pocket rocket heater stove

Pocket rocket stove. I got this idea from the rocketstoves.com website as an excerpt of Ianto Evans' rocket mass heater book. The book version is slightly different, but as you can see this version works quite well. It's a 5 gallon metal bucket with stovepipe through the lid. An 18" section goes down into the bucket for the feed tube, and two 24" sections go up for the chimney. It gets VERY hot, burns wood fast and clean, and radiates an absurd amount of heat.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• rocket stove
• wood stove
• heater
• bucket stove
• pocket rocket
• stovepipe
• burner
• aprovecho
• ianto evans
• rocket mass heater

[TheDarjeelingZen]

Have you considered insulating the sides and bottom of your pocket rocket with a mixture of clay & perlite or sand and perlite?

[rich991980]

@TheDarjeelingZen Clay and perlite would make a good insulator, and protect the metal from such extreme temperatures. I'm thinking I'd rather try to use thicker metal to have it last longer.

[nickglass12]

The bucket will not last long. The metal turns into carbon toast when it gets that hot.

[rich991980]

@nickglass12 Yes, after only 2 fires the can is already seeming quite brittle. Thicker metal would be a must for regular use.

[weedhopp]

you dont need to actually start the fire that way what you are doing is priming the chimney to air mass is too large for the small fire to push the low pressure air out :)

[rich991980]

@weedhopp Yes, priming the chimney helps to avoid having the stove start backwards.

[mike184ever1]

nice and no smoke report either

[Zalobar]

@Zalobar You also inspired me to burn mine at night. To see where the hot spots are! Good job and Thanks for sharing.

[Zalobar]

Good vid, Thanks. Ive been trying to get mine to accept the top feed without back smoking. But I dont want to give up the cook surface. Im all about multi tasking with it by having indoor heat/cook top and oven to be att. behind the stove with the exhaust pipe under the oven leading to the chimney. My Chimney was a 4" but maybe too short? Like you, I was making do with scrap materials on hand. z : )) see my vid.

[apples13able]

Perhaps the chimney pipe is too large a diameter. I read that it should be 4" diam X 60" with a 6" X 12" feed tube. You mentioned that in the vid that you didn't have a 4" diam chimney pipe so this is interesting showing what happens when the pipe is too wide! Too much rocket w combustion metal so thin! Looks like there are various ways of experimenting with fixes. Lots of fun! thanx again! Info about exploding concrete is priceless!

[apples13able]

One can learn a lot from vids like this, thanx for posting!

[99XM]

@nickglass12 woodstove that burns metal, nice

[pabbananna]

my experiences: these don't last very long at all, not even an afternoon at full heat as the metal just disintegrates. Perhaps I will make one out of proper steel, I love the sound they make and THANKS for the video!!