Idea for Next-To-Free Collapsible Lightweight Outdoor Rocket Stove

[squid]

So those are coat-hanger wires around a 45 degree mitered clay pipe, you could put new rocks in wherever you stopped for a while so it'd be very light.  I haven't built one of these yet but they're supposed to put out an enormous amount of heat for just a few twigs, and heat adjustment is just a matter of pulling twigs out/pushing in.   The brick ones are best made with ceramic kiln bricks ('they' say) and these blocks don't get as hot and they're very lightweight to carry around.  One could just carry the light kiln bricks around and set up as needed.   You can find enough fuel in twigs almost anywhere to cook with.    I think the concept comes from backyard smelters, so with some bellows action this could get extremely hot.  

 

[lenny flank]

Hah, it's like an itty bitty pottery kiln.

 

[caretaker]

not to be a wet blanket,,,,bbbbhhhhhuuuuuttttt they can be a pain in the, its amazing how a teeny tiny speck of pan soot can completely cover everything white within 12.5 feet of the pan, it amazes me NASA can't figure out a use for the stuff.

 

[James AKA Lynx]

The brick cannot absorb water. They will wear out.

 

[highdesertranger]

no good in areas of burn bans, which is most of the west. the bans have already started this year in some areas.

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/blm-bakersfield-field-office-issues-fire-restrictions

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/b...ire-restrictions-california-desert-district-0

https://www.blm.gov/programs/public...on/regional-info/california/fire-restrictions

highdesertranger

 

[TrainChaser]

One of the best types of insulation for a metal rocket stove is very lightweight vermiculite as insulation around the burn chamber.

The 16 stacked bricks work almost as well as the can/vermiculite as long as you're not in a burn-ban situation. DO NOT USE concrete bricks, use only fired clay bricks (like the red ones shown, 50 cents each); fire and concrete don't mix well because the heat causes pieces to pop off. The boondocks are a bad place to get a punctured eyeball.

I've never seen the wire/stone stove in the OP, but I suspect the space between the rocks and the open wire structure are going to limit the heat-holding capacity, which is the reason the basic rocket stove works so well.

 

[Seminole Wind]

not to be a wet blanket,,,,bbbbhhhhhuuuuuttttt they can be a pain in the, its amazing how a teeny tiny speck of pan soot can completely cover everything white within 12.5 feet of the pan, it amazes me NASA can't figure out a use for the stuff.

"pan soot" will not be present in a properly designed/built/fired rocket stove. they are one of the cleanest burning stoves out there. unfortunately the ones pictured do not have enough height in the riser nor is the riser insulated enough.

I've never seen the wire/stone stove in the OP, but I suspect the space between the rocks and the open wire structure are going to limit the heat-holding capacity, which is the reason the basic rocket stove works so well.

the open air around the rocks would not transfer the heat to the rocks very well, so they would not hold much heat. but rocket stoves in and of them selves are not intended to hold heat. you may be thinking of rocket mass heaters. which is a rocket stove that feeds the hot exhaust gas through a contraflow barrel and then a long exhaust flew that pass through and is in contact with large volumes of mass for the heat to transfer into. a well designed heat bench can reclaim so much of the exhaust heat that the exhaust gasses are cooler than the ambient air and as such are denser and fall to the ground instead of rising. if the rocks in the one pictured actually drew much heat from the rocket stove it would DECREASE the efficiency of the stove as at that part of the combustion cycle you want to keep as much heat/temperature (2 different things)inside where the combustion is happening.

if you want to really wrap your head around rocket mass heaters i suggest starting with a copy of the book "rocket mass heaters- the book" by Ianto evens and leslie jackson. Ianto designed them and with leslies help wrote the book, the latest edition can be purchased at leslies site https://www.rocketstoves.com/ then once you understand how they actually work, explore the many other online resources. but be ware, many of the people writing about rocket stoves and rocket mass heaters dont have a clue as to the original design principles. they tend to try and build one based on some info they got somewhere and when they dont do it right and they dont get it working right they "fix it" and try to tell the world

when done right they are a thing of beauty, but they can be a pain in the but as well...lol