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Post by Donkey on Oct 15, 2007 9:44:11 GMT -8
I just finished plastering my stove here at home.. It's rather unconventional (even for a rocket stove), but it works just fine. It's actually two rocket stoves in one, oven down in front, cook top to the side (right). It's got a heated bench visible on the left there and a wood dryer just beside it. Actually, about two thirds of the body of this stove heats up and stays warm for up to around 48 hours (sometimes more)..  The image is somewhat distorted, its stitched together from 3 shots.. There's no place to stand in this house to get a full, front on image of the whole stove. |
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Post by stonebears on Oct 18, 2007 9:11:06 GMT -8
Donkey, it's absolutely gorgeous! Love the door too .. very tight. I see the cook top on the left .. so do you feed the rocket stove as well as the oven via the door or? I can't tell if the hole next to the door on the left is a window to see flames as some have done, a clean out, or the rocket stoves fuel feed? What type of plaster did you use? I took Bernhard's plaster class in Estacada .. can't wait to get some time to experiment.
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Post by Donkey on Oct 18, 2007 9:51:25 GMT -8
It's two rocket stoves in one..
The small hole on the right there was originally designed to be the feed tube. It's since proven more convenient to drop the wood in from above. You really can't see it from this image but there is a cast iron stove top with removable plates for the cook top. One of those freebies one occasionally finds at the dump.
The oven is ALSO a rocket stove, fed from the front.
Both stoves share a chimney (not visible in pic), which has both advantages and disadvantages.
Plasters:
The base-coat is chopped straw/clay and the topcoat is a clay/mica powder Alis.
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Post by stonebears on Feb 19, 2008 9:28:48 GMT -8
Nice .. the sun is out today and my hands are getting itchy to start building .. hope all is well with you.
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jozef
New Member
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Post by jozef on Jul 6, 2009 22:04:14 GMT -8
this is one of the best designs Ive seen. Ive seen many that looked like nicely carved kiva fireplaces, but this one has practicality and use-fuellness ( ha pun). Do you have any other pictures or designs you feel you could share. I cant wait to start my own project.
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Post by Donkey on Jul 7, 2009 8:17:32 GMT -8
Yeah.. I got stuff here and there...
Right now I'm most proud of the sauna.
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Post by kirkerik on Aug 21, 2009 16:33:12 GMT -8
"There's no place to stand in this house to get a full, front on image of the whole stove." posted by Donkey
That's why there called MASS ovens - sweet! oh so warm! ;D
Very nice stove - smooth. I like the wood drying area - that's key!Dry wood dry wood
Door is awesome - i'm torn between firebox or feed tube - using feed tube now but currently reconfiguring...I have not decided yet.
Does it burn like a rocket or do you put a full load in and then fire the whloe thing? Door open or closed?
Is there an expansion joint between the steel on the face of oven and the firebox or is there any cracking around the oven?
How large is the firebox?
nice,
kirk
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Post by Donkey on Aug 21, 2009 18:41:40 GMT -8
Well, it burns like a rocket with the advantages of loading it up. Truthfully, I don't feed it through the door anymore. There is an ash drop/cleanout 'round back, in the other room. It's turned out to be a better place to feed in the wood. I build the fire and shove it all the way to the front, packing firewood behind it till the (roughly) three foot long by (roughly) 1 1/2 ft tall X 1 ft wide tunnel is full. I've made a sheet metal air restriction insert that is placed over the opening to make sure it gets the right amount of air. It burns the whole load, front to back, very cleanly without a lot of fuss. Maybe I aughtta post some pics of that arrangement... Later in any case, I got a lot on my plate right now and am already delayed in posting images and measurements over at the tapered heat riser thread. |
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Post by Donkey on Oct 22, 2009 23:12:51 GMT -8
Ok.. Got some pictures, starting a fire in the back.. The ash tunnel.  Build a starter fire close to the opening.  Pop on the air control and the fire starts up quick.  (Upper Left) Once the starter fire is going, I push it to the front (towards the nice door inside) (Upper Right) Toss on top some more lighter stuff for a quick start of the cord-wood. (Bottom) Fill up the tunnel with cord wood.  Pop back on the air control and away we go. As they burn, I'll (usually) push the logs forward with a poker and add a little behind. After its going well, the inside, metal door can be opened for a nice view and a blast of heat.  |
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Post by Donkey on Oct 22, 2009 23:17:19 GMT -8
Oh, and I found this image that I had forgotten about..  |
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Post by Donkey on Oct 23, 2009 0:20:00 GMT -8
Here's the hot-top portion of the stove in greater detail. The whole schmeer.  Just the right plate off revealing the heat riser.  Top off, looking down. I hadn't insulated the heat riser at the time of these photos. The thing ran fine that way.. 'Course, it's better now that it's been insulated.  Top off, side view. the shape is intended to guide the flame past the second top-plate before going out the back  A spare plate acts as a door to the feed. Notice the ash drop in front there, I just about never use it for ash.  The plate can be taken out and used as a support for the wood when it's fed horizontally.  |
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joe
New Member
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Post by joe on Oct 23, 2009 16:58:35 GMT -8
Hey man, nice work on the stove! The firebox seems like it has some real advantages over the typical vertical feed tube on rocket mass heaters.
