Wood burning fireplace in van?

[sassypickins]

I finally tracked down the little stove design that I posted about here a couple of months ago. Man, I feel like I hiked around the world - wide web that is - to find it. Here is a link:

The Watchman's Stove

Sassy

 

[Simran]

Very interesting thanks for that. Excellent way to use, otherwise, thrown away sawdust.

 

[Zil]

Any wood, charcoal, brickets, sawdust, coal, any fuel, burning (smoldering) with out an open flame, or with out a catalytic grid, will be generating a lot of carbon monoxide, a deadly poison. Be sure to ventilate, lots of ventilate.

 

[sassypickins]

@ zil, thank you for adding this warning -- so important!

I liked the attention to the air flow in the design.

 

[Malibusurfer]

The schematics are good, but I wonder if there are any actual pictures of this stove... Sounds like a neat idea to try for myself... I learn better by actual pictures and how the thing goes together in "real life"... Are there any pics of it in use anywhere???

 

[sassypickins]

I found photos of many simple bush stoves, but none with this design concept. I emailed the blogger, Dusty, and he replied, "That same stove has been in daily use for more than 10 years now. I get my coffee from the kettle at 6 am every day!"

You might try asking him for more info. Click his name at the bottom of his blog page.

Sassy

 

[Starlight]

There are "rocket stoves" that burn wood very efficiently. The ones that are built to heat houses are built like a "mason fireplace" where inside the firebrick structure are chambers that circulate the heated air up and over, then down and then out at any exit point.

If a rocket stove is built correctly with a small entry and sufficient exitway to allow the proper draft of air -- a large amount of heat is created with little fuel. Basically it is burning wood as gas and consumes all gasses completely and cleanly. Inside the first chamber of a rocket stove the heat can get several hundred degrees hot. As it rises up and is forced back down it begins to cool and by the time it exits, it has expended its heat into the room and exits as a smokeless vapor.

The mistake is sometimes made that all a rocket stove is... is a hole at the bottom for wood, an elbow turn where it burns, and a hole at the top. That's just a metal fireburner. A rocket stove sounds like a rocket when it burns and you use very little wood to create a very hot fire. You should not make these of cement or anything that cannot withstand temperatures this fire creates. Yet, if built correctly it is quite safe.

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Just to note:
Even when a source of heat is ventilated well, you need an air source to replace the burned oxygen.