What is the science behind a rocket stove?
A rocket stove is an efficient and hot burning stove using small-diameter wood fuel. Fuel is burned in a simple combustion chamber containing an insulated vertical chimney, which ensures almost complete combustion prior to the flames reaching the cooking surface.
What is the efficiency of a rocket stove?
Rocket mass heaters are a space heating system expanded from the rocket stove, which is considered one of the most efficient wood-burning technologies. The rocket mass heater offers much higher efficiency ratings and claims to be able to heat your home with 80 to 90 percent less wood fuel.
What makes a good rocket stove?
Rocket stove combustion systems deserve attention for a few reasons: they offer close to complete combustion of the wood, meaning they are hyper-efficient and burn super-clean. they can reach very high temperatures, and can be hooked up to almost anything we want to use that heat for.
What is the maximum temperature of a rocket stove?
The temperatures used in a government waste treatment facility in the USA range from 1800 to 2200F (940 to 1200C). A well designed rocket stove can achieve 1100C+ quite easily (I’ve had a small unit on my test bench running at 1150C) so with a bit of tweaking 1200C should be quite achievable.
What makes a rocket stove more Rockety?
The diameter of the heat riser is the primary variable of the “rocket” effect. One of the two “engines” driving the stove is the heat riser. A bigger “cylinder” produces more power. The second “engine” is the cooling of the air at the heat barrel causing a bit of a siphon effect.
How does a rocket mass heater compare to a regular wood stove?
Measure the temperature and volume of the smoke leaving a conventional wood stove (very hot and a large volume) and compare that to the exhaust of a rocket mass heater (a little more than room temperature and a trickle). Far more heat stays inside with a rocket mass heater.
Which is the work horse of a rocket stove?
Section 3. is the Heat Riser where we are taking advantage of the heat expansion of air. This is the work-horse of the stove. This is where the size should be as large as you can make it. This variable strongly effects the rocket effect.
Can a rocket stove start a chimney fire?
Another question is about creosote. In a conventional wood stove, under inefficient conditions, creosote can build up in the chimney and start a chimney fire. The “chimney” in the rocket stove is the same thing as the heat riser. The rocket stove is designed to have a controlled chimney fire every burn.