I know there’s a lot of experience on here with wood burners, but has anyone dabbled with rocket stove mass heaters?

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp

My other half is pestering me to build one…

(oops, wrong forum, sorry)

i havent but i might do now.

Looks interesting, just wondering how much smoke they’ll generate in the house while your lighting and getting them up to temp, so they’re drawing properly.

I want to build one in the garage, looks like a good way to avoid having to put a flue in the ceiling and roof.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6ValmUnjz4[/video]

dont tell stoner 😉

Paul Wheaton has done a lot to promte these (as you’ll know from the link 🙄 ). Have a look at stuff over on TSP too. He and Jack have discussed the idea over there on and off:

Nov’ 2011, and Feb 2011 jump out first.

There’ll be stuff in the TSP forum too, and there’s a specific section on the Permies forum.

Don’t forget to post pictures. 😉

Interesting but a bit, well, ugly – better if the channelly bits could be dug into the floor or something (that could still heat the room, couldn’t it ?)

You could replace the outer drum/radiator with water jacket/coil and use that to heat your normal central heating, although I guess that gets more complicated and probably not more efficient than wood burning central heating boilers which burn very small amounts of wood at a time under similar conditions?

Some of them look a bit, well, hippy – but I do like the heated window seat idea. The other half reckons they don’t need to be vented to the exterior – sounds pretty dodgy to me, that’s how people die using portable barbecues in caravans.

The other slight flaw is we have wooden floors, so would have to remove an area of floor to get down to the concrete underneath.

dont tell stoner

already working on one! 😉

A metal bashing mate (called ‘Dink’…) is working on knocking up a mini rocket stove based on a design of mine using some spare box section he has lying around. Will post if and when it gets made…

Some of them look a bit, well, hippy – but I do like the heated window seat idea. The other half reckons they don’t need to be vented to the exterior – sounds pretty dodgy to me, that’s how people die using portable barbecues in caravans.

You certainly will have to vent externally and provide for air supply if you want to do it by the regs.

However, a well designed is supposed to burn all the CO. You probably ought to still allow for a draft though.

this could be the solution to the heating dilemma in our workshop.. 😀