my homemade wood stove

After about a month of weekends I have finished my wood burning stove, I hesitate to call it a rocket heater but it is built on the rocket stove design.
I used a piece of 18 inch oil well steel casing for the body, 6 inch square tubing with 1/4 inch walls, and for the center tube I used 4 inch 1/4 inch wall pipe, my stove pipe is 4 inch 1/4 inch wall steel pipe that then transitions to 4 inch heavy duty exhaust pipe then through the roof of the garage with 4 inch double walled insulated stainless pellet stove pipe.
The base and top of the body are 1/4 inch plate.
My fresh air intake is mounted below the fire box square tube and is 4 inch diameter with dampers on ether end that can be adjusted, this is welded over a 3 x 6 inch hole in the bottom of the firebox square tube.
the legs are 1 1/4 pipe
the body has a clean out door made out of 14 ga steel as well as the chimney port has a clean out also.
the door is made out of 14 ga steel, 1 x 1/8 steel strap, an old glass pan lid, some bolts and sealed with fire proof rope.
My riser tube is wrapped with three layers of fire proof insulation and held in place with steel wire and chicken wire.
I have done three successful burns with the last one this morning with the full length of chimney.
I finished the chimney installation late this afternoon and installed my heater, I will do a test run again tomorrow, but I do not anticipate any thing different than the run I had this morning,

here are a couple of the pictures during the build

these are tee temperatures that I seem to get at the top of the heater directly over my riser tube, I put the riser tube towards the back so I could have different temps on the top if I wanted to do some cooking on it.

My sets fire this morning went well, I had a little more trouble lighting this morning than the previous three times, but I believe that was my own fault by how I loaded the fire box.

I was hoping that with the long fire box I could get the entire length of the wood to burn but that is not the case, just the end of the wood burns under the riser tube and back about three inches or so.

it was 54 degrees this morning so it was not very cold out, it is supposed to be 20 tomorrow morning so I will see how well this heater works then.

We are just under 3000 feet for the ground elevation above sea level here in Kansas where I live, over all so far so good.

I do have a grate made out of 1/4 inch heavy expanded steel with welded on bolts that I can adjust up or down, I did remove the grate today while it was burning to see if there was a difference and to give me room for bigger diamater wood, but I think it burns better with the grate, I may adjust it down some though.

I used an Ir temperature reader to take the readings at the op of the stove pipe at the roof level and it was about 114, and at the bottom of the stove where the stope pipe comes out was about 260 and half way up the body of the stove was around 300 and the coolest part of the top was 400 and the hotest part over the riser tube was 560 or so.
The wind was blowing out side, which is very common here in Kansas, I had every intention of putting in a damper before I got everything together but the store did not have the size I needed and I forgot to go to the other one that I knew had it.

Neat! hope it is going well. how much space are you heating? thinking of adding some thermal mass to that?

Thanks AJ, I am trying to heat a 20 x 25 garage, I really had not thought about adding any thermal mass because I did not want to loose the space, but after reading your question I got to thinking that space is already being used because I cannot put anything there when the heater is running. Defiantly something to think about.
Do you have any good ideas?

Well I have no ingenious idea's and its hard to say since im not sure what your working on in your garage. I would like something that has atleast two uses. Instead of just some mass, make a small heated table. Since your obviously good with metal working you could make a small metal table built slightly encapsulating the thick exhaust pipe. Without using materials that conduct and store heat well (Your using more materials that insulate from heat compared to say, cob or water) your table wouldnt reach the same high heats (which would make it unusable) , but it would certainly heat up. So what about a heated tool cleaner, or just a spot to dry/warm gloves or boots? I personally, am hard on my tools and come across very "used" tools, so a warm oil bath or two stage tool cleaner, would be my experiment. Just throwing things out there, didnt get much time to think about it but since I didnt think much about my first post and that one seemed to give you a thought, maybe this one would spark an idea. hhmmm, already reconsidering what I've wrote....oh well. Maybe ill have something smarter to say later, haha.
Cheers!

Yesterday afternoon I removed the grate, and changed the rain cap to one that is lot less restrictive than I had before, this morning when I lit the fire it started a lot easier, I used one sheet of news paper and some thinly split pieces of hard wood pallet board, once the fire has heated everything up and the fire burns the whole length of the fire box now, before it would only burn under the riser pipe and back about three inches.
I thought the grate would allow more air flow, but it appears that the air wants to come across the top of the wood and the fire is happier with the wood laying on the bottom of the fire box.
I am quite happy with this wood stove today.

I wonder if I could cut an opening in the front of the body of the stove near the top and weld in an oven box out of some 14 ga steel and put a door on the front or would this make the air flow not work very well insode?
any thoughts or ideas about this would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Cliff

- I notice in your 4th picture your stove is set up to radiate the most heat away from your nearest wall and doorway, have i got that right? I also noted the door (1st picture) has interior hardware on it , is this an attached Garage ? I mention this be cause the wall appears to be pretty close and ? 'dressed' with Sheet Rock ? - So I'm betting that you have 2 X 6s under the Sheet Rock , I just wanted to propose that you try dry stacking an 'L' shaped False wall of bricks/patio pavers (like you have under the stove) between the stove and the near wall with an air gap, and around your chimney, the idea is Not to make the room harder to heat , just add on a little bit more security ! The pavers will also add some thermal mass and give you an way to see if you might want to add some more ! g'LUCK !!! pyro - maticly yours Allen L. p.s. please continue to update your results/history with this GREAT looking stove !

Hi Allen, that door goes to the outside, and yes this garage is attached to the house, the house door is at the other end and across the garage.

I Think you may be correct with the amount of heat that is behind the stove and the wall behind it may be plenty warm.
I like your idea about the paving stones, I do have more like those that the stove sits on, and I also have quite a number of brick street paving stones from town here that I could use as well.
could a person brick up around the back and the chimney area real close to the stove? like touching the stove body or almost touching it?
two layers of brick deep?
Thanks for the suggestion
Cliff

Good job Cliff. What is temperature reading of your exhaust pipe, starting from the barrel?

frank kralik wrote:Good job Cliff. What is temperature reading of your exhaust pipe, starting from the barrel?

Thank You Frank

The tempurature at the bottom where the stove pipe connects runs about 240 to 260 degrees, the tempurature at the top of the stove pipe just as it goes through the roof is around 100 to 114 degrees, the flashing around the stove pipe runs about 70 degrees at the top

I wonder if I could cut an opening in the front of the body of the stove near the top and weld in an oven box out of some 14 ga steel and put a door on the front or would this make the air flow not work very well insode?

What about if you make an oven box near the top on the outside , like 12" x 8" x 6" size . It should give enough heat to bake, your measured temperature near top was around 400 F right?

That is a good idea Frank! I wonder if it could just sit on the top?
Also an update on the temperature at the stove pipe base...after an all morning burn yesterday while I was working in the garage and using hard wood pallets as fuel the temperature was at 300 degrees f.

Thanks for temperature update.
If you put oven box on top, the temperature might be too high for baking. My wife bakes bread at 400F. So I would just say find the right spot where the temperature will be good for your baking needs, and place the box there.

I was trying to think of a good way to bake on this heater, I kicked around about a dozen ideas, then decided to take a non functioning toaster oven and stripping put the electrical parts and then putting it back together and sticking it on the top of the stove.
what I wound up doing is after opening up the toaster oven and stripping out the unnecessary parts I added insulation around the oven box and between it and the outside skin, then put it all the way back together.
Initial trial did not heat up to more than about 150 degrees, so I removed the bottom of the oven, which was just a crumb tray/door and put it back on top of the heater.
with a decent fire going I was able to get the temperature up to 375 in about 10 minutes, then I put in a tray of frozen cookie dough snicker doodles! and the temperature gauge.
the temp doped to about 325 degrees and in about 8 minutes was back at 350 where the cookies were supposed to be for cooking so I closed one of the air inlets to keep the fire consistent. I left them in an other 10 minutes and the temp was consistently staying at 350 then I took the cookies out, they were almost perfectly done, I do think I could have left them in for an other couple of minutes and they would have been just a little better.
After the cookies were removed I stuck the temp gauge back in and closed the door, and with in a minute or so it was hanging around 350 degrees.
I still need to cover the holes in the front of the oven where the control knobs were so the insulation is not exposed, I think I will use a piece of tin from the crumb tray and roll the edges to make a cover for them.
here are a few photos

Thanks for the advice, Clifford. Heck, you could place pots on top to cook with your heater. Or to go with your previous idea, maybe even add an extended top and create an oven. But hey, if the toaster oven is working great, then why bother.

