An Accidental Discovery

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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby matt walker » Thu Dec 19, 2013 8:00 pm

Oh geez you two, I didn't mean that DB's idea was stupid. It's not, I think it would work well and be very cool. I was face palming because that's not the idea I was sharing here, which I was excited about. I'm building a stove now that looks like my first diagram, and I'm thrilled about it. I'd love to see one built with your idea too, DB. I think it sounds cool.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby mannytheseacow » Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:24 pm

Interesting ideas, the whole bunch 'o ya. I don't think the side shelf cooker thing would generate enough heat for serious cooking- not with a 6" anyway. It takes my stove quite a while to boil water right on top in the center compared to a conventional stove. I think it's going to have to direct that blast at a concentrated area to focus the heat. Very interesting, though. I wish I could weld- I'd add a shelf to the side of my barrel just to keep my tea pot warm.

I've been really excited to see what Matt is going to come up with, and still very excited to see the final results. So I'm assuming that you're going to pack the j tube and riser in cobb to keep strength at that angle? Also, what are you using for sheet steel? Where do you get it? Approx. cost?

I've been tossing this idea around in my head for a while now, the whole lower cook stove in my upstairs. I was thinking of taking a more traditional approach to adding more length in a shorter space, such as making a helical riser or horizontal riser with vertical outlet (if that makes any sense). I'm curious to know just how "broken" you've tested this idea, or rather if you have gone completely horizontal with it. Either way- that heat will need to be refocused back vertically to the cooking surface.

Unfortunately it's too cold to do any building now but I'm for sure not waiting until July to start on this next one. Look for an update in April.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby matt walker » Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:53 pm

Manny, sheet steel? Like I made the Walker Stove with? That one was 16g steel I got through one of my metal boat building friends and their supplier contacts. It was only about $100 for a 5'x10' sheet.

The first test "broken riser" I built I just let the barrel support the riser where the penetration was, and used mud at the joint above the core.

I should clarify that I'm not building a cook stove. One of the most exciting things about this discovery is how it opens up a whole new format with regards to shapes and heights. So yeah, for a cook top I'd for sure cut the riser's top at an angle and then reattach that piece so it turned the riser to point at the bottom of a cook surface. In the case of the heater I'm building, I did just pack all around the core and exposed riser with cob. Just now, in fact.

The riser is pretty dang horizontal Manny. I didn't intend for it to be, but height of core plus insulation underneath brought up the core, and I am trying to limit myself vertically as much as possible, so it's almost horizontal. Might be actually, I didn't get a level out. It burns like crazy. Like, seriously, roars like no other J tube I've built. I think it might actually accelerate the gasses since they need to travel farther to get to the same height as in a vertical riser. Like a water skier cutting across a wake, if that makes sense. I'm really, really excited about this discovery. It opens up a whole lot of new design possibilities. Overall system height of this 6" J is 36", which is a big difference over the 56" of my home heater, and 60" for the Walker Stove. Plus, hottest spot is not barrel top, but lower and in front, right where I want it. So cool.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby pa_friendly_guy » Thu Dec 19, 2013 11:55 pm

Manny, I too had suggested a longer vertical run through the burn tube, but Matt has tried that and said it did not draw well. It seemed to me that it should work, but the voice of experience said not so much, after he tried it that way. There are certain things in Rocket Stoves that work, and other things that simply don't, we need to keep those truths in mine as we experiment. The smaller size burn tube, allowing for a smaller vertical rise in the burn tube definitely seems to be a viable option for cooking. The smaller burn tunnel means less fuel, which means less heat , so you have to take that fact into consideration. The smaller size may be enough to cook on, but it may not provide the heat that you need. Matts new experiment that has the heat riser set at an angle, which would still give you some draw because it is generally pointed up, may be a very viable option. You can still have a larger 6" or 8" burn box and heat riser but the height of the barrel can be reduced. ;)
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby matt walker » Fri Dec 20, 2013 12:07 am

Yes Guy! That's it exactly, and since you don't have to have the first barrel sit on top of the core, you can get the overall height down quite a bit.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby mannytheseacow » Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:31 am

Yep, I definitely get what you're doing. I'm just cherry picking all these different approaches to figure out the right application for my needs. I'll post in a different thread in the future.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby DrewInToledo » Fri Dec 20, 2013 10:31 pm

Matt you said, "... you don't have to have the first barrel sit on top of the core, you can get the overall height down quite a bit."
Do you need two barrels? I get that your playing with an angle change of the riser tube but why a second barrel? I'm not sure I follow completely..?
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby matt walker » Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:28 pm

Yeah, no, you don't. Sorry, I knew that might be kind of confusing. I'm using a two barrel double bell set up for this test, so I drew it like that. It could certainly be a single barrel into flue pipe run through mass like a traditional RMH build. I'm trying out this two barrel set up in an effort to extract more heat in a smaller footprint/less materials approach.
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby DrewInToledo » Sat Dec 21, 2013 11:36 pm

Thanks for explaining Matt. Maybe its a good thing the temperature dropped to undesireable temperatures before I cast my core. Maybe my plan will change..
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Re: An Accidental Discovery

Postby abarlow » Thu Feb 06, 2014 2:13 am

Whoa! I just saw this post. What a great idea. Now I have a lotore to think about! Yikes. What to do...
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