Roger Merry

Pigeon poop is rocket fuel ! I add it to beds in Autumn to over winter or in Spring for really greedy crops like pumpkins etc. just add it to the surface of the soil rather than digging it in and it'll wash in slowly.

I also add it to woodchips to speed up decomposition - from fresh chippings from the tree surgeons to black crumbly mulch in a season

it also makes great liquid feed - put a sack full in a rain barrel and use well diluted ........ make sure the barrel is away from the house, it stinks lol

Also - for those less gifted electrically - I'm pretty sure they do red "berry type" Christmas tree lights that flash, is more lights better ?? I'm not sure I want the hen run lit up like a christmas tree but if it keeps the foxes off I guess its worth the growing reputation for eccentricity around here !

Technical electric wizardry aside this sounds really interesting - do the predators get used to the light ?

thanks Nick Thanks to Andrew too for putting up with being quizzed !

ok really interesting re the Chimney - utterly different from an RMH where there is insufficient heat left in the exhaust for a chimney to work. Nick absolutely get your point re smoke but on an RMH after 2 or 3 minutes its producing CO2 and steam no smoke at all............ bit baffled as to why this would produce smoke.....

I get the idea of the narrow flue - glad Nick posted this because I wouldn't have built it that narrow - I agree, never read instructions they're for wimps !! but I reckon picking brains is different

The very simple baffles in a lorena stove work in an obvious "Ohh yeah" kind of way when you see them in action may be worth an experiment with something similar.

If the weather ever improves and I'm not too busy collecting 2 of every animal and building a boat, I'll set to work soon and start putting something together - expect more questions then Andrew !!

Roger

Hi

Sorry - keep butting in on this thread but its all good stuff !

Andrew it all makes sense, from my previous (albeit limited) experience with rockets and I'm very happy to use a system that I know is going to work straight out of the box

but .....

One of the things I found accidentally while building my RMH is that a short increase in CSA in the flue slows the flow rate and you get a greater transfer of heat in that section ( I put a 4' length of 6" ducting in an otherwise 5" flue) This means I can concentrate heat in one area which for my purposes was useful. Wouldn't the same be true in this set up ? A slight increase in csa under the hotplates to maximise heat transfer would be useful wouldn't it ?

Also have you found a chimney necessary ? I mean as a chimney rather than as an extravagant vent ......... are the gases still hot enough for a chimney to work and have you found the extra draw provided by a chimney necessary for the rocket to work ?? Again on my RMH (obviously a different thing altogether but still) adding a chimney slowed the flow rate - vent temperatures are very low so there's no chimney affect.

One last question ! - why not a J tube ?? I'm not the best cook in the world and fiddling around poking wood into an L tube seems like an extra level of hassle I could do without

sorry again for all the brain picking

Roger

Hi thanks for the link - agree re the insulation - am surprised by the constant CSA for the flue ! I'd have guessed that a wide narrow flue would decrease airflow because of increase drag - I'd step up the CSA in the flue to avoid this ? No ?

one main question why an L tube ? tbh I've always though that system missed the point of a rocket and requires tedious constant fiddling - whats the benefit or whats the problem with a J

I can cook on top of my RMH which is a 5" system heating big raised beds in a greenhouse so a 6" just running 2 hot plates should be overkill

What am I missing

Hi further to the other responses - yes it's sort of a lorena stove but - I assume - a rocket adaptation .......... that was what I was planning anyway

Looking at the photos the burn tunnel is approx 10" or 11" wide by 5" high - which is huge !! for comparison I was planning a 6" j tube version.

Apart from the basic problem of cross sectional area within the burn tunnel and riser - it surely doesn't matter if the "flue" cross section is way too big, as it pretty much must be in this case to heat the 2nd hot plate.

I imagined a primary hot plate above the heat riser (as per usual practice) and then a 2nd warming plate set into an otherwise insulated flue. In this case the only areas you're looking to heat up are the hot plates so every other surface is insulated with vermiculite cob. The flue would be a wide shallow channel larger than the CSA of the rocket. Does that make sense ??

The height of the chimney is immaterial With a rocket its a vent not a chimney different beastie all together ??

Hi Wow !! looks really good and exactly what I'm going to build for an outdoor kitchen this year

Yes the rocket works best once its up to temperature - but that doesn't take but a few minutes really.

based on my limited experience with my RMH I'd say the heat riser is probably is a bit short and the other point is, have you made sure you have a constant cross section area on the feed tube, burn tunnel and upriser ?? if you don't it'll smoke whatever you do !

Best Wisner advice was change one thing at a time - wish he'd said it sooner but hey he's oddly taciturn for a yank !!

keep up the topic need more pics as you go along looks like it'll be great when you're done

Roger

They are all "organic" - but not generally necessary !

I do use fish blood and bone as a fertiliser - but only in situations where the ground is really depleted (after removing conifers for example) It's really effective and long lasting (and greens up and weeds a lawn like nothing else) but once every few years is enough even for traditionally managed lawns.

Potash - make yourself - just keep it bone dry till you use it.

Lime is cheap - but only occasionally required - maybe stone fruit trees and I guess in very acid veg plots - I'm on just acid clay and I've never used it.

everything else just add mulch