Nice peace of masonry! Became fan of RMH stowes 6y ago. Here in Bulgaria we tend to use portable rocket stowes. Worked hard and now I have my own compact rocket heater (110/70/26cm). The first videos are on my tube channel. Planning better quality 😅
@@carlboehm3858I'm a rookie in the communication sphere. For sure there will be translated subs. Made new video showing burning process after prime chamber. As expected blue flames appear though not all of the time. And that is before the heat riser.
Excellent, simple design that I bet will work well. The ugly barrel associated with a rocket stove should be a thing of the past. Use the rocket stove core to heat BRICK and thermal mass, not an ugly oil drum. Use masonry and brick like the Russians and Fins do to store heat for 5 to 10 hours. Cobb and mud benches, not necessary. A few things if there are any "beginners here." The insulating around the firebrick with the "wool wrap" is NOT necessary. It can't hurt, but it's overkill... adds 1%. For heavens sake he's used full 9 x 4.5 x 2.5 firebrick, not the thin firebrick kind! NO NEED. It's already insulated by TWO layers of brick and the air moves through in just 2 seconds. Where's the "cool down" gonna come from in 2 seconds? Also, for beginners, the "cut bricks" at the bottom of the riser to make the venturi is nice if you can do it, but NOT necessary. It will draft fine either way. It adds 2%. Rocket stove makers are in love with spinning air in the riser. No need if you can't cut the bricks. Rocket stove makers are in love with secondary air also. It's nice if you can do it, but it's not necessary if you don't have the technical skills to build that metal tube. The "squeeze off / choke off" of the standard batch box is not necessary in this design. It will rush up the riser hard either way. A taller riser of firebrick is worth more than the "choke off" everybody thinks they need to do in a batch box. If enough primary air moves through that's fine. When the thing heats up to max, you won't get any smoke. This is a rocket stove surrounded by a Kuznetzov Russian "bell." Very good design I bet.
Carl - How do you think the cored lightweight bricks will perform relative to solid bricks? How did you seal the inner layer of bricks in the bell, since the cores run through the thickness? Mortar? A sheet material? Something else, perhaps? Maybe it's not a worry, as long as the outer skin of bricks is sealed (plaster render or whatever). After all, lots of older masonry heaters are single skinned; double skinned seems to be a new thing, mostly due to safety concerns and regulatory/insurance considerations. But it seems like the space between the inner and outer skins could (eventually) accumulate ash and debris. Also, I noticed that the bottom of your fire box doesn't appear to have tapered fire brick sloping in toward the P-tube channel. Will you add those, or have you decided to dispense with them? Some of the experimenters seem to think that keeping the coals clustered together toward the end of a burn is helpful for complete combustion and to avoid the danger of CO poisoning. Thanks for showing your build. I may try to salvage some solid clay brick from a decrepit building near my house and use them to build a batch box style of burner, though I have been eyeing up some of the "riserless core" designs by Matthew Walker Remine ("Walker Stoves"). The batch box designs seem to be a better match for someone who is accustomed to burning a conventional wood stove than are the more traditional rocket stoves, which require a fair bit of babysitting and tending during the burn. I am interested in building a solid fuel fired backup heat source for the existing (and rather ancient) low pressure steam heat system in my house. A downdrafter style of burner would work, and could be thermostatically controlled (at least to some extent). I am not so sure about a true rocket stove, batch box or otherwise, however. I know using the existing steam system will not be as efficient as living on top of (sometimes quite literally) a central thermal mass, like with the typical Eastern European/Russian stoves, but I think it will be more easily implemented as a short term solution. The long run ideal would be a "transit" style heater, with the stove/burner on a lower floor (cellar), and several stacked bell-type thermal masses above, one one each additional floor, each bell (or stacked pair of bells) with its own diverter/blast gate on the common stack. This has been done in Russian apartment buildings, and also some multistory dachas, with good success, and allows for control of the radiant heat supplied to each floor from a single firebox. For anyone interested, Peter Van Den Berg's (AKA "Peter Berg") spreadsheet of dimensions for various sizes of batch box rocket stove can be downloaded from the donkey32 forums (just Google it - you'll find it). These stoves are all sized based on the diameter (or equivalent cross section) of stack - 5", 6", 8", etc. - because careful control of draft (temperature, i.e. sufficient air for combustion, but not excessive air which would cool the fire too much), mixing (turbulence) and duration of combustion (reaction time) are critical to the proper performance of the heater. Thanks again for showing us your build using cored bricks. Kevin
