Pellet stoves vs Rocket stoves

Hey guys I've been looking into jet mass heaters and rocket stoves and found this. What do you all think? I have an electric one and have been looking into making my own pellets from leaves and sticks from the back yard with the small home machines. I'm still researching the E consumption of the pellet mills and hammer mills though. How smelly are the rocket stoves inside the house? I also have a wood burning fireplace but the smell on my clothes has stopped me from using it. Which would you prefer?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjyf4dBViic

John Hill : You posted this to Wood Stoves, and comparing it to Wood Stoves is easy, there is little to compare it to Rocket Mass Heaters !

His lighting technique is easy, and there is a regular thermostat that actually measures the Temperature in degrees F of the wood gases
not the surface temperature of that point on the metal skin, you should be able to follow his instructions and duplicate his results !

He is talking about internal flame front temperatures of 700 dF, this is not the sustained operating temperature, and the unit is not really
made to be used that way, but a failure to pay attention could cause the metal temps to climb into that range !

This would be the equivalent of firing your wood stove and leaving the ash pit door wide open, and feeding your Wood Stove way more air
than the way it was designed operate!

At 6:25~* he shows and interesting feature, which He should have stated was a required step for the safe and efficient operation of his pellet
stove, the way he adds air will slow down the burn with minimal effects on the clean burning temperatures of the fire itself, put the Stove in
economy mode, and by quickly Tempering/lowering of the hot exhaust temps greatly increase the longevity of the stove !

I think he was straight forward in his explanation of maintenance, and only failed to mention that The once a year washing it out with a
stream of water needed to be done very thoroughly, Lye is always found in wood ashes and water and lye eat steel, again a lot of water is
needed and drying.

Well diluted run off will be No problem merely adding a Very Weak base to any lawn or field !

The only explanation for a wood stove that smokes bad enough to make your clothes smoky is forgetting to open the damper 30-60 sec.
before you open the feed door to add more wood, But I have not seen your technique or the stove, in question or its location!

My moto is never buy the First of anything, I certainly would want to see this stove running over several weeks and talk to a couple of owners
before I was contemplating a buy ! I hope this is timely and helps

* Late Note did you notice that at 6:30~ he is first loosening a threaded fitting moving the slide and tightening it up again? With out being care
full to tighten that screw up again you could go away and find it running in start up mode and very Damn HOT ! BIG AL

Pellet mills are slow and expensive. I have a basically unlimited source of free hardwood sawdust and it is not worth the time/money to make pellets. The $5/bag they sell for is cheaper than you could make them if you bought a new machine and amortized the costs for just stove pellets. Maybe if you could come up with another product--animal feed, pelleted compost mulch, etc.--to justify buying the machine for a business.

That said, I really like that pellet stove--it is one of the few non-electric stoves out there and the other are tent stoves that aren't made to last. It would have a place as a backup/supplemental heat for someone in the suburbs, like someone that heats with pellets but needs a solution for a shop and for power outages. I would equate it to a pocket rocket for pellets.

Wow thanks guys for the speedy responses you all are great! I'm not really looking into buying his stove but more of an idea and a lot of what you mentioned I wouldn't have thought of. Thanks. I have also been researching Russian fireplaces and they too use radiant heat like in the rocket mass heaters. Has anyone come up with or know of the most efficient and cleanest heat with low cost? Having to split fire wood and storing it is too much right now and having to store sticks is a bit messy I would think. That is why I lean towards pellets.

How often do you have to tend to a rocket stove?

When I mention rocket stoves to my friends they ask me how does it work and the best way I could describe it would be like burning a match upside down vs holding it upright but with a rocket stove the fire burns sideways so it would be like burning a match upside down which would equate to it burning upright... ? They go huh and I point them here lol

I too like that pellet stove and how its non-electric. I've seen a few other videos on some DIY stoves but this one I think was the cleanest example I've found.

@allen lumley

He is talking about internal flame front temperatures of 700 dF, this is not the sustained operating temperature, and the unit is not really
made to be used that way, but a failure to pay attention could cause the metal temps to climb into that range !

are you saying the fire could get so hot it melts the metal ?


Oh side note has anyone looked into thermoelectric peltiers for fan ideas?

J. H. : Temps that high will melt tin and lead I think, but there will be a change in the metal caused buy heat stress possibly warping thing out of alignment
just like an improperly run wood stove ! But run that way continuously bad things can happen ! Famously exposed paper ignites at 451 degrees F.

Near the right hand top of this page is the permits Toolbox, click on> search and enter ,Thermoelectric Generators , or T.E.G., or Peltier in the search
engine, and select a Google search for these things in permies ! Good Luck BIG AL !

ok thank you Allen. cheers