How to build a Rocket Stove Water Heater!!

In this video, we are building and testing a new rocket stove water heater!
Rocket stove with copper on the inside
kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpbYaWqkqtmsha8
Test video:
kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXiqkmiums2qj7s
:::: Helpful Links::::
Evolution Metal Cutting saw: amzn.to/4br98pu
Evolution Saw blades 14" :amzn.to/4dwbsgG
Circular Saw blades for metal: amzn.to/4bTqDzM
Welder I use: amzn.to/3V3oawT
Auto Darkening Helmet: amzn.to/4c4WnSP
Cordless Circular saw: amzn.to/3P9hn0F
Dewalt angle grinder: amzn.to/3UxnttJ
Chapters
0:00 - Intro
1:28 - The build
14:13 - Testing
21:33 - Outro
#diy #rocketstove #offgrid

[@David14A]

It would’ve been way better if you just made it like this instead of that. Next time try changing that piece to this piece and it’ll be much better, trust me

[@PatrickRemington]

😂😂😂 right! I knew I should have changed that piece.

[@David14A]

@@PatrickRemington The trust me part was absolutely necessary lol glad you realize your mistakes now though ✅😂😂

[@samaxe6495]

The round one used less wood and didn’t use a pump. One could argue that it was most efficient.

[@ManByTechnicality]

As with most things in engineering, usually maximizing efficiency in one variable decreases efficiency in another. In this case, fuel efficiency vs. time efficiency.

[@B30pt87]

I liked the round one best too. (Maybe I'm biased though because I'm better at welding round tube, and I'm planning on making a RMH.)

[@gerardmoangodelrio7334]

thermally speaking,if the tube surface used where to be the same, the square one would be better because the tube is directly exposed to the heat making it easier for the heat to exchange between the water and the heated air.Whilst the round one, only part of the tube surface is in contact with the metal so the heat has to transfer from the heated air to the metal,conduct the heat through the metal and finally jump from te metal to the copper. Trapping the hot air around the tube with the insultaing tape helps on the efciency but the square one is defintely the winner here.

[@gerardmoangodelrio7334]

also the square stove has a way bigger gap for the air to flow in,making it more eficient in burning fuel. Thats why it runs so fast out of wood. Although we could argue if that's beneficial for the exchange of heat. Maybe limiting the opening on the air gap to slow down the combustion would make it better.

[@Wigington24]

I was a pipe welder and an insulator. Wrap that in a removable blanket. It will be way more efficient

[@jimdarhower4945]

Did you weld those legs on…or was that Stevie Wonder? 🤔😬

[@Wigington24]

@@jimdarhower4945 no it was your mama Helen Keller

[@CedarGroveOrganicFarm]

I came here to say the same thing re: insulating blanket

[@Wigington24]

@@CedarGroveOrganicFarm 🌱🌞

[@jimdarhower4945]

@ Wigington24 - ohhhh snap you got my ass good!!! You ever hear a good Hellen Keller joke?

[@pax7511]

From the Pacific Northwest, Can't wait to have Hot water to take a shower while camping this year. My family thanks you, without any idea how hot H2O came to camp this summer!!! lol

[@53kenner]

In boilers, there is the phrase "Hot to hot, cold to cold". This refers to the optimum flow direction of water relative to combustion gasses. The coldest water should enter the stack and the hot water (or steam) should be withdrawn from a place alongside the fire. This makes sense, we can measure boiler effectiveness by exhaust gas temperature -- the cooler the exhaust, the more efficient the boiler. Obviously, cold water entering the stack will remove more heat from the gases than hot water will. The technical term is "counterflow circulation".

[@PatrickRemington]

Soo you’re saying I’m doing it right or no?

[@53kenner]

If you are putting cold water in at the spot furthest from the fire, and taking hot water out at the spot closest to the fire, then you are doing it right.

