Forum:

rocket mass heaters

Burning Pellets in a Rocket Mass Heater

Posts: 60

posted 12 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Here's the final (maybe) video on my pellet/wood fire breathing monster. There's no doubt that I went a little above and beyond on attempting to extract as much heat as possible out of this thing.

RMH on Steroids

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

John Master

Posts: 519

Location: Wisconsin

posted 12 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

great job, looks like you are getting it figured out. I have some similar ideas about robbing some of the radiant heat from my barrel like you did with an enclosure.

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 12 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Inside the belly of the beast (rocket mass heater). The brick and mortar walls are in excellent condition (right), but as expected the stove pipe for the heat riser can’t handle the blast from the fire (center). The rock wool insulation is holding well and is still soft but holding its shape and is now basically acting as the wall of the heat riser in some areas. The floor of the burn tunnel (bottom) is also good with very little ash build up – except for a few pellets that I pushed in when sticking my arm in with the camera!

IMAG0442.jpg

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 12 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I know it’s hard to tell from this photo, but the final design for my pellet burner ran so hot today that it melted one of the baffles that is used for air flow. That’s not a light bulb shining, it’s the glow from the flame. It’s so intense that I can only work near it for a couple of seconds. There will be some good details to share in the next video!

Happy New Year everyone!!!

101_0934.jpg

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Forget everything I’ve shown with my past pellet feeder design - Hidden behind this glowing red cover is a new design that blows the old designs away! I’ve DOUBLED the rate that I’m burning pellets and it consumes around 12 pounds per hour. Including heating the building, I’m also heating the fish water at around 34,000 BTU/hour. With the old design after a few hours the ash would clog the grate…this one is SELF CLEANING. It can run 24/7 with only having to empty the ash bin. And remember, no power required. There is no doubt, this the final design!

IMAG0453.jpg

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Andor Horvath

Posts: 91

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

congrats Rob, that's some serious power, would love to see a revised cutaway diagram if you're willing to share
are you aware of Peter Berg's work on the other board regarding the "P channel"?
-seems like you might have come upon it by trial and error
Andor

we CAN build a better world

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I'll post a video of the design in the near future. I'm not familiar with Peter Berg work. Do you have a link to it?

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Andor Horvath

Posts: 91

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Rob et al,
regarding the P-channel
the following link will get you to the middle of one of the stickey threads on donkey's board.
Peter (and others) have been very generous in their sharing of experiments,
tons of content, tons of innovation and actual testing/results
http://donkey32.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=experiment&action=display&thread=355&page=4

Andor

we CAN build a better world

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

looks like there's some good stuff in there. I wish I could find the time to pick through it all.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

John Master

Posts: 519

Location: Wisconsin

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I couldn't decifer what consisted of a p-channel, Saw lots of experimental tunnel layouts but couldnt figure out what they are calling a p-channel. I welded in one of his trip wire concepts while I was playing around, took a few minutes, couldn't hurt.

Andor Horvath

Posts: 91

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Hi again,
yes, they are long threads....worth every hour (!) to follow and understand them
basically: the p-channel lets air in either at the feed on a J tube system, or on the horizontal batch systems, right before the riser
I tired to point you towards where they "named" the part, and verified it's size and function
The "trip wire" is related, but different; another way of disrupting laminar flow without too much friction

Andor

we CAN build a better world

John Master

Posts: 519

Location: Wisconsin

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Got it, it's that fresh air intake path right at the top front of the tunnel. Thinking I will try to incorporate that idea as well, Still up in the air as to how my feeder is going to work to get the chips to burn, I'll be taking a lot of robs ideas and having to get creative as well. Chips don't roll and drop as easily as pellets. Need to get a small batch of really good chips to see how they burn.

Andor Horvath

Posts: 91

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

John,

pellets are great to play with, chips problematic due to size/shape/% h2o....but it seems you've gort the idea.

[I'd like to talk to you off list....about combustion and also alt. vehicles and the resources/contacts I have here in milwaukee. scroll down to see my latest offering under links...]

