Jason Hemp

Update:

Followed your guys advice by chopping things down and prepared to insulate the entire feed tube and horizontal section. See Pictures.

Did a test run with no insulation and the stove produced twice the heat as before with some not so dry pieces of 2x4. The entire assembly got very hot so hopefully insulation with increase performance further.

I filled up the entire lower portion of the stove with a castable refractory-ish insulator. 1 part furnace cement, 2 parts clay and 8 parts perlite. It will be several weeks before refractory is dry. I will later fill the top half of the stove with loose perlite.

Will keep you guys posted and thanks again for your help.

Got it.

I'll cut down feed tube and insulate everything. Will post results.

Thanks Again.

Wow! You guys are fast!

Yes, you have caught me red handed copying the yahoos on Youtube. Having a welder and scrap metal laying around left me vulnerable to their evil ways;)

I can get really wordy on my posts so I kept my original plea for help short and concise by skipping the full story. This stove is intended to be portable and for cooking food only. It will probably get 10-20 hours of use a year. I'm fully aware of the oxidization steel goes through when subjected to red hot heat (1500-1700deg) for prolonged periods of time. This contraption is by no means a long term solution.

Peter thanks for your detailed response. Your thoughts were exactly what I was looking for. I suspected the vertical feed tube was too tall but wanted to consult with more knowledgeable people before I start cutting. It's concerning to hear you had only marginal success with a similar yet bigger design. Can you explain further how my air inlet is all wrong? I figured that if my feed tub was jammed with wood there would need to be another route for combustion air in to enter...? My first test run burned slightly better when the baffle was open 1/3. It feels counter intuitive to block that path for air. Is there really such thing as too tall of a heat riser? That definitely goes against everything I know; should of bought the book.

High folks,

Completed my first rocket stove today and the fist burn was disappointing. The fire never seemed to 'take off'. The wood burned slowly and was always smokey. I experimented with the baffle in different positions but temperatures out of the flue never exceeded 400 deg I'm hoping you might have some tips or suggested modifications. Attached are pictures of the stove.


3" Square tubing. 30" tall flue

3" tubing welding into a 7" wide old fire extinguisher filled with perlite.

Angle iron pot stand, (plan on trimming to increase airway)

Thanks for your help.