Im off grid.. 100% solar... Electricity/ oven.. Loads of power! Seen your video-- birthday gift 30 mason bricks. Thanks this is the best gift for my 63rd.
Pretty cool, bet a lot of folks in the midwest could use this. Trivet is fancy, if you look around you can find lots of metallic materials to sit the pot on.
Great video. We had versions of this but man height when I was a kid, we called them "incinerators" and they were made from the same cement bricks. By the time I was a teenager they were kind of outlawed do to too many people burning all sorts of crap in them and gassing up the neighbourhood LOL but what a great survival idea shown here on a smaller scale. Great video.
The metal table on which the stove sits is designed for cooking with cast iron dutch ovens. It was custom made for my dutch oven experiences, however, you can get any variety of style on Amazon or CampChef or other dutch oven niche websites. No particular technique is recommended by me for breaking a brick. I propped up one end and hit it in the middle with a hammer. I'm sure a mason would do a better job!
Very good explanation I've seen other rocket stoves made but I think yours is the best so far. Would have liked to see you split the brick to see how you do that. And how many half bricks you need.
That might work very well - try it and let me know! I also haven't tried it with charcoal, but that should work. I'd also recommend getting a standard round grill, like would fit a small Weber grill. You could grill on it, but make sure the fuel was clean and didn't have any chemicals or bad stuff in it. Also, experimenting with the height of the pot from the top of the stove will allow the user to vary the heat.
you can score lines with a hack saw , they don't have to be deep and then you can hit them with a steel edge or even other blunt end of brick and you can get your pieces. IT may take a bit of practice but it's pretty easy to do.
I will try again tomorrow, with smaller sticks and arrange the tiles a bit differently. The wind REALLY whips up those flames. I heard that characteristic rocket sound that gave this class of stove its name. One thing: don't burn newsprint as a starter. It leaves a mess. Plain wood burns clean.
Kevin, Thanks for the info. I didn't realize before I made the post that there was a difference. upon further research it looks like a rocket mass heater will work well for my application. I'll just have to make it good size to have plenty of room to stack up 2x4's in there and i'll be using black 55gal barrels full of water for additional thermal mass.
I have seen photos of permanent brick rocket stoves, so I imagine mortar would make it work better. I would leave the brick in the middle of the first layer (underneath the combustion chamber) loose, and I think that would make cleaning easier. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bunch of these stoves around in the aftermath of a tornado or other disaster? Could be invaluable for boiling drinking water.
We found 300 bricks on Freecycle so this would be a freebie! GREAT instructions! Thanks for the full demo and the potential scenario of tornado. Do you think this could be made more permanent with some mortar and work the same?
I helped make one brick chimney. I would stack the bricks in a similar manner, overlapping the joints. Mortar between the bricks would make it stronger. Any chimney makers out there have some better advice?
For sure Dakota hole is the way to go. My dad taught me that when I was a kid and they work excellent are safe and when your done just put dirt back in hole. we used one of those mini sized screw in anchors to drill the air vent. sure beats toten bricks
I would love to know where you got that metal frame...that seems like a great way to set up a rocket stove of this size without having to spend most of the day on the ground lol!
Thank you very much for this video just made a cup of tea with it and sat round it with my mum to keep us warm. Great video. subbing keep up the good videos :).
I actually got some fire brick and made one of these today. I learned that the final step, making the actual fire, takes some experimenting. I used rolled up newsprint at first. This did burn quickly but kind of dirty and when the wind kicked in, it blew ashes all over. Still, it was enough to fire up several small sticks of plan wood, some pine, some fir. It burns wood quite slowly. I used a few pieces of ceramic tile to lift a pan of water over the flames. It got hot but didn't boil.
You can improvise this by cutting a can lengthwise in half after removing the top and bottom, it'll make an archway you can push into the opening so you can slide wood along the top while the bottom of it can draft. I don't think it'll make too much of a difference since there is enough gap between the bricks to bring in air but the design in the video is much better than an open or pit fire.
Since you already had a patio block base, the base later wasn't needed but it does make it taller. Neat stuff though. I might go buy some bricks. Making it bigger would be cool too.
