Ammo Can Rocket Stove

Bear Ridge Trading POst ^ | 7/31/11

[Kartographer]

A rocket stove is an efficient cooking device that uses small twigs and branches as fuel to achieve high temperature cooking though an insulated combustion chamber and feed tube.

Here are the plans for a quick and easy rocket stove that’s made out of an old ammo can, a piece of stove pipe and a used coffee can. I built this ammo can rocket stove in under an hour and it works great.

[Kartographer]

This is cool! Made me go 'WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT!'

I will eventually replace the DIY Rocket Stove section in my Preparedness Manual with this one as ammo cans are a lot easier to get and the shape makes it easier to store and pack. I almost think that a 20MM ammo can would be big enough for a two burner Rocket stove!

[Kartographer]

I know that I have already posted the weekly Prepper Ping, but this was such a GOOD idea that I just had to give it it’s own thread.

[zeestephen]

Do I smell something cooking?

Oh, yeah, it’s a lawsuit (BOOM!).

[Kartographer]

I know that I have already posted the weekly Prepper Ping, but this was such a GOOD idea that I just had to give it it’s own thread.

[Lurker]

Thanks!

[Puppage]

Hold muh beer.....

[MrB]

The whole point of a “rocket stove” is that the chimney is highly insulated and provides a very high draft...

I don’t see a chimney here, much less an insulated high temperature chimney to provide the high draft necessary for the efficient burning of a “rocket stove”.

[Kartographer]

I didn't see the need to post every picture from the site. I assumed that people would go there and review the writters instructions.

[Kartographer]

Slow day over on DU?

[MrB]

[Kartographer]

No problem. I let some Dummies get to me. Nothing against you FRiend!

[JerseyHighlander]

The Heineken mini keg also makes a great rocket stove, you also get a mini keg of beer.
Other labels also use the mini keg, but I’m not sure which.

The integrated handle on the ammo box is a clear advantage here.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I used to futz around with these as a kid, and picked up a few useful pointers.

1) There is still a lot of native coal in the US, and a lot of states have outcroppings of it where you can just help yourself. Almost nobody looks for it or imagines that it is useful, but if you know where some is, it can save a lot of wood chopping.

2) A cheap set of bellows can get your fire hot and ready much quicker, especially with sub-optimal fuel. They are commonly sold as home fireplace decorations, but never used by most people, yet they work.

3) Always keep a squirt gun handy to cool a fire that is too hot.

4) Fires produce three kinds of useful heat. Convection heat from hot air, which is fast; Conduction heat in things that conduct heat, like metal and liquids, which is somewhat slower; and Infrared heat given off by conductors, which can last for hours. If fuel is scarce, it is important to remember and try to use all three.

Most Americans aren’t too familiar with using Infrared heat to heat an area, but the concept is an old one, and widely used where fuel is scarce. On the large scale, it is used in “oven stoves” or “tile stoves”. (great web page, btw, with lots nice pretty pictures):

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2008/12/tile-stoves.html

Most people don’t want to lug around stone blocks to absorb the heat of their fire and give it off as Infrared, however, but there is an easy solution: It works just as well if you use sand or powder from these high energy density stones.

In order of energy density, from high to low, is gypsum, soapstone, basalt, marble, limestone, sandstone and granite.

So bottom line, instead of using just sand as insulation for your oven, use common, inexpensive gypsum powder, that can be found in any garden store. It will absorb lots of heat, acting like a good insulator, and then give off Infrared to heat the area around it for a long time.

A small amount of fuel can do a lot if you don’t waste it.

[rlmorel]

Ping!

[MrB]

“Masonry Heaters” - use the concept of the rocket stove - high temperature, high draft, high efficiency

to heat a huge mass of masonry brick up fairly quickly, and letting it radiate the heat for several hours after the fire dies.
More info:
http://mha-net.org/

[PDGearhead]

I made some alcohol stoves from soda (beer) cans that work great. There are a lot of great designs on the Internet.

[Kartographer]

The problem with alcohol stoves are they don’t always get hot enough to boil water. For food and water you want it hot enough to santize both.

[loungitude]

.

[blam]

[Gritty]

Very clever!