[@steverturnsk6190]

Yes you are correct. I am a retired steamship marine engineer. For the counter flows, you must have forced circulation. If you wish to have thermo-siphon with no pump, then the water needs to rise naturally. Simple, no electrical mechanical devices to depend upon. I made a monster one just like this out of a 4 foot tall oxygen cylinder, wrapped the coils around the bottle and then wrapped the cylinder/coil assembly in ceramic wool, then built an outside encasement with cement board. I used 50 feet of 3/4" copper tubing. It works great, although one must feed the wood (four 2" diameter pieces 18" long) every 40 minutes or so and it is tough to go outside in the rain or snow numerous times a night to keep it going. The water enters the recycled electric water heater (on 5 ft tall stilts) around 180 degrees F. All done using thermo-siphon.

[@adandredestefano]

​@@steverturnsk6190have you considered using a sleeve of sand to act as a thermal battery around your copper coils? Once you get that heat into the sand it keeps the heat quiet well.

[@user-ld1qg6xg5m]

"He's strong... and blows good" You got the job

[@chadtilghman255]

Patrick just nonchalantly called us all weak 😂

[@Brianbri-nq3cc]

RIGHT!😂😂😂💥

[@urgaynknowit]

Deadass

[@dallasarnold8615]

And then he says how heavy the tubing is filled with sand. Where did the strength go ?

[@spencerfranklin4780]

“ I am very strong not sure if you’ll be able to do this” as if he’s talking to a bunch of women😂😂😂😂

[@mattedwards4533]

In my case calling me weak he is right!

[@beauglenn2204]

One thing I noticed after building several wood burning water heater is when you put the copper coil inside the stove it will get charred on the outside skin of the coil in turn insulating the water from the heat enough to be frustrating as the water can escape the heat enough to stay Luke warm! When using propane burner inside with inside coil the results were much better as it doesn't accumulate the black crust when using wood!

[@toastrecon]

If you add a plain loose metal sheet into the flue, it'll help with efficiency. The metal sheet/plate heats up, and radiates the energy from the gasses in the middle of the flow onto the the coils. Might not be a ton, but I've heard that gas water heaters do that to get a few more percent efficiency. Also, if you're using a pump, you might do cross-flow on the coils. Cold water into the top and warm water out of the bottom. The thermal gradient is more efficient that way. Kind of interesting - the same principle is used in some fish gills - the unoxygenated blood is fed into the last gills first, where the water has already had some of the oxygen pulled out. The result is that the fish can "breathe" a lot more efficiently and even to lower concentrations of oxygen where they might not survive otherwise.

[@truthtoad]

Nice builds!! I probably would have used a pump on both to get a fair comparison. great for a small hot tub or clawfoot bathtub with a view!

[@LookMaintenance]

I can confirm. This is working. Been messing around with it around 4 months ago. Managed to warm up the water by 60C.

[@JosephPuplava]

I'm so glad to find this video to test which is more efficient. I knew the square one with a built-in coil inside would heat up faster. That was my first initial guess before you started the stoves. I would pass it on to my friends who want to heat up the outdoor tub. This would do it! Thanks!

[@bobert405]

The square one is definitely more efficient but not just because of the direct heat also because smaller diameter copper pipe

[@mattnbin]

I am sure the pump on that one would make a big difference in heat up time.

[@velosapien]

wow, first american to say soldering instead of the generic sawdering, worthy of me subscribing

[@PatrickRemington]

We I’m glad you weren’t here when i kept saying aluminum excrusion the entire video instead of extrusion. Got roasted for that one 😂

[@paulhare662]

@@PatrickRemington aluMINIum

[@urgaynknowit]

+1 for weighing the wood for the test.

[@frederickbowdler8169]

Pump works best because heat conduction is best when temperature difference is greatest and pump ensures this difference by replacing hot with cold quickly. Nice build.

