rocket stove really work

We have been reading a lot on the Rocket Stoves and find somehing that makes us wonder if they are really what they are made out to be.
I see the opening for the wood is very small and would need to be cleaned out quite often to put more wood in. It looks like you would have to spend a lot of time cutting wood into very small pieces and not enough room to put more than one or maybe two small logs in the box
It looks like you have to either set on it or really close to be warm and they are only for warming a small area
Can the firebox be made bigger to accomadate warming a large decently insulated area ? We have a room that is roughly 26 ft x 24 ft the floors are wood and the walls are sheet rock with insulation in the walls and ceiling.
If the size has to take up a lot of floor space and you can not increae the size of the firebox it makes the rocket stove appear to be more of a conversation piece or I have one you don't concept,it could just be the satisfaction of building one but not for a true warming or heating alternative.
My intent is not to be disruptive or to knock the rocket Stove concept .I would just really be disappointed if we went to the trouble to build one and it takes up four or five foot of living area that does very little good when finished. Even for a smll area the size of the complete unit loooks rather large
I have to admit my version of being warm is not setting in a 60 or 70 degree room on a 20 or 30 degree day and still have blankets wraped around me and having to stay aganisthe setting area
Any replies would be appreciated .

yes they work. Rocket heaters burn a lot more of the wood and its byproducts than your fireplace does. There is by comparison little ash if it is running well. The main benefit of that extremely efficient combustion is that you are actually getting more BTUs out of that wood than you are used to. So a smaller mass of wood will in fact, heat just as much as traditional logs. Im rusty on the dimesions and ratios, so I leave that for one of the more sharp fellows to answer.

Chaz and Rich : All the information you seek is in Ianto Evans' great book 'Rocket Mass Heaters' $15.00u.s.,downloadable pdf (all the copies you want to print) or paperback $18.00u.s.. No other book contains as much information specific to 'Rocket Stoves' ! This is the book used at most Rocket Stove Work Shops. speak from knowledge not guess work !

I always thought that one of the benefits of a rocket stove was that you didn't need logs.

You could run them on the smaller branches that usually wouldn't be used on a fire.

You don't need to cut a log into small pieces, you use small pieces instead of logs.

I have the book on order but getting anything from the US is an exercise in patience.

What I really should have said - - - get your book at www.rocketstoves.com the most information gathered in one book any where in the world ! pyro-AL

mark : its a two way street we complain about time and shipping costs when we get things from U.K.

I get my used books thru Alibris (google search) its a group of smaller book sellers who don't like amazon's deals, for some reason used books seem to ship cheaper than new AND it seems faster too ! G'luck Pyro-AL

Mark, from what I have read and seen in videos, you CAN burn logs, twigs, sticks, even bones.... yes bones. All one has to do is get the fire going with smaller branches before putting in logs or even massive branches that stick WAY OUT.

I took Allens advice and read Ianoto Evans book. AWESOME! It's hard to put down and it gave me some great ideas. You should check it out, I think Piratebay has it too.lol

I do appreciate the replies .Allen I checked Alibris they did not have one they did have some by other aurthurs but they were in the 110.00 and more price range
I will most likely getthe book before I build but just wanted some assurance before spending money I don't have on something that may have been a novelty
The only other question I have is I see a lot of the stoves have the material being fed in a horizontal position insted of vertical/down position
is there any advantage or disadvantage to which is best or is this and related to the whys ofone over the other in the book as well

Chaz Leonard : the only discount way to get Ianto Evans' Great Book 'Rocket Mass Heaters '- www.rocketstoves.com - Downloaded copy $15.oou.s.,( all the copies you want to print! ), paperback !$18.oou.s.,

Alibris is a great shopping site for used / out-of-print books and I use it and recommend it !

I recently borrowed a copy of I. Evans' 'Hand Sculpted Home', his COB book, it is 4X as thick so I will need 16X as long to begin to take in all in.

The J-Tube (trap) ,was created at I.Evans group Cob Cottage, to stop the thermo-syphoning condition. When your Rocket stove goes out intentionally or by accident instead of cooler air being drawn through the system by the lower air pressure created by exiting hot gases And picking up heat And rising through the system and being replaced by cooler gases that heat up and rise - - - - Our J tube is designed to act just like the 'P' trap under your sink, I have begged both of the people who have Rocket Stoves in part due to my hard work, to let me test this theory, but both of these people are still at the -This is black magic, and I don't want to destroy the JuJu ! stage . I believe this is so, I just do not have the proof ! Most people have a set of bricks flat stone ,paver, that they set over the opening between burns when they think of it ! (hearsay) Pyro-Allen

- while the whole vertical feed, - J-bend , issue was working in my head i realized that there were 2 good though partial solutions to the -

''How do I get a window into my feed tube - because I am a closet pyro - maniac , and i want to SEE the Flames ! '' !!

If we build the front of our feed tube as a open, deep u-shaped trough we could then close the end in with tempered glass, from a toaster oven, or microwave ! - this is not a new idea !

Every single Microwave, and some Toaster Ovens have two pieces of glass, the one in the door, and one that i am sure is tempered glass that i will call the 'shelf glass'.

The shelf glass can be square, rectangular, or round, this glass slipped vertically into a receiving channel near the 'Front' end of the feed tube should work as a nearly Transparent end wall in the feed tube.
This would restore its J-tube (trap) shape, again restoring prevention of Thermo-syphoning !

As long as it has some protection from direct flame contact and having wood or bricks dropped on it it should last a long time.

The front door of ether the Microwave or Toaster Oven could be hung across the front of the feed tube to -
1) Act as a physical barrier/protection against objects dropped on the now vertical shelf glass !
2) Protect against thermal shock to the glass due to different temperatures on ether side of the tempered glass at start-up !
3) Hang slightly ajar with a piece of shinny metal to act as a mirror and cast a reflection through an arc of approximately 90 degrees at 90 degrees to ether side of the direct line of sight
( Depending on whether the door was hung with the hinges on the right or the left !)

Alternately this unit could be created in a box form to be hung off of bolts from the front or the top of the near end of the feed tube.
Built this way it would be very simple to slip this off to clean the feed tube.
This would also allow inspection of the Burn Tunnel, and the elbow at the bottom of the Heat Riser, and the Heat Riser with the mirror already stored at this location !

Please feel free to pick this apart and find an error in my thinking , together we all GROW ! - Pyro - AL

Thinking about doing a RMH. Couple questions for the enlightened folk of permies, Do you have to use a barrel? Can I make my outer stack out of stacked bricks also?
How do you move all this heat around your house. My house is all one story, and the best place for me to build a RMH would be the garage, on the complete other end of the house from my bedrooms.

Yes ! What 'outer stack'? You can't! - Its a 'space heater ! Get Ianto Evans book "rocket mass heaters ' A,L.