The Rocket Stove Heated Bench is a hand-built  thermal-mass seating area with a down-draft fire box. It is located in an agricultural outbuilding, a pole barn near the Strawbale Studio. 

This photo shows the bench in the construction stage.  The stove is basically completed, and fully functional.  As of January 2008, some of the bench needs finishing plaster.  We are planning to run the stove for a week during the winter and collect data on its performance in this situation - a building with no solar gain, lots of windows on the E and W, and an un-insulated cement slab. 

Ideal conditions for a rocket stove would be a small, well insulated structure that is lived in and heated every day.  In the pole barn, since use is intermittent, the mass cools down, and takes a lot of heat to bring up to temperature.  However, once heated up, the bench will hold the heat for many hours. 

Mike Zuwacki, above, is part of a group of people in Ann Arbor and SE Michigan who network

and meet occasionally to do projects or share whats happening.  Together a number

of us procured the materials, designed and built this stove! 

Various sources of info on rocket stoves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLejc5X8WNM&feature=related