Rocket stove mass heater

[diy lou]

Would love to build one of these in my house. Has anyone on here done it...what were your experiences? Or anyone considered it but didn't go ahead with it...why not? I have read up a lot about them but would like some personal opinions of people not trying to sell me the book!

 

[Newboy]

Why not install a decent wood-burning stove instead?

Do you really want a very hot metal object free-standing in the room?

Rocket stoves are fine in a well ventilated area but in a domestic setting the risks far outweigh the benefits.

 

[diy lou]

I already have a wood burning stove in the adjacent room which is like a cosy snug, but this room is a bit of a non-use room, you use it to get to other places and it has nothing to draw you in. The mass heaters I am thinking of are not as you describe - but more like the ones they have used in eastern Europe for centuries (albeit with cob as opposed to bricks) pic below:

 

[Newboy]

Sorry - well outside any experience I can offer

 

[Corgigrouch GTi]

The traditional "Russian" stoves are great, my partner has one in her Dacha just outside Kiev and does keep things lovely and warm in Winter, there are also two ovens, a hot one and a warm one (Similar idea to an AGA)... That's the good news. The bad news is whilst you can buy all the kit off the shelf to build your own in Ukraine, you will have to source/ make all your own bits here in the UK, worst of all I cannot think of a single building regulation that one would comply with in the UK so your insurance company would have a fit at the very thought. My partner's stove comprises of multiple horizontal flues which stretch either side of the main stove, heating fire bricks, till they come together upstairs, rejoin and out through the roof. Sweeping is done from outside through a door at the end of each flue.. The stove is usually lit at the start of the heating season and runs constantly throughout the Winter.... A nice idea but for the UK, not really an option