Indoor Rocket Stove

[crazyfarm]

Anyone have one? We heat our large home with propane. Just the first 4 months of this year has cost us 1200 and we only keep our home at 65degrees while we are awake, 60 while sleeping. So I'd love to take our current, unused fireplace and transform it into a rocket stove. Any knowledge would be useful here!

[Dixie Bee Acres]

I don't have any rocket stove experience, but I am curious, why a rocket stove?
I have a 1900+/- sqft 1.5 story house, I heat it with a cheap fireplace insert. It is able to keep our house right about 68-69 degrees.
A better designed and more efficient insert would do even better.
I saw a fireplace insert very simmilar to mine on Craigslist a few days ago for $250.

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

I don't have any rocket stove experience, but I am curious, why a rocket stove?
I have a 1900+/- sqft 1.5 story house, I heat it with a cheap fireplace insert. It is able to keep our house right about 68-69 degrees.
A better designed and more efficient insert would do even better.
I saw a fireplace insert very simmilar to mine on Craigslist a few days ago for $250.

We have a fireplace and I think more air gets in than out. With a rocket stove you wouldn't really need an exhaust outside as the result is steam. We have horrific winds here and a roaring fire is no match for them. A rocket stove is supposed to be much more energy efficient.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Please help me to understand.
I thought rocket stoves burned wood. How can you burn wood in anything with no way to exhaust the smoke?

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

Please help me to understand.
I thought rocket stoves burned wood. How can you burn wood in anything with no way to exhaust the smoke?

They burn completely so there really isn't smoke, just steam and some CO2. I have a fireplace right now though so I would take the precaution of doing an exhaust pipe out of the house. I do have very young kids.

http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
great information on that website.

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Ok.
What I was saying about the insert, its nothing more than a wood stove, with a blower that fits inside of your fire place. Then if needed, like in my house, I ran a stainless steel flu liner through the chimney.

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by Dixie Bee Acres

Ok.
What I was saying about the insert, its nothing more than a wood stove, with a blower that fits inside of your fire place. Then if needed, like in my house, I ran a stainless steel flu liner through the chimney.

Can you send me a link to what you mean by the insert?

[Dixie Bee Acres]

http://www.google.com/m?hl=en&gl=us&...eplace+inserts

[NC_hobbyfarmer]

The last thing you want to do is a rocket stove in your house to supply heat.... That would put your family's safety in very real danger! Dixie Bee has it right with a woodstove insert for your fireplace and running a stainless flue is a must to meet code but more so to make your insert work properly. Have owned a chimney service for 15 years and playing with literal fire isn't something you want to do.

[michael ark]

Have you looked at these?They are very efficient.I love mine https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...tic+wood+stove
Yes i have a sear tic wood stove.

[bobc]

I agree an insert would be the best idea. Rocket stove is very efficient for cooking but I don't think the same is true for heating more then a room

[edcopp]

Google Rocket Stove and watch some good video's on the subject.
Information posted here, so far will get you DEAD.

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by NC_hobbyfarmer

The last thing you want to do is a rocket stove in your house to supply heat.... That would put your family's safety in very real danger! Dixie Bee has it right with a woodstove insert for your fireplace and running a stainless flue is a must to meet code but more so to make your insert work properly. Have owned a chimney service for 15 years and playing with literal fire isn't something you want to do.

We already have a chimney with flu. We would need a different one for an insert?

[Freeholder]

Rocket stoves definitely DO need to be exhausted outside of the house!!! They can be exhausted low in the wall, like a dryer vent, but it's got to go outside! (Or possibly into a greenhouse, as plants would benefit from the CO2 and the little bit of heat.)

I'm not sure what it would take to turn a fireplace into a rocket mass heater. Do a lot of research before you start this project.

As for the benefits, a properly-constructed rocket mass heater is comparable to a masonry stove for efficiency, using much less wood to heat an area than a regular wood stove. They also burn much cleaner than a regular wood stove (but not clean enough to be exhausted into a living area!). They are safer, too, as most of the hot parts are encased in masonry, which doesn't normally get hot enough to burn someone. (An advantage if you have small children in the house.) Rocket mass heaters are usually less expensive to build than a masonry stove such as the Russian or Finnish stoves. But they do take up space in a room (for the mass).

