Rocket mass heaters

[sigma6]

I am in love with the idea of Rocket Mass Heaters or also called Rocket Stoves, or Rocket Heaters ? I guess depending on application. One guy who built a Rocket Mass Heater is now (according to an analysis of what he stated) using 1/8 the amount of wood he used last year to heat the same place!

Once you see what is going on with this fundamental technology you will fall in love with it too. I think what makes it so intriguing apart from trying to get a handle on the mechanics of how it works, is the idea that you can make these things yourself! I have seen (on the net) full sized brick built fireplace sized units connected to stove pipe built into the ground before gravel and concrete are laid (Japanese or Korean video) to Cobb Stone and 55 Gallon Barrel designs to Counter Top Mini Stoves.... Awesome...

Thus we need a thread devoted to this ultimate technology... Because there are so many variations and examples of these things. Super efficient wood burning fireplace toasty heat ...... mmmmmmmm..... 1/8th THE AMOUNT OF FUEL.

The ideal designs will have small pieces of wood that falls into the burning hole, so that it doesn't have to be constantly pushed in by hand.... should be near to completely smokeless burn... and for indoor mass unit type heaters the idea is that the temperature of the exhaust point should be almost room temperature, meaning that all the heat is being radiated inside before the exhaust escapes outside....



¤=[Post Update]=¤

Rocket Mass Heater - On Steroids
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Brilliant application... love it, love it... A Rocket Mass Heater for an Aquaponic Geodesic Dome Greenhouse. It goes a bit above-and-beyond what the typical heater does!



another update:
I think this is the same Ianto Evans that La Tigra is referring to in ebook below, gives more great explanation...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uh2VExcdbY

[sigma6]

1st burn of Rocket Stove!

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A lot of Handymen make their own rocket stoves. Some of the nicest are made from propane tanks and in this case this one is made from a air pressure tank. These are definitely examples of the most advanced designs for home made... If you can build one like this you could probably make a living building and selling them!

What is cool about this one is his design seems to work effectively, the first time, he really thought this one out... This is the one I would love to have for the garage.

[sigma6]

Window in a Rocket Mass Heater and baking bread in the built in oven

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The more classic design of the the Rocket Mass Heater using a steel drum and made of Cobb (Earth)

[Christine]

Thank you Sigma6,

A good friend just sent me this PDF on rocket stoves/ mass heaters. After considerable research he told me that this guide is the best he found. I am always appreciative of the synchronicity on Avalon.

http://projectavalon.net/Rocket_Mass_Heaters.pdf

http://projectavalon.net/Rocket_Mass_Heaters.pdf

[lisalu]

these are great! We'd love to build one in a green house...or rather build a green house around the stove. they are definitely the way to go!!

[sigma6]

Guy builds one of all stainless steel, from a "bread bin"? (looks like a stainless steel cooking pot)

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I think one thing he missed on this otherwise excellent design; there should be more of an air space
where the pot is sitting, but his idea of using nuts ground down and welded to rod is unique as well...

[Kano]

Great info. Thanks for the thread, Sigma.

[sigma6]

SOUP CAN MODEL

Super simple made from 4 soup cans and one Large can and dirt for insulation...
not sure how long tin cans will last in that much heat, but should do the job for an entire summer and then some. Can be made with a magic marker and tin snips! (wear gloves!)

Just putting up links because most of the posts WILL BE VIDEOS... to make the page load easier and encourage more contributions to more links, I find once a page gets past 10+ videos it gets really bogged down and may discourage many from checking out the vids

Soup Can Model: piece by piece
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ValmUnjz4

In Action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lc1SjKWFCPQ

[Joseph McAree]

Thanks sigma6 yes I would have like to have seen it fired up as well to see how effective it would be at boiling water. Good stuff though. Thanks for posting, kindest regards, Joe

[sigma6]

Portable Rocket Stove Oven Using a Steel Drum Barrel....
Man look at that bread!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFjbE8coX4M


Rocket Stove - Stove Top Used Indoors For Cooking in Santa Cruz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41-fPDW9IjQ


El Salvadorean Rocket Stove
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=XhV_ozy0tok&feature=endscreen


Rocket Stove Water Heater MK1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvN18ZomVUc
Warm water in 5 minutes

[sigma6]

Rocket Mass Heater Examples

Incorporating cobb stone cover of the exhaust pipe
to extract all the heat before it exits the house
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex4AP7-MjjY


Rocket Mass Heater Under construction and all fired up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AhJFXTsid4
I am thinking when i see this to build the exhaust tube
on a slight incline on long benches of Cobb so the tubing
closest to the Heater is lower and under more cob...
this should keep the ash in and more evenly heat the bench...
as farther out will be more closer to surface...


Mini Mass Heater with innovative exhaust pipe Mass Heater
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=PXUJ6pHmlOg&feature=endscreen

[sigma6]

1/8th the fuel, and can also burn lesser quality wood, not usable in typical fireplaces...

Here's the guy who says he went from 4 cords of wood to a half cord of wood...

real nice looking Rocket Mass Heater too...
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[sigma6]

Professionally built Rocket Mass Heater Fireplace
attached to exhaust tubing under the flooring...

The Brick Encasing radiates heat and all the excess
goes into the floor tubing... brilliant use of brick
and cement. I would love to combine this with an
earth ship design for Canadian Winters.

Korean dudes building an entire house design around this,
imagine the energy savings... would love to have this in
a basement or cottage or cobb home... phenomenal job
when this is done on this scale... still super cost effective
to build and operate

This design has to be 100% efficient! the exhaust coming
would have to be room temperature!
Rocket Mass Heater Enclosed Fireplace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaZtGVhSmNo

Part Two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=VJfoUYxQ5ss&feature=endscreen

[meat suit]

great to see some more of these...
there is a thread on rocket stoves already here too:

http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?50815-Rocket-Stoves

[Ernie Nemeth]

Haven't checked the links but was just thinking that maybe the exhaust could turn a little generator for a bit of power on the side.
Or has that been thought of already?
This rocket stove idea is the cat's meow.

[Bo Atkinson]

Ernie,
RE: power from heaters: Google: "thermo electric generator" + "wood stove"
----
I removed the rest of my post here. Too much to say, not enough relevance to this particular thread. Conserving bandwidth of this forum, i moved it here
http://harmoniouspalette.com/WoodHeatIAndEconomicCollapse.html

[wolf_rt]

These are awesome, the only problems i see are the need for more frequent atttention for adding fuel, and the need for a large thermal mass to capture the exhaust heat, which makes it impractical for retrofitting to existing housing.

[Bo Atkinson]

Conserving bandwidth of this forum, i moved it here
http://harmoniouspalette.com/WoodHeatIAndEconomicCollapse.html

[sigma6]

interesting portable unit...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8stJH8ua3sU



Apostol Rocket Stove Mk2 - a robust looking unit, Apostal is maker's name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QZxkLfuxL8&feature=endscreen&NR=1

[Carmen]

Rocket heaters are cool. I helped make one on a building course I was on last year. We made it in the rain and it still worked!