ROCKET STOVE, the super efficient stove! Here's how it works:

Rocket Stoves can be an alternative for heating or cooking food, relying on a portable and low-cost solution, becoming interesting especially in developing countries. They are simple to use and very efficient. They can be made from recycled materials and are a useful heating and cooking alternative. “Using Rocket Stove technology is one of the easiest ways to convert biomass to heat, and it does so more efficiently than common kitchen fire with three stones, or a modern wood stove,” explains Clark Semon of the US university Williams College. They can be found for sale online, but there is also room for do-it-yourself, as demonstrated by manuals and tutorials. found on the internet that explain how to make and use it.

What is the Rocket Stove?

The "rocket stove", this is the Italian meaning of Rocket Stove, consists of a combustion chamber, where the fuel (wood or pellets) burns, and a vertical chimney. Part of what makes it so efficient is that its vertical chimneys can be insulated. This causes almost all of the heat to move upwards. The vertical chimney is high enough to ensure that the wood burns completely before the flames reach the cooking surface. While they appear most often as portable stoves, they can find their way into home heating solutions. Depending on their use, the dimensions change.

The Rocket Stove was invented by Larry Winiarski, technical director of the Aprovecho Research Center, a US non-profit organization that assists organizations in the developing world to establish high-quality laboratories so they can test and improve their wood stoves. Winiarski invented it in the 1980s, based on the heating principles used by the ancient Romans.

How the rocket stove works and what its name comes from:

The structure of the Rocket Stove is simple. The typical structure is three connected pipes arranged in an L or J shape. The first pipe (the feed chamber) is where you put the wood or fuel. Once ignited, the heat travels through the shape of the rocket stove and exits the vertical chimney. The gases produced come out of the exhaust duct, located at the bottom of the radiator instead of being vertical as in traditional fireplaces and stoves. In the technical jargon of insiders, the short internal insulated chimney is called a "heat riser", while the opening in low, tall and narrow, it is called a “door”. The fuel is loaded vertically into the primary combustion chamber. The vent is in the center of the firebox and the draft draws the air down around the fuel and injects the flames into the horizontal tunnel on the lower rear side of the primary combustion chamber.

The horizontal tunnel, located below, carries the products of primary combustion (heat, wood gas and smoke) to the vertical part of the combustion chamber which acts as an internal chimney. The secondary combustion takes place beside the heat riser. The smoke and gases released by the fuel during primary combustion are consumed here, generating twice as much heat and mainly decomposing into CO2 and water vapour.

But why is it called a “rocket stove”?

Let's clear up the doubts: it's not a space object. Its name owes it to the characteristic shape and function. When the Rocket Stove is active, the flames from the wood are sucked into the combustion tunnel, creating a fiery jet and a particular noise reminiscent of a rocket. The rocket stove can be an excellent alternative to the traditional barbecue or it can heat an environment such as a box while the work is carried out during the winter or it is possible to think of it as a real domestic stove (but it must be built appropriately, as we will explain later). Certainly, it can be an ideal solution, with a decidedly lower impact, for developing countries.

Even today, the World Health Organization recalls, around 2.6 billion people cook using polluting open fires or simple stoves fueled by kerosene, biomass (wood, animal dung and harvest waste) and coal. Every year, nearly 4 million people die prematurely from illnesses attributable to household air pollution from inefficient cooking practices that use polluting stoves paired with fossil fuels.

Rocket Stove Sizes and Uses:

Rocket Stoves are available or feasible in any size, mini for portable use or larger for heating domestic environments, used as slow release radiant heating systems. There are those who also use them to heat water, to cook. For this it is possible t is possible to use it in various ways, even when camping or in other outdoor recreational activities.

Rocket stoves are claimed to be very efficient at burning fuel (i.e. wood), and as such, produce almost no smoke. Furthermore, since small diameter wood is used as fuel for their supply, they are perfect for outdoor adventures where often the most easily available wood for combustion consists of small twigs on the ground.

How to build or buy a Rocket Stove:

On the Internet there are numerous examples and even tutorials on how to build a "rocket stove"; the Aprovecho Research Center itself offers video tutorials. There are also specific instructions and technical insights into rocket stove design. If, on the other hand, someone does not trust the do-it-yourself and prefers to focus on Rocket Stove for sale, we also recommend the various sites where to buy it online in this case.

Problems and recommendations:

Although proposed as safe, they are not without dangers. Many rocket stoves have an exposed feed tube, giving direct access to the high-temperature combustion tube. It is good to consider this if it is also used in open environments. It is necessary to avoid approaching objects or materials that can catch fire. Furthermore, these stoves can get very hot and therefore care should be taken, especially in the presence of children.   Italiano