Rocket Stove Review & Update
We are going on our third winter of using our bench style rocket stove and thought we would do a quick review on it:
Updates
If you didn’t catch the ratio in the video, it is a 3 to 1 ratio, combustion chamber height to pipe width. Bryson has built several small rocket stoves for various experiments and in doing so, he discovered this ratio works well.
Keep it Going
When starting the fire, Gary tends it every few minutes. The fire has to be small and pushed a bit towards the combustion chamber so the smoke will draft properly. Once the coals are present, it keeps on cookin’! Ten to twelve hours after the fire goes out, the bench is still warm. In the mornings the dining room will have a marked difference in temperature.
Drawbacks
It takes time to maintain the fire during the first hour. It has to be tended more often than a regular fire in a wood stove. Even after it’s running well and we forget to add more wood within an hour, it will burn out.
Compare to Wood Stove
We have a wood stove in our family room and a rocket stove in our dining room. When we come home to a freezing house, nothing compares to our big ol’ wood stove. It heats the family room shortly after “firing” it up. But for long sustaining heat, the rocket stove is the winner. The bench retains the heat for hours after the fire goes out. As far as a cost comparison, the rocket stove was by far the least expensive. It was cheap to build since we had most of the materials already and it uses less wood for fuel..
Again?
Would we do it again? Yes, and we have. We built one in-ground in Garen’s Earthbag Bedroom. It is both cheap and efficient :)
Shelly
January 2015
Partners
Resources
www.greenhomebuilding.com/adobe.htm
www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles.htm
www.earthbagplans.wordpress.com
We moved from the city to the country in 2005. Since then, we have been building structures, raising livestock and growing some of our own foods. We are crazy about family, nutrition and want the best for our growing family.
