Luke Smith

Glenn Herbert wrote:http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/734/peterberg-batch-box-dimensions

There are other threads describing the overall system, but not in such concentrated form.

thanks a lot!!

Glenn Herbert wrote:Do you have access to firebricks, or even ordinary old red bricks? If so, there are pretty simple directions for making a batch box and proportioning it correctly on Donkey's forum. Even just feeding your existing "bell" setup should work better than what you have.

Hi Glenn, yes I have some fire brick laying around. I will see if I can find the thread in the other forum you are talking about. If you knew of a particular thread that has that info and could point me to it, that would be much appreciated!

Satamax Antone wrote:Luke, why not transforming it into a quick batch rocket? There must be a way where you are.

yes, I would like to but dont have the time to play with it any more this winter. I have been checking out the stuff on the donkey 32 forum and have to do a little more homework before understanding how the batch rocket works but thanks for your help.

Daniel Schmidt wrote:The exhaust pipe looks very reflective. It probably isn't giving an accurate temperature reading and there could be substantially more heat going out the exhaust. If it is drawing air in that well then that air must be coming from somewhere. It could be that it is pulling an amount of cold air into the house that is killing the efficiency of the stove. In an uninsulated space it probably only effectively warms up the area immediately around it. You could set up one of those reflective emergency blankets and sleep between that and the stove to stay warm but I doubt it could warm the house as-is.

Adding some sort of restriction to the exhaust could help slow down the burn. I remember seeing a video with the exhaust routed into a second barrel that was filled with bricks as a thermal mass, but I can't seem to find it at the moment. Rocks or other mass could also be used. It wouldn't heat the entire place but it could be enough to hold you through till it is warmer when you can build a better stove/heater.

Yes, it only heats up the direct area around the fire and our house is anything but air tight so as you have also pointed out it is pulling air in from outside. Sleeping isnt a problem, hot water bottles and thick duvets do the trick.

the second bell made it radiate heat a lot better. it works to a point but its too much of a pain in the ass to keep on feeding it every 5 minutes for the amount of heat it gives off. I think in this case the rocket effect is too strong and pulls cold air in . to sort that out i could give it an external air intake but cant be bothered to drill another hole in my walls.

giving up for the moment and going to get a traditional wood burning stove for the rest of the winter. back on the project next winter.

here are some tempos for year round although it is slightly colder in our area than this, for example our minimum is -5 for dec-jan-feb and it has been known to freeze in our valley randomly up until end of march, but it give you an idea

Right now its 5 degrees C outside and 10 degrees C inside.

The average temperature for the year is 15C.
Lowest is probably -5 but that is maybe 1 or two days a year and its only really cold from end of november to April.

The thing here is that if its sunny it will be 18 - 20 C at lunch time.

We are insulating the walls (outside) with 5cm of cork
The roof will be insulated with 5 cm of lightened cement using expanded clay on the outside and a new product made of recycled clothes on the inside. maybe 10cm. cant find the product of the r value for the moment.

This is where I live:
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaida

this is what we got for the next week:
http://www.eltiempo.es/algaida.html

Here is a video showing some temps and how it burns:


Satamax: So you think its simply too small??

We have 0 insulation. the house was an old cow shed. we will be insulating thw whole envelope this summer, and then see what the temperatures are like next winter before making a decision on the heating source. we have a good south facing exposure with around 12% solar glassing on the south and very sunny days for most of the year. Hoping that once the insulation is done that passive solar will work its magic and provide most of the heat.

Thanks for the links. I am thinking about a batch rocket for the future, it would fit well in the space and you get to actually see fire.

not very big about 100 sqm (1000sqft) although we do have very high ceilings, about 4.5 metres high.

The mass would make a difference in the long run for sure but not in instant heat.

Its been a long time since I measured the exit temps but they werent that high, maybe 50 C after I put the bell on it .

Here is an update on my experimentation with this...

So, it burned really well and got really hot, but the draft is so strong that it is just pulling all of the heat up out the chimney.
I have put a bell on it and this works much better but it still is drafting way too strong. I have to cover the feed tube with fire bricks and leave just a little hole so that it doesnt burn so fast.

I think that the draft issue is because I am using 6 inch stove pipe. I bought this size pipe so that I could eventually use it on an RMH.

Another thing is that I have to attend to it almost constantly. Once it gets to a certain temperature, the whole piece of wood inside the feed tube catches on fire.

My house is really badly insulated but the temperature in the inside doesnt even get to 20 degrees C with the pocket rocket/bell full blast/red hot and going through a bunch of wood.

I am thinking of giving up for the moment and just getting a cheap traditional style firebox stove for the last couple of months of winter.

Its a bit sad to give up on it but its just not practical and its not like its even heating the house much.

I think I might look into building something like one of Peter Van de Berg batch box stoves in the future.

I will put up a video so you can see it burning although its not really working much as a heater at the moment so dont know if its really worth my time editing the video, etc.

My wife and I have been drinking bulletproof coffee for a couple of years now and we have noticed a massive improvement in clarity of thought and energy levels throughout the day.


As others have recommended, I wouldnt bother buying this ready made. Its just like making normal coffee except at the end you chuck it in a blender with some butter. In our case a lot of butter. We go through half a stick of butter just for breakfast between the two of us.

I have never been a coffee drinker because it gave me the jitters and made me nervous but the butter sorted that right out. I dont really like the taste of coffee so use it more as a supplement for its ketogenic effect.