Rocket stove mass heaters!
Published by Leigh Blackall on Thursday, April 09, 2009 at 7:46 PM
Another very inspiring idea I knew nothing about, until Keith blogged it that is! Rocket stoves with mass heating.
I'm seriously considering building one of these downstairs. We have a log burner upstairs, and we need to install some thermal mass around it to make it more efficient, but downstairs has no heating! On the one hand we could extend the log burner downstairs, but I think I'd rather build the rocket down there for my learning's benefit, try and make it so it effectively heats down and upstairs, then consider uninstalling the log burner and selling it to recover costs... permits will be an issue :(
Here's a great video Keith found:
Here's the book that the video refers to, but I'm gutted to find my local library doesn't have a copy :(
And here's a really good illustration of the functional design from Erica, along with many other photos she took during a build in the US. Thanks Erica!
Update:
I started a Wikipedia article to see where it might take me information wise. Also, an Appropedia page to document our progress and hopefully meet experienced people.
Fascinating! Any blog whose entries for April are Rhubarb and Rocket mass heaters gets my vote and now I think I remember that you are the person who did the lovely flickr slide show - thanks for all of these. Your slideshow is one of my favourites on flickr and was part of the inspiration for me to do a flickr project work book. Mine was a craft project but I'll use it for a demo for student technology projects in September. Here it is http://www.flickr.com/photos/francesbell/sets/72157616064980620/
Thanks for the videos of the rocket mass heaters!
I'm very curious- where are these houses located? Who owns them?
I'm working with a group of students to develop a living body of research(online) about tiny and low impact housing. We'd love to be able to chat with more of these people about their experiences.
@Francis - cute little camera case.. I wonder which flickr slideshow of mine you're referring to? I see you work in a business school.. it might interest you that I work at a Polytechnic, helping the business school develop a course in sustainable business planning. Here's the progress notes so far.
@Rachel, I'm not sure where these people are? Best contact the person who made the video I think. If you click the video in my blog twice, it should open it in Youtube where you can get the details of the author. I'm guessing they're NW coast USA/CAN and I'm noticing the same people in most of the other vids on Youtube too. I'm in NZ so its a bit far for me to travel. Am hoping to find experienced builders and users here.. its always harder finding Kiwis online :(
My wife and I are planning a trip to Vancouver and Seattle in August.. maybe I should try and find out who these people in the video are as well..
Another group I watch are the people in Kansas who call their work Open Source Ecology. Very inspiring.
I love this idea, but is it safe to leave the stove burning for 8 hours while I'm at work?
Will it even burn that long?
With my cast iron woodburner I can load it up and let it burn all day without worrying. It will have enough coals to easily build up the fire. Can this stove do this?
I dunno yet, I hope to build one in August or September, but I imagine that its more the case that the thermal mass is the thing that stays hot (hence the efficiency on fuel). So you crank it for an hour or so, then let it go out. The mass will stay hot for hours after, and because its hot, the draw is still in it, so a restart is relatively easy.
awesomely awesome, Leigh. A great resource. Our Rocket-Powered Shower http://www.milkwood.net/content/view/80/1/
is amongst good company! We'll let you know when the How-To video of the construction process goes up... Have fun with the Cobb Cottage Crew! xKirsten