Rocket Stove

My youngest daughter did some rocket stove experiments for one of her classes. She just stacked up concrete blocks in various configurations and recorded the results.

The side-feed style worked, but was kind of a pain in the arse always having to constantly shove the sticks inward toward the flame.

Here's the side-feed arrangement just getting started. (putting out smoke...still ice frozen to sides of blocks)




Here's the side-feed arrangement warming up. No more smoke out the top.




She rearranged it for a vertical feed so gravity would do most of the work in keeping the fire fed.




It was definitely less labor to tend the fire and also seemed to burn hotter.







The outside ambient temperature was about 10 deg F, yet the radiant heat thrown from the concrete blocks made it feel comfortable about 6 feet away. You could feel the radiant energy 12 feet away (but not enough to keep you warm at that distance)