[@bobjackson7516]

Some pipe wrap on the outlet (hot) hose would help retain some of that heat. Those open hoses are acting like radiators. In fact, leave enough copper to run all the way to the storage tank, and wrap that. Honestly, I'm waiting for the video where you get the water hot enough the hose melts. Great videos man, thank you!

[@loy4fun]

Excellent workmanship , simplicity of design, and 100% on functionality in off-the-grid living.

[@vgullotta]

I would DEFINITELY have shoved the hose from my air compressor into the pipe to clear the sand XD That sounds like fun lol. Such a cool project!

[@Zogg1281]

If you ran the test again, could you run the pump with the new stove as I think that it probably reduced the time needed to heat the water by a fair emount. I'd be really interested in the results 🤔 Thanks for another cool project 😊👍👍👍👍

[@tarnocdoino3857]

I’ve seen a number of rocket stoves come out in the last few years and my biggest thought has been application. Appreciate the idea.

[@AmericanTank08]

Great video! Yes the first one will perform faster with that pump since you're creating a recirculating pump essentially so less energy to heat up the water because the warm water is moving more through out the system faster as utilizing less energy.

[@AmericanTank08]

Also not to mention the pipe size diameter does help with not needing as much heat time as well as the length of the pipe. I feel this experiment would be great in a fixtures class for plumbing trade schools

[@toddbanaszewski5192]

I’m sure there are already tons of comments but if your pumping one through the heat exchanger and the other relying on thermal flow , the pumped one will work way better and because it’s using absorbing more heat faster you’ll have to feed it more. Cool video though.

[@jimbagle.3939]

The first stove has roughly twice the air intake. And an electric pump. It runs lean and has electric assistance. It's awesome. I like the other slow burning stove that doesn't need any outside help. I see you opened the bottom vent, and it worked better. I want to see a rematch.

[@kimjune]

A couple of observations I'd like to offer: The square tubing one has a shorter flue than the cylinder one, so it wasn't an exact comparison. Also, you would have a more efficient burn if you had a longer flue, and the copper on the upper part of the flue. I think the reason that you were getting an inefficient burn (as seen from the smoke) was because the temperature of the burn chamber was being cooled down with water. You could also try introducing secondary air, but that's a separate experiment

[@astrobreaux]

too many coils in too tight of a space, cools off the chimney and creates and erratic smokey burn. the chimney needs to be about 3 times what it is to function. anyone that took physics should remember that heating water doesn't happen fast and a rocket stove is just a fuel hungry, wasteful excuse for a heat source. unless you're trying to get rid of a lot of wood fast. it only takes three complete wraps spiraling up to allow smoke to spiral past any cold spot created and allow the heated water to rise as fast as possible. the other issue with too many coils is the excessive resistance created internal can split the tubing, steam burning anyone near it.

[@ogi22]

That's exactly what I thought. First thing - round flutes. Good burn and draft requires a round chinmey to minimise vortexes. Second thing - temperature in the burn chamber must be high. Really high to burn completly. That's why a lot of such constructions have that part insulated. Third thing - "afterburner" - additional air intake where gasses are burnt. Especially heated air, where air ducts take heat from the flute and make the burn much more efficient. And then, you can start draining energy from burned gasses. Basically you put coils where there is no flame.

[@jeffcameron7853]

@@astrobreaux I am needing to heat water the most efficient way, so you're saying only three wraps of the water coil?

[@kerrykikker]

Kudos to you sir, for working so well with that 'tricky to work', but neat looking round tubing. Bravo! 🔥🚀

[@Verb130]

Nice! You always make the best stuff. By the way; stable ice water that is completely mixed and the ice is only slowly melting, the water is at 32°F (0°C) with only adjustments for how far your pressure altitude is away from standard sea level pressure of 29.92" Hg. Any remaining ice that remains in the bucket is negative thermal mass that has to be heated. You should have added ice to each bucket, let it stabilize and then remove all the ice, and had the same volume/weight of water, and it would have been at the same temperature and thermal mass for adding heat energy. Good test otherwise.

