Vortex Stove

[Vortex]

Feb 23, 2018 12:20:29 GMT -8 1967gto said:

Beautiful job!
Have you tried it with the door open?

I had to keep opening the door to add more bits on The first firing to gradually increase the heat so as not to damage the new refractories. A little smoke did come out over the top of the door frame a few times, but not as much as I expected considering this stove has eight 90 degree turns to get to the chimney, and that's with the bypass damper open (16 with it closed!). I don't intend to use it as an open fire, and hardly ever add more wood after lighting so it's not an issue for me.

Feb 23, 2018 11:30:17 GMT -8 wiscojames said:

So pretty. I could sell my wife I'm cooking with wood if that was the stove we had. Can you pop over and make one for us?

I doubt very much I'll ever build another one the same way as this - not because of any fault with it, far from it, I'm absolutely delighted with it, but If I'd have known how much time, blood, sweat, tears and money it was going to take I would never have started.

I don't have a big metal workshop with lots of equipment. I made it all using a 4" angle grinder, drill and a little stick welder.
My neighbor who's watched me build this, jokingly asked me how much it would take to get me to build another one the same, he guessed, 7 or 8 thousand? I replied 10 and I'd think about it...

[Vortex]

Only just got around to sorting and uploading these pictures from building the new stove.

The 40 pages of plans that went into designing it

[Vortex]

Feb 17, 2018 13:44:20 GMT -8 patamos said:

Been meaning to send pics of the vortex with bench i've been working on, but man, i'm just cyber swamped these days...

If you get the time Pat, I'd love to see how that firebox roof made from a kiln shelf and sheet of cast iron with secondary air plenum worked out.

My tertiary air version is working well. The only thing I'd change is to route the air differently so as to not take the heat from the firebox roof or secondary burn chamber. Once the firebox is hot it works well in combination with the secondary air up through the ash trap. This is at the beginning of the coal phase. (There are 7 holes coming down through the firebox roof, 4 at the rear 3 in the middle, look out for the downward jets of flame. The large gas jet up from the middle is the secondary air).

[NZ Guest]

Nov 11, 2016 10:19:29 GMT -8 Vortex said:

Nov 11, 2016 1:51:37 GMT -8 kpl said:

I just stumbled upon this commercial stove:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_Epdny8zg4
www.pyroclassic.co.nz/about-us/how-does-a-pyroclassic-fire-work/

Burn chamber itself somewhat resembles Vortex stove, but then... just send all the heat into chimney???

Anyway, probably, some ideas can be borrowed.

Hey kpl, Thanks for posting that.

As you say there's quite a few similarities until they throw the heat out the chimney.
The fact they're getting better efficiency with a back boiler just shows how much heat is going straight up the chimney without it. I wonder why they don't add a contraflow and some mass...

Their secondary air system is using different materials but is basically the same as I have in mind.

    Hi, firstly loving the vortex stove, The reason that the Pyroclassic throws the heat out the chimney, is because it was designed and built and sold in New Zealand. Here in NZ we have some of the strictest and most draconian regulations around 'log-burners' and the Pyroclassic is basically aimed at the standard iron box log burner market here in NZ. Anything that isn't in the councils little book of approved devices is a pain in the 'proverbial' to get consented (and therefore keep your insurance cover) and installed. Such a shame ! They would rather we install electricity guzzling heat pumps than burn carbon neutral renewable resources ! luckily at least the majority of our electricity is from renewable resources.

[boscovius]

Vortex,
Just finished working my way though this incredible thread, and some of it's equally inspiring twists and turns. Utterly fantastic craftsmanship and divinely inspired creativity. You are blessed! Thank you so much for sharing. It must have taken a great deal of your time and effort just to document. I will certainly be implementing some of what I have learned here in my own build.

[lourival]

Oi Vortex, boa tarde!

Estou estudando as suas postagens à muito tempo. Dentre as dúvidas que tenho, qual a composição do material usando para fabricar a câmara de combustão (Firebox)?

Abraço,
Lourival

[Vortex]

Hi Vortex, good afternoon!

I've been studying your posts a long time. Among the doubts I have, what is the composition of the material used to make the combustion chamber (Firebox)?

Hug,
Lourival

Hi Lourival, In my original stove it was a mix of firebrick and castable firebrick, the new stove firebox is made of all castable firebrick from HERE

[Vortex]

May 12, 2018 7:23:28 GMT -8 boscovius said:

Vortex,
Just finished working my way though this incredible thread, and some of it's equally inspiring twists and turns. Utterly fantastic craftsmanship and divinely inspired creativity. You are blessed! Thank you so much for sharing. It must have taken a great deal of your time and effort just to document. I will certainly be implementing some of what I have learned here in my own build.

Thanks boscovius,

It's been a labor of love, glad it was helpful to you.

Good luck with your own build.

[lourival]

Jun 5, 2018 14:46:19 GMT -8 Vortex said:

Hi Vortex, good afternoon!

