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rocket mass heaters

Rocket mass heater with an oven?

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posted 14 years ago

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Hi all. This is my first post here. Some of you may know me from the Homesteading Today forum. I'm thinking of building a rocket mass heater. I'm wondering if anyone has made one with a built in oven. While I'm at it, could a smoker be incorporated? I have an old cement stave silo that I am going to tear down. How could I use the staves in the construction? I don't plan on installing a water heater at this time, but could I run some tubing through the system that I could hook up to at a later date?

I know, a lot of questions. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

tel jetson

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posted 14 years ago

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I think you could do the oven for sure. would be a fun challenge to work out how to best regulate the temperature.

a smoker, though, probably wouldn't work with this sort of stove. as I understand it, low temperatures with a lot of smoke are best for that, and a rocket stove is designed for high temperatures and roughly no smoke.

installing plumbing to be connected at a later date: could work. if you get it right, you'll be golden when the time comes to hook it up. but I bet there are an awful lot of ways to get that wrong, and several of them could cause you some serious trouble. just be real careful. or wait until the next edition of the rocket mass heater book is published.

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posted 14 years ago

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Maybe a sliding door on the oven to regulate temp? Close the door to add heat, partially open it to lower the temp.

tel jetson

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posted 14 years ago

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Tinknal wrote:
Maybe a sliding door on the oven to regulate temp? Close the door to add heat, partially open it to lower the temp.

that's the first thing that sprang to mind for me, too. lots of things need a fair amount of moisture in the oven to cook well, though, and I think all the moisture would escape with an open door. on the other hand, it might work perfectly.

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Posts: 140

posted 14 years ago

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I probably wouldn't use it for things that needed precision temp control. I was thinking more like putting a roast and taters in a dutch oven, hot dish, that sort of thing. If I left the door wide open it might even work for a dehydrator.

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posted 14 years ago

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I haven't used one (yet) so this is just a best guess, but it seems to me it would be best approached like using a clay pizza oven...get it hot and then use the residual heat to bake things which dont need the extremely high heat. Opening/closing the oven door will give you wide temp swings I should imagine...make baking stuff an adventure if nothing else:)

I HAVE used a shepherder's stove and the way to regulate that is with the fire, it can go from zero to 500 degrees and back very fast, but there isn't any mass to hold the heat. That strategy would possibly work as well with this but from what I understand, a little fire goes a long way so it might be a case of getting it up to temp, and then having little sporadic fires to keep the heat up? sounds like experiment time...

Ernie Wisner

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posted 14 years ago

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an oven works fine on top of the barrel (A bit on the small side if you dont build a support for the oven walls so the bottom is the bake floor.) doing a temporary oven you can use aluminum foil or a large terra-cotta flower pot that fits on the barrel. put a layer of cob or tile in the barrel recess so you have a good bake floor. cover the pot with foil and put a stopper in the drain so you have some heat control. the pot will hold a good amount of heat and you can store it in a closet so its not always on the stove. to get more elaborate you could figure out a way to insulate the pot. This however will add weight and make it harder to store.

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posted 14 years ago

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I was thinking of two different things along this line. 1. A metal oven insert with a conventional oven door. Doesn't have to be this way but with the insert, it could be placed into the system as some point where it warms up along with everything else but not directly tied into the exhaust.
2. is incorporating a face at the burn pit with a glass fireplace or wood stove door. Still loading the wood from the top but having the glass for a nice look at the fire and it would double as an ash clean out. Never have to worry about cleaning the nasty smoke off the glass because it is all drawn the other direction.

Tiffaney Dex

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Location: La Bretagne

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posted 10 years ago

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I was wondering if the original poster ever did this project and, if so, would you care to share your design and experience? Thank you.

Mark Stephenson

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posted 10 years ago

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Hi all. Sorry to arrive so late for this topic.

I have built a pretty large oven with a rocket stove as it's heat source. It burns very well but really can't heat the clay oven I built above it sufficiently. I've now added a chimney so that I can burn a fire directly inside the oven body with less smoke than occurs without a chimney. The upshot is that in my experience rocket stoves burn clean but not hot enough to heat a large clay oven, fires inside even large clay ovens heat well but are smokey even with a chimney. Maybe it's all a trade off or maybe I'm just too inexperienced, but it was definitely a worthwhile project.
Good luck all!

Alan Mikoleit

Posts: 106

Location: Sandpoint, Idaho

posted 10 years ago

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See my build thread for a unit with a large oven that is 14 high x 16 wide and 20 deep.

wayne stephen

steward

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posted 10 years ago

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Alan , could you provide a link ?

For unlimited return on all your investments - Make your deposits at 'The Entangled Bank' !

Alan Mikoleit

Posts: 106

Location: Sandpoint, Idaho

posted 10 years ago

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Wayne, Gladly - https://permies.com/t/34687/rocket-stoves/RMH-double-barrel-stove-hybrid

Ignacio Acuna

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posted 1 year ago

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Hey guys! I realize this is an old thread. I wanted to revive it since I have a design idea if making a rocket stove bench/ pizza oven. Anyone try this or have thoughts? The cob oven with exterior aircrete insulation would basically sit on top of the barrell with an insulated door with thermometer and a tiny 2” flu out the top of oven to regulate temps if needed. Wish I could upload the design drawing…

thomas rubino

rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 1 year ago

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Hi Ignacio;
Welcome to Permies!
Rather than opening an old thread, I suggest starting a new one all about your ideas.
Then later with photos of your build, including the first pizza coming out!

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

thomas rubino

rocket scientist

Posts: 6525

Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 1 year ago

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Hey Ignacio;
Having the cob oven directly on top of the barrel should work just fine.
You might need to be cautious about how large a bench you try to heat.

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
dragontechrmh.com Once you go brick you will never go back!

Anne Miller

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Location: USDA Zone 8a

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posted 1 year ago

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I like Thomas's idea about starting a new thread with your pizza oven bench build.

Here is a picture I found on Pinterest

source

Here is the builder's story:

https://www.handprintpress.com/theworkofart/roberto-monges-oven-story/

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