I've realized that you've got to insulate all areas where combustion occurs in order to intensify the heat and generate a more complete burn. I sourced a commercial 6" cast iron water pipe 90 degree turn and tee (used for things like large scale fire suppression). This pic is of the stove turned upside down.
I also changed the config so the barrel is further into the room and increased the amount of exhaust pipe/surface area so more heat is shed inside the room. I've since stacked bricks so that they touch and surround the tee to further reflect heat back into where the combustion occurs. (A small fan on each side of the exhaust helps to shed heat). NOTE: if anyone tries this you need to run it extremely hot outside to burn off paint before bringing it inside.
Another way to stay warm is snuggling with a pig but the quality of the heat isn't as good. (They are adorable, for some reason they are so huggable looking, maybe it's because bacon tastes so good - hmmm, I guess that kinda makes sense, hugging them is almost the equivalent of tasting bacon).
Caleb agrees, even squeezing them doesn't help generate additional heat (this is a Caleb Fan Club requested pic).
Sammy prefers this very small breed of miniature horse. He would like for us to raise some and didn't like to hear that it only comes from China.
Other endeavors: Calvin's first batch of root beer. It definitely tasted like root beer but was also sour. I'm really looking forward to his next try.
And TJ's entry into the home made delicacies contest will be maple syrup. He was recently inspired by his friend Jonathan back in VA and has tapped six trees so far. (Without leaves you have to study the bark and inspect the leaves on the ground, the tree in the pic is not a maple).
We were wondering if there was an official website for Caleb's fan club:)
ReplyDeleteNow, being serious, do you keep a fence around your Rocket stove so no one accidentally touches it? Or does the outside not get really hot?
I've decided against an official site, I don't want him behaving like Justin Bieber. Actually friends in VA hadn't seen any pics of him lately so that's reason for the fan club joke.
DeleteNo fence around the stove, the part that really gets hot is the top of the barrel, at the exhaust it's definitely >200 degrees, maybe 125. The cast iron portion can get really hot, 1,000+ degrees (the gauge will usually fall off at 800+). To get the most out of this stove the mass portion is important to incorporate (that's why they're called rocket mass stoves or mass heaters). To do that the cast iron portion, the bottom of the drum and the exhaust is contained inside of concrete, brick, stone, sand, etc. and that allows for the most heat dissipation before the exhaust leaves the house.