Kevin ... The inner core of bricks is to add mass and after conversation with "Peter" it enables the brick to have an insulation layer around the top 1/3 of the stove to prevent cracking from temperature differential. I will be adding the tapered sides to the firebox but I still have firebrick to cut and I'd rather use scrap than cut good brick (I'm thrifty like that) ... Good luck with your project and keep a watch as I will be posting more. Thanks for your comment 👍
@@carlboehm3858 Thanks for the informative reply. I've seen a thermal expansion gap like this used to mitigate internal stresses (often a sheet of cardboard between wythes, which will burn away to leave an air gap, sometimes carbon felt or ceramic wool), but I haven't seen it in conjunction with cored bricks. If good results can be had when using cored bricks, it certainly opens some possibilities. The fact that you got the bricks at a good price certainly makes them attractive. I suspect the solid bricks I'm hoping to salvage could be had almost for the effort needed to collect them (and chip off the old lime mortar). I've noticed that in many of the Russian builds (not rocket stoves - batch box or otherwise - but still thermal mass heaters), angled cuts often leave a bit of the original edge of the brick so that the remaining edge doesn't taper down to nothing, but instead is more robust. The exception to this is when constructing the flat arches over fire box and ash doors, which often do taper to a chisel edge, but are buried within the structure of the stove, in that application. Igor Kuznetsov's website has several "Lego directions" examples of stove designs available for free (just Google his name and "stove"). As an aside, many of Igor's firebox designs are closer to the Walker Stoves "riserless" layouts than to the more conventional Russian style stoves. Whatever the case, if the angled bricks at the bottom of the firebox had a more robust edge, they might be less susceptible to breakage. I haven't figured out what the bond pattern/layup would need to be to accomplish that, but I do know from experience with conventional wood stoves that a firebrick liner may need to be replaced every couple of years. Since the batch boxes should be fed with smaller splits than a conventional stove, there should also be less attendant impact and abrasion on the firebrick, but anything which can make the initial build have a longer lifespan is probably time and effort well spent, to my way of thinking. Thanks again for the reply. I'll "watch this space"!
Looks good but what about fuel consumption ? Looks like youll be using more fuel than a regular stove. Its pretty much burning unregulated since a air dampner would affect the ventury effect
John ... There is no air damper ... The secondary air I mentioned is to make sure the smoke and wood gas does have a "turbo" burn. The burn temperature in the riser will be upwards of 2000° f ... This intense heat will be absorbed by the double brick skins and radiated. I'm hoping to use 1 or 2 burns per day ... Keep in touch for the updates. Also there will be a door with air to the firebox along with the secondary air for the riser ... Thank You for your comment and support
This is a different type of wood burner then most. It pretty much burns full tilt, heating up the mass, that continues to heat the space for a long period of time after the fire has long burned out.
Seems to be nice design, though the secondary air feed and some of that ceramic wool is just overkill and a waste of time, effort, and of course, money. I must comment on the thickness of the mortar holding your firebricks: my experience teaches that it will not last long term with temps over 2k. It is much too thick. Mortar for firebrick is applied much thinner and will last a very very long time.
Thanks for your question ... I have not done the final dollar tallying yet as I am still finishing up the project.. I will be doing a complete build video when I get it up and running. I can say that a rough estimate is about $1800.00 ... Which also includes the double wall chimney pipe, cap, support and flashing. I would expect to have it running around Christmas and the full build video maybe later winter or early spring ... Keep in touch ...
Very nice! Looks great!
Thank You Catherine 🤗
Nice peace of masonry! Became fan of RMH stowes 6y ago. Here in Bulgaria we tend to use portable rocket stowes. Worked hard and now I have my own compact rocket heater (110/70/26cm). The first videos are on my tube channel. Planning better quality 😅
Thank You ... I watched but no translation so hard to understand. I'll sub for your next video ... Maybe a translation for next
@@carlboehm3858I'm a rookie in the communication sphere. For sure there will be translated subs. Made new video showing burning process after prime chamber. As expected blue flames appear though not all of the time. And that is before the heat riser.
Great video. cant wait to hear how it works.
Great job man! Im excited for you to get her started up and enjoy it! :)
Looking good! Thanks for the overview!
That is a nice heater my friend
Thank You Bud ❤️
@@carlboehm3858 your welcome my friend
Excellent, simple design that I bet will work well. The ugly barrel associated with a rocket stove should be a thing of the past. Use the rocket stove core to heat BRICK and thermal mass, not an ugly oil drum. Use masonry and brick like the Russians and Fins do to store heat for 5 to 10 hours. Cobb and mud benches, not necessary. A few things if there are any "beginners here." The insulating around the firebrick with the "wool wrap" is NOT necessary. It can't hurt, but it's overkill... adds 1%. For heavens sake he's used full 9 x 4.5 x 2.5 firebrick, not the thin firebrick kind! NO NEED. It's already insulated by TWO layers of brick and the air moves through in just 2 seconds. Where's the "cool down" gonna come from in 2 seconds? Also, for beginners, the "cut bricks" at the bottom of the riser to make the venturi is nice if you can do it, but NOT necessary. It will draft fine either way. It adds 2%. Rocket stove makers are in love with spinning air in the riser. No need if you can't cut the bricks. Rocket stove makers are in love with secondary air also. It's nice if you can do it, but it's not necessary if you don't have the technical skills to build that metal tube. The "squeeze off / choke off" of the standard batch box is not necessary in this design. It will rush up the riser hard either way. A taller riser of firebrick is worth more than the "choke off" everybody thinks they need to do in a batch box. If enough primary air moves through that's fine. When the thing heats up to max, you won't get any smoke. This is a rocket stove surrounded by a Kuznetzov Russian "bell." Very good design I bet.
FYI ... I can agree with your thoughts ... But I do have the capability to build as per suggested by the people who should know ... So I did 😉
Did you see my new video ... Farther along now 👍🏼
Carl -
How do you think the cored lightweight bricks will perform relative to solid bricks? How did you seal the inner layer of bricks in the bell, since the cores run through the thickness? Mortar? A sheet material? Something else, perhaps? Maybe it's not a worry, as long as the outer skin of bricks is sealed (plaster render or whatever). After all, lots of older masonry heaters are single skinned; double skinned seems to be a new thing, mostly due to safety concerns and regulatory/insurance considerations. But it seems like the space between the inner and outer skins could (eventually) accumulate ash and debris.
Also, I noticed that the bottom of your fire box doesn't appear to have tapered fire brick sloping in toward the P-tube channel. Will you add those, or have you decided to dispense with them? Some of the experimenters seem to think that keeping the coals clustered together toward the end of a burn is helpful for complete combustion and to avoid the danger of CO poisoning.
Thanks for showing your build. I may try to salvage some solid clay brick from a decrepit building near my house and use them to build a batch box style of burner, though I have been eyeing up some of the "riserless core" designs by Matthew Walker Remine ("Walker Stoves"). The batch box designs seem to be a better match for someone who is accustomed to burning a conventional wood stove than are the more traditional rocket stoves, which require a fair bit of babysitting and tending during the burn. I am interested in building a solid fuel fired backup heat source for the existing (and rather ancient) low pressure steam heat system in my house. A downdrafter style of burner would work, and could be thermostatically controlled (at least to some extent). I am not so sure about a true rocket stove, batch box or otherwise, however. I know using the existing steam system will not be as efficient as living on top of (sometimes quite literally) a central thermal mass, like with the typical Eastern European/Russian stoves, but I think it will be more easily implemented as a short term solution. The long run ideal would be a "transit" style heater, with the stove/burner on a lower floor (cellar), and several stacked bell-type thermal masses above, one one each additional floor, each bell (or stacked pair of bells) with its own diverter/blast gate on the common stack. This has been done in Russian apartment buildings, and also some multistory dachas, with good success, and allows for control of the radiant heat supplied to each floor from a single firebox.
For anyone interested, Peter Van Den Berg's (AKA "Peter Berg") spreadsheet of dimensions for various sizes of batch box rocket stove can be downloaded from the donkey32 forums (just Google it - you'll find it). These stoves are all sized based on the diameter (or equivalent cross section) of stack - 5", 6", 8", etc. - because careful control of draft (temperature, i.e. sufficient air for combustion, but not excessive air which would cool the fire too much), mixing (turbulence) and duration of combustion (reaction time) are critical to the proper performance of the heater.
