DIY Rocket Stove

Plan on making  mini rocket mass heater for my shop but I figured I'd start with the basics first to get an idea of what I'm doing.
Made this rocket stove. Works GREAT.
You can see from the pics my finger on the feeder tube, just warm not hot, while the top of the stack is almost 500 degrees and he outside around 350.
It stands 19'' tall and uses small twigs for fuel.
Going to make an attachment for pots and pans and also a heat deflector.
I'll post more as it comes along.

Why are you angling up the "fire tube".  I think you'll lose some of your rocket as heat will try to rise out this way, fighting the inward air flow.  You want the majority of your air coming in the fire tube end and out the stove end.

-Allen

Why are you angling up the "fire tube".  I think you'll lose some of your rocket as heat will try to rise out this way, fighting the inward air flow.  You want the majority of your air coming in the fire tube end and out the stove end.

-Allen

It still does what you suggest, but this way I also have gravity feed.
Did you notice the 2 tier stage on the fire box?
Wood on top, air gets sucked in from under the wood.
I dumped a bunch of pellets that I use in my pellet stove and it worked great.
I also have a damper that I can put on the wood feed so I only get air from below. This worked great for the pellets.
Still experimenting, but she's fired up as I type.

Why are you angling up the "fire tube".  I think you'll lose some of your rocket as heat will try to rise out this way, fighting the inward air flow. 

Notice how in the pic my finger is touching the wood feed portion? Not hot at all, but the 'chimney' was 350-500 degrees depending on where you measured the temp. Definitely not losing any heat through the feeder.

Just burning pellets right now.
Using a damper on the feeder which can also close off the middle tube if I want. It gives more of a jet suction when burning pellets.
I put a small tabletop outdoor heater next to it to see how the heat deflector would work. It worked pretty well.

Pretty neat! Gonna get sued for global warming and the crab closure! Thanks a lot Tote! I want one.....lol 

I got a buddy in Spokane building one of these things, we're collaborating on the design, I send him designs and he welds them up. We are using an old 100-gallon propane tank to shroud the HSS column and act as a cap the top. He wants to cook pizzas with his. Of course being artists, we aren't able to do anything as straightforward and clean as yours <LOL> Currently he is working on taking a 3-d model of a 4" medallion I designed, printing it out on a 3-d printer, and using it as a mold to cast aluminum vent caps, like those little twist-discs on a weber on steroids with a 50's atomic theme.. Chances are it's going to look more like a steam-punk sculpture than an oven, but it's been fun screwing with it! If we ever finish I'll post pictures. 

That's a neat design. Hope your shop has some good ventilation!

That's a neat design. Hope your shop has some good ventilation!

This is a rocket stove for outdoor use only. The rocket mass heater (for indoors) eventually vents to the outside.

Those are great!  Another weekend project..... 

pretty sure a true rocket stove uses another enclosure around the chimney you've built.  i believe the idea is the heat transfer from the chimney section into a cooler area really creates the heat movement and your stored heat.

pretty sure a true rocket stove uses another enclosure around the chimney you've built.  i believe the idea is the heat transfer from the chimney section into a cooler area really creates the heat movement and your stored heat.

You are correct.
But it doesn't do me any good to enclose it until I see what's going on and have something to play around with for a bit.
I start super basic, have a complete understanding of how something works with different variables introduced and build from there.
I also know there are certain ratios that make for a more efficient system. I want to find out how scaled down those ratios can be and still be efficient. 55 gallon is way to big for what I need. Also going to try to make it portable.
It's a work in progress.
I've already learned quite a bit just playing around with this guy.

When you get it all figured out Tote, let us know how its done so we can copy it 

Illustration looks like you are trying to pull the most thermal potential out of a small fuel source (sticks/twigs) & transfer the heat to a large thermal mass = efficiency

Thanks for putting this out Mike.  Been wanting to make one out of concrete.  Paint gallon size.  With the El Niño weather coming up it would be nice to have something to put inside the fireplace to cook things with when electricity is out and rain pouring,making it difficult to use the bbq without getting wet.