Making an insulated rocket stove hot water system

It's sooo good. Elegance and practicality combined to create an efficient water heater. Heated 80 litres of water from 30 C to 70 C in 1.2 hours. Probably one of my better looking and performing stoves and potentially could develop this into a laser cut product.
Let me know if you are interested if you are within Australia.
If you would like to support us in what we do within Australia check out our website at www.littleaussierocketstoves.com

[@tobychenderson]

You're the neatest welder I've ever seen on KZbin.

[@r.b.ratieta6111]

The Rescuers Down Under reference "I didn't make it all the way through third grade for nothing" is pure gold, especially from an Australian.

[@canwetradenownetwork1241]

Very well done. Appropriate music, solid edits, no overwhelming dialog, subtle humor.

[@colinsmith6340]

The only thing i could think of to get more thermal transfer is to put some fins on the inside of the vertical pipe. You only have a flat surface there so a lot of the heat is leaving the stove without impacting the water temperature at all. So basically a heatsink in reverse. Stainless is a terrible thermal conductor, so anything added to increase surface area of fire exhaust to stainless to the water would increase its thermal efficiency. You basically want the exhaust to come out as cool as possible, treating the water as "liquid cooling the exhaust".

[@ObservationofLimits]

Dude was edgefinding with that tiny tip on round corners. I think you went above his skill level there.

[@codealkina2765]

That's very cool.. An improved version for better application

[@MARS-GREENH0USE]

Dude you do realize he started the wood on fire somewhere else, then stuffed them in this unit.

[@colinsmith6340]

@@MARS-GREENH0USE so? I am talking about the fire giving heat to the water.

[@Dante4F8]

Or fill it with steel wool.

[@jbyeats]

I assume you are a professional welder - but given that - your work is superb . It is very satisfying & calming to watch . First class in every way .

[@IAMSatisfied]

I always appreciate your work, both with metal and video documentation. We need more folks like you in the world. 😃

[@LittleAussieRockets]

Wow, thank you!

[@evievanalphen2654]

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[@dominicperez7841]

If you would of used a copper coil 3/4 and used propane would of been a simple build /but you can also use wood fire

[@xyic0re714]

appreciate all the work you put into filming this and sharing it with YT, living vicariously.

[@CPaulCounts]

You've always been fun to watch but you've stepped up the entertainment value and it works.

[@Reaper4367]

The combination of your skills, humor, editing and 'enthusiasm makes for entertaining and informative viewing. Great stuff. Cheers for sharing.

[@86jaredeames86]

Awesome project! Those welds are a thing of beauty!

[@TheZombieSaints]

Jeez those tig beads are bloody perfect mate! Great stove, I really enjoy watching these. Keep it up 👍👍

[@michaeltichael]

If I lived in Australia, I'd love to buy a unit. Well built and a pleasure to watch. All the best from Indonesia.

[@stuffbywoody5497]

That's a really nice build. I like that one. Better than I thought it would be. Makes me want to start playing around again.

[@HitokiriRaiden]

My grandfather built something pretty similar in the late 40s after he returned from ww2 for the old homestead he was building, and it worked so well that he never really changed it out till the early 90s mainly because my grandmother wanted something a bit easier, but still kept it as a back up when the power would go off. Its definitely a handy little set up for sure.

[@NoneOfyourbusiness-ob2yz]

Really nice build, pleasure to watch you. I love these type of projects.

[@TheSnuggla]

That looks great, can't wait to see them in your shop

[@factorycharlie]

Great design and great video ! Thanks for sharing 👍

[@johnbrewer2206]

That is some expert level bead work; really tight pattern. You sir are a prolific welder!

[@lenlemaic7849]

Its a pleasure to watch a professional metalworker doing his craft. Thank you for posting this educational clip.

[@popcornshiner3937]

I am impressed by this new hot water system and can see a lot of possibilities , the results are very good, looking forward to updates.

[@ThejaBreLoL]

You, Sir, are a prime craftsman!

[@RobRobertson1000]

Reminds me of grandpa's old chip heater - so efficient!

[@brocksterification]

Nice work and great to see the evolution. Your vids are really enjoyable. Thank you.

[@joeland7967]

Your a real craftsman. Amazing work !