Thanks again for showing us your build using cored bricks.
Kevin
Kevin ... The inner core of bricks is to add mass and after conversation with "Peter" it enables the brick to have an insulation layer around the top 1/3 of the stove to prevent cracking from temperature differential. I will be adding the tapered sides to the firebox but I still have firebrick to cut and I'd rather use scrap than cut good brick (I'm thrifty like that) ... Good luck with your project and keep a watch as I will be posting more. Thanks for your comment 👍
Also wanted to say that I'm using the core bricks because I bought all the bricks for the project ... $75.00 ... I do have 2 ash cleanouts when needed
@@carlboehm3858 Thanks for the informative reply. I've seen a thermal expansion gap like this used to mitigate internal stresses (often a sheet of cardboard between wythes, which will burn away to leave an air gap, sometimes carbon felt or ceramic wool), but I haven't seen it in conjunction with cored bricks. If good results can be had when using cored bricks, it certainly opens some possibilities. The fact that you got the bricks at a good price certainly makes them attractive. I suspect the solid bricks I'm hoping to salvage could be had almost for the effort needed to collect them (and chip off the old lime mortar).
I've noticed that in many of the Russian builds (not rocket stoves - batch box or otherwise - but still thermal mass heaters), angled cuts often leave a bit of the original edge of the brick so that the remaining edge doesn't taper down to nothing, but instead is more robust. The exception to this is when constructing the flat arches over fire box and ash doors, which often do taper to a chisel edge, but are buried within the structure of the stove, in that application. Igor Kuznetsov's website has several "Lego directions" examples of stove designs available for free (just Google his name and "stove"). As an aside, many of Igor's firebox designs are closer to the Walker Stoves "riserless" layouts than to the more conventional Russian style stoves. Whatever the case, if the angled bricks at the bottom of the firebox had a more robust edge, they might be less susceptible to breakage. I haven't figured out what the bond pattern/layup would need to be to accomplish that, but I do know from experience with conventional wood stoves that a firebrick liner may need to be replaced every couple of years. Since the batch boxes should be fed with smaller splits than a conventional stove, there should also be less attendant impact and abrasion on the firebrick, but anything which can make the initial build have a longer lifespan is probably time and effort well spent, to my way of thinking.
Thanks again for the reply. I'll "watch this space"!
Looks good but what about fuel consumption ? Looks like youll be using more fuel than a regular stove. Its pretty much burning unregulated since a air dampner would affect the ventury effect
John ... There is no air damper ... The secondary air I mentioned is to make sure the smoke and wood gas does have a "turbo" burn. The burn temperature in the riser will be upwards of 2000° f ... This intense heat will be absorbed by the double brick skins and radiated. I'm hoping to use 1 or 2 burns per day ... Keep in touch for the updates. Also there will be a door with air to the firebox along with the secondary air for the riser ... Thank You for your comment and support
This is a different type of wood burner then most. It pretty much burns full tilt, heating up the mass, that continues to heat the space for a long period of time after the fire has long burned out.
@@carlboehm3858 👍 looking forward to seeing how it works out for ya.
No, it will use less wood than a regular iron stove.
@@quantumofconscience6538, a fraction, actually and if done right.
Your steel pipe for secondary air will not melt ?
I ordered an RT330 pipe from Dragon Technology ... Will handle the heat and should last at least my life time 👍🏼
Seems to be nice design, though the secondary air feed and some of that ceramic wool is just overkill and a waste of time, effort, and of course, money. I must comment on the thickness of the mortar holding your firebricks: my experience teaches that it will not last long term with temps over 2k. It is much too thick. Mortar for firebrick is applied much thinner and will last a very very long time.
How much money did the project cost?
Thanks for your question ... I have not done the final dollar tallying yet as I am still finishing up the project.. I will be doing a complete build video when I get it up and running. I can say that a rough estimate is about $1800.00 ... Which also includes the double wall chimney pipe, cap, support and flashing. I would expect to have it running around Christmas and the full build video maybe later winter or early spring ... Keep in touch ...
Where the 2ry air get mixed?
Right in front of the narrow opening ... The Venturi.