• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • r ranson
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • John F Dean
  • Jay Angler
  • paul wheaton
stewards:
  • Nicole Alderman
  • Pearl Sutton
  • Anne Miller
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • Nina Surya
  • Matt McSpadden
  • thomas rubino

Rocket stove plans for large insulated garage?

 
Posts: 137
Location: Seymour, MO Zone 6a
2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
I'm thinking about replacing an existing worn out stove in my 30'x40' shop area (southern Indiana) with a Rocket Stove or Rocket Stove Mass Heater.

I've seen some videos, and am pretty handy with building stuff in general, but I don't really want to experiment with a new design. I just want to find an existing design or template I can source materials for that is suitably sized for my project. I'm hoping to keep the cost down around $200.

I have an existing chimney and there are no interior walls and a concrete slab unfinished floor. It has 6" walls, so is fairly well insulated except for the insulated garage door which is a bit leaky.

Any suggestions for plans or guidelines I can plug in to make a stove appropriately sized that will just work if built according to plans?
 
Posts: 67
1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
with it being a shop your are probably going to want heat on demand type system not one with a mass as mass heaters take a while to fire and get up to temp. a double barrel system or rmh with bells should suffice quite well
 
Posts: 245
Location: near Houston, TX; zone 8b
3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
If you read Paul Wheaton's discussion about his shippable core (in a wooden box), you will discern that despite his best efforts, just the materials in his core came up to $200. And he hasn't paid to ship it anywhere or paid any employees to make it.

Yet, you want to build the whole thing for $200. with a plan which will work immediately without having to experiment with it. Ernie and Erica's plans are $35.; that leaves you with $165 for all of your materials.

To me, you are asking for all three points of the triangle at once: fast, cheap, and good. You only get 2.

Dragon Heaters can get you fast (one day construction) and good (our plans and cores will work). As a partner, I think our prices are reasonable; but, what you need for 1,200 sq. ft will cost more than $200. www.dragonheaters.com

The bottom line is that materials which can stand up to the heat of an efficient wood fire cost more than those which can't.
 
brian hall
Posts: 67
1
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
luke head over to donkey board and take a look at what satamax is doing.

http://donkey32.proboards.com/thread/849/grren-machine-inch-tube-help
 
Luke Townsley
Posts: 137
Location: Seymour, MO Zone 6a
2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Are Ernie and Erica's RMH plans suitable for a building that large?

As for cost, are there materials required for that build putting me well over $200 without the chimney? I went over to their page, but didn't find much information at all.

I don't have a problem building from scratch and can get 30 and 55 gallon drums inexpensively. I'm not necessarily looking for a premade core.

I've seen quite a few videos in the past and listened recently to Paul's interview with Jack Spirko renewing my interest in building one. Until I listened to that, I was planning to build a conventional double barrel wood stove with a kit.
 
Posts: 18
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Hi I have built one for my workshop like in this thread https://permies.com/t/29052/rocket-stoves/builds-experimental

I used old red bricks for the batch box and stacked more around the bottom barrel for some mass.

It as been going for about a week and I'm well pleased, the work shop is 30X35 foot.

The cost apart from the time, about a day, was nothing.
 
Luke Townsley
Posts: 137
Location: Seymour, MO Zone 6a
2
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
OK, it took a while, but I just finished this stove. I ended up making a double 55 gallon barrel stove adding a couple of simple baffles, one in the top barrel and one in the bottom barrel.

Part of the reason I went with this design is so I can burn a wide variety of wood and not just skinny sticks. Since it is heating my wood shop and I am in the midwest (lots of shop scraps and less than straight hardwood trees) I felt it would be easier to use than a rocket stove in my current situation.

It is burning very cleanly after the first few minutes or so and putting out an enormous amount of heat. Today the shop went from 50 to 60 degrees in maybe 30 minutes after lighting the fire. I am getting a LOT of radiant heat off it and am planning to stack some more concrete blocks around it, mostly for safety and to store a bit of that heat.

Unfortunately, I think I could get addicted to stove making... I may need to get help before I make too many more stoves... But I definitely want to make a rocket stove and a cob oven first. And a gasifier. And a better charcoal kiln...

As it turned out, I have about $200 in it mostly for the stove kit. I also bought some stove pipe, furnace cement, and a door gasket as well as the barrels.
gift
 
Garden Mastery Academy - Module 1: Dare to Dream
will be released to subscribers in: soon!
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic