Joe Higgs

allen lumley wrote:Joe Higgs : O. K. ! Sorry I missed your point, Restating the merely obvious, doesn't help you at all, however re-stateing the history is a story that presently needs any excuse to
be told ! I Will never apologize for preaching to the choir, the more they hear the 'old,old story' the greater their understanding, you just handed me the forum on a Silver plater!

It's fine. Obviously you're as frustrated as I am with all the brick mounds and ironmongery being passed off as RS's

allen lumley wrote: Joe Higgs : a little history -

Why did you think I needed a little history (and lecture) when I stated I read the history? I should also add I have a Stovetec rocket stove that I use. Shrug/

I thought it would be an interesting topic to cover, given that Permies is a meeting place for folks into rocket stoves and because I was baffled at how so many people didn't grasp the design principles of the rocket stove and clearly hadn't bothered to do any research. A simple search in YT with the term rocket stove will illustrate just how many people are confused about the design elements. Mostly they tend to think a L or J tube shape in whatever material is enough and that information gets passed on unchallenged. I found Winiarski's idea of saving lungs and lives as well as fuel on such a grand scale to be totally brilliant and feel his invention needs to be preserved and passed on, but instead was finding more and more half-arsed designs being sold as rocket stoves that couldn't possibly offer the benefits that Winiarski intended.

I got into rocket stoves a few years ago after reading about Ianto Evans and being somewhat frugal by nature, I thought it a beautiful design. I read up on Larry Winiarski and the history behind the design and was impressed by his motive to improve upon traditional cooking arrangements in the third world . I've not got around to building one yet, but my brother did using the PDF I bought from Ianto.

The thing is this, I have now seen a number of people on YouTube, forums, Ebay and elsewhere who declare their stoves as rocket stoves that are usually missing the one element that I understand to be crucial to the design: a highly insulative burn chamber and flue to optimise burn temperature. Two examples can be found here:
and here:
http://youtu.be/BJOktWCFhy8

I can't see that either design could possibly burn efficiently enough to warrant the label rocket stove, but I'd be happy to be corrected. What do others think?

jacque greenleaf wrote:Following bread crumbs around the intertubes,  I came across this article - http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2011/02/body-insulation-thermal-underwear.html#more

Who knew there was a way to quantify the effect of different clothing on winter warmth? Number nerds strike again. The comments are also informative.

Interesting thread.

After a quick perusal, I'm in agreement with the article. Come the really cold weather I'll be wearing merino wool long-johns and top, a woollen jumper, a down gilet and topped off with a fleece hat. The only other appliance I use is a 400 watt halogen heater. Two hot water bottles takes care of the bed and keeps me toasty.