Questions about rocket stove water heater

hey all,
im new to the forum and happy to find it.
Im looking at some topics for a while now about how to use a rocket stove to heat up water , but i find so many alternatives and im a bit confused. Also i dont know much about thermosiphons and stuff so i also have some very basic questions.
It has to work completely without electricity (maybe i can use 12v pumps if there are any).
Also, i dont care for the stove to heat the room but i would like to be able to cook on the barrel.
I make up a quick sketch to see if i understand everything correctly until now...
The coloured parts are insulated and the hot water outlet and the tank too. The circles are openings to clean the ash with the bold one airtight.



So anything wrong with this in general?

And some questions:

1)Is there a specifice height distance between the tank and the coil? Or can i have for example the tank 4 meters above the stove (and the coil) and the thermosiphon effect still works?

2)All the coloured parts have to be insulated. Do i have a benefit for water heating and cooking if i insulate the top barrel all around, because in most pictures i have seen the barrel is not covered?

3)The pressure pump on the tank is enough so it is completely safe? What if the water boils inside the coil too soon?

4)Any help with the dimensions in general?

5) the two openings are enough to clean the ash? What if i need to clean around the bottom of the barrel?

Thats it for now.

j Tasou : Welcome to Permies.com, our sister site richsoil.com, and a Big Welcome to the Rocket and Wood Stoves forums, with over 22,000 fellow members
world wide, you should be able come here 24 / 7 and find someone who wants to talk about what you want to talk about !

I am the last person to ask to comment favorably on your project, The ways that it CAN kill you or a family member are legion, and even after 40+ years in the
heating business I probably don't know all the ways it can kill you, Here at Permies we call it the Boom-> Squish!, Think Boston Marathon Bombing with more,
full thickness full body burns !

I want you to leave here totally convinced of the danger on the road you want to travel, Go to -> U-Tube and find and look at the Myth Buster's exploding domestic
hot water heater videos!

If you want more information here on this topic, at the very top of this page should be a banner saying ''heat your home with 1/10th the wood'' Clickon-> that, and
follow the link to the offer for a 4 video set on Rocket Mass Heaters, you want the "Boom -> Squish'' video. If you do not see the Banner Goto-> richsoil.com and
click on the Energy Icon !

As part of a 5 year plan to teach you the minimum for safe operation of a water heating solid fuel fired system like you are proposing, that video would be a great
place to start!

Understanding, building, and living with a solar heated hot water system would be the next step in acquiring the knowledge and skills necessary to make this plan
work, the Following step would be to have a professional design such a system.

That person would certainly place some controls on the system such as blow down tanks, at least one pump with a back-up already plumbed into the system,
mandating that it must run off of 12 volts for power failures ( you will want to run your heater during a power outage !!) with backup batteries and trickle chargers
good enough for 48 -60 hrs !

I am sorry that this is so negative and comes off so bossy, however as a fellow member we owe it to you to make sure you have an idea of the Consequences !

For the Crafts! Think like Fire, Flow like Gas, Don't be a Marshmallow! Your comments and Questions are solicited and are Welcome PYRO - Logically Big AL !

Wow, that is so weird, I just posted a new topic on this exact question.
I was thinking more along the lines of heating a 500 gallon tank of water. The copper would be in the bench part of the heat exchanger so the water would not reach the critical temps. It may also be safer inside the bench. A closed loop into a water tank with a pressure relief valve??


We use a 1500 gallon water encased boiler. It runs on wood, the main boiler chamber is in the middle of the tank of water. It is a gasification boil and burns 93% efficient. We can hold one million btu of energy for storage in the tank. We do use electricity, but we are off grid and can manage by heating the water when the sun shines.