my basement rocket to produce more condensation compared to the one upstairs. Simply because the basement is a cool and damp place. Damp wood doesen't help either.

thomas rubino wrote:Wet wood & condensation from not being cobbed.    Expect a lot of this until your cob & wood are dry.   My bench took 6 weeks or more to quick leaking.

I was burning split up 2x3s which are pretty dry and not treated. I'm going to look into it today I get the water problem but why it wouldn't  burn as hot as before is weird. All I have done is take the drum off to burn all the paint off of it and repaint with high temp paint. It's burning so cold that the bricks at the back of the burn chamber are black instead of clean. I thought I gave the tank 2" clearance from the riser but I will take it appart today and measure everything out.......my luck while I had the tank off one of my three kids probably put something in the riser lol.

What's the min and max for the gap between the riser and the drum?

jonathan kedzierski wrote:

Denny Romero wrote:It's not burning as good as the first try either. There's no way rain water got into it. Has anyone had this problem?

Yes, I also find my basement rocket to produce more condensation compared to the one upstairs. Simply because the basement is a cool and damp place. Damp wood doesen't help either.

My basement stays pretty dry have a dehumidifier down there that never gets shut off. I basically have my computer/ office, tool, and plasma steel down there that I don't want rusting.

I did notice when I took the pipe off going to the chimeny that the chimeny walls were sweating too.

I'll do a better inspection this afternoon after perch fishing.

You have a lot of bare pipe, plus a masonry chimney.  Cool air condenses... your pipe is sloped so the water is running everywhere. The more water the more humidity ... harder to heat. Cover your pipes and it will start to get better.  You could try to preheating your masonry chimney to help with the draw.     If your kids put something in the riser ... it should have burned up... or caused a smoke back into  the basement.  2" gap is the nominal minimum on an 8" system.  It is recommended to use a barrel with a removable top... this is why, it makes it extremely easy to check the top gap and for obstructions , like a failing riser....or child placed obstructions.

thomas rubino wrote:You have a lot of bare pipe, plus a masonry chimney.  Cool air condenses... your pipe is sloped so the water is running everywhere. The more water the more humidity ... harder to heat. Cover your pipes and it will start to get better.  You could try to preheating your masonry chimney to help with the draw.     If your kids put something in the riser ... it should have burned up... or caused a smoke back into  the basement.  2" gap is the nominal minimum on an 8" system.  It is recommended to use a barrel with a removable top... this is why, it makes it extremely easy to check the top gap and for obstructions , like a failing riser....or child placed obstructions.

Thanks for the feed back Thomas. My whole barrel comes off I will recheck to see what the gap is. It May be 2" or a little less I'll tray and make the gap a bit bigger.

Bad burns can be associated with poor insulation around the firebox, tunnel and/or riser. It also might be an obstruction in the exhaust maze,

I  try to use split firebricks in the firebox, backed up with a perlite clay mix like the one used in risers. The firebricks may be necessary to protect from wear and tear, but their mass will drain heat away at the beginning of the burn.

More and more I like the idea of a removable barrel top.

thomas rubino wrote:You have a lot of bare pipe, plus a masonry chimney.  Cool air condenses... your pipe is sloped so the water is running everywhere. The more water the more humidity ... harder to heat. Cover your pipes and it will start to get better.  You could try to preheating your masonry chimney to help with the draw.     If your kids put something in the riser ... it should have burned up... or caused a smoke back into  the basement.  2" gap is the nominal minimum on an 8" system.  It is recommended to use a barrel with a removable top... this is why, it makes it extremely easy to check the top gap and for obstructions , like a failing riser....or child placed obstructions.

Just checked it. Right at 2". Water in the pipes is dry, it lite pretty easy and is burning amazing right now.

I might just need to talk to it every once in a while. Lol

Denny Romero wrote:

jonathan kedzierski wrote:

Denny Romero wrote:It's not burning as good as the first try either. There's no way rain water got into it. Has anyone had this problem?

Yes, I also find my basement rocket to produce more condensation compared to the one upstairs. Simply because the basement is a cool and damp place. Damp wood doesen't help either.

My basement stays pretty dry have a dehumidifier down there that never gets shut off. I basically have my computer/ office, tool, and plasma steel down there that I don't want rusting.

I did notice when I took the pipe off going to the chimeny that the chimeny walls were sweating too.

I'll do a better inspection this afternoon after perch fishing.

This warms my heart, as your rocket stove is drying out the basement. Basically your dehumidifier wont have to work as hard to dry out the air, the stove will do that and save a bunch of electricity! The condensation that is leaking out of the exhaust pipes is moisture that simply didn't make it out the chimney. This is not as much of a problem as it is a surprise. The pipes are giving off heat, as they should, and this is causing the condensation. Pop the cap off the tee, while the stove is running, and look inside with a flashlight, you can see the steam running through the pipe. I like to do this with an audience. I will get a roaring fire going in my stove, then pop a a clean out cap off, and have a member of the audience stick there hand inside. The look on people's faces, when they discover that the exhaust gasses are mostly steam is entertaining. For the first season I didn't tape the exhaust pipe where it met the vertical chimney. This made for a convenient way to demonstrate the fact that I could exhaust the system directly into the room, only for a moment of course, and the audience was unable to see or smell anything coming out at all. This was the awe factor, and folks were even going as far as looking for another exhaust root, because there was nothing coming out of that pipe.  

jonathan kedzierski wrote:

Denny Romero wrote:

jonathan kedzierski wrote:

Denny Romero wrote:It's not burning as good as the first try either. There's no way rain water got into it. Has anyone had this problem?

Yes, I also find my basement rocket to produce more condensation compared to the one upstairs. Simply because the basement is a cool and damp place. Damp wood doesen't help either.

My basement stays pretty dry have a dehumidifier down there that never gets shut off. I basically have my computer/ office, tool, and plasma steel down there that I don't want rusting.

I did notice when I took the pipe off going to the chimeny that the chimeny walls were sweating too.

I'll do a better inspection this afternoon after perch fishing.

This warms my heart, as your rocket stove is drying out the basement. Basically your dehumidifier wont have to work as hard to dry out the air, the stove will do that and save a bunch of electricity! The condensation that is leaking out of the exhaust pipes is moisture that simply didn't make it out the chimney. This is not as much of a problem as it is a surprise. The pipes are giving off heat, as they should, and this is causing the condensation. Pop the cap off the tee, while the stove is running, and look inside with a flashlight, you can see the steam running through the pipe. I like to do this with an audience. I will get a roaring fire going in my stove, then pop a a clean out cap off, and have a member of the audience stick there hand inside. The look on people's faces, when they discover that the exhaust gasses are mostly steam is entertaining. For the first season I didn't tape the exhaust pipe where it met the vertical chimney. This made for a convenient way to demonstrate the fact that I could exhaust the system directly into the room, only for a moment of course, and the audience was unable to see or smell anything coming out at all. This was the awe factor, and folks were even going as far as looking for another exhaust root, because there was nothing coming out of that pipe.  

Lol that's awesome. I can't wait to get mine completely done. Thanks for sharing your story. It was  a fun read. Btw here was my catch perch fishing.

Pumpkin-seed?

jonathan kedzierski wrote:Pumpkin-seed?

Guess you can call that one that.  We just call them brim