[@noimagination99]

The most beautiful hand TIG welds I've seen on the interwebs! Very nice, and great project too!

[@barthanes1]

I've made another observation of your setup. It would be more efficient to use convection currents to your advantage. Plumb the top of the heat exchanger to the bottom of the tank, and plumb the top of the tank to the bottom of the heat exchanger. This lets the hot water rise through the tank setting up convection currents, and heating the whole tank of water more evenly. As you have it in the video it is just heating the water in the tank from the top down.

[@stevenstart8728]

It's the heater that creates the convection. Heat rises in the heat exchanger and rises to the top of the hot water unit as it cools in the unit it sinks to the bottom and repeats. Your method would require an electric pump. The way he has it plumbed is as old as hot water itself.

[@no-expert]

That’s something I asked my grandpa when he was working on his hot water tank. So I get where the intuition comes from :D His answer was that you WANT your water to be layered. Hot on top and cold in the bottom. That way you can extract hot water after a short time. Otherwise it would require the whole tank wich is constantly stirred by convection to heat up to your desired temperature which takes a lot more energy and time. Also the heat loss through the insulation of the tank is less when hot water is only at the top, because the hot water is touching less surface area until the whole tank is heated up. So the idea here is to heat the tank from top to bottom for better household usability rather than perfect mixing. Hope that makes sense :)

[@trif55]

The guy is an extremely skilled draftsman and fabricator but the science is lacking. I came here to say the same thing about his 60C being just the water at the top. Also the lack of all around heat exchanger/surface area. @@no-expert it really depends what you want to do, if you want some hot water quickly, this setup will do that as your grandpa, but it won't heat the whole tank, at which point, why have such a big tank? Generally large tanks have 2 immersion heaters, the main one is in the bottom and ensures the whole tank reaches temperature, there's then a top "boost" heater for if you've run out or nearly run out of hot water, it'll quickly give you enough hot water for a shower etc. I'm going to assume the intention of this video was to show how quickly it could heat a whole tank and from there calculate it's power output, but he didn't do any of that sadly

[@stevenstart8728]

@@trif55 science is there plain as day. Hot water rises in the heat exchanger and continues to the top of the tank. As it cools in the tank it sinks lower and lower and gets to go through the heat exchanger again. The bottom of the tank may only be 1 or 2 c lower than the top and the circulation will continue. The top of the heat exchanger has to be below the top of the tank. The science is heat rises cold sinks. It’s not hard to figure out. Every old farm house with a wood stove used this method of hot water for ever. The hot water unit is in the ceiling above the wood stove. The stove has a small water jacket in the fire wall. This is a very common method of hot water in the Aussie outback at shearer’s quarters and wool sheds where power supply is limited or non existent. We call these heaters a “donkey”. This method gives you an unlimited supply of hot water for a large family without the utilities cost. Haven’t you ever noticed that the cold mains water enters your water tank at the bottom and the hot water comes out the top and then to the tap.

[@trif55]

@@stevenstart8728 yea I see what you mean, I know how hot water stratifies in an internally heated hot tank, that's cold inlet at the bottom and hot out the top obviously, but the "heating element" is always at the bottom, and I was basing my thoughts on how a liquid heating element, as in gas central heating system, with a storage tank, has the heat source at the bottom and I think the hot inlet for that is at the very bottom, but of course that's a pumped supply as well) I see now as long as the two bodies communicate freely and the stove/heater is the lowest point the cold water will flow down the lower pipe it and the hot exhausts into the top of the tank, basically flowing the opposite way to how I invisioned, which is why I thought the pipes would need to cross, so the hot water from the stove flows into the bottom of the tank, like central heating

[@Baitandrodfishing]

Easy and effective. Love the design.

[@edmundochaparro-barriguete1215]

What an amazing gift you've gotten. Congratulations

[@306champion]

Great stuff as always and getting even better. Thanks mate.

[@johnbrewer2206]

That was a great video, from start to finish great work on the video itself and great work on the rocker stove

[@CavortingCow]

I love the music in this video. It has such a retro feel. And your welds are quite pretty.

[@Boogie0312]

Nice craftsmanship. I don't think I could rebuild this project but I liked watching you to approach all the individual steps. Your welding lines look awesome.

