A properly built rocket stove uses 60 to 70 percent less fuel than a three-stone open fire for the same cooking job, and you can check that by weighing the wood. It is safe indoors only if the exhaust is carried to the outside through a sealed pipe, because even a stove that looks smokeless makes carbon monoxide, which has no smell and can kill.
Part of Rocket Stove Design
A rocket stove’s value is the fuel it saves, and its risk is the exhaust it makes. Both can be checked rather than assumed.
Measure The Saving; Respect The Exhaust
- Fuel savings. See Fuel Savings Measurement.
- Indoor use. See Indoor Use & Ventilation.
- Carbon monoxide. See Carbon Monoxide Risks.
Common Mistakes
- Trusting “smokeless” to mean “safe”. Clean-looking exhaust still holds carbon monoxide.
- Sleeping in a room with a burning or glowing stove.
- Quoting the saving without measuring. Your stove, fuel and pot differ.
Safety
The deadly hazard is invisible
Carbon monoxide has no smell and no colour. Headache, nausea and drowsiness are what a cold, tired person expects to feel anyway. Feeling sleepy near a burning stove is a reason to get out and ventilate, not to lie down. A burning stove body also causes burns for hours after the flame is out.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Fuel Savings Measurement — checking the 60 to 70 percent
- Combine with: Carbon Monoxide Risks — the number behind the warning