[@PatrickRemington]

Oh man.. I don’t think we are on the same level 😂😂 but I’m willing to learn! Thanks for the info!

[@race8427]

Love to see this kind of ingenuity, I use this same principle in refrigerant recovery. A 1/2” copper coil covered w/3/4” clear tubing submerged into a 5 gallon bucket of water, 3/4” tube attached to a submersible pump (pump circulates water through clear tubing over copper tubing) the other end near the top of bucket. Copper line used as refrigerant in/out. For faster recovery fill bucket w/ice. Refrigerant likes to migrate to the coldest area, by circulating cold water over the copper tubing, thus rejecting heat to the ice water you have created a condenser, and can quickly move refrigerant.

[@SkiesEye]

"I'm really strong" Internet arm wrestle challenge if i ever heard one. 😅 Awesome video, I'll be using this for my outdoor shower! Cheers!

[@RobertYannucci]

Cool stuff. If you mess with this a lot, you can buy a combustion analyzer and make an intake that you can meter to get the burn as efficient as possible, maybe some baffles in the chimney or a cap, to slow the draft and use a small pump like you did on the square stove. I would bet you could get the ice water to 120 In half the time! Thanks for the content!

[@MasterK9Trainer]

Ferrule not feral my friend. It's a good idea for you to be doing this and to have made this video because if the grid collapses we have to have clean water but having hot water to wash things and to bathe with it's almost a necessity in itself

[@tarvokallaste8327]

Dude just went "i am very strong" lmao

[@PatrickRemington]

I got jokes..

[@philipgrobler7253]

Great job, love the round tubing variation on this concept!

[@robertallen2366]

Built a pool heater like this using one of my older forges.

[@bildo99ify]

07:50 I like the pop sound of the welder in these time-lapses. Kind of soothing. 🤙🏽

[@steffankaizer]

thats a nice stove. you should also flip it around and test the round one with the pump to see the actual increase in speed.

[@pax7511]

Great little project!! TYVM

[@quantumenergysolutions9128]

Hi Patrick, My design uses the coil as the lower part of chimney. Just solder the gaps, or put it inside the tube.

[@07slowbalt]

Pro tip when unraveling your coil place one end on the ground preferably flat and clean of debria and put your foot on it. Applying downward force roll it out on the floor and continually keep your foot a few feet at most from the roll. Its 10x easier to roll out fairly straight and almost never kinks your coil.

[@schmusland]

I have always wondered why people put the inlet and outlet of the bucket of a thermosiphon at different levels. You could put both at the bottom or send the hot water into the bottom of the bucket. As long as the hot water coming out of the rocket stove continues upwards it will cycle. The pressure in the whole system is the same as it acts as one column of water.

[@abrangarcia]

Fascinating work... keep making the content for us to enjoy...

[@davidrobertson1980]

Seriously I'd weld the two smaller pieces first and grind, but nice first welds there. I'd prefer slow and steady with less fuel used overall so round would be the go for me, maybe coils inside like the square since they'd coil up nice and snuggly inside. You'd have to cut a slot near the base to pull up the pipe unless you were a magician with tools to grab the end out of a hole, but a slot would suffice, it may even be a good small permanent vent if you didn't weld back in a piece. Great video, I also like old huge gas cylinders.... ;)

[@65peterbilt]

Awesome stove I will be making one!

[@JeffJones72]

It would be interesting to try this to do auto feed with wood pellets. It would also be interesting to see where the stall point is.

[@RufusPrecarious-pi2mh]

You know where this project is headed to right? A DIY wood burning hot tub. 🛁

[@kultorthedestroyer]

Exactly what I saw. This is a way better method than what I had planned.

[@davefellhoelter1343]

sed the same exhaust tape on my still's coils! Love this Idea!