First of all, you can load much more wood at a time, and potentially leave the stove unattended while you're busy doing something else. Has this been the case, or do you need to continually push the wood towards the front door to keep it burning properly?
The large cavern behind the front door also seems to be quite an innovation. I'm guessing you can easily bake in there once the fire is out with very high temps. Have you tried roasting anything right on the flames while the door is open? I also notice that the firebox is much larger than most rocket stoves...I wonder if this helps to better mix any unburned fuel with oxygen before it enters the heat riser...That also makes me wonder...does secondary air enter through the front door, or is it airtight?
The other thing I like about this stove is the rocket cook-top, something I've always wondered about. I know that on a regular iron cookstove, you won't have smoking leaking inside because the chimney provides a negative pressure inside the stove. Similarly, the heavy iron door on your oven shouldn't leak because the heat riser acts as its chimney and provides negative pressure. With the cooktop however, the heat riser is underneath, and will create a positive pressure zone under the cooking surface. Does this cause any problems?
Thanks for taking the time to share all this info, keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Joe
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Post by Donkey on Oct 23, 2009 19:26:08 GMT -8
Hey man, nice work on the stove! The firebox seems like it has some real advantages over the typical vertical feed tube on rocket mass heaters. First of all, you can load much more wood at a time, and potentially leave the stove unattended while you're busy doing something else. Has this been the case, or do you need to continually push the wood towards the front door to keep it burning properly? I can pretty well just leave it. It'll burn all the way through the wood if I do. Yep. You can cook just about anything in it. I've done pizza, veggies, chickens, potatoes, all manner! A friend gave us some stone pots that I load in there.. The doors aren't airtight, but they don't let in enough to even consider as secondary air. It might provide a little of a mixing function, though it burns ALL the fuel, no matter how it's stoked, front, back, etc. Just gotta be careful not to allow TOO much air into the system. Nope.. The cooker dumps directly back and up into a chimney. I wanted to be able to cook in the summer without blazing out the kitchen. It's got no downdraft areas and its horizontal run is something like 2 feet max. Images of the cook-top running: Pretty much all Aprovecho in concept..  First plate (right one) off. Notice how the flame is being drawn left (towards the second plate).  Second Plate (left one) off. You can see the flames change direction, drawn to the back and out.  |
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Post by swizzlenutz on Oct 28, 2009 12:18:06 GMT -8
Just found this forum and I saw the picture of this stove some where's else on the web today. What a piece of art. Its awesome just to see more of it and how it all breaks down into all of the separate usable parts. I also love the fact that you set it up so you can even use it to cook in the summer time without sweating everyone out of the house. When I first saw this one I thought it be cool to see different pictures pressed into the cob before it was baked dry. This just goes to show that these stoves can be very beautiful and worthy of any home. Very well done, really awesome. Do you think you could draw up some schematics of the internal workings inside the cob? My dad's been talking about setting up a rocket stove too and I have to show him this one. His will be going down in his basement with a potential of 12" of spring flood waters to deal with. Can this design also be done completely out of concrete? A big thanx for sharing this with us. Thank You. Swizzle
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Post by Donkey on Oct 28, 2009 18:31:58 GMT -8
Concrete would likely heat-shock badly. My stove has heat-shocked a little up at the top. Nothing leaks out and it isn't really a problem, but it isn't the MOST attractive feature.
It's really best to have the thermal mass in the space that you live in. Not practical to put all that weight up on the first floor of your pops place, a lot of shoring up would be needed to hold it. A foot or more of floodwater in the basement... Wow. whatever you make will need to be up on some kind of foundation above flood level. Probably NOT the most pleasant to go downstairs and feed the fire in the flood.
As to internal drawings... Lets see what I can do.. Let me think about it.
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