Page 2 of 5 FirstFirst 1234 ... LastLast
Results 11 to 20 of 50

Thread: Rocket stove mass heater

  1. #11
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Allegheny highlands
    Posts
    10,913
    That's the downside of "rocket stoves." They require almost constant attention, with their small, fast burns. They are energy efficient, but not convenience efficient.

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

  2. #12
    LHBA Member loghousenut's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2005
    Location
    Grants Pass, Oregon.
    Posts
    14,458
    Blog Entries
    1
    Never used one so I'm no expert but I've always suspected that a masonry rocket stove takes a little bit of "stand around time" as you start it and load it the second time or third time, and then the fourth time, but then you just kinda sit back and enjoy the fact that all that masonry will just keep forking over the heat to the room whether you like it or not. I have to tend my conventional Blaze King stove four or five times per night. I can imagine tending a masonry rocket stove four or five times per night also but it would be close to start up time instead of all evening long as we are watching Justified.

    Truth be told, if I were a bachelor (don't laugh, it could happen at any minute) I'd have a masonry rocket stove in the log home. I am not a bachelor and we'll have no more discussion on the matter.

  3. #13
    LHBA Member Timber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    CA/ land in Cody WY.
    Posts
    1,069
    Throw some water on the fire and let er smoke or soak some of the wood

  4. #14
    LHBA Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Presently Rock Hill SC, property in NC. Longing to get started!
    Posts
    773
    The rocket stove mass heater operates on the same principle as the masonry heater. One small burn, VERY fast, very high heat, and then you enjoy the thermal mass heat diffusion for hours.

  5. #15
    Regular+ User
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Tampa Bay FL. (for now)
    Posts
    14
    Quote Originally Posted by LogHomeFeverDan View Post
    The rocket stove mass heater operates on the same principle as the masonry heater. One small burn, VERY fast, very high heat, and then you enjoy the thermal mass heat diffusion for hours.

    ... but as I understand it, a masonry heater is a little (a lot) easier to get approved through any sort of inspection. (I do understand that a MH is more complicated to build, and they need a heavy duty foundation under them).

  6. #16
    LHBA Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Location
    Presently Rock Hill SC, property in NC. Longing to get started!
    Posts
    773
    Quote Originally Posted by TheBeak View Post
    ... but as I understand it, a masonry heater is a little (a lot) easier to get approved through any sort of inspection. (I do understand that a MH is more complicated to build, and they need a heavy duty foundation under them).

    You are correct! A MH will be mucho easier to get inspection approved as there is an abundance of information on them. Personally I just love the concept of the rocket stove mass heater. May end up building on after all the inspections are done.

  7. #17
    Regular+ User
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Tampa Bay FL. (for now)
    Posts
    14
    agreed.

    I'm fascinated with the efficiency. Seems with the "radiates heat for hours" nature of the rocket stove, (less so though it seems than the MH, which can apparently hold heat for days) you could do a quick burn with little fuel and heat the place for a few hours/day.

    Our goal, along with the obvious of "stay warm" is to not have to cut down every tree on the property to heat the home for a winter.

  8. #18
    LHBA Member rreidnauer's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Allegheny highlands
    Posts
    10,913
    Efficiency is great, but don't forget the basics. You have to remember, for a certain amount of a certain species of wood, there is only so many BTUs of energy stored in it. You can't burn a quick fire with 50k Btu/hrs (randomly selected number) worth of wood, and expect to coast several days if the house has that much heat loss or more each day.

    BTU production must equal BTU consumption.

    Sent from my Samsung Galaxy using TapaTalk 2

  9. #19
    Regular+ User
    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Tampa Bay FL. (for now)
    Posts
    14
    True. I guess where I am coming from is that if there are (again random) 50 BTU available in a given chunk of wood, I'd like to extract as much of that as possible to heat the home, rather than heating the air above the chimney cap.

  10. #20
    LHBA Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    East TN, Western NC
    Posts
    4,855
    Blog Entries
    3
    My daughter in law comes from Romania and the only heat in Grandmas house is some kind of ceramic heater using the chimney passing back and forth through the ceramic casing but it also only has a small firebox that they use just small pieces of wood for a fast hot fire 2x a day. They heat it up first thing early in the morning and then again before going to bed. Sounds like really just a small armful of what I would call kindling size wood for a regular stove burns up in less than an hour. Radiates heat between burns. You can find them on the net. Just a form of the ceramic heaters I think.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •