How To Make An Aircrete Rocket Stove

I make an aircrete rocket stove from blocks. I also test refractory cement mixed with lava rock and perlite as two aircrete substitutes.
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[@MaryGatdula]

Patience, Grasshopper! It is a virtue. 😁

[@davidfoppe636]

Some things just cannot be rushed. I'v really enjoyed watching your progression of rocket stoves.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Ha! Very true...as I have demonstrated. :-) I need to film ahead, so cement has time to cure. Right now I am week-to-week. Thank you for watching.

[@victoriafonseca8176]

Loved this project! Cant wait to see the end result. Looks really good, and your vids are fun to watch! 🔥🚂🔥🙂

[@gebhardt244]

He is watering his homegrown aircreat

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Lol. It didn’t grow. I had to replant. :-)

[@richardmccann4815]

If you screw thru the ply from the back, forms will last longer with threads into the wood, rather than plywood.

[@richardmccann4815]

A tapered core ( flat pyramid with 20° taper each side) would pop out easy, or two face two face in a stack, or a disposable soft styro core. Can't stop thinking gotta get moving. Stay green!

[@rexhorning7228]

Once you have hydrated your cement when mixing you don’t what to drown your pored concrete with water it will heat up as it cures. You don’t need to worry about surface cracks like a sidewalk or driveway slab. If anything cover with damp cloth like burlap so it can breath. As it cures it heats up and has to let the moisture out. If it east to get to hot you will loose strength. If it cools to fast you loose strength

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thank you, Rex. I always appreciate hearing from the pros. At first I thought that gator was a concrete hose. :-) Still, I'm gonna agree with the guy in the hard hat. Thank you for watching.

[@richardmccann4815]

Love the trains!

[@cher9653]

Interesting use of the word brittle. Crumbling is the word I would use. Appreciate the demonstration of what too much foam looks like. Very helpful to see your process.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

I have a creative vocabulary. Agree. Brittle would have been more of a snap and shatter. Just so you know I understand you’re correct. :-) Thank you for watching.

[@QuietRiverBear]

You can wet cure the bricks in a stock tank of water as soon as you can safely strip them from the forms.

[@thomasnoteboom1531]

Next time try milk carton bottom, filled with sand, when dry empty sand and push flex carton out of the finished piece

[@utubeape]

great build. I bet if you make a couple of good skim coats with reinforcing fibres in it could hold together well enough to be portable as it would be quite light

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thanks Nick. Adding fibers is a good idea. Thank you for watching.

[@GerryRR]

For keeping slabs wet, I've seen burlap laid overtop and kept sprayed down. The burlap keeps the wind from directly evaporating water out of the concrete. I think you could probably use cardboard as well, but it might stick to the bricks if that matters to you.

[@austinmesta9862]

Good point. I've seen ppl use greenhouse plastic with plywood on top, they were making a side walk.

[@KitJBenn]

Well done G.S! I nearly deserted you today😁. It came together like a well laid plan. Don't wish to talk too soon but things are looking good👍

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Hi Kit. Thank you for sticking around. 🥇👍🏻👊🏻

[@KitJBenn]

Good morning GS! Hope everything is coming together in perfect harmony. A question if I may during your busy day please? What is considered the near enough ratio mix of sand, perlite and cement if one is contemplating making a fire rocket stove GS? I think I might be catching your sickness 😁😁 Would love to know the answer GS! Please?

[@liamgcad1339]

Why cement the blocks together? Without the added fireplace-mortar your construction would surely have lots of very useful expansion joints, which might help reduce cracking of the blocks over time. It would have other benefits, like making it much easier to repair, and much easier to move the whole thing to a new location if needed. Thanks, and keep up the good work 👍

[@GreenShortzDIY]

That is a good suggestion. A dry stack would have likely worked just as well. Thank you for watching.

[@gardengatesopen]

🚂 Train's Here!!! 🚂 Satisfying Train today! ❤

[@gardengatesopen]

AND 🚂 The Midnight Train 🚂 🚂 Through Georgia!!! 🚂 Woot Wooooot❗

[@richardmccann4815]

A Styrofoam core for the hollow square will provide some give to allow for contraction. Or wood could be used with a cushion layer, wrapped loosely with plastic, but you lose the precise dimension control. Trim blocks at the pour, you might make a tiny trowel to smooth the edges round while soft, that would serve to compact the mix and make it slightly denser, thus stronger. Continuous casting extruded bricks like commercial brick manufacturing comes to mind, cut to size needed. A hammer drill is good vibratory tool

[@MrTracyd]

A few things about your aircrete you heed to use the proper amount of water to cement for your slerry, the mix should be around 1 pound water to 1 pound cement. the foam needs to be as small a buble as posible the smaller the better. peralite does not work well for 2 reasons, it robs your cement of water and it to big an agregate, foam creates round bubbles that make a proper stuctural medium. Torching the block will fracture because it make the moisture expload and crack the block cover the top of the mold with a plastic or cloth to stablize the aircrete.

[@Rick_Sanchez_C137_]

I agree, except on one point…. The perlite, he definitely screwed up adding it dry, HOWEVER, if he were to soak his perlite over night and then add it to the concrete I think it wouldn’t rob the concrete mix of water and would slowly release it as the concrete is curing, possibly helping make it stronger….

[@catgynt9148]

Very nice video. Are you able to recycle the crumbling bricks? Another great presentation complete with trains and warm glowing embers. Cheers from NEO.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Hi JW. I do have an idea to reuse the crumbly cement. I’ll feature that in an upcoming video. Trains all the way. Greetings from GA. :-)

[@austinmesta9862]

From learning how to make roman concrete, Im led to believe that you could fire that crumbly stuff in ur furnace and add water to slake it then let it. Of course when u do, the other minerals will bond. You'd end up with something like quikrete but without the gravel and sand. Cement is just slaked lime and ashes. It can bind to itself but it can also bind to alumina or silica sand which is why concrete is stronger than a fired brick. Ive heard magnesium can bind to calcium and make ur soil non arable and I know for sure that magnesium makes calcium stick to ur bones stronger in nutrition. Maybe epsom salt could be of service somehow.

[@slaplapdog]

I've been messing with perlite and rapidset cement for a couple of years now. I'm too impatient and not precise enough , but I'm still plugging away at it.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Ooh. Rapid set...that is what I needed. Thank you for the feedback. Thank you for watching.

[@khalafdana2571]

COOOOOOOOL

[@tealkerberus748]

Next time you're making perlcrete, try putting half your perlite in a wheelbarrow, then your cement, then the rest of your perlite. Mix those together, then add your water - slowly. And wear a suitable dust mask the whole time. You do not want that cement setting in your lungs!

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thanks for the feedback, Teal. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

[@RoyBlumenthal]

I think you can coat the pieces with a thin slip of wet cement. That'll seal the bubbles, and give it a harder skin.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thank you for the feedback, Roy. I appreciate the suggestion. Thank you for watching.

[@oneyaker]

Really good idea to flame uncured concrete and use irremovable water expandable internal mold blocks. 😂

[@gebhardt244]

You can put the concretesand and mix it into your aircreat mix

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Yes! I had that same idea today while I was cleaning up. Great minds think alike. :-)

[@gardengatesopen]

👋 Mornin! ❤

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Morning, GGO! Thank you for watching.

[@peterlockhart2588]

I made a Rocket stove out of 3 soup cans - even used the lids - it works like a beauty

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Excellent! Send me a pic at tom at Greenshortz dot com. :-)

[@peterlockhart2588]

I will - it took 3 empty cans - the lids of 4 cans and 1 other lid - some screws - and all I did was put it together - I was so impressed how well it works - it gets real hot & boils water - wow impressed

[@peterlockhart2588]

@@GreenShortzDIY done - i am astounded how well it works - goes like a rocket

[@allblooms8972]

Just a thought about those first aircrete blocks that you pulled apart. If you had allowed them to cure the full 30+ days, do you think they may have held together?

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Hi. That is a possibility. I did create a block of aircrete, that I thought was too foamy. I let it cure the full month. It holds up well. I’m still experimenting with the material. Thank you for your question. Thank you for watching.