The insulation is more important than the shape. If you slow down the airflow too much, the system won't draw in enough oxygen to burn the wood gas byproducts up through the chimney. If you insulate the combustion chamber heavily and provide a long enough chimney, you'll get the desired effect.
Any ideas on how to build this design for inside a cabin? Thanks and this is a simple yet effective design. Oh and how did those brick hold up? They didn't crack under the heat?
This is how I've been doing mine, but I paid a little more for "fire bricks" (they don't crack under heat), and went about three times as high (The higher you go, the more air gets sucked in the bottom, and the hotter it burns. It also sounds like a rocket if you go higher).
Agreed! Drinking water etc valuable. I would think that in the design, one more layer could be added to the top and then the loose brick in the chamber would have the same oxygen room as this first model. Then remove the loose brick to clean. Thanks for the reply. Keep up the good work!! Blessings!
As times get critical, you have shared something simple to make but truly a survival item. It is practical, one can cook in it and make sense as one uses it. I will try to make one and many thanks for sharing. As you give you will be given...
When the weather gets better, I will try to make one. As a senior, I will test it out back and then pass it on to my daughter. Like I said before, this ideato be posted came from above because all good things do come from HIM> Just keep your eyes open...when you most need a word or how to do something, it too will come from nowhere you could have predicted. Again...thanks
this is neat can u cook food on that as well i notice u boiled water so i guessing u can cook on here to if u are in the wilderness and need this for a survival technique
They make specific masonry chisels- you scour a line with a few taps, and continue doing the same but with increasing intensity- eventually it breaks on the scour line. You can do any shape you want (within reason).
Check out the camping section of stores. They make cast iron cooking racks that are made to sit over a fire, so you have a place to stack all of your cast iron cooking pots. That should work for this project. Although, you could just use an insulated fire mat if you have one. Those can be bought at home depot and such. Or, you could just build it on a mound of sand. On the other hand, you could just use more bricks to build the base.
i've tried the rocket stove build up today. First with 6 layers, and around an half our, changed into 5 layers. Stil the water wasn't boiling as it would be. I've remode the grill afterwards so the flames could reach the pot more than before. Stil no boiling water. Maybe I have to go with the 16 brick like most of us have :-) I was thinking to add somekind of metall collar on the top with some holes in. To have a seal around the pot that i am using. by the way. I have used i inox pot
I think I would go one more level up. That way it will create more of a updraft and suction to draw more air in for a hotter burn. I've seen this on other videos. You thoughts?
Great, if I may add on to this. when building, add firebrick to the inside, this will give your project long life and add safety to the project. Cinder block will have a very bad outcome in extreme heat!! firebrick can be found @ tractor supply and is very cheap!
Look into rocket mass heaters--same basic idea, but they are meant for heating indoor spaces and they incorporate a lot of thermal mass to retain the heat over a long time (typically in the form of a nice heated bench). They also exhaust directly to the outside. To be able to leave it for long periods of time you might have to figure out a clever feeding mechanism that feeds the heater in your absence.
A wind screen would greatly increase the efficiency . Any piece of metal up to one half the height of water pot would do. Wrap around the windy side to deflect. I make alcohol stoves and these windscreens are a must! Thanks for your stove. I will make one of these.
So far, the bricks have not cracked, but I take the stove apart and move it, so there hasn't been a chance. If you were building something like this inside, you'd want to be very careful with the venting and sealing against leaks. I would look around for other designs, since this one is geared toward the aftermath of an emergency, and I don't think it would produce the ambient heat needed for heating.
Is this really a rocket stove? I thought rocket stoves were extremely efficient as they burn the wood once and then in a second location burn the exhaust gases a second time??
Billy if you were in the middle of the woods you could dig a hole with a stick, cover the hole with a rock and stack rocks in a circular pattern on the other side making the L shape. Use mud as the infill for the stacked rocks to make it tight.
its not air bubbles that explode. Its the water content in the cement. Granite will also split from a hot fire if it has recently been very wet. Many nights have been spent sitting around a campfire pit made of concrete blocks.