[@ronquiring7796]

Two thoughts, 1, convection will move the water without the bucket height. Keep the bucket level with the stove. 2, use high heat silicone or muffler cement in the gaps between the copper and the hot exhaust chimney to maximize the surface are of contact for better heat transfer to the copper and eventually the water.

[@geraldblakesley1214]

Nice build!

[@ChadReed-vh2np]

I like that you experiment and improve designs

[@firecwby1999]

Can also wrap the copper tubing around a section of pipe a hair smaller than the pipe in your finished rocket stove. The copper will then have a tighter fit around your permanent stove.

[@terracoilGuy]

Firstly, props for building these. Do they smoke? I wonder if you slid the copper coil up the chimney some you might actually get more energy out. Could be that cooling the combustion chamber would reduce combustion efficiency. I'd be interested if that changes the power output, up or down.

[@blueswan2175]

great idea

[@BrianSmith-lo3mj]

Nice stove ... I'd like to build one of those for a pool heater. BTW ... Nice bucket ... My aunt went to M.S.U. to get her Bachelor's and Master's in Agriculture.

[@joabesouza9543]

Very cool, I would build one of these for sure...

[@kegfreak3728]

You have convinced me to buy a welder.

[@PatrickRemington]

Yes!!

[@phuketbungalowinfo2757]

LOL ...re inventing the WHEEL ... good job

[@PatrickRemington]

More like seeing what I can learn from building the wheel myself

[@EvilE22]

Love it! 👍🏼

[@EVtripper]

Awesome Build!

[@toddwmac]

Great stuff....thanks!

[@NapalmZ88]

subscribing and adding your project to my apocalypse survival skills.

[@SLOKO98]

It became a whole different kind of fascinating when he poured sand into it

[@renegade1520]

Nice work!

[@djjohnnymusic]

Thay second unit with the pipes on the outside I believe is the safer and better option. My brother is a plumber and lived off grid for a while and made something similar. When I asked if he would get more heat from the copper being in the flames, I recall he said something about its not good, as direct heat makes copper emit something. I can't remember what. He had his pipes on the outnaide with another layer of metal wrapped around that, likenyou have the thermal tape. Also, look up convection and conduction, as these two bits of science may also help you get the transfer of heat sooner (I'm a firefighter).

[@450rhino1]

Nice build.

[@slincolnchase]

Great video. Going to watch the other square tube one now.

[@PatrickRemington]

Thank you! I hope you enjoy it!

[@LittleAussieRockets]

Prettiest rocket stove, them there are fighting words 👍

[@billybillo9998]

Great idea to have a water heater.

[@mathi6943]

Thats amazing!

[@bpuhnk7787]

Great video, really enjoy your work!

[@PatrickRemington]

Thank you!

[@ryt2carry]

I wonder what would have happened if you had stirred the water in the new one. Just every once in awhile to mix the temps together, like the pump was doing Great video.

[@johankriel8883]

Now try in addition to put the water in a big pot on top of the stove.

[@MrJhchrist]

Pro tip for bending, cap at least one end of the copper tube with a valve. Solder it on, or use something like a sharkbite or compression for ease of undoing. Cap the other end with a plain cap, or another valve. Now you can fill the tube with water, under pressure, and close it without losing any. Incompressible water, already under 10s of pounds of pressure not only works better than sand or salt to prevent kinks, but it's far easier to get out. Just open your valve and remove your fittings.

[@vrma_steve]

Great work

[@harrythompson6977]

i love big magnets for welding pipe on a table

[@chutasan8299]

One has the flame directly on the copper piping and the other is wrapped around the outside with many gaps not touching the heated metal. That is a big difference in heating.

[@hwp69]

If you add a one-way valve on the cold side of the new version, you will notice a great improvement in efficiency, and do away with the need for the pump.

[@TheTrooper777]

Awesome build

[@PatrickRemington]

Thank you!