I do love the look of your heater. It looks a lot like a regular wood stove. It is by far my favorite design that I have seen yet. Is there anything behind it?

Rion Mather wrote:Thanks for the advice, Clifford. Heck, you could place pots on top to cook with your heater. Or to go with your previous idea, maybe even add an extended top and create an oven. But hey, if the toaster oven is working great, then why bother.

I do love the look of your heater. It looks a lot like a regular wood stove. It is by far my favorite design that I have seen yet. Is there anything behind it?

Thanks! I still think I will make a permanent oven some time, I think I will cut it into the body towards the top, I hope to find a nice cast iron door to start with and build the oven from there.
I do not have anything behind the heater yet, I am kind of thinking about bricks around the back side, but may just go with a piece of something on the wall to shield the heat
I don't know?

Forgive me but I don't know much about rocket mass heaters. What size of square footage can you heat with that? How is it doing? How much wood do you need?

I am heating my garage which is about 500 square feet, the garage door is not insulated and the rafters are open is a lot of heat is leaving the garage in these areas.
So far it has not been really cold, but I burnt about the amount of small tree branches that would fit in a five gallon basket in about 8 hours maybe, it is slow to heat the area but will warm up from 30 f. To about 55 in an hour, I put a fan behind it ang then I can get he whole garage to 60 in an hour.
I know once I insulate my door and put in a ceiling I can heat this area a lot quicker and get it quite warm.
I went and picked up pieces of coal they falls off of the trains and am test that tonight, after about two hours of burning it is very comfortable.
Wood branches and pieces of broken shipping pallets need to be added to the fire about every 30 to 45 minuts, but again once the insulation is in the burn can be slowed down with the vents and may only have to tend the fire every hour or more after it is established.

Coal.....NO!

I have burnt coal in a coal/wood stove and enjoied the consistent hot heat, but my heater ....not the same, it burns smoth and consistent but the smoke out of the chimney is heavy and grey, it makes the neighborhood smell like assfault
Adding wood in the fire box cleans up the smoke and makes great heat again.

Well glad I do not have any more coal.
Sorry neighbors about that smoke

From a sales standpoint, the stove seems to be a great idea because you could switch it out easily with a regular woodstove, which are really popular in this region. Like I said, I am not familiar with rocket stoves but if you could get that to pass code, then you would have a great replacement for conventional wood stoves. You definitely need a surround, at least in my area, for free standing stoves and fireplaces.

Both of my jobs are in sales, so I tend to think that way.

Rion Mather : My rule is never live in a Town with a Stop light, never live in a house you can't pee off of your own back steps,and being a fire man I am not afraid of the Insurance Co. Works for me !


Checkout the 'threads others have visited' below Pyro-Al.

Clifford gave me advice on how to salvage my toaster oven in another thread. I have to be honest and say the look of his stove caught my eye. Maybe that is the different perspective that I bring to the table. I am concerned with the visual appeal of the product as much as the functionality. His stove does have an old time but modern industrial look to it - very sleek, minimalist, and cool.

I will take your advice Allen since all I am not familiar with the smaller stoves.

Rion Mather wrote:From a sales standpoint, the stove seems to be a great idea because you could switch it out easily with a regular woodstove, which are really popular in this region. Like I said, I am not familiar with rocket stoves but if you could get that to pass code, then you would have a great replacement for conventional wood stoves. You definitely need a surround, at least in my area, for free standing stoves and fireplaces.

Both of my jobs are in sales, so I tend to think that way.