[@austinmesta9862]

The hydrated lime oxidizes back into quicklime aka calcium oxides. That stuff is mixed with water to slake it into slaked lime aka hydrated lime. When the slaked lime in the cement oxidizes into quicklime then u wet it, it slakes again which makes portland cement powder just like u bought to start with.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Good info, thank you.

[@austinmesta9862]

@@GreenShortzDIY ur videos are too.. ur welcome and thank you :)

[@salvadormendoza5068]

tienes un correo? creo tengo alguna información relacionado con las cantidades de agregados y cemento que te puede ser útil, bien por el trabajo!

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Gracias. Eso sería muy apreciado. Gracias por ver.

[@pangalacticgargleblaster6006]

Would more soap in the mixture make a heavier foam? Hmm..

[@rrf5336]

Once the aircrete is in the form I wonder if covering the slurry with saran or film might help the curing.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Yes! I tried that in a later video. It worked great! Thank you for the feedback. Thank you for watching.

[@ronroberts110]

Removing the square wood piece at 22:00, The square piece that is in the mold should be cut into three pieces. The cuts should be parallel, and result in a center piece that has 2 sloped sides for easy removal. In order to hold everything precisely in place during the pour and curing, put a second piece of wood on top of the three pieces and secure everything together with a few star-drive screws.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Great tip, Ron. Thank you. Thank you for watching.

[@MA-rq6ye]

Hi sir, are you using Portland cement?

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Yes. You are correct.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

😊👍

[@GreenShortzDIY]

I was happy with how this on turned out. Worked pretty well. Thank you for watching.

[@enriquesalgadoaceves9017]

Dose aircrete get moldy in the rainy season?

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Good question. I think it would depend on the intensity of the rainy season. My guess is that it would get mossy before moldy. :-)

[@melinda5777]

This is aircrete stove/fire place? When did you do the slurry?

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Hi Melinda. I made the aircrete blocks in the previous video. Thank you for watching.

[@simon-pierrelussier2775]

You could try wet curing the concrete, check out Tyler Ley's channel.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thank you for the suggestion.

[@greyhnd001]

I heard you are supposed to soak perlite before adding it to concrete.

[@GreenShortzDIY]

You are correct. I just forgot that step. :-) Thank you for the feedback. Thank you for watching.

[@zazugee]

i think your problem isn't bc of foam, but lack of sand, sand is what gives strength and structural integrity, cement alone is just a mortar

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thanks for that tip. I will remember to add sand in my next batch. More aircrete videos coming in the new year. Thank you for watching.

[@RJS76]

#1 😀

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Yay! Thank you for watching.

[@eone2345]

For things that need sufficient curing time, we better stick to the time it requires, so you can save resources, labor and time to cure it, again. In my previous workplace, my supervisor didn't heed to my advice regarding these, causing more money to rectify, wasted resources and wasted manhours to redo the same job again. It's costly and tiring to do the same job twice. TBH, I got heartache seing what you did, maybe because of my previous experience. Please don't mind me for that 😂

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Good advice. Sorry for the stress. :-) Amazing how we associate things with the past. My approach is usually intuitive and that can get me in trouble. Thank you for watching.

[@eone2345]

@@GreenShortzDIY 😁 not a problem. Mistakes meant we are doing something and learning something new, especially diyers like us. Not making mistakes simply means we do nothing at all. Best regards.

[@ruffnut743]

you need to put wax on the frame work before putting the concrete in then a little heat it will drop out

[@GreenShortzDIY]

Thank you for the tip. Thanks for watching.

[@FIREBALL5307]

It looks like the top dryed up to fast the way I see it ...

[@GreenShortzDIY]

I agree with your assessment. I covered my aircrete furnace with plastic. No white flaky layer. Thanks for the feedback. Thanks for watching.

[@user-qv9bd4ye1f]

Привет

[@hootiebubbabuddhabelly]

I just can't buy this type of "rocket stove" as a...well...rocket stove. How did everyone get so far off the original design? The whole point was that the air, smoke, ash and gas are forcefully sucked horizontally, slams into the back wall mixing and creating a second fuel and burn, once it heats up, using far less wood than people stuff into these little stoves. I don't understand how the idea got so...twisted...

[@sj4024]

Haaa

[@GreenShortzDIY]

:-) you made the video! How was my pronunciation? Malayalam was hard to say. :-)