Emergency small rocket stove commercially available?

I've been trying to sort out whether or not to buy a small camping-style rocket stove to have on hand in case of an emergency during this pandemic. I'm thinking something that could be used to cook all the beans and rice I've got on hand should the power go out.

The more I read, the more frustrated I get. I just want something that's not a very poor investment that I can afford to order online and not have to do anything more than assemble like you would anything you order online. I don't want to build my own, in other words. It would be nice if I could build some kind of concrete block stand to use with it, but that's not necessary. (Yes, I've seen the concrete block rocket stoves on YouTube. My experience with actually having fire burning in concrete blocks is that they aren't designed for that purpose.)

I saw the posting about the need to have firebrick insulation; how metal alone won't work. The stoves I'm seeing on Amazon when I search for "rocket stoves for cooking" don't appear meet that requirement. So, is there anything available commercially that's (a) relatively small, (b) relatively inexpensive (+/- $100), and wouldn't be a stupid purchase if I actually need to cook with it using twigs and branches from my back yard?

Diane Kistner wrote:I saw the posting about the need to have firebrick insulation; how metal alone won't work. The stoves I'm seeing on Amazon when I search for "rocket stoves for cooking" don't appear meet that requirement. So, is there anything available commercially that's (a) relatively small, (b) relatively inexpensive (+/- $100), and wouldn't be a stupid purchase if I actually need to cook with it using twigs and branches from my back yard?

Much of the conversations that deal with needing certain materials when building rocket stoves are mostly discussing longevity and efficiency. Almost anything will work that won't burn but it doesn't have to be overly complex. Metal will certainly work but it does degrade faster than other materials suited to high heat applications.  I don't have any experience with commercially available products in the price range your looking at, only practical experience from building my own rocket stoves, big and small. If you don't find one to your liking and do decide to go with a simple DIY rocket (cob, tin can with perlite etc), there are many people here that would be glad to help you out. Rocket scientists are always on standby to answer you posts.


                                                                                       

Gerry Parent wrote:
Much of the conversations that deal with needing certain materials when building rocket stoves are mostly discussing longevity and efficiency. Almost anything will work that won't burn but it doesn't have to be overly complex. Metal will certainly work but it does degrade faster than other materials suited to high heat applications.  I don't have any experience with commercially available products in the price range your looking at, only practical experience from building my own rocket stoves, big and small. If you don't find one to your liking and do decide to go with a simple DIY rocket (cob, tin can with perlite etc), there are many people here that would be glad to help you out. Rocket scientists are always on standby to answer you posts.

Then something like one of these, for my purposes, might work okay?

https://amzn.to/2WHQOp7

https://amzn.to/2xw1T1G

https://amzn.to/2Up24VT

Couldn’t you just construct a rocket stove outside using bricks or cinder blocks? Imagine a Weber grill could be adapted with a bit of sheet metal, tin snips and a pop riveter to fabricate a passable rocket adaptor that sits on the grill that would allow cooking.

James Whitelaw wrote:Couldn’t you just construct a rocket stove outside using bricks or cinder blocks? Imagine a Weber grill could be adapted with a bit of sheet metal, tin snips and a pop riveter to fabricate a passable rocket adaptor that sits on the grill that would allow cooking.

If that would be better than buying one, I could do a cinderblock stove. I know there are lots of videos on YouTube. One problem we have here is that we're not supposed to burn anything outside. I'm just trying not to panic.

This one is the bomb

This is their website https://africancleanenergy.com/

If you want something you can use inside and also heat with check out the smaller liberator rocket heater rocketheater.com

Tell them Uncle Mud sent you.

Diane,   Any of those stoves you linked to will definitely work. Before spending $100 though on something so simple, why not try to make one as James suggested with bricks? A simple dry stacked column with a hole in the bottom is about as easy to make, requires no tools and much cheaper (you may even find some used ones for free in the classifieds). The best part is that you made something yourself which is priceless. Drives away the worry monster too!

Edit: I added your post to the rocket stove forum also to get you more exposure there if that's ok with you?

Gerry Parent wrote:Edit: I added your post to the rocket stove forum also to get you more exposure there if that's ok with you?

Certainly! I thought I HAD posted it in the rocket stove forum!

Thanks, Gerry.

i can attest to the simple method which gerry just mentioned. We used similar styles in nepal for various applications. Heating water for tea and cooking the cows food. We usually made them from cob bricks or from a combination of cob bricks and red bricks. It was easy and a fun experiment. We even made one on a sheet of small plywood and we were able to move it around. We used pieces of rebar to keep the wood ash out of the fire. We also dug a small tunnel in the ground a built a stove ontop where the wood went and the air cam from down below.

I encourage your creativity Diane!!

jordan barton wrote:I encourage your creativity Diane!!

Thank you!

Chris McClellan wrote:

This one is the bomb

This is their website https://africancleanenergy.com/

If you want something you can use inside and also heat with check out the smaller liberator rocket heater rocketheater.com

Tell them Uncle Mud sent you.

Chris, I've been exploring the site, and I'm not seeing where to buy this. Do you contact them and arrange to do it that way?

Gerry Parent wrote:Diane,   Any of those stoves you linked to will definitely work. Before spending $100 though on something so simple, why not try to make one as James suggested with bricks? A simple dry stacked column with a hole in the bottom is about as easy to make, requires no tools and much cheaper (you may even find some used ones for free in the classifieds). The best part is that you made something yourself which is priceless. Drives away the worry monster too!

Edit: I added your post to the rocket stove forum also to get you more exposure there if that's ok with you?

I like how this has an opening that's two bricks high!

We made one, and it was really easy to make--it took more time to move the bricks from the car to the pile, than it did to assemble. I'm wishing I had a few more bricks so I could get it a bit taller, and make a bigger opening. It was hard keeping the fire going strong enough to boil water with the smaller opening. And, when it got windy, it got a lot smokier as the draft wasn't strong enough.

Assembled rocket stove. We used 24 bricks. I think 28 or 32 would be better. The bricks were $0.33/brick, which made this cost about $16. That's pretty affordable!



Pile of sticks that cooked 4 eggs and boiled 4 cups of water.



Here's the cooked eggs--I didn't get a picture of the boiled water. The kids were really interested in this, and wanted to cook eggs on it the next day, too.

Your rocket turned out very nice Nicole! Fun for the whole family.
You can also stack them on their sides or even on their ends (or both at the same time)  in order to get more height without having to buy more bricks too.

Chris McClellan wrote:

Chris, isn't that a tlud biomass gasifying stove rather than a rocket stove?

EXTREME  EMERGENCY  SMALL  ROCKET  STOVE   -      THIS  IS  A  DIY PROJECT!!  

This really is going to the extreme, but, I had to put a post up about it.

The idea is explained in an eMail, with graphics, came from:  thelostsuperfoods.com on "how to"  How to Make A Cool Rocket Stove For Free.

The idea is to use a log, 10" to 12" in diameter, dill a large opening length-wise down through the log but not all the way. Then drill a hole from the side to mate up with the first hole. Load up some material to get the inside of the log to burn and set your grate in place for your cook pot.

You can probably find this on the web site if you dig long enough. I tried a quick search and did'nt find the article. An interesting idea for emergency heat, but sounds like it could get dangerous!!