[@eliasandersson413]

Nice build! Looks really good!

[@rronmar]

Beautiful workmanship! Thermosiphon is cool, but it does not like horizontal runs or drooping lines. If the heat collector was configured so its line exited the top of the sidearm box and went up thru the chimney at as steep an angle as possible, this would insure no air pockets(more water in contact with metal) and with no drooping in the line up to the top of the tank, it will flow much faster. What faster flow gets you is cooler water in the heat collector sidearm, which = greater delta and overall faster heat transfer to the water. Heat transfer is mainly about temp difference and surface area. The pipe being cool at the bottom means the tank has not completely heated and still has cool fluid at the bottom. Since the tank heats top down, Are you measuring water temp at the bottom of the tank also? Gauging average water tank rise(difference between top and bottom tank temp) in an hour can get you average BTU/hr collected, compared with weight and type fuel used in an hour can get you BTU burnt to gauge overall heater efficiency… if I were doing this to heat a water tank, I think I would build it right alongside the tank and plumb it to angled fittings no less than 45 deg up into the top port of the tank. This would allow for a heatex that is longer. You could also add vertical fins welded to the inner wall of the heatex/chimney wall for additional surface area. And you could add some small spot welds to creat turbulence/breakup laminar flow(improve transfer efficiency)…

[@gibs7831]

Excellent fabrication skills! Love the humor! Keep up the good work!😊

[@heshworksbetter2777]

So glad I found this channel, even if it were for only the way you edit your vids, totally worth it!

[@cannibalcarl8512]

Very nice,You are a top notch mechanic

[@noonehere1793]

Those are some beautiful welds!👍👍

[@ZGoddessLola]

Glad to see you posting again 😊❤

[@stevebrown1461]

Clever! This needs to be on the market for small/tiny homes.

[@alwoolhouse6255]

Truly beautiful workmanship, you sir are a craftsman.

[@treeturtle9378]

Awesome video and craftsmanship , well done 👍

[@cybercamp2900]

I clearly see your designs improving Along with your shop expanding I hope your beautiful family is well As your hand/machine skills are honed 🙏🏻👍🏻

[@cyotedude]

Great build. I really enjoyed your process, your skill and the design. I appreciate that you went back and completed the ash diverter. Good for you your wife has such integrity to encourage the remedy. When I was younger I had this skill set, I should revive it.

[@Tripsolo65]

Beautiful work & Awesome music!

[@splashpit]

For the first four years of my working life I made wood fired boilers for domestic and commercial use , it’s interesting that we are gravitating back to this old tek . My first home had a briquette HWS

[@mb106429]

New tec is designed to create economic churn (servicing costs and sparebparts sales....) and a paper trail And be a bit complicated so the owner doesn't understand it, so they voulantarily throw it away and buy a new one when they're 'advised' to

[@soulrider678]

Those welds are a thing of beauty 😍

[@johngalt969]

Finally someone who uses cut off discs down to the nub like the rest of us do! None of this throwing it away after a quarter inch has gone nonsense!

[@spiritburners]

👋👋👋You make great rocket stoves but you're really a bloody good engineer under that Aussie skin !! Praise from a Pom !!!👋👋👋

[@markpearson9762]

fantastic workmanship, really well done

[@outbackmotorcyclesandengin867]

Nice one, I built a woodburner for heating as I live off grid and never made a back boiler. Seeing this has pushed me to make a hot water tank that sits on top of it in the hope that heating the water will reduce the heating effect, and I'll insulate the tank. The woodburner is so efficient it turns our home in cold wet uk into a 30-degree c hot box when it's -10 outside and on 3 logs all night. I've never made a rocket stove, but I know they are really efficient on wood. Your one looks good, nothing wrong with a few mods as you go.

[@javaxerjack]

Nice work!

[@aliasaila8818]

Great idea, thanks for sharing.

[@jamess1787]

Ive had my EMU a couple years. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 10/10 Highly recommend. Its a fantastic edition to the back yard. Lets me turn my apple-tree branches/twigs into summer night fires the family, roast a couple marsh mellows; or just enjoy the heat. Little mess, lots of heat, and just an enjoyable time. Worth every dollar. Dont need to cook on it, can use it on a balcony or backyard. Amazing.

