Rocket stove - hot plate.

Hi Ralph, happy Christmas, yes our cows are well known for their yellow butter and full fat milk, the jersey Is smaller but more hardy.
The island has become very popular in recent years with America tourist due to the 120 cruise ship visits we get each summer.
If we get several boats in on the same day, the islands population can increase by almost 10%
Also the book & now film, called The Potato Peel Society, has drawn in many thousand of tourists.

I have made a new vortex engine with a big fire box, many implied it wouldn’t work but on it’s first run we saw over 600c that was when the glass cracked and I had to use a sauce pan lid... that started glowing red after only a few minutes!
The refectory is still fresh and wet so I guess it will go quite a bit higher after a few burns.

Fox, did you do tangential entry, like Takeshi Uneo, or Ppotty?

I used my own design as my model on the previous  page.
I will make a video but the fire is not really in use at the moment as it lives in my outdoor summer house and as it is summer, it gets far to hot inside.
I will post more results in the autumn when it will be used a couple of times a week.
I really don’t know why it works so well ... maybe the vortex or maybe the more fuel in the big box?
I don’t know if it is producing more air pollution but it heats up real quick and gets far to hot for cooking or standing near unless I restrict the air supply .
I am using my 5 min riser with 2” of ceramic fibre, I have not tried my cement riser.

The rocket cooktop at allerton abbey here at wheaton labs

Here is the stove in its latest re incarnation
Works very well, hardly any ash left, I have not cleared any out for weeks.

Got that video of it in action yet?

Hi Graham, sorry no video as yet, the bigger firebox allows more wood to be loaded and it gets a bit hotter but I would really like longer in between loading the box.
The internal modifications has made it  a little Heath Robinson to be honest, I would love to build a completely new version.

I feel more confident now I have experimented a bit but I am still nervous about building a completely new version due to the work involved and the disturbance to my party house.
However my vortex riser hight is now only 24” (30” from fire box floor) and it still draws well.
That means a lot to me as I could drop the hot plate a couple of inches to a slightly  more comfortable cooking hight.
With the risers reduced hight, the top takes much longer to get red hot but the barrel sides are now really hot!
For cooking purposes using restricted air,  I am getting a more even temperature over the plate with around 120 on the outside edge and 280c in the centre.
I do see smoke at the start of the burn but it runs smoke fee after 10 mins or so, there is quite a lot of mass in the fire box and it still takes a couple of hours to get really hot.
I have to many hobbies, not enough time and I am a bit nervous about telling the wife that I would like to build a completely new stove but ... perhaps in the spring......