posted 9 years ago
Basically steel stoves will burn out. It sounds as though what you actually want is a Rocket Mass Heater, not a stove. I don't know if anyone has tried it, but a simple alternative to the couch based RMH is one that is snaked inside a workbench/island. I don't need a couch in my shop. Another option that might work in my shop if it wasn't already built would be a standard RMH structure, except rather than just snake the post drum tubing inside a couch, snake it in a trench across the floor and then up and out a chimney. My shop is 60 feet long but about 14 foot wide, so it would only need to be 14 feet wide which seems plausible. Basically it is to reduce the wasted space by pulling the heat diffusion into the floor.
The RMH has the advantage that it works. But there is a desire to have the metal tube based systems, and I think the best way to pound a stake into them would be to come up with a way of making them that would work. Some way of lining the tubes, or all ceramic, I have no idea, but the need is out there, the designs are not.
There are some well regarded steel rocket stove mad scientists out there. One feature they have is serial stove manufacture, constant innovation. You have to wonder if that isn't how they are avoiding the consequences of a bad design, they never keep one around long enough to see it fail.
The most intriguing steel rocket heater I have seen is the wiseway. I don't know if it will work long term, but people claim to have been heating with it for a while. Because the steel is angled, maybe the heat does not get up to the 3K deg F range that is melting stoves in other designs. But I have no experience. Wiseway, also makes BBQs, and they are certainly going to burn out, but the fact BBQs are not run for long may be their salvation at least as far as useful lifespan is concerned. Likewise, in a shop, I can pay the ongoign heating costs, what really kills is taking the initial chill off. A stove that would burp some heat would help a lot. The Kelley kettle has a few of these feature: vertical burn tunnel, stainless, and occasional use.
I have built several forges that are steel lined with wool and ceramic slip, and they reach forging temps and the steel is unaffected. There may be a solution possible, but so far the right people aren't looking.