Design Ideas Rocket Patio Heater

Garey Buck wrote:I spent 5 hours outside in 26 deg. weather on Thanksgiving smoking meat, I just want as much heat as possible. Wood fired off-set smoker, so I get a little from it in the front, but I want some from the back. (getting to old to freeze my a-- off)

With a J do you think there would be enough heat coming out of the stack to warrant a heat deflector above? I was thinking about a deflector of some sort on the opposite side of where you would sit, to radiate more toward you?

Garey Buck wrote:Scott, I am looking to build a patio heater to use while smoking meat. I use an off-set wood smoker it is not a set and forget, it requires constant attention to monitor temp. and add wood.

Burra Maluca wrote:I think I've figured the shorts out...

Kevin Olson wrote:Is the secret to simply trim off the "?feature=share" portion of the URL?

Fox James wrote:For a patio heater I would just build a 6” j tube and fit a barrel over the riser, very simple and very effective.
I dont know where you live but if you access to vermiculite board you can build such a core in about one hour.
The core can be moved around and the barrel can be separated and moved or you could add wheels.
You will need a chimney that sticks up about 3-4’ but the heat this set up would deliver will amaze you!

Garey Buck wrote:Okay so I started building my rocket J tube patio heater, can someone answer a couple questions before I weld it all together?  I am using 5" square tube 1/4" thick, (because it was free) I have cut it 9"-18"-36". I plan to put a pull out ash drawer in the  in the bottom horizontal tube, I also plan on a barrel of some sort over the stack, and then a vent pipe out of the barrel. I have watched a lot of videos with many different ideas, and upgrades.

Garey Buck wrote:
2. Will the square tube allow the air to swirl to create a vortex flame, or should a devise something to make it vortex?

Garey Buck wrote:
3. Is it necessary to insulate the stack inside the barrel?

Assuming your barrel is sitting on the floor or shelf in common to the bottom of your METAL J Tube,  how tall is your barrel?

You say a barrel of some sort?  Other than a 55 gal barrel, what other options do you have for a buck or two?

your 9-18-36 dimensions was based on a proven formula?   Presuming  18" would be your exterior feed tube, 9" would be your cross tube? and 36" your riser?  if different you can post a drawing.   so 18-9-36

Being your planning on this as a patio heater? your vent tube is just going up a ways   Are you planning on insulating this at all?  By watching the video's did you see one that was working really well?  Seems like one to copy then. with NO changes.

Garey Buck wrote:

Scott, the plan is for this to have wheels on one end so it can be moved out of the way, it will get used when I smoke meat, or the occasional cigar in the frigid Michigan weather. I have not settled on a barrel yet, we have steel bolt barrels that are approx.. 14" diameter, I also have a couple different size air compressor tanks. The intended use is for a portable radiant wood burning heater.

Garey, I see this is out of my range of operations, so my advice would not be so accurate.  I didn't know you were shooting for as small as a meat smoker and all the way up for a group radiant heater.  I have not been involved with one with such a range.  But I can ponder with a fair degree of certainty that it will be hard to do both ( low enough heat for meat smoking and high enough for a effective radiant wood burning heater.

Garey Buck wrote:
I assumed from what I have read the 9-18-36 was 9" burn tube 18" cross tube and 36" stack, am I incorrect??

 I will defer this as well as I have not been around enough beyond my full blown J tubes, well beyond a single large barrel, and vastly beyond 14" barrels.

Garey Buck wrote:For the occasional 4-5 hour run time should I insulate the stack in the barrel?

Most J tubes run pretty full bore for there size, ( and about the same amount of time for each burn of approx. 60 minutes all out)   As it has been pointed out, insulating your riser will get you the most efficient burn, but hardest on your steel.

Best of success.