#2- The smoke just above the flames of the primary fire is unburnt fuel. 3 to 4in above the flame of the primary fire and 2-4 below the top of the chimney is good place to give a second source of air to give O2 to the contained rising heat/fuel. Sign of success is white and blue flame with a little yellow if you use 80% dry wood. You can use 4 in nails as shims under your bricks to observe your results. Good luck!! I hope to see another video with your rocket stove/gasifier.
im not sure exactly what you mean. But its the ratio between the size of the opening and how long the vertical "chimney" is. Seems to be a pretty simple venturi.
that means you can use different sized bricks to make this stove in different sizes, such as paving blocks, which would make it bigger. just whatever size brick you want to use for your stove, they all have to match up enough to make a square.
Good point! And is should go without saying that you shouldn't use asphalt shingles, pieces of a tire or anything nasty. Only untreated biomass should be used!
Dry grass from a lawn pulled upside down of a dry spot makes good kindle. A metal car door or the glass of a window can work if you don't heat it without liquid inside. (Same concept as coffee)
The idea was to make a survival situation type stove out of items that could typically be found after a disaster. There are more effective designs, of course, but this design is easy to remember and put together. It works much more effectively than cooking directly over a campfire. Obviously, if you had a bunch of bricks, you could improve the design.
They can be any size (small, large, whatever) as long as all the bricks you use are sized the same. If you use large bricks, you get a bigger stove, small bricks, smaller stove. Easy enough?
This doesn't cost $6 anymore, it costs $67 at Home Depot where I live. Each brick is $1, patio blocks (titan slabs) like those start at $17. If that doesn't describe in-flation I don't know what does. I'm going to try to salvage.
This has to be the simplest, cheapest, and most effective rocket stove I've seen on YT. That tin can stuff would probably cut my hand & take about 3hrs to build. When SHTF, there'll be PLENTY of free bricks all over from destroyed buildings, lol!
Im off grid.. 100% solar...
Electricity/ oven.. Loads of power!
Seen your video-- birthday gift 30 mason bricks. Thanks this is the best gift for my 63rd.
Happy birthday!
@@survivalcommonsense thank you
Thank you for sharing your experience and wisdom. From buffalo NY
THANK YOU!!!!! I've looked at so many sites selling their ideas for more than $80. THIS is awesome!!! Affordable and realistic! Thanks much!!!
I just went to a preppers demo today and watched this get built there. i'm going to build one myself. good video.
i introduce it in the poor parts of my neighbourhood, it has caught on like wildfire. It is very fuel efficient. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
+Terentius Rugumisa Thanks for letting me know - I always hoped this video would get used for education and to help make people's lives better!
Terentius Rugumisa inatumia makaa mingi?
Great!
I would of NEVER thought of this. Using bricks to make a stove, such a brilliant idea!
So, you are the Inventor of this stove technology. Great.
Simple, cheap effective. I love practical and you nailed it
this is great, i was going to buy a stove for my prepping needs. this will do great. thanks. you are the man
Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of modifiying it for inside-making one to heat and cook on. My cabin is 14x14 so it does not require much to heat.
Beautiful.... What a nice wind we can hear... The nature in the US is AMAZING
I just started a prepping class in my area. What a great idea to share with them. Thanks for the video.
Hooray, it works! Thank you very much for your knowledge 😁
Cool video. I might try building one and putting it in my fireplace
Great idea. Will use in my back yard. Love the fact that you don't need a lot of wood, and I guess can use dried twigs instead.
But what are the bricks on?
Very creative and handy idea. I'm glad I watched this.
Pretty cool, bet a lot of folks in the midwest could use this. Trivet is fancy, if you look around you can find lots of metallic materials to sit the pot on.
Great video. We had versions of this but man height when I was a kid, we called them "incinerators" and they were made from the same cement bricks. By the time I was a teenager they were kind of outlawed do to too many people burning all sorts of crap in them and gassing up the neighbourhood LOL but what a great survival idea shown here on a smaller scale. Great video.
Man this is pure ecological innovation. Congrats from France.
The metal table on which the stove sits is designed for cooking with cast iron dutch ovens. It was custom made for my dutch oven experiences, however, you can get any variety of style on Amazon or CampChef or other dutch oven niche websites. No particular technique is recommended by me for breaking a brick. I propped up one end and hit it in the middle with a hammer. I'm sure a mason would do a better job!
Thank you. This is really valuable information and as you said, it costs very little.
