Rocket stove plans for camp cooking

The name 'rocket stove' refers to a style of stoves, both for heating and cooking, based on a insulated burn tunnel and a short heat riser. The short heat riser provides strong draw, comparable to a much taller standard chimney, as it is arranged to be where the hottest flue gases are.

The heat is extracted after the heat riser, either by being directed to a hot plate for cooking or to thermal mass for space heating.

Rocket Stove Plans for Cooking

There is significant interest in this style of stove for use in the third world and places where fuel resources are scarce such as refugee camps. Due to the efficiency of combustion they can significantly improve the indoor air quality compared to traditional open cook fires.

You need:

• A large can - those used for catering supplies of cooking oil are ideal. Ask a local chip shop or restaurant
• A 90 degree piece of angled stove pipe
• A short piece of straight stove pipe.
• A bag or perlite or vermiculite - available from gardening suppliers
• A smaller can to cut up and flatten
• An old BBQ or oven grill tray to put your pot on

Cut metal can have very sharp edges so it is also sensible to wear heavy duty gloves while cutting and handling your rocket stove.

1. Cut the lid out of the tin (keep the piece) - use tin snips and wear heavy duty gloves
2. Use the 90 degree section to mark a circle on the outside of the can, about 2 inches above the base
3. Cut the marked circle out of the can, predrill a hole and use tin snips
4. Assemble the pieces as shown in the diagram - the stove pipe should reach just below the top of the can - trim it down if necessary.
5. Hold the pipe steady and central while pouring the vermiculite around it
6. Mark the circular piece of lid against the top of the flue. Cut out the circle so that the lid can drop down and sit on the vermiculite

Your camp rocket stove is now ready to use, however it will light and run more easily if you make a 'grate' to support the fuel.

7. Use a tin opener to remove the top and bottom of the smaller can
8. Use the tin snips to cut down the length of the tin, openning it out to a flat sheet
9. Trim this sheet so that it will rest in the fuel chamber and support the fuel

Using your new Camp Rocket Stove

To light your new cook stove first collect a decent bundle of thin, dry twigs - ideally no thicker than your little finger. It is important to have all the fuel you will need gathered before you start otherwise you will have to leave your stove part way through cooking your meal.. Push a sheet of newspaper into the base of the heat riser, drop a few twigs down the heat riser and a place few sticks in through the fuel chamber, on top of the grate.

Light the paper.

The heat from the flames will rapidly set up a strong draw through the vertical section of pipe until the fire is roaring like a rocket. Keep adding more fuel to the fuel chamber. Every minute or so push the lit twigs futher into the stove so that there is always fuel at the hotest part. Push short distances but often to prevent the fire fluctuating (dying down then flaring up as the fresh fuel catches)

To maintain the fire you will occasionally need to empty the ashes and embers from the bottom of the vertical heat riser - a stick is sufficient to scrape it out, or you could tip the whole stove. The vermiculite prevents the outside getting too hot to handle.

To cook on the stove you will need a pot stand of some sort. Personally I use an old circular BBQ grill that just sits directly over the top with an inch or so gap from the top of the stove pipe. Your pan sits on top of that. With a bit of practice these stove are a fast and effective way to cook large group meals out of doors, using no more than locally collected twigs.

While this design is lightweight and portable, permanent and semi-permanent models could be constructed in open air kitchens, or even indoors with appropriate ventilation.