So one of my most anticipated projects has finally come to fruition. I built a rocket stove in my garage. My goal was to build it to code in Ontario Canada even though I'm pretty sure no inspector would ever give it a pass. It's worked very well right from the start but it's always a cold start and can take a while before it heats up.
I can only get the top of the barrel to 370 degrees celsius (700F) and that's using pretty small pieces of ash wood. My normal running temperature at top of barrel is about 250 degrees celsius, which is not bad in a well insulated garage, but I was hoping to get more radiant heat from it so I can have the garage door open in the winter and still get some nice heat while standing close.
Maybe someone here has some ideas about how to get it hotter, should I insulate around the feed chamber and the portion of the fire box outside of the barrel? different type of wood?
It burns really nice though, there's no smoke at all out the chimney once it reaches temperature. I still have a few cosmetic things to do to finalize it. If you're wondering why it's on a stand it's because in a garage the bottom of the firebox has to be 18" off the floor. Oh and if you notice something that's not to code let me know.
