The Dragon V2 Build Complete How To Video (featured in Mother Earth News) by Timothy Luce

This is the improved and simplified version of the stove featured in the Dec/Jan 2016 issue of Mother Earth News. Please subscribe. Also, head on over to my site for more DIY projects: http://timothyluce.com/projects

Note: after running a few burn cycles I recommend making the slots that are cut in the grate (the bottom of the burn chamber) wider in diameter. I would make them approx 1″ wide. Reason being the openings are too small and they are not self clearing.

I also modified the air inlet a little. The hole is the same but I cutout an additional section in the bottom of the grate where a metal pipe for air intake is turned up at an approx 45° angle This injects air directly into the coal bed. I’ll post a video update on the air intake mod.

20 thoughts on “The Dragon V2 Build Complete How To Video (featured in Mother Earth News) by Timothy Luce”

  1. I learned much more than building a Dragon. Your video is full of helpful little pieces of info, ie.. soapstone marker vs. sharpie, how to fill copper with water to keep from crimping, and much more. Really good video. I know they're a bunch of work, thanks for sharing.

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  2. I would suggest you reverse your cold water input to preheat the water prior to exposing the water to maximum temps, thus creating the optimum heat exchange. 🙂

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  3. Over time i see the potential for galvanic corrosion. Between the heat, the concrete, the copper (more noble metal) and the steel of the barrel and already rusting central heat core you run a strong risk of failure from dielectric reaction and having to gut and rebuild this stove. If i might suggest, as many mass stoves use the galvanized pipe running back and forth for as much as 20 feet in the mud pack, clay or firebrick etc. you could use that design and wrap copper around galvanized without concern for the dielectric reaction for many years to come. However i also understand the desire to experiment with on hand materials until you reach the best design for your needs. Cio!

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  4. Ps..there’s a really cool hand crimper tool that exaggerates the crimps so that no cuts need be made/ it will also re-round out your stove pipe by simply going all the way around. I found mine at Ziggy’s

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  5. Playing fast and loose with the gas can right behind where you’re using the plasma cutter? Could blow u back to ‘midevil’ times!

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  6. I've built one of these based on your design and got it running a little while ago, it was awesome.

    After stalking several of your videos I read that you had an issue where it clogged up after you dampened the stove and then you modified the air intake and it was a lot better? Could you elaborate on this?

    I find I get good results if the lid is opened a crack for air for a bit after its drafted through the exhaust tubing, and was thinking some sort of adjustable air on the lid

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  7. I love to see how many commenters try to teach their grannies how to suck eggs.
    This guy has built at least two of these and he is still alive… (and still has all of his fingers).
    Come on people, stop acting like you are OSHA's snitch. 99% of the ones saying how "dangerous" these practices are, have never done ANYTHING like this (and never will)! Believe me, it's not your "job" to go from video to video, advising people on the "dangers" of their actions. If you have the balls, then go to a construction site and tell "those guys" what they are doing wrong! That will cure of sucking eggs!

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  8. A quick note. I take it that none of the concrete covers the copper tubing. Because whenever copper passes through concrete it has to be sleeved: concrete eats copper.

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  9. Use good ventilation when cutting, mercaptans (the stuff that gives the bad smell to propane) can condense in the tanks, and contains mercury!

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  10. I am surprised since you filled the copper tubing with water, it didn't bust when it froze. Interesting video!

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  11. This is so much against the principle of a rocket stove! The riser tube should be insulated and not wrapped with coolant lines… you kill a lot of draft with that design flaw!

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  12. I did something similar with my preheat water system years ago . I put it all in a gutted refrigerator and enclosed the front part sides to enclose the front from the tank to the fridge lip. I wound the tubing out of a 6 inch pipe up to the top inside and then enclosed the top and put two ducting vents up there and a furnace blower in the rear with a a couple of heat sinks to turn fan off and on. So it was a dual purpose furnace which preheated my house tank with similar coils in it to warm up the water before going into main tank. I had to insulate the outside of wood furnace and also the copper lines from shop wall into my house basement as well as both water tanks. I used windshield washer flid in my lines and also later found a boiler pump but never got around to installing a pump on the lines, just a one way check valve was okay. Thanks for the upload.

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  13. So this set in concrete, what about when the thin metal of the stovepipe breaks down? What about Galvanic Corrosion between the copper and the iron?

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