Ron Hailey

Interesting concept!
I wonder if it would work with tropical type vegetation, such as palm trees and bird of paradise, both of which are dripping wet when first cut.
I also wonder if there are any follow up pictures and reports on this project?
It's been about 18 months since it was first built.
It seems like the technique could have merit in South Florida, where the sandy soil and heavy rains tend to leach the nutrients out of the soil. I see the farmers here plant in raised beds.

Amed Mesa wrote:There is too much wasted energy in the design from the video posted. The use of the "rocket" effect is utilized in a manor to minimize carbon monoxide and smoke which would be better (not recommended) for indoor use, but not much use other than this. If you are soon going to build that cob oven, I would create it in a manor that allows the exhaust rocket flame to vent inside the thermal chamber, otherwise the rocket effect would be more of a novelty.



These ovens are thermal batteries in that they can store a large amount of heat and dissipate slowly. DO NOT USE CONCRETE! Cob is a good material in that is cheap, holds adequate thermal energy and not prone to structural cracking from heat, but it will need to be protected from erosion caused by rain. There are other materials you will find for a more permanent structure if you do some research of wood fired pizza ovens but they are more costly. You want to maximize your efficiency by utilizing as much potential heat as possible from the fuel source so do not copy the design from the video unless the novelty flame is what you desire. Because each of these ovens are hand crafted, baking feels more like an art. You can with experience triangulate the fuel mass with environmental temperatures to reach target baking temperatures so you can minimize the cool off period.

I agree, and I noticed the same thing.
I'm sure that's why the author stressed that it's not a Rocket Oven, but rather a double chamber oven.
With the volume of heat and fire coming out of the stack, it appears to be very inefficient.
I am assuming the advantage is in the extra mass to hold heat longer, although I have no idea how efficient regular wood fired ovens are, in comparison.

Ernie Wisner wrote:It's a neat little oven; Works really well to.
What do you want to know about the oven?
We can discuss it here if you have questions.
We have the plans of the double chamber for sale just drop us an email.

Since I moved from Ohio to So Florida, heating is no longer a goal, but I'm looking for ways to self generate Air Conditioning, and get free from the grid. AC is a must here in the summer.
One approach I'm looking at involves using ammonia gas heat fired AC systems. But they would require a heat storage tank.
I'm wondering how hard would it be to harness the heat from a Rocket Stove into, say a tank of water, or salts, to store 210-250 degree liquid salts. I think any mechanics that would serve to heat a tank of super hot water would also work for salts.

OK, since I moved to South Florida, my challenge is how best to generate AC.
Solar is very expensive, so I'm exploring Ammonia Gas fired AC units which work on heat rather than compression. Like an RV refrigerator.
Now the challenge is how to generate and store 210 degree or hotter heat which can be used to drive the ammonia cooling cycle.
Having spent my entire life in Ohio, the rocket stove caught my eye, but heat is never really an issue here in Fla, but then I thought it might be an excellent component for AC.
Anyway, I wonder if any of you have any ideas as to whether this stove might be used to generate and store higher temps such as 210 degrees.
Not unlike using it to heat a water tank, except the tank may be filled with some type of salts that would change state at around 215 degrees.