Rocket stove for melting lead.

[dilly]

http://columbiamo.craigslist.org/grq/5188620031.html

I saw this on Craigslist and I thought that would be cool to use.

I've always admired rocket stove designs as they provide a much cleaner burn, allowing more BTU's to be extracted from the firewood and a cleaner exhaust.

I'd be real interested in getting one if I lived somewhere I planned on staying for a long time.

http://images.craigslist.org/00L0L_blK9Z66FyQx_600x450.jpghttp://images.craigslist.org/00404_4qCK1xgHkhf_600x450.jpg

[dondiego]

Where do you put the wood fuel??

[dilly]

It goes in the bottom below ground level, and the fire creates a convection that pulls a lot of oxygen across the fire causing it to burn very hot, exhausting CO2 and a lot of heat over the burner there. When a good rocket stove gets going there's almost no "smoke" because the combustion is over ninety some percent complete.

At least that's the idea behind a rocket stove. I can't vouch for this particular one, but I do think it would be kind of neat.

I wonder what the rocks are for. Do you think that traps a little thermal mass?

I have read a lot about rocket thermal mass heaters; seems like a really efficient way to heat a home.

[milrifle]

That would be full of a fire ant bed in under a week around my place.

[dondiego]

Do fire ants burn well?

[dilly]

I bet the ants can be made to burn, but I don't know about the sand they use as building materials.

[bangerjim]

I still like my plumber's furnace. At least I can throttle the propane back with valves to control the heat and mine has a "pilot light" setting that keeps the melt at about 670F once it is melted.

Propane is more prevalent that firewood where I live! And does not attract termites and carpenter ants in the woodpile.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Ad is gone, but I bet it was a bit pricey. Build your own out of clay bricks and let us know how it works!

[rancher1913]

I have several that I've made over the years, they do work but you can not control the heat very well. haven't tried melting lead but have boiled water in about 2 minutes from cold water to steam, so I would be a tad bit afraid the pot would very easily get to hot.

[dilly]

That must have been a pretty powerful one rancher1913.

How efficient was it? Were the ashes fine and white or black and lumpy?

I have a dream of using a rocket thermal mass heater to heat a home someday. Again, not this home.

[rancher1913]

that one was made from an old beer keg for my wife to use for canning, it used 4 inch pipe and burned very clean with almost no ash left. you had to constantly feed it twigs and small stuff but it did produce a lot of heat. you can find all kinds of examples with a quick google search.

[outdoorfan]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?200769-Smelting-over-the-rocket-stove-A-little-different-experience&highlight=rocket+stove


Great for smelting; not so much for casting.
(http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?200769-Smelting-over-the-rocket-stove-A-little-different-experience&highlight=rocket+stove)

[blueeyephil]

Go to youtube and search rocket stoves. you can build one with a 5 gal bucket, sewer pipe, perlite and cement.

[dilly]

They're quite simple and quite complex at the same time. Many people build a functional stove that's not optimally efficient, or they build one that won't stand up to prolonged heat, or they build a mass heater that doesn't extract the heat and exhausts more hot air than it absorbs, or they put too long a run on the chimney and smoke flows back out of the wood feed, etc.

There is a ton of information on YouTube, but not all of it is trustworthy.

[1989toddm]

They're quite simple and quite complex at the same time. Many people build a functional stove that's not optimally efficient, or they build one that won't stand up to prolonged heat, or they build a mass heater that doesn't extract the heat and exhausts more hot air than it absorbs, or they put too long a run on the chimney and smoke flows back out of the wood feed, etc.

There is a ton of information on YouTube, but not all of it is trustworthy.

They are still a Mystery to me. I threw one together out of coffee cans one day, then I found out that dimensions do matter as far as chimney height and shelf height. Mine would not stay lit worth a darn.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?200769-Smelting-over-the-rocket-stove-A-little-different-experience&highlight=rocket+stove


Great for smelting; not so much for casting.
(http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?200769-Smelting-over-the-rocket-stove-A-little-different-experience&highlight=rocket+stove)
I've used essentially the same design for smelting (never tried casting on it). It worked fine. Not as easy as a turkey fryer. But cheaper and I love low tech things that work. All it takes is some loose bricks and a bit of hail screen.

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

They are still a Mystery to me. I threw one together out of coffee cans one day, then I found out that dimensions do matter as far as chimney height and shelf height. Mine would not stay lit worth a darn. I haven't found the dimensions to be all that particular. It's all about air flow. If you don't have the air flow it won't work. You can add a small blower to it to help. I used a heat gun on the low setting on mine. That wasn't necessary, but it kept the heat up to a high level.