Newbie Rocket stove...

Hi, I am wanting to build a rocket stove for supplemented heating in my home..I plan on using it in the basement, and want to use a 55 gallon drum (because I can get one for 10 bucks, and would like to be able to use flat top of the drum to cook too)...but I no clue where to begin in design...I was thing a metal pipe for a riser, and maybe 4x4 steel tube for a combustion chamber, but I don't know what size the pipe should, the distance from the top the riser should be...you know, the technical stuff...I'm kind of a dumdum in this field...hope you can help!

..as in all technical forums: read, alot, dig deep...also search the other rocket stove forum....http://donkey32.proboards.com/, but PLEASE: read deeply before asking for the basics....
I intend no disrespect, but I see this on all the renewables boards...sometimes there is a newbies section, sometimes not: pay attention to the "sticky threads"
above all, do some research: read before asking

No-one is a dumb dumb, but many of us (myself included) have spent years reading (lurking) the posts of others before asking or contributing.

Again, please don't take this the wrong way, but read for a month or two, there is SO much info here.....you need to sift through it

For basics, find aprovecho.org for the principles...

Andor

Andor Horvath wrote:..as in all technical forums: read, alot, dig deep...also search the other rocket stove forum....http://donkey32.proboards.com/, but PLEASE: read deeply before asking for the basics....
I intend no disrespect, but I see this on all the renewables boards...sometimes there is a newbies section, sometimes not: pay attention to the "sticky threads"
above all, do some research: read before asking

No-one is a dumb dumb, but many of us (myself included) have spent years reading (lurking) the posts of others before asking or contributing.

Again, please don't take this the wrong way, but read for a month or two, there is SO much info here.....you need to sift through it

For basics, find aprovecho.org for the principles...

Andor

Sorry, guess that really did sound like i wanted it handed to me on a platter lol. I done a few weeks of reading, and so far, this is what I've got in mind (pardon my terrible photoshop creation):

i will check the sites you gave me and see if i can figure out the gap i need. I will post pics of my stove as i begin to build it

The best way to start is to read the book sold here: www.rocketstoves.com

That should give you the basics on dimensions and a few ideas on how to make it.

Pat,
search for Clarry stove, and imagine insulating the bottom (horizontal burn tunnel and first vertical piece), it might get you going on both gravity feed possibilities and how to keep CSA even. I built a tiny one to play with.
Once you've got the combustion area down, then you can work on extracting the heat. ie. I can put my Clarry test bed into a barrel...
Didn't mean to "bite your head off": have fun building a few small cheap units - my first rocket was a four can (three soup, one coffee) stove, and it sure was fun to get glowing!

Andor

Thanks for the tips I'm doing some additional research, and hope to start mine soon!

Picked up my barrels today for my heater

Patrick,

My brother-in-law and I built a rocket stove, more like a hobo stove, from a 55 gal drum for his shop. It took about an hour using some of the stuff we had laying about. He only needs heat out there once a week or so and when he wants it he doesn't want to wait for something like an RMH.

Essentially all we did was cut 2 holes in the top of the lid to fit 6" galv stove pipe, we shoved a 3 foot (or is it 30"?) section in until only a couple of inches were sticking up, this is the feed tube. We then filled the bottom of the barrel with several layers of old patio pavers until there was only a couple of inches between the bottom of the feed tube and the pavers. We also used some pavers on their side to protect the side of the barrel from overheating. We only did one row of these, the top 1/2 of the barrel is left alone. We hooked up a 6" flue and piped it outside, ideally we would have used a 4" but this is what we had. We experimented with it outside before we brought it in to verify that it worked well.

It took us a little while before we figured out the best way to fire it up, but since we got the system down we haven't had any smoke issues while lighting it, and nearly none when it's burning.

We use old 6' fence boards, usually split into a few thinner pieces, and just stick them in. The only times we've had any sort of issues is when we've had it burning for a long time and it was really hot. On those occassions the radiated heat will start the wood on fire close to the feed tube opening and then it will creep up the wood against the draw. Usually we can just give the wood a jiggle and it'll settle far enough into the feed tube that it's fine. To be on the safe side we've started sawing all the boards to 3 feet, just in case.A single 1"x6"x6' board takes about an hour to burn when we first fire it up, it takes about 1/2 an hour when everything is good and hot.

The design is good but it does take a little while to really start putting out serious heat, which could be due to several factors, and I'm planning a few upgrades that could really help. One drawback is the feed tube needs to be replaced every now and then because the bottom burns away. Replacing it with a good thick piece of steel tube should fix that. I'm also thinking about using the pavers to create a feed tube. All sorts of ideas to play with. I'll see if I can find some pics.

Read, learn, experiment, have fun, be safe.

Jon