thomas newcomb

Glenn what is RMH? Am Re reading entire information. Rocket stove in central America may not be the best choice of words. Think rebels. My most recent version stove looks more like a boot. I'm thinking it may have more appeal as a boot stove. Estufe bota !

I had a good meeting with some of the locals. They had some good suggestions. One was to use black ABS 4 inch pipe as inner form for both the riser and channel. All kinds of discussion over the clay to sand ratios. They lean toward more clay but they like the feel of my surface. My inside diameter is about 4 inches. Barely enough room to squeeze my hand into the firewood tunnel not enough to put my hand down the riser. IT is an L but I don't understand what you mean by metal under the stick feed. We kept the fire burning for about two hours. Don't know if it is completely dry yet. We like the heat at the riser top long after the fire went out.

I finally got the fire burning but it is a lot of work. Integral is a 18 inch 3/4 pipe I use like a bellows to force air on the fire. Flames reach two feet high the rim of the riser. But the stove requires constant attention. I hope this improves over time.

Now that I have a working model, I will build one with grass mixed in. Two issues. It is hard keeping the fire going. Should the fire be in the burn chamber or the burn channel? How do you clean out the ashes? The heat riser is too long to reach into and the channel too narrow. I am building today's model a foot off the ground. Nicaraguan women are smaller than five feet tall.

John I'm sorry to say the stoves aren't used regularly old habits are hard to break and the families l gave them to could use gas stoves if they wanted. The stoves are ok with small quantities like tortillas but not large clay pots of beans or rice. My efforts with cob stovess is to incorporate them into the mud stoves they are currently using

Thanks again! I wish I had spoken to you before coming down. So my rocket stove book is concerned more with thermal heating but says to lay the straw end to end and it should be the length of my forearm. When I burned my 1st attempt stove it had only a foot of rise and it was very hard to start the fire and keep it going.

You are right. It is too high. This is a temp site. I hoped to build a base when I got one to work. I will let this one dry for 2 days before putting a fire inside it.

I leave for the US on Wednesday. Looks like my demonstrations will have to wait.

Thanks again. I tried adding dried bunch grass that I separated out,but I couldn't make it work. Do you have a picture showing how you use the grass? I have reached 2 feet high and I'm going to stop there. It already out of reach of most Nicaraguan women. It will be hard for them to cook.

Thanks again for your input. My mix has no grass. I read else where not to use it. I tried using pine nettles but it made more difficult. You are correct I am trying to make this work to become a model. Nicaraguan stoves have no chimneys and the smoky homes cause lung infections in the youth. Last year I brought aluminum rocket stoves made in South Africa and they were a hit. Hence the idea to make them using local materials

Attempt #1

Thanks very much. I'm in Nicaragua where dimensional lumber doesn't exist. When I return to the US I'll build a dorm for next year's trip. My mix is 3.5:1 but I don't know how pure my clay is. Is the J all that necessary? Won't an L work as well? The important part is the burn chamber and heat riser?