I think before it could be marketed the body should be nade out of lighter material so it transfers or radiates heat quicker, maybe even using stainless fire box and heat riser to make the whole thing lighter.

I do not know that getting it to the point of meeting code and being marketed would be much fun for me, I tend to be more of the lets see what can be put together out of these parts or fixing old unwanted/broken tools, just tinkering and solving little problems.

Rion you are welcome to take the design and do anything you would want, I figured if it worked out and I put my progress and trial and error on here someone who was a lot smarter and understood more of these things may get a bright idea and make a perfect heater.

I'm more interested in the food business than the stove business. Ha! Again, I love the style of the stove. It has a nice steampunk quality and would work well with a lot of my railroad antiques so I am going to keep it in mind. I have bookmarked the thread. Cheers, Clifford.

I had no idea what steampunk was so I got the google out! You are going to laugh but I almost ...instead of welding the bottom plate and the top plate... I was going to weld a ring around the body of the stove and drill holes that matched it and the top/bottom and bolt it on like a boiler, mainly because I thought it would look cool and I have a supply of large stainless steel bolts.

Fun times had by all!

Hi Clifford
Is it possible to have any idea about what it cost you ?
(of course I know it will in the end depend on what one can get for free or second hand, but just to get an idea...)

And also: how heavy is it?

Xisca Nicolas wrote:Hi Clifford
Is it possible to have any idea about what it cost you ?
(of course I know it will in the end depend on what one can get for free or second hand, but just to get an idea...)

And also: how heavy is it?

Absolutely!
the weight will have to be a guess, I was going to go to an engineering website to get the specifics and weight for each piece and figure it up, but that seems to hard now that I think about it, so I am going to guess that it is around 250 pounds or a little more, I know that the legs were perfectly straight but I layed the stove over to weld on some finishing parts and when I started to stand it up the legs had enough leverage to bend the 1/4 inch plate steel so they are not level any longer.

here is a break down for the parts and what I spent, I did keep the receipts so I had a clue as to what the damage was. more costs were involved as I did stupid things and broke some stuff and had to re do things and bought stuff to experiment with, but this somewhat finished project was around the $300 amount.
I believe it could be made cheaper and lighter but I kinda like it like this.

Things I wonder about are putting the fire box in the middle and having a shorter riser tube and leave the chimney at the bottom, the only reason for this is so it is easier to light and not have to lean over so far.


Material Quantity Price Note
6 x 6 - 1/4 sq. tube 24" $40.40 fire box
6 x4 - 3/16 rect tube 8" $13.70 outlet for stove pipe
1/4 inch plate steel 19" round $41.40 Top
1/4 inch plate steel 19" square $41.40 bottom
8" x 1 -1/4" pipe 4 $0.00 legs
4 inch pipe 24" $16.00 heat riser cut to size
4 inch pipe 8" $0.00 air intake tube
4 inch automotive exhaust tubing 7' 6" $49.91 stove pipe
18 inch steal oil well casing 24" $0.00 body of heater I had this
4 inch pipe 22" $0.00 from outlet to the chimney I had this
14 gauge steel 3 sq. ft. maybe $0.00 air doors, clean out covers front door parts made from electrical box covers I had
Fire Proof stove insulation 2' x 4' $22.10 three wraps around riser tube to insulate it
tie wire 40" $0.00 to hold insulation while I wrapped the chicken wire
chicken wire 24" x 24" $0.00 to wrap around insulation to hold it in place
toggle latches 3 $6.13 to hold ash clean out doors closed
hinges 2 $0.00 for the ash doors
stove gasket rope 10' $17.90 to seal doors
stove gasket cement 1 tube $5.50 to hold the gasket on
glass cook pan lid 1 $2.00 for the glass on the door bought from good will
1/4" copper couplings 4 $2.36 spacers to hold the glass to the door
BBQ high heat black paint 1 can $7.99 to make it look a little more decent
welding rod 1.25 pound $8.00 to stick all the pieces together
5/16" steel rod 10" $0.00 Fire box door latch
strap loop 1 $1.60 fire box door latch
bolts nuts washers a hand full $0.00 to hold hinges and latches on, also to make hinges for the fire box door
compression springs 3/8 x 5/8 2 $1.28 for the air intake flaps for resistance so they stay where I want them to
lifting eyes 3/8 2 $0.00 to lift the stove if I want to
cut off wheels 5 $28.54 to cut the steel parts to fit
beer several?? $25.00 ummm…?
TOTAL $331.21

well I did that in Excel and it did not come across quite as pretty as I was thinking.
if this is to hard to look at and figure out I can try again