You might want to look at plans for a masonry stove -- it may be easier to retrofit one of those in front of your existing fireplace than to build a rocket mass heater into that space.

Kathleen

[Dixie Bee Acres]

Originally Posted by crazyfarm

We already have a chimney with flu. We would need a different one for an insert?

Depends on how good condition yours is. Although, I would put the stainless liner in the existing chimney anyway. It can be connected to the insert allowing a better and cleaner draft.
The liners look pretty much like a 6 or 8 inch flexpipe. Look on eBay, a few companies sell them as kits; liner, cap, and some hardware. 8 inch by 30 foot or so for around $350 to $400 if memory serves.

[Forcast]

I have the same problem as you, I put in an add on wood furnace, it blows the hot air in the duct work,however I found out this past winter it was hooked up dassackwards.

[fishhead]

Now would be a good time to look at your insulation and caulking. $1,200 in 4 months seems like a lot to me. On top of saving money it also makes the house more comfortable both winter and summer.

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Now would be a good time to look at your insulation and caulking. $1,200 in 4 months seems like a lot to me. On top of saving money it also makes the house more comfortable both winter and summer.

For 5 years we've averaged 2500 a year for propane. This winter we've surpassed that in no time. I'm not sure if it's because it's the coldest it's ever been or if it's the fact that propane prices have skyrocketed. We have been replacing windows a couple a year to energy efficient ones. I've caulked all of the windows before. The weather lately has just been like nothing we've seen before. We've always had wind but never like this. We get cold but never like this. It's just......baffling.

[crazyfarm]

Originally Posted by Freeholder

Rocket stoves definitely DO need to be exhausted outside of the house!!! They can be exhausted low in the wall, like a dryer vent, but it's got to go outside! (Or possibly into a greenhouse, as plants would benefit from the CO2 and the little bit of heat.)

I'm not sure what it would take to turn a fireplace into a rocket mass heater. Do a lot of research before you start this project.

As for the benefits, a properly-constructed rocket mass heater is comparable to a masonry stove for efficiency, using much less wood to heat an area than a regular wood stove. They also burn much cleaner than a regular wood stove (but not clean enough to be exhausted into a living area!). They are safer, too, as most of the hot parts are encased in masonry, which doesn't normally get hot enough to burn someone. (An advantage if you have small children in the house.) Rocket mass heaters are usually less expensive to build than a masonry stove such as the Russian or Finnish stoves. But they do take up space in a room (for the mass).

You might want to look at plans for a masonry stove -- it may be easier to retrofit one of those in front of your existing fireplace than to build a rocket mass heater into that space.

Kathleen

My plan was to remove the existing fireplace completely. There are 2 walls in my house that I hate. They serve no real structural purpose they just divide the house. I've been dying to knock them down. To remove the fireplace and put in a rocket stove I'd have to remove one of the walls I hate. I'd planned on putting the mass of the rocket stove where the current wall is with the fire and exhaust part of the stove where the fireplace currently is.


My dad is like some of you though and said it was a great way to die. I thought he was just being a pain since he's an HVAC guy. Maybe not. /sigh

[Freeholder]

Originally Posted by crazyfarm

My plan was to remove the existing fireplace completely. There are 2 walls in my house that I hate. They serve no real structural purpose they just divide the house. I've been dying to knock them down. To remove the fireplace and put in a rocket stove I'd have to remove one of the walls I hate. I'd planned on putting the mass of the rocket stove where the current wall is with the fire and exhaust part of the stove where the fireplace currently is.


My dad is like some of you though and said it was a great way to die. I thought he was just being a pain since he's an HVAC guy. Maybe not. /sigh

Well, if you do it the way you just said, replacing the fireplace and the wall, and venting the exhaust outside, it would certainly work.

Kathleen