Loved it. clear, precise and interesting. You are my lego man! will try this in back garden soon.
Very good explanation I've seen other rocket stoves made but I think yours is the best so far. Would have liked to see you split the brick to see how you do that. And how many half bricks you need.
That might work very well - try it and let me know! I also haven't tried it with charcoal, but that should work. I'd also recommend getting a standard round grill, like would fit a small Weber grill. You could grill on it, but make sure the fuel was clean and didn't have any chemicals or bad stuff in it. Also, experimenting with the height of the pot from the top of the stove will allow the user to vary the heat.
Is this a stove for food, or a stove to make bricks? I came into this video expecting the latter but now I'm confused
you can score lines with a hack saw , they don't have to be deep
and then you can hit them with a steel edge or even other blunt
end of brick and you can get your pieces. IT may take a bit of practice
but it's pretty easy to do.
Yep. Bigger or smaller, as long as they are the same size. You can't effectively mix different-sized bricks.
I will try again tomorrow, with smaller sticks and arrange the tiles a bit differently. The wind REALLY whips up those flames. I heard that characteristic rocket sound that gave this class of stove its name. One thing: don't burn newsprint as a starter. It leaves a mess. Plain wood burns clean.
This is fantastic information. Thanks for the technique and for providing scenarios to use it in as well.
Kevin, Thanks for the info. I didn't realize before I made the post that there was a difference. upon further research it looks like a rocket mass heater will work well for my application. I'll just have to make it good size to have plenty of room to stack up 2x4's in there and i'll be using black 55gal barrels full of water for additional thermal mass.
I have seen photos of permanent brick rocket stoves, so I imagine mortar would make it work better. I would leave the brick in the middle of the first layer (underneath the combustion chamber) loose, and I think that would make cleaning easier. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bunch of these stoves around in the aftermath of a tornado or other disaster? Could be invaluable for boiling drinking water.
You can use just about anything you can light and fit in the combustion chamber.
We found 300 bricks on Freecycle so this would be a freebie! GREAT instructions! Thanks for the full demo and the potential scenario of tornado. Do you think this could be made more permanent with some mortar and work the same?
I helped make one brick chimney. I would stack the bricks in a similar manner, overlapping the joints. Mortar between the bricks would make it stronger. Any chimney makers out there have some better advice?
For sure Dakota hole is the way to go. My dad taught me that when I was a kid and they work excellent are safe and when your done just put dirt back in hole. we used one of those mini sized screw in anchors to drill the air vent. sure beats toten bricks
I love this. How do you break a brick in half?
I would love to know where you got that metal frame...that seems like a great way to set up a rocket stove of this size without having to spend most of the day on the ground lol!
+ArunkOner It's a custom-made steel table for dutch oven cooking. I use it all the time! I don't know where you could get one.
Thank you very much for this video just made a cup of tea with it and sat round it with my mum to keep us warm. Great video. subbing keep up the good videos :).
I would never have thought of this either, but it does make sense. I use stone to help my oven mimic a brick oven when baking. Thanks!
SUBSCRIBED!!!!!!!!! Great vid! Thanks for the 411 on this ridiculously simple rocket stove! Way Cool!
I actually got some fire brick and made one of these today. I learned that the final step, making the actual fire, takes some experimenting. I used rolled up newsprint at first. This did burn quickly but kind of dirty and when the wind kicked in, it blew ashes all over. Still, it was enough to fire up several small sticks of plan wood, some pine, some fir. It burns wood quite slowly. I used a few pieces of ceramic tile to lift a pan of water over the flames. It got hot but didn't boil.
You're welcome. Glad we could help out.
Best I have seen for simplicity. I am working in cob bricks using plastic baby wipe containers.
You can improvise this by cutting a can lengthwise in half after removing the top and bottom, it'll make an archway you can push into the opening so you can slide wood along the top while the bottom of it can draft. I don't think it'll make too much of a difference since there is enough gap between the bricks to bring in air but the design in the video is much better than an open or pit fire.
Since you already had a patio block base, the base later wasn't needed but it does make it taller. Neat stuff though. I might go buy some bricks. Making it bigger would be cool too.