Thanks for all the details!
As I saw it outside (on your pics) before you put it in your garage, I thought it would have been somehow lighter to carry...
Some pocket rocket (I do not mean the tiny camping ones!) are certainly lighter, and not so strong.

Xisca Nicolas wrote:Thanks for all the details!
As I saw it outside (on your pics) before you put it in your garage, I thought it would have been somehow lighter to carry...
Some pocket rocket (I do not mean the tiny camping ones!) are certainly lighter, and not so strong.

yea it is hella stout for sure!
but that is how I seem to do things is some place between OVER-KILL & hella stout...i don't know why oh well thanks for the interest

**UPDATE**

heheHA HA- do you like how I made the up date look rather important with the two stars on each side of it?

we finally had some cold weather here over the holiday and I had a piece of brass that I was wanting to shape and soothe out on a handle I was making so I started my heater up. The garage is rather large, some where around 225 to 250 square feet and has open rafters and the 17 ft wide garage door is made of tin. It was 14 degrees F. I started the heater with some news paper and some small sticks and then added some larger ones until the fire was burning good, I had to add about 5 or maybe 10 sticks about an inch n diameter or even a little large until the heater was really warmed up and then I added some pieces of hard wood shipping pallet about 2 inches by 4 inches and about every 10 to 20 minutes would push more wood in to the fire box, after about an hour it was about 40 F I put a fan above the heater in the rafters blowing the heat back down and in about 30 more minutes I was about 50, and then about 55 after the two hour mark. I found that once I had ran the heater about 2 hours and the temperature over the body of the stove was 400 and the top was about 600 that I had to close the air off almost all the way and the fire seemed to quit roaring and then put out a real even heat, I think it was working like a forge when the air was wide open and to much heat was going up the chimney.

This is interesting. I do not understand how this would work for heating a house when you go to sleep for the night. But then Rocker Stoves and Mass Stoves have not settled well in my mind yet. I am thinking the old way. Get a big stove. Burn big solid pieces of hardwood to last all night and when you wake up in the morning you still have coals there and you can add new wood for the morning. But with these rocket stoves and mass stoves. you are using tiny pieces of wood. It is Kindling in my mind. How can this tuff last all night.
I usually shut down all the air intake on my present wood stove. But seems like on Rocket and Mass stoves you leave it full open.
I have watched all the videos, But still confused. Still watching and learning before I commit to change from my regular wood stove.
Does anyone have any comments that may get me thinking differently?
Thanks

*** UPDATE***




If I was building this heater today I would:
use lighter weight steel for the stove body so the heat transfer would be faster
I would definitely leave the top 1/4 inch as it would warp otherwise
I would go with a riser tube that was shorter and move the fire box up so I do not need to bend over so far to put the wood in
I would move the riser tube back a couple more inches in the stove body and add that length to the fire box to give a little bit longer firebox

I still think it is pretty wicked, Clifford.

One more thing that I think I would do different is to weld a steel tube around my riser tube to provide more insulation for the combustion, I think this would make initial start up produce less smoke because it would heat up the chamber faster. As it is now it will produce smoke for ten minutes or so then it clears up.

here are a couple of videos before I moved it inside the shop last fall
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrqm5NFtEM4[/youtube][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikKfG7haK0M[/youtube]

So how is the stove holding up? How is the cooking going?

Mine looks very similar I used 4" exhaust pipe and 8" stove pipe for the outside. On the inside, I brazed coffee cans together and packed a clay sand mix in-between the 4" and coffee cans