Comments on: The Rocket Powered Shower

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 15 May 2011 20:22:05 +0000

As much heat as these units are capable of putting out it would seem somewhere off of this type system a low intensity small steam engine could run a car alternator or two to help keep a battery bank charged. If the lighting in the cabin were LED,( think 12v dc.), water heating was by this furnace, as well as heat, then a bank of batteries and a protected inverter should seem all you need to run your computer and a Hughes Net satellite internet interface. If you go all the way following the full path from feed to exhaust for maximum efficiency one could rig a condenser style unit into the end of the chimney to condense the exhaust moisture to water plants or survive. If your unit is really efficient and all you are getting out the chimney is co2 and water then during the winter you could pump part of it directly into the greenhouse. How about a small one to turn waste water to steam so it can be reclaimed for irrigation? If one set down and really engineered this thing to the maximum it might be all you need period. You get heat, hot water, electricity, and irrigation water from a mass furnace. Think like NASA going to Mars. Use or reuse everything like there isn’t going to be anymore of it.

By: Chica

Chica — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:24:40 +0000

We are in the process of purchasing 300 acres off grid in South Burnett, Qld. Mountains of old felled timber, which we would like to put to good use. I grew up with having to “light the Donkey”, with endless hot water for minimal fire and am stoked to see your version. Ours were much more glamorous – more like beautifully kept little crematoriums, rendered and painted. I am interested to know just how far we can wood-fire/solar/gas power a weekender cabin, and still be able to run my internet based business from ‘home’. Any pointers?

By: Leigh Blackall

Leigh Blackall — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 05:42:41 +0000

Hi Nick, great to see you built the rocket. I was just wondering, the cold water outlet from the cylinder is much lower than the point it goes into the heat exchanger. Does the passive circulation from the heater drive the water up that rise? Or is it pressure? I always imagined that the cold outlet had to be higher than the point it goes into the heat exchanger, to ensure the hole tank load get heated…

By: CB

CB — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:09:36 +0000

p.s.s. – a image of the traditional homemade variety. http://people.ku.edu/~kennedy1/Village%20Images/Inside%20Kang.jpg

newer ones, used in a lot of spas, are simply heated by electricity.

By: CB

CB — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 05:51:57 +0000

p.s. – here’s a diagram.
http://www.hedon.info/Kang-LianzaoBedStove

By: CB

CB — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 04:09:14 +0000

Gerald –

I’m just a curious onlooker, w/ no heated growing beds or greenhouse experience.

I know you could try to use a Kang Bed type system to create a large heated surface area that has slow/long heat release. It’s basically a stove, and the pipe snakes through a ceramic slab (or bricks — similar to the top of this system.) A little bit of heat warms the stone and creates a really great heat release all night long. They’re a centuries old tradition native to central/northern Asia. I slept on one, in a small courtyard house room w/ torn paper windows, in the dead of a Beijing winter (in the mountains no less), and was hot enough to only use half a blanket. You can find diagrams on google.

Or maybe you could build something where compost could heat from below the beds.

By: Gerald Anderson

Gerald Anderson — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 02:37:27 +0000

I am building a green house and would like to have some water heated growing beds and maybe benches.could the rocket stove be useful for this could it be designed for use with long sticks? I have a portable saw mill and often have lots of saw mill stickers slabs etc.
-Gerald

By: CB

CB — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 08:47:06 +0000

Looks cool. I’d love to see a version that runs the smaller arm of the stove pipe (before the crook) under the shower floor. That way, the shower floor would be slightly heated, like a Kang Bed. You could shower in the late fall with no discomfort.. hot water and warm feet Maybe build the shower wall out of dark stone and facing the noon sun, get that nice heat radiating back to you for your evening shower (open shower door in the winter to collect heat, closed in the summer)

So now you have to get started on the second part — water chilled by cool air coming from tubes buried in the earth.

love outdoor showers.

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:34:29 +0000

Hi Bob,

The firebricks were very low thermal mass insulating brick (factory seconds that were purchased for 50c each) so they don’t absorb much heat at all, keeping the fire very hot.

We painted the exposed surfaces near the feed chamber with a thin coat of fire cement to stop the brics chipping, they are quite fragile.

The heat riser is insulated with vermiculite which we picked up at a garage sale.

Your clay/papier mache sounds just the ticket

By: Bob Corker

Bob Corker — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:42:28 +0000

Hi Nick,
you certainly look as though you are enjoying that shower. We are just about to design something similar, depending on what plumbing parts we can come up with.
Would like to clarify something.
My understanding is that from the fire onwards (until the main combustion has happened) needs to be insulated, your design shows firebricks around the intial stage, which would absorb heat for a while ??? any comments ?? The first Rocket stove we built we used a mix of clay, and paper mache which shapes really well, and will not burn (flame) as long as the paper content is less than 80%. In fact much of the paper does burn out but this only increases the insulation effect. We put a thin plaster layer with high clay/sand inside the chamber just to protect the paper/clay mix Pumice and clay is good too if you have a handy source of pumice. Thanks for sharing your good work

regards
Bob