The insulation is more important than the shape. If you slow down the airflow too much, the system won't draw in enough oxygen to burn the wood gas byproducts up through the chimney.
If you insulate the combustion chamber heavily and provide a long enough chimney, you'll get the desired effect.
Any ideas on how to build this design for inside a cabin? Thanks and this is a simple yet effective design. Oh and how did those brick hold up? They didn't crack under the heat?
Thanks for the info - I'm working on another video on an improved model.
This is how I've been doing mine,
but I paid a little more for "fire bricks" (they don't crack under heat),
and went about three times as high (The higher you go, the more air gets sucked in the bottom, and the hotter it burns. It also sounds like a rocket if you go higher).
Sounds great! Bet it cooks really well!
Very nice but he doesn't say what the bricks are on?
I did add another level and it did work better. I should probably try yet another layer and see if that is even better!
It could compromise the draft. I haven't tried it, but that seems like it should work.
Agreed! Drinking water etc valuable. I would think that in the design, one more layer could be added to the top and then the loose brick in the chamber would have the same oxygen room as this first model. Then remove the loose brick to clean. Thanks for the reply. Keep up the good work!! Blessings!
Depends on what kind and how old the bricks are. If the stove is covered after use, and kept from getting wet, they will last longer.
As times get critical, you have shared something simple to make but truly a survival item. It is practical, one can cook in it and make sense as one uses it. I will try to make one and many thanks for sharing. As you give you will be given...
I hope this technique gets passed around a lot - the stove is so simple to make and incredibly effective. Thanks for the kind words.
When the weather gets better, I will try to make one. As a senior, I will test it out back and then pass it on to my daughter. Like I said before, this ideato be posted came from above because all good things do come from HIM> Just keep your eyes open...when you most need a word or how to do something, it too will come from nowhere you could have predicted. Again...thanks
Nice! Good point about collecting debris, too. Thanks!
A really clever design and a lot easier than trying to cut soup cans etc. Good deal
this is neat can u cook food on that as well i notice u boiled water so i guessing u can cook on here to if u are in the wilderness and need this for a survival technique
They make specific masonry chisels- you scour a line with a few taps, and continue doing the same but with increasing intensity- eventually it breaks on the scour line. You can do any shape you want (within reason).
Hi, nice video. Is their any danger of the bricks exploding due to the heat?
Check out the camping section of stores. They make cast iron cooking racks that are made to sit over a fire, so you have a place to stack all of your cast iron cooking pots. That should work for this project. Although, you could just use an insulated fire mat if you have one. Those can be bought at home depot and such. Or, you could just build it on a mound of sand. On the other hand, you could just use more bricks to build the base.
i've tried the rocket stove build up today.
First with 6 layers, and around an half our, changed into 5 layers.
Stil the water wasn't boiling as it would be.
I've remode the grill afterwards so the flames could reach the pot more than before.
Stil no boiling water. Maybe I have to go with the 16 brick like most of us have :-)
I was thinking to add somekind of metall collar on the top with some holes in.
To have a seal around the pot that i am using.
by the way. I have used i inox pot
I think I would go one more level up. That way it will create more of a updraft and suction to draw more air in for a hotter burn. I've seen this on other videos. You thoughts?
I will be building one this coming week. Thanks.
Very cool idea! The comments are fun too!
If the 1/2 brick on the first layer was moved to the corner closer to you, you would then be able to overlap all the seams on the second course.
Great, if I may add on to this. when building, add firebrick to the inside, this will give your project long life and add safety to the project. Cinder block will have a very bad outcome in extreme heat!! firebrick can be found @ tractor supply and is very cheap!
Look into rocket mass heaters--same basic idea, but they are meant for heating indoor spaces and they incorporate a lot of thermal mass to retain the heat over a long time (typically in the form of a nice heated bench). They also exhaust directly to the outside. To be able to leave it for long periods of time you might have to figure out a clever feeding mechanism that feeds the heater in your absence.
I wonder if I could use this to boil down some sap into maple syrup? Thanks!
A wind screen would greatly increase the efficiency . Any piece of metal up to one half the height of water pot would do. Wrap around the windy side to deflect. I make alcohol stoves and these windscreens are a must! Thanks for your stove. I will make one of these.