Glad you're playing with different feeds and fuels...important work

Again, thanks to rob and others for sharing their work, another thread to look for on Donkey"s site is the Riley/Clary thread, another long one, but again, length describes the arduous "process of discovery" -can share a link if you can't find it, at a more decent hour...

we CAN build a better world

Martin Seidel

Posts: 69

Location: Susquehanna, PA

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Im drooling in anticipation of your video and diagram, Rob! Awesome work my friend

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

New pellet feeder design for the rocket mass heater. It was quite exciting getting some of the close up footage...It was so hot, I would have to get my gloves wet and could only hold the camera for a few seconds.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Martin Seidel

Posts: 69

Location: Susquehanna, PA

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Great work, Rob! Every update makes me want to mimic your ideas. Keep it up, you are an inspiration!

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

No surprise - the heat riser in the rocket mass heater failed. I was hoping to get an entire season out of it but burning the pellets was too much for it. This picture shows that there isn’t a single piece of steel liner in the center and just the rock wool insulation is remaining. At the base, most of the rock wool melted. BTW melting point of rock wool is over 2000F

SnapShot.jpg

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Andor Horvath

Posts: 91

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Rob,
might be time to try out those high tech liners I pointed you towards...cheaper than you would think...

we CAN build a better world

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Little update video about the inside of my heater.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Ollie Taylor

Posts: 19

Location: Brisbane, QLD, Australia

posted 11 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

what does everyone think about replacing pellets with pine cones, in the same feeder system? just a thought.... I'm thinking of growing pine for nuts in the future, and I'm bound to have s mountain of pine cone. Ive heard about people using them for fuel before, maybe they could be a worthwhile free, sustainable and byproduct based fuel that'll be interchangeable with pellets in this system?

Chris Burge

Posts: 91

Location: Spokane, Washington

posted 11 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Aww, Rob... sorry to see your fantastic pellet incinerator (temporarily) out of commission

I'm sure your new heat riser will be the bomb-diggity.

I'm just about finished with my fireplace-mass system and I will have to say that your constant design improvement perseverance attitude has kept me inspired throughout my own trial-and-error process.

Keep up the good work!

Flame on, brother, flame on...

"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -- Albert Einstein

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 11 years ago

2
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Hi everyone....I've been quietly busy working over here on a new enhancement for my rocket mass heater. One of my goals is to come up with a way to heat the greenhouse with bio-waste, mainly wood chips, without the need and expense of making actual pellets. This is the first step towards that goal....

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 10 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

It's been nearly a year since I've done any updates for our heater. I've done some fine tuning this winter and really have it running great! Almost too hot now..

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

John Adamz

Posts: 126

Location: Springfield, mo

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Rob T.-
Thanks for the update. I have seen all your videos on the rocket heater as well as some of your others. I am ready to try a pellet grate myself as I just talked my step-brother (who is a stainless fabricator) into making me one. But it will be a week or so before he can get to it.
With the wider gaps in the grate don't you see more unburned pellets falling into the ash pit? Do they burn up OK there? How long have you had a continuous burn without problems clogging up anywhere?
I noticed you commented on ZeroFossilFuels (my original design inspiration for a rocket heater) latest youtube vid on his rocket heater grate/basket.
Do you think the simple stainless wire "basket" would last in the short run?

"Necessity is the mother of invention" That's why I'm a Jack of all trades, Master of some and have learned that Knowledge is power, but information isn't necessarily knowledge.

Den Stou

Posts: 11

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I love your videos!
That auger chip cutting is a great idea, it looked as though it was making smaller chips pretty slow though. How long does it take to get say a 5gal bucket of the finer cut chips?

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

John Adamz wrote:Rob T.-
Thanks for the update. I have seen all your videos on the rocket heater as well as some of your others. I am ready to try a pellet grate myself as I just talked my step-brother (who is a stainless fabricator) into making me one. But it will be a week or so before he can get to it.
With the wider gaps in the grate don't you see more unburned pellets falling into the ash pit? Do they burn up OK there? How long have you had a continuous burn without problems clogging up anywhere?
I noticed you commented on ZeroFossilFuels (my original design inspiration for a rocket heater) latest youtube vid on his rocket heater grate/basket.
Do you think the simple stainless wire "basket" would last in the short run?