[@MichaelHartleyBambooStudio]

VERY cool, will try one for my hot-tub-curently with snorkel stove- I think this will be better. I think your front leg is really weak and a potential hazard. No reason not to make it more or less straight down!

[@hellomandarkk]

Every part of me wants to touch the shiny copper 😂

[@Ralinos]

Without having seen the video yet, I can see how more surface area & less initial volume would heat faster. Seems like the basic idea of a hot water on-demand unit.

[@spud4242]

good looking stove. both worked well . the square one is for the impatient...

[@PatrickRemington]

Thank you!

[@matthewkopp2391]

Love the design, i would love to see a very portable version of this. Perhaps in the future I will experiment with a back packing collapsible rocket stove with the coil inside. But if you beat me too it I would thoroughly enjoy that video. Cool work!

[@PatrickRemington]

This is about as portable as it's getting honestly. Collapsible and copper coils don't really go together.

[@helojoe92]

Awesome build, here are some suggestions for a version 3.0: - smaller copper pipe diameter, but a way longer pipe, may help with faster heating, since smaller volume of water inside per surface area of coil touching the stove wall. Ideally the copper would be wound all the way up the chimney, to maximize surface contact and therefore heat exchange. In a theoretical perfectly efficient system, this would mean that the stove exhaust gases and the water exiting the coil would be at the same temperature. - Some kind of heat transfer substance (similar to thermal paste between computer chips and heat sinks) between the copper coil and the stove wall would be great, since the contact of the round tubing on the flat wall is basically minimized by the geometry of the round tube (only tangentially touching). Building an additional outer wall around the copper tubing and filling it up with fine sand (or maybe even filling it with lead?) should work. This will increase warm-up time for the stove itself, because it's just more mass to heat up, but should increase overall efficiency. - square copper tubing may also work, since it would increase contact surface with the stove wall.

[@hentiebeukes5319]

I like build 1 most. Round pipe is not to bad .

[@TK8286]

Been waiting for this one

[@JohnSnow-vf8jo]

Thanks for sharing

[@terrybarrett2368]

Its been around for years had one as a bath and shower heater in the 50s and it had been in the house from the 20s

[@DuanDao]

you got a steampunk-esque rocket stove/water heater. I like it

[@carloscosta1986]

Patrick , você é um gênio. 🇧🇷🇧🇷🌹 São Luís do Ma.

[@PatrickRemington]

gracias carlos!

[@russell2449]

You should also try the new pipe model using the pump just for a fairer comparison, since faster circulation could mean quicker temp increase (possibly more efficient), so might find along with the change in venting the contest could be a lot closer.

[@blakdeth77]

keep those pipes in place to tack 'em up with some good magnets.

[@dadawesome784]

I like the one that has the copper pipe on the outside better. It will be easier to replace it if it gets a pinhole.

[@glennlanphier4824]

Good stuff.

[@_TheDudeAbides_]

I think it would be interesting to compare this to just having a steel pot mounted over the flames. You need a bit of space to let the air come out but still the flames directly under it would probably heat it very well. Just like when we cook food over the rocket stove.

[@PatrickRemington]

Yes I agree.. I guess the reason I didn't do that (I know I didn't make this clear) is because that's the obvious way to heat water and wanted to show an alternative that some might not know about.

[@Neidzwiedz1]

I like to see the test repeated with the round one on the pump and the square one using thermo-siphon, then you can really compare efficiency.

[@918scott4]

Very interesting!

[@daipower1]

nice work

[@PatrickRemington]

Thank you!

[@BartWall-ss3kj]

Love it

[@Oneirophrenian]

I suggest you try swagelok style compression fittings, I've had great results with them.

[@Brianbri-nq3cc]

Damn great job!🧐👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@daneking1209]

10:18 drill a hole through the thick part of a 2x4 and pull the tube through. Perfectly straight very fast work

[@PatrickRemington]

That is a very good idea!