These seem to be all the rage at the moment so I thought I'd have a crack at making one. It's basically just cooking over a chimney but is meant to use less fuel than an open fire.
Starting with an old five gallon cooking oil drum...
...cutting the top off:
Chimney parts from old stove pipe cut to size and ready to assemble:
The chimney will be joined like this inside the stove:
Parts assembled and drum insulated with sand:
Fire started:
Sticks are then fed in at the bottom on a bit of metal shaped to fit inside the chute:
Kettle on, job done:
Sand is a poor insulater. Generally, the lighter the material, the better insulation quality and efficiency of the stove
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip Steve
ReplyDeleteSimon, thanks for posting this.
ReplyDeleteAny chance of some assessment of its performance such as: efficiency (e.g. wood usage vs time to boil); smoke; size of fuel that it works best with, etc.?
Aprovecho here in Cottage Grove, Or came up with rocket stove design and now has a testing lab. I've made a couple of their smaller designs using a gallon number 10 can and a couple of bean cans. Nice light size for backpacking.
ReplyDeleteHi Gordon, I've found it does use wood more efficiently as the way it's fed in means you just burn the sticks a bit at a time; I feed in sticks about 1 inch thick or a bit more once it's going; it's probably not much less smokey than an open fire using similar size wood; I havn't timed how long it takes to boil but on videos I've seen on youtube they work at best efficiency if the pot/kettle fits just inside the opening (unlike mine) so that heat goes up the sides as well as the bottom. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteSimon
A good insulator is perlite. I've used it to make a little smelter of a similar design.
ReplyDeleteThat´s a good idea for a gallon can and tubes, insulation is good for those cold days... another idea is to dock 1 and half cans: one to keep the heat (TOP can be used as oven) and 1/4 (middle) for burning wood this part can have a little door with some holes to allow air flow and 1/4 (bottom) for ashes :)
ReplyDeleteSand may not be the best insulator, but good luck searching for better one on camping site. IMO heat loss won't be noticeable in this use mode.
ReplyDeleteCould try rockwool insulations, Roxul has an insulation that is about fire proof to 2150f degrees or such.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.roxul.com/residential/residential+overview
Looks very similar to a casting furnace. If you use refractory sand you might make it even more efficient.
ReplyDeleteMost rockestoves use sand, cement, brick, rock, concrete, mud, adobe, etc to put a large thermal mass for long term thermal stability. ... Yes, it an be used to cook or boil water, but I have seen them use mainly to heat huts, benches, or gereenhouses. The seem to be pretty efficient and take little fuel for the heat recovered.
ReplyDelete