I do get a few more unburned pellets falling through, but they just burn up in the ash pan. I did a basket design last year like ZeroFossilFuels and it does work well. But I found that the wire burns out fairly quickly and as it does, the gaps get wider and more pellets fall through. It's the main reason why I used the grate instead because the slats seem to last a bit longer. I think part of my issue is my heater is larger than his and burns at a higher temperature. His is still new so we'll see how long it lasts.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Den Stou wrote:I love your videos!
That auger chip cutting is a great idea, it looked as though it was making smaller chips pretty slow though. How long does it take to get say a 5gal bucket of the finer cut chips?

It probably takes a few hours to make a 5 gallon bucket full. For now, I've abandoned the auger project and am working on a new heater design that can burn full sized chips.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

We're nearing the end of the heating season and I had to rebuild the heat riser. The stainless steel made it through about 1000 hours before it just fell apart.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Randy Voss

Posts: 13

Location: Between Lincoln and Omaha ,Nebraska

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

I have a question , how hot are your Exhaust temps ?? I.e. hot much of the heat are you capturing Vs. how much loss goes out the chimney .
The reason i ask is i was thinking of building a gravity feed pellet stove/RMH to put in the basement in the other half of my building (i love the idea of a pellet stove that needs no electricity to run)

I Visited Permies.Com Today and learned something New (ಠ‿ಠ)

Rob Torcellini

Posts: 60

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Randy Voss wrote:I have a question , how hot are your Exhaust temps ?? I.e. hot much of the heat are you capturing Vs. how much loss goes out the chimney .
The reason i ask is i was thinking of building a gravity feed pellet stove/RMH to put in the basement in the other half of my building (i love the idea of a pellet stove that needs no electricity to run)

It's around 125-150F, depending on how long I've been running it for.

Rob T.
Bigelow Brook Farm
Web Site: http://www.BigelowBrook.com
Facebook: http://www.Facebook.com/BigelowBrook
Youtube: http://www.YouTube.com/web4deb
Blog: http://web4deb.blogspot.com

Mikael Long

Posts: 54

posted 10 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

Love your stuff! Here is a simple pellet burn solution. It is a grate which puts the pellets in a vertices feed and keeps ash from getting into the manifold.

Mikael

image.jpg

John McDoodle

Posts: 617

Location: ontario, canada

I like...

posted 9 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

awesome stuff. good work

positively optimistic 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/@613Builds

F Styles

Posts: 455

Location: climate zone 6b

posted 9 years ago

1
Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

hey has anyone thought of cutting grates the same size as in the video for the self feeding pellets to slide across and burn on, out of slices of ceramic tile you may have laying around. the thin strips may not be affected by heat shock and should be plenty thin and sturdy enough to hold the pellets in place with a higher operating temp with out sagging and breaking down? just though i would throw and idea out there. if i were to build a pellet system i would make my slats out of ceramic.

Rocket Mag evolution timeline: http://www.permies.com/t/52316/rocket-stoves/Rocket-stove-heats-water-pics

Rocket Mag Thread: http://www.permies.com/t/54074/rocket-stoves/Rocket-Mag-heater-Rocket-Mag

Khris Denison

Posts: 17

posted 2 years ago

Number of slices to send:

Optional 'thank-you' note:

Send

We do need to figure out some higher temp materials soon. Erica and I are working with a fella here to get some 3100 degree clays to try and the folks we have been working with on the cast-able are trying to find us some higher temp refractories

I think what you may be leaning towards is silicone carbide materials... If my memory serves me it's good for about 3000°plus... plates and racking hardware is available commercially...

Brace yourself while corporate america tries to sell us its things. Some day they will chill and use tiny ads.

GAMCOD 2025: 200 square feet; Zero degrees F or colder; calories cheap and easy

https://permies.com/wiki/270034/GAMCOD-square-feet-degrees-colder