Version 2.0 with A LOT of draft

After 3 tear downs to tinker with the stove i think i have achieved maximum draft. i do not have any temp readings yet but it was hot enough for the outside of the barrel to go from rust colored to black and enough draft to the point where i could hear the hot gasses hitting the top of the barrel. Keep in mind my rocket heater is made of all dense fire brick and a clay chimney liner for a riser, i also have it up on bricks so air can get under it. The stove its self is able to radiate heat along with the barrel, every brick on this stove gets insanely hot and will continue to put off heat for approximately 3 hours after its out.  Still i need more heat,i know i am losing a fare bit out the chiminy  so one more tear down to step up to 6 inch, and add a small mass (its currently 5 inch). I also have a second barrel that i can use if need be, its from a small water hear (25ish gal). During one of the tear down i crawled under my trailer house to check out the floor to see how well built it was and was pleasantly surprised to find 2 I-BEAMS running the full length of my house trailer serving as the frame along with 2x6 (dimensional) for floor supports, so I re positioned my stove to right on top of the I-BEAM and will also position the small mass there as well. The stove is also located right next to a central air duct and i may experiment with blowing the heat off the barrel into the central heating system also thought what would happen if i ran my exhaust THRU my heating ducts, as in, running 6 or 8inch INSIDE the heating ducts. Seems like this could work providing you dont get a leak in the pipe and gas your self.  





     

Wow... that sounds like a kiln, Roak! I bet you could smelt aluminum. (lol)
A really handy tool to quantify temperature changes as you experiment on your stove's flow design, is an infrared thermometer gun like this.



They're around $20 and well worth it. They don't measure accurately on shiny reflective surfaces like your stainless steel flue, but they work great on everything else. If you want to measure your flue farther up, simply spray a small dot of flat black paint on the flue, aim the gun at it, and you'll get good temp readings.

Looking good Roak!   Thanks for sharing.  Blowing air thru the vents might work well.  Running your pipes thru could be dangerous.

Hey Roak; Have you considered building a brick bell instead ?  Small footprint and lighter weight?  With the I beam weight isn't a Biggy anymore. But it might work well in your trailer.

Greg Mamishian wrote:Wow... that sounds like a kiln, Roak! I bet you could smelt aluminum. (lol)
A really handy tool to quantify temperature changes as you experiment on your stove's flow design, is an infrared thermometer gun like this.



They're around $20 and well worth it. They don't measure accurately on shiny reflective surfaces like your stainless steel flue, but they work great on everything else. If you want to measure your flue farther up, simply spray a small dot of flat black paint on the flue, aim the gun at it, and you'll get good temp readings.

Thanks for the Tip! i was unaware they where inaccurate on shiny surfaces, i will remember that!
This stove no longer sounds like a rocket it sounds more like one of those kerosene/diesel turbo heaters now and if you noticed i have the feed tube and a secondary air intake (5x2.5 inch) open lol. It did get to the point of the boards auto-igniting up the feed tube so i closed off the lower intake later on.

thomas rubino wrote:Hey Roak; Have you considered building a brick bell instead ?  Small footprint and lighter weight?  With the I beam weight isn't a Biggy anymore. But it might work well in your trailer.

I am venturing into Missoula to see how many bricks i can get in my Geo Metro today  can i keep my current configuration and just run the exaust over to the bell? Or should i build the bell right next to the stove so i dont have any ducting and it can gather some radiant heat from the barrel?