[@stuartwilliams1790]

You do nice work, if you investigate types of steam engine boilers you will find what is known as Hedgehoged boilers, where you have the teow pipes passing through the chimney if you weld 10mmish solid bar through the water jacket and into the boiler you'll be able to harvest more heat from the flue gasses and flames

[@dinoprather1254]

Nice build! Nice weilding!!!!!!!!!

[@robertedwards1240]

Such beautiful welds. And the free-hand drill bit sharpening is especially nice.

[@spiritburners]

only real engineers can do that, takes a5 year apprenticeship to learn, he's a great engineer.

[@007lukeskywalker]

Your welding is 100%. good project and thanks for sharing

[@JonahX-ui9tf]

Excellent build, I was a toolmaker 30 years ago in aircraft manufacturing and your skills are as good. To increase heat transfer more surface area within the box section, fins for example, however, the down side to that is the drag on the water flow, which means the need to pump the water through it on a slow flow rate, it’s a balance as the slower flow, will increase the heat and that will increase the pressure, so a low flow pump could help with more even heat distribution into the water.

[@Al828282]

Your work, the craftsmanship, the attention to detail, is beautiful! I tried something similar but with 6"x6"x0.25" (152 x 152 x 6.35) steel tube and put a coil of ss water tube inside of it.

[@johnbumster3950]

This is excellent work

[@glumpy10]

This is surprisingly powerful! To take 80L of water from 30 to 70C in 1.2 Hours is an energy input of 2.7Kw. Total energy input is about 3.7 KWH. TBH looking at it I would have never thought it would do that. Figures don't lie however and I'd say that's a fantastic result. I think some sort of baffles in the riser of the burn chamber to pusht the hot gasses out to the sides would help transfer with more heat and efficiency but putting the pipes across to break up the boundary layer gasses was a great idea. VERY well done. Good and useful amount of heating power here .

[@699hazard]

Great build! If you wanted it to heat the water faster you could put a thermostat valve on the outlet so the tank holds the water till it gets to your desired temp then let's the hot water out repeating the process

[@Tecnitalia55.]

Your video is nice. But without a doubt I believe that the system that uses COMPRESSED AIR as fuel is better. YES YES exactly like that. You read very well. Remember that the flame always heats faster than any other form they would have you believe. Then click on the round image next to the message where Tecnitalia55 is written. And you will enter my page where you can see many of my creations, including the stove that BURN COMPRESSED AIR. Leave a message are welcome. And if you liked it, let me know about my page. Sorry but it's in Italian. Thank you.

[@coen555]

Impressive build!

[@jaminthevanuk296]

As an enginee4 and designer I'm miles behind you what a talent and artist .thank you son.. Mike Scotland

[@leegould5306]

Great fabrication and workmanship 👍👍👍

[@reginalynn9856]

Fantastic build. 👍 Your subscribers offer great suggestions, bravo everyone.👏

[@nicholasheary7364]

I enjoy watching you build your stoves and you definitely stepped it up. I’d like one of you hot water rocket heaters.

[@rl4889]

250 dollars plus 50 shipping, and every use you have to build a fire. Also it has to be in a location to allow the fire safely. When you can just buy an on demand water heater for 160 bucks. And put it under the sink or by the shower

[@davidjones8680]

42 years ago I wrapped as much 3/8" microbore copper pipe as possible tightly around the circular 6" steel chimney pipe coming out of the top of our home made woodburning stove/cooker. In all I covered the whole 30 inches of the chimney pipe before it turned and went through the wall. I plumbed the copper pipe into the indirect side of our copper hot water tank in the bathroom which was directly above the kitchen. After successful initial trials I then insulated the copper pipe, but had to remove it soon after because it was then producing too much hot water and it was venting into the expansion tank. It has since given us all the hot water we have ever needed, and for no extra cost.

[@UltraPatate]

Very impressive improvement, thank you sir

[@ArtisanCustoms]

VERY NICELY DONE SIR! as a fabricatior i can say this is premo. I have cheaply played around with my own versions of fire powered water heaters but this is straight to the business. ill have to model my next one off of this for sure. Well done

[@DazFab_Metalworks]

Really nice work there.