Great idea. Thanks for sharing!
So far, the bricks have not cracked, but I take the stove apart and move it, so there hasn't been a chance. If you were building something like this inside, you'd want to be very careful with the venting and sealing against leaks. I would look around for other designs, since this one is geared toward the aftermath of an emergency, and I don't think it would produce the ambient heat needed for heating.
Is this really a rocket stove? I thought rocket stoves were extremely efficient as they burn the wood once and then in a second location burn the exhaust gases a second time??
Billy if you were in the middle of the woods you could dig a hole with a stick, cover the hole with a rock and stack rocks in a circular pattern on the other side making the L shape. Use mud as the infill for the stacked rocks to make it tight.
I'm glad you learned something.
it is an efficient way to cook fast and limit smoke and smell and high visibility, I use something similar for camping
There are a lot of people using this technique, and a lot of people posting copycat videos. The technique works well!
its not air bubbles that explode. Its the water content in the cement. Granite will also split from a hot fire if it has recently been very wet.
Many nights have been spent sitting around a campfire pit made of concrete blocks.
#2- The smoke just above the flames of the primary fire is unburnt fuel. 3 to 4in above the flame of the primary fire and 2-4 below the top of the chimney is good place to give a second source of air to give O2 to the contained rising heat/fuel. Sign of success is white and blue flame with a little yellow if you use 80% dry wood. You can use 4 in nails as shims under your bricks to observe your results. Good luck!! I hope to see another video with your rocket stove/gasifier.
im not sure exactly what you mean. But its the ratio between the size of the opening and how long the vertical "chimney" is. Seems to be a pretty simple venturi.
that means you can use different sized bricks to make this stove in different sizes, such as paving blocks, which would make it bigger. just whatever size brick you want to use for your stove, they all have to match up enough to make a square.
I have made one like this but 6 bricks high, boils 2 litres of water in 10 minutes using a pot skirt to deflect the wind, cheers Dave NE UK
I have two other commercial "rocket stoves," the EcoZoom and the Deadwood, and they have similar designs. The term rock stove appears to be generic.
Good point! And is should go without saying that you shouldn't use asphalt shingles, pieces of a tire or anything nasty. Only untreated biomass should be used!
Dry grass from a lawn pulled upside down of a dry spot makes good kindle. A metal car door or the glass of a window can work if you don't heat it without liquid inside. (Same concept as coffee)
The idea was to make a survival situation type stove out of items that could typically be found after a disaster. There are more effective designs, of course, but this design is easy to remember and put together. It works much more effectively than cooking directly over a campfire. Obviously, if you had a bunch of bricks, you could improve the design.
That's correct. Though any wood smoke contains hazardous components and would be dangerous when inhaled.
Check out the other posts on this channel. I improved the design and made it taller.
What is the metal thing you have the whole stove sitting on? Also, is there some technique for breaking a brick right in half?
How many more reputable sources should I contact?
They can be any size (small, large, whatever) as long as all the bricks you use are sized the same. If you use large bricks, you get a bigger stove, small bricks, smaller stove. Easy enough?
I generally keep enough bricks and pre-cut lumber in my pockets to make at least two of these, just in case I need a survival-type stove.
you could space the top bricks a little to make the same standoff for the pot. no trivett needed.
Love it thanks for showing us
Nice. It's a shame that people have to be taught how to do basic things. But, I'm very glad you are helping them.
I think all good ideas evolve from something else. This project has already been improved, just by me using it and seeing how it could be made better.
well organized and presented. thanks
Your voice sounds like John Locke in the show Lost. Which is funny because he is the survivalist.
+Amanda Neubert I'm older than he is, so John Locke sounds like me.
Recycling is wonderfule!
This doesn't cost $6 anymore, it costs $67 at Home Depot where I live. Each brick is $1, patio blocks (titan slabs) like those start at $17. If that doesn't describe in-flation I don't know what does. I'm going to try to salvage.
this was great man I almost bought a stove lol you guys are awesome
This has to be the simplest, cheapest, and most effective rocket stove I've seen on YT. That tin can stuff would probably cut my hand & take about 3hrs to build. When SHTF, there'll be PLENTY of free bricks all over from destroyed buildings, lol!