Tips and Tricks for Starting and Using Your Rocket Stove Efficiently!

It's finally time for me to share the specifics on actually using a rocket stove as efficiently as possible.  Building them are fun, but using them is different.  I actually had to adjust back to cooking on a regular stove, after I spent about a year cooking on one of these; food just didn't taste the same.  There are little tips and tricks to using them, that become second nature pretty quickly.  

Just understanding what you're trying to do and making it happen gets the job done.  A properly built fire will start fairly quickly, roar once going with flames shooting out the top.  As long as it's built properly and fed properly, you should end up with little ash and coal.  That means that all the energy of that wood was consumed, meaning you used all that energy that could have been left in coals in your fire, cooking your food using less wood.

I'll start by saying to prep work is everything when using your rocket stove.  The whole idea of these things is to be efficient, that means you need to be efficient in how you handle things.  Many times I've not been prepared beforehand in one way or another, often running around trying to keep a fire started while chopping wood or vegetables. So do yourself the favor of getting EVERYTHING ready before you start. 

Get everything you're cooking to a ready to put on the stove state.  Any seasonings or things to add later, should be prepped and brought to the stove sight before cooking, after you get wood and stock the stove. Any utensils you need should be brought with you.  Do your best to make it so you don't have to leave the stove, it makes it a much nicer cooking experience. 

Start with wood, get what you think would be enough to cook the meal, then grab some more.  It's better to have leftover wood at the end of the cooking process than to be trying to get more wood ready, while trying to keep a dying fire going.  Make sure you have lots of different sized pieces, starting from very small to larger sticks.  How big the sticks can go really depends on your stove size.  This is the largest rocket stove I've used, so I can use bigger sticks than I'm used to at the larger end.  You can use sticks, split wood or lumber, pinecones.  You can even use cardboard, although you'll use a lot of it. Size of fuel and what you use is dependant on the size of the stove. Tiny stoves obviously don't need a bunch of sticks.

Make sure the bottom air shaft is empty before you load the stove.  Start with small sticks first, on top of the grill.  Arrange them with air flow in mind, try not to pack them tightly, leave air space in-between.  Make sure you leave about a centimeter of space between the back of the chimney and the ends of the sticks, for proper draw and air flow once you start it.  Look down through the top when loading if you aren't sure on the spacing. Fill up the chamber, unless you're cooking for just a few minutes. It starts better fully packed though.

You'll need something to start your fire.  I've used all sorts of things for this, the common ones being paper, cardboard, a torch or a combination of these things.  For this fire, I used some cardboard.  I balled up some and put it in the back, of the thicker stuff.  The flaky thin stuff was crumbled and put in after.  Just start that with a lighter and wait.  You can blow to intensify the fire, but if your stove is properly built you shouldn't need to.  Try to have more starter than you think you'll need as well, as sometimes you need a bit extra to get it going depending on your fuel source.  

So long as your stove is properly built, with no air gaps and the proper proportions (I described them in my articles about the building of this stove) your stove should start fairly quickly.  Before long, the fire will be licking through the wood, which will start popping as it catches fire. There should be minimal smoke, just lightly as it gets it's bearings.  Leave the pan off the stove during this process, to allow for proper draw.

Once you see flames out the top, like the picture above, it's ready.  Put your pan on top. Depending on how the top of your stove is designed, you may be able to set it in a way to where the handle doesn't get hot.  My stove setup allows me to do that, so I do every time to make sure I can carry the handle.  Its a good idea to have some sort of towel or oven mitt device just in case though. This doesn't really count for cast iron, although you don't want it in direct flame in case you need to remove the pan while the stove is full boar.  It can get too hot. Sauteeing anything on high is a surefire way to burn it, sometimes you just gotta remove the pan and let it burn for a second.  This is wasteful, but an option in case it's too hot for you. 

One important aspect of the stove, for adequate draw and efficient burn, is how much airspace you allow at the top of the stove, between the stove and the pan.  We had to tweak this aspect of our stove, adding the brick pieces you see above.  If you find the stove has a hard time starting with properly dry starting materials, or staying lit, if it smokes a lot, this could be the problem.  Either increase or reduce the amount of air flow to make the stove work the best.  Every stoves different, use what you've got on hand to make things work.  

You'll know your stove is functioning well when you hear the signature rocket noise coming from the engine.  The stove will burn hot, or not depending on how you feed it.  It'll produce no more smoke after it's lit, unless you let it burn down too much before adding more wood.  If you tend it, it will burn and you can pretty easily get a feel for how to get more settings than just "blazing hot". When the stove starts to go out, it'll smoke a little bit it shouldn't be unbearable to be around.  If there's just a little ash and a tiny amount of coal, your stove is fairly efficient. 

Smoke when burning, difficulty starting and keeping it going and over production of waste products are all signs that your stove is not efficient.  Check your dimensions and ratios, are they right? Do you have a grate? Was there enough airspace between the wood and the wall? Is the wood dry? Is there too much/little airspace at the top? Tweak these things and you'll eventually end up with a perfectly functional rocket stove.  

You'll be surprised at how LITTLE wood a properly built rocket stove uses to cook a meal.  The wood you saw packed into the wood stove actually ended up being too much for the chicken I cooked for the nachos I shared earlier, to give you an idea.  This is the largest rocket stove I've used, and that's still not much more than what I'm used to using. There are rocket stove designs good for offices, that make a cup of tea using just one match.  With the correct proportions and other important features, this design is versatile and adaptable to any situation.  Try building a rocket stove that suits your lifestyle, and share it with me here on Steemit!