[Stoves] Mesh wick

[Jigme Rangdrol]

As per our prior the wire mesh wick was tried out yesterday.
I presented the puzzle to my science class and explained how to 
construct it but not what to expect.
I was pleased with the predictions but the results were inconclusive.

The body was a coffee can with a mesh grate sat on a stove pipe "T" of 
the same diameter - on the odd port - so it was getting about twice the 
air flow.
The "bottom" of the mesh cage was several inches off the fuel bed.
The results were basically the same.
There was the same very nice flame concentrated around the center 
however it could not be compared for uniformity.
At its highest point it was several inches above the "bottom" of the 
mesh cage.


There were problems.
There was a good bit of wind in the shop and we were not able to give it 
adequate screening. At one point while lighting it with newsprint a gust 
shot a flame a good three feet garnering oohs, aahs and cheers. As a 
result of the air movement we could not see how the "bottom" was 
affecting the flame consistently