Rocket Stove part N - coming down the home stretch

The past several days have been spent playing with the rocket stove.  Youssef is definitely tired of it.  I could play with it all day, but it is nice to finally have it dialed in and working correctly.

Today we started early after clearing some trees around the goat pasture that had the electric fence working improperly.  We dismantled the rocket stove and mortared in some gaps before putting the barrel back on.  Figuring out how to stack the wood in the feed chamber has been the hardest part.  The main tip is to keep the fire in the burn chamber.  Smoke back occurs when the coals make their way into the feed tube.  After some toying, the system is running efficiently.  It ran for several hours today almost unattended with very minimal smoke back.

The large wood seems to be less than optimal.  Smaller wood burns nicely and quickly brings water on top of the barrel to a boil.

Tea made using heat controlled by our rocket mass heater.

Youssef cut off the extra threaded rod that was providing support, and we began building the thermal mass with large rocks and small gravel.

The thermal mass is growing.

More gravel and large rocks tomorrow should bring the stove to completion.