I've been studying your posts a long time. Among the doubts I have, what is the composition of the material used to make the combustion chamber (Firebox)?

Hug,
Lourival

Hi Lourival, In my original stove it was a mix of firebrick and castable firebrick, the new stove firebox is made of all castable firebrick from HERE

> Hey Vortex, thank you for your attention.

I live in Brazil and intend to adapt its model to the project that I intend to build. see the template on the link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/3wbqeatfm3sa0d6/meu_fog%C3%A3o_rocket_stove.png?dl=0). Is this project functional?

> On page 23, how are those parts of the firebox made?

> What is the purpose of using calcium silicate plates?

Thank you!

[Vortex]

Which parts on page 23, there are many?

The calcium silicate boards around the firebox are there for insulation. To get complete and efficient combustion the temperature in the firebox needs to be very high. If your firebox has too much mass it steals heat from the fire, and takes to long to heat up to the point where it is radiating more heat back into the fire than it is taking from it.

The oven in your drawing is too far from the firebox to get hot enough for proper use. It would need to be directly above the firebox. If you need an oven I would suggest you either use the firebox after the fire is out, or make an Ancient Aryan / DSR type firebox, (where the oven is directly above the firebox and your hotplate is the roof of the oven, like in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sQHCvSDN20 ).

[lourival]

Jun 6, 2018 3:01:04 GMT -8 Vortex said:

Which parts on page 23, there are many?

The calcium silicate boards around the firebox are there for insulation. To get complete and efficient combustion the temperature in the firebox needs to be very high. If your firebox has too much mass it steals heat from the fire, and takes to long to heat up to the point where it is radiating more heat back into the fire than it is taking from it.

The oven in your drawing is too far from the firebox to get hot enough for proper use. It would need to be directly above the firebox. If you need an oven I would suggest you either use the firebox after the fire is out, or make an Ancient Aryan / DSR type firebox, (where the oven is directly above the firebox and your hotplate is the roof of the oven, like in this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sQHCvSDN20 ).

 Hi good morning!

(Which parts of page 23, are there many?)
I refer to those in the post: Oct 18, 2017 at 3:47 pm.

If I made a furnace like this ( www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajm1dj4HsZ4 )? What is your opinion?

[Vortex]

You mean this post: donkey32.proboards.com/post/25419/thread ?

The castings for the firebox sides were made from the castable refractory cement I linked to above. They were cast in wooded molds like these: www.vftshop.com/images/others/Stove/stovemoulds.JPG

The stove in that video is just a typical oven cookstove layout. In my experience those ovens work OK on the ones designed for burning coal, but not wood. That's why mine is a fake oven.

If you want a white oven, put the oven above the firebox with a bypass lever to direct the hot gases either around the oven or under the hotplate.

[lourival]

Jun 6, 2018 9:36:29 GMT -8 Vortex said:

You mean this post: donkey32.proboards.com/post/25419/thread ?

The castings for the firebox sides were made from the castable refractory cement I linked to above. They were cast in wooded molds like these: www.vftshop.com/images/others/Stove/stovemoulds.JPG

The stove in that video is just a typical oven cookstove layout. In my experience those ovens work OK on the ones designed for burning coal, but not wood. That's why mine is a fake oven.

If you want a white oven, put the oven above the firebox with a bypass lever to direct the hot gases either around the oven or under the hotplate.

Ok Vortex, I will perform some experiments and I will post some results. I think I do not need a sophisticated stove just like yours, it's more of a hobby. We will use it on weekends to cook that Sunday lunch, barbecue and some cakes or paeses. I believe that there in your region must be very cold, so I imagine the robustness of your project.

Thank you for your attention. A big hug and a great day.

[Vortex]

A while back Patamos kindly sent me some pictures of his latest Vortex stove build, which includes a preheated secondary air plenum in the throat using a kiln shelf:

Here are some pics of the top deck of my latest vortex. I cut away part of the side-rail notching to make the kiln shelf easier to install and replaceable.
In the last pic you can just see the ports at rear leading into and returning from a warming bell chamber with griddle top.

The top of my secondary plenum chamber is 1" ceramic fibre board that i happened to have kicking around. When viewed from a side cross-section the chamber has a wedge shape, about 4" at the back, narrowing to 10mm at the throat. The idea was to give the incoming air time to warm up. Also, that air supply runs up the back side of the rear wall on its way to the pre-warming chamber, so that helps too.

This vortex fire-box in the Sooke build pulls nicely even when the downstream mass is stone cold.

If I get any pics of the finished stove I'll add them here later.

[lourival]

Jun 9, 2018 1:42:29 GMT -8 Vortex said:

A while back Patamos kindly sent me some pictures of his latest Vortex stove build, which includes a preheated secondary air plenum in the throat using a kiln shelf:

Putz! Vortex, what an incredible design. Very good...