3 ms·

>In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that it caused nearly 2 million premature deaths each year—considerably more than were caused by traffic accid

>In 2000, the World Health Organization estimated that it caused nearly 2 million premature deaths each year—considerably more than were caused by traffic accidents. Everyone is rallying around autonomous cars to decrease unnecessary deaths (and rightfully so), but relatively few folks are familiar with rocket stove technology. https://richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp https://richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_stove https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_stove Releasing smoke is energy inefficient, since it's literally unburnt fuel! Considering the fuel savings, the lifetime cost of switching can be negative in some cases. In terms of cost per statistical life saved, it's an extremely compelling technology.

Retric 10y ago
Solar hot water heaters are vastly more convenient and generally cheap. But, rocket stoves are great for rarely used structures, cooking, or the far north.
- schiffern 10y ago
  Yeah, solar thermal is woefully underused. Even something like attached south-facing greenhouses and solar hot air panels can cheaply retrofit passive solar design onto the existing building stock. To that list of rocket stove applications & advantages would add backup heat for solar hot water, accessible to developing countries and the poor, and (when built from masonry) ease of construction in the charred afterscape. I'm kidding of course on that last one. Mostly. ;)
blackguardx 10y ago
Thanks for sharing those links. It looks like it would be hard to start the rocket action correctly. You would have to preheat the circulator "chimney" somehow. Until then, smoke would pour into your house. This is a problem with normal wood-burning cooking stoves as well. Smoke doesn't go into the chimney until you establish a convection draft or the wind creates a venturi effect.
- schiffern 10y ago
  Thanks! Great points. Smoke free startup is an important design/operational consideration. There are lots of videos demonstrating startup technique (search "rocket stove starting"). Here's a couple good ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_eqNB6d0Y&t=1m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_eqNB6d0Y&t=1m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkUquOQt5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkUquOQt5w Note that the goal of the drafting chimney is not to soak up a lot of heat, but rather to be insulated and have low thermal mass to minimize heat loss. The higher the air exit temperature from the riser, the stronger the draft. The important thing for self-drafting is to heat the air in the riser, and only secondarily heat the riser material itself. A good design should make startup as "idiot proof" as possible. I've seen a few builds that use a 12V case fan on the air intake. Since the goal is to heat up the air in the riser (and that heating the riser... draws hot air into the riser), all you have to do is "tip it over" into that stable equilibrium. Imo there's a market opportunity for an inexpensive, compact, nice looking, and easy to operate rocket stove. The open source (and excellently documented) "batch rocket" design seems a good place to start. http://batchrocket.eu/en/ http://batchrocket.eu/en/
hvidgaard 10y ago
It's the same with a mass oven. It has several burn chambers that is designed exactly yo burn all smoke. Heck, I even have a portable stove that uses secondary combustion to burn all the wood and smoke. If I ever have to buy a wood stove, I want one which is designed to burn it all. I probably even go all in with a mass oven.

Retric 10y ago

Solar hot water heaters are vastly more convenient and generally cheap. But, rocket stoves are great for rarely used structures, cooking, or the far north.

schiffern 10y ago
Yeah, solar thermal is woefully underused. Even something like attached south-facing greenhouses and solar hot air panels can cheaply retrofit passive solar design onto the existing building stock. To that list of rocket stove applications & advantages would add backup heat for solar hot water, accessible to developing countries and the poor, and (when built from masonry) ease of construction in the charred afterscape. I'm kidding of course on that last one. Mostly. ;)

blackguardx 10y ago

Thanks for sharing those links. It looks like it would be hard to start the rocket action correctly. You would have to preheat the circulator "chimney" somehow. Until then, smoke would pour into your house. This is a problem with normal wood-burning cooking stoves as well. Smoke doesn't go into the chimney until you establish a convection draft or the wind creates a venturi effect.

schiffern 10y ago
Thanks! Great points. Smoke free startup is an important design/operational consideration. There are lots of videos demonstrating startup technique (search "rocket stove starting"). Here's a couple good ones: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_eqNB6d0Y&t=1m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls_eqNB6d0Y&t=1m23s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkUquOQt5w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSkUquOQt5w Note that the goal of the drafting chimney is not to soak up a lot of heat, but rather to be insulated and have low thermal mass to minimize heat loss. The higher the air exit temperature from the riser, the stronger the draft. The important thing for self-drafting is to heat the air in the riser, and only secondarily heat the riser material itself. A good design should make startup as "idiot proof" as possible. I've seen a few builds that use a 12V case fan on the air intake. Since the goal is to heat up the air in the riser (and that heating the riser... draws hot air into the riser), all you have to do is "tip it over" into that stable equilibrium. Imo there's a market opportunity for an inexpensive, compact, nice looking, and easy to operate rocket stove. The open source (and excellently documented) "batch rocket" design seems a good place to start. http://batchrocket.eu/en/ http://batchrocket.eu/en/

hvidgaard 10y ago

It's the same with a mass oven. It has several burn chambers that is designed exactly yo burn all smoke. Heck, I even have a portable stove that uses secondary combustion to burn all the wood and smoke. If I ever have to buy a wood stove, I want one which is designed to burn it all. I probably even go all in with a mass oven.