Rocket Mass Heater ( Does It Start Up Easily )

[TheSemperfidude]

could you put one or two rows more at bottom and put rebar grate to have ash fall below?

[LarsMith217]

@TheSemperfidude ... yes you could ... tho you'd also have to utilize some means with which to prevent air from drafting in at the BOTTOM of the heater. Part of the success of the rocket heater / stove design is that the air drafts IN to the heater from above, flows DOWN the lengths of wood and feeds the fire. This prevents the fire from burning UP the wood. If u do as you suggest, you'd also need to include some means of preventing draft from entering the heater @ the base of the heater

[LarsMith217]

@LarsMith217 ... and Semper Fi !!

[Rhinoch8]

I think a match would do okay to light your fire. Its the principle of using newspaper...

Anyway, great job on this RMH!

[crazycloud2]

I bought a heat gun to remove paint and found a really good fast way to get both the air flow and fire going fast. Kind of like billows gone crazy, except real hot.

[crazycloud2]

I like to save my cotton from vitamin bottles and jam as many as I can in a can of canned heat. To start a fire pull out a wad of cotton from the bottom and wrap it around a stick head, lite and insert under newspaper. 

[kenfo0]

Thanks for your vids. Do you have any that explain the design? have you considered a modern woodstove as the source of "mass heating"? Very easy to start, much higher volume of heat to get mass hot in the beginning, already efficient in the 75% range, no draft issue, etc.

[LarsMith217]

@gaiagale My 1st video starts by showing the heater 'roaring' along :)

Sorry this one cut off right @ the end.

[LarsMith217]

@gaiagale The video "stopped" just as I was about to show the fire burning inside. Check my other videos which show that fire and allow you to hear the "roar" of the heater as it burns the wood.

As for where the wood burns, my plans, which are available for USD$35, show where the wood burns and the path the air-flow travels to get outside.

[johnlvs2run]

Nice design, but that's a ridiculous way of starting a fire.

Have you tried using a top down burn.

Put the bigger pieces in first, then lighter, and put the paper on top.

One match should get the whole thing going quite well.

[LarsMith217]

@johnlvs2run Here's how I now start the heater. I place fine kindling wood way @ the end of the burn tube ( horizontal part of the initial airflow channel ) and I use a propane torch to get the draft started & to light that kindling. Takes only seconds. Once the draft is going, I then use the torch on the other wood in the feed tube and pa-boom, she's pretty well on her own and burns well.

[johnlvs2run]

@LarsMith217 Another way is to push the paper in, light the paper, let it get going, then add the kindling.

Let the kindling get going, then add the small pieces and add the bigger pieces. This would only take a minute. Viola! The fire is going and no torch.

[hempseed57]

i like how these people complain about a simple torch when I bet they don't even know a google search takes enough power to run a house for one day. Despite what these wankers say, I say good work and I am sure you have figured out the best way for you to light your rocket stove.

[ririshow]

Have you tried to drop an inflamed paper ball or use a candle lighter.

[ririshow]

This gas start is not very green is it??? Try to find a better way.

[LarsMith217]

Propose a better way.

[LarsMith217]

@ririshow, Are you 100% green ? Do you use anything that will end up in the land fill some day ? Anything plastic ? Anything which is inherently wasteful or petroleum based ? It would be interesting to have the green police check out each of our homes to see which one of us is more green-conscious and green-effective.

[kenfo0]

@ririshow you fake environmentalists crack me up. You whine about a propane torch? It is giving off water vapor and co2, and in such a tiny amount as to affect.....NOTHING. BUT!!!!!! You DON'T complain about using paper, a highly refined, chemically treated tree product. Please learn something about the world before lecturing others, doofus.

[artamus73]

@kenfo0 I love it! I was laughing when I read the comment about lighting it another way. You had a great comeback. Keep up the good videos, and enjoy the comments.

[licetdavid]

@ririshow burning anything, organic or not, isn't green. None of it is complete combustion. Even if it were, you'd still be producing CO2.

[Rhinoch8]

@ririshow Just using a RMH to heat blows away your pseudo-greenology. You probably heat with petrol or gas...

[AetherWisp]

Use one bundle of paper with a bit of candlewax. It will burn longer and hotter and you wont need all that paper.

[mockum]

Have you considered adding a pilot burn area instead of using the propane torch. I like what you have designed except for the torch use.

[LarsMith217]

I've kind of stuck to a "keep it simple" approach to the heater. Don't know that I have the where-with-all to add a safe pilot burn area, tho I'm open to having you clarify what you mean.