[@user-is9kc4le6y]

Nice wieldings seams, PS I know nothing about metal work but watching you work is fun, thank you.

[@paulmcginty6530]

Great job mate. It was a really tidy looking unit! 👌

[@gungho6798]

A master of your trade mate. Nice workmanship. I own a machine shop and I relish good engineering and workmanship. Well done.

[@salimufari]

I've been looking forward to the results of this series as you've progressed. Congratulations on getting the numbers you were after. 🎉🎉

[@back2basics597]

Welders are my favorite kind of rockstar. And tailors too.

[@KeikoMushi]

Nice fabrication work. It also demonstrates that each bit of workshop contends with wear and tear over time. As such, you'll always need spares of perishables such as drill bits and sanding pads. Stuff can also break on occasional, such as a certain air compressor component that hubby and I got from Bunnings years ago.

[@boydpendleton164]

Nicely done, you are the Fab Master!

[@justkelly6992]

I always love watching a craftsman ply their trades. Excellent job. I have a rocket stove..........Well not really. When I want hot water I put a 2.5 Gallon pail of water on top of the woodstove, in about 15 minutes I have water that is near boiling and I just take it off and use it. Same when camping, put it next to the fire and let it sit. I think rocket stoves are cool and I will eventually make one.

[@chriswoods2263]

Another great video, keep them coming

[@Mprikiman]

A true artist at work!

[@signsbystu]

I was listening to the songs and following along and I knew the songs, I have listened to this music for hours, I was like I know this from somewhere instantly, RIMWORLD! lol thats awesome. Also the build was cool.

[@gerlandkent6377]

thank, you're for you're great helpful video. this is a great item for camping to. 👍

[@dougsinclair3596]

Absolutely fantastic welding! I'm impressed!!!

[@LittleAussieRockets]

Thank you very much!

[@oldmanuserphan]

We use a similar thing to heat water in a sauna. We have the wood stove with a U tube that is exposed to the fire. Cooler water goes in the bottom and rises to the top dumping back into the hot water barrel. Good for quick steam on the rocks and nice hot wash water.

[@CacoRSBR]

Great Job!!

[@jamesdim]

I'm always looking forward to your videos. This is a great design which I'm sure you'll improve even more! Your progress is amazing. Your first designs looked more diy but you're now better than factory!

[@anthony10370]

My man, Those welds! 👌

[@austinbru]

Dunno how I ended up here. But great vibe, tunes, and build.

[@teeje44Gmail]

Beautiful welds!

[@kavehhakimi6485]

Real pleasure to watch you working, your wife is right, keep going on, UR the best!

[@troyam6607]

Glad I've found you, excellent build!

[@LittleAussieRockets]

Hey, thanks!

[@peterweller8583]

What can I say quality work, nice shop.

[@bogdangeorgefolea7802]

magnificent welding man! you really know your metal craft

[@batchrocketproject4720]

Beautiful build and top presentation, thanks for sharing. I'd love a follow up with total weight of fuel burnt and time to get the bottom of the tank store up to temperature. I like your exchanger design as it allows the riser to stay hot enough for good draw and a clean burn (which might be a problem if the riser was surrounded by a water jacket). Also the siphoning seems to be good enough to prevent boiling. Fantastic, thanks again.

[@Tecnitalia55.]

Your video is nice. But without a doubt I believe that the system that uses COMPRESSED AIR as fuel is better. YES YES exactly like that. You read very well. Remember that the flame always heats faster than any other form they would have you believe. Then click on the round image next to the message where Tecnitalia55 is written. And you will enter my page where you can see many of my creations, including the stove that BURN COMPRESSED AIR. Leave a message are welcome. And if you liked it, let me know about my page. Sorry but it's in Italian. Thank you.

[@stevesloan6775]

Your work blows my mind in what is possible!!! Love the background track hahaha! Thanks for the chuckles. 🇦🇺🤜🏼🤛🏼🍀😎☮️

[@LittleAussieRockets]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@HTech123]

This is some world class welding, sir!

[@scoott5780]

Yeah I like this. Great editing. Bloke asmr.

[@higherstandardspc]

You are a Master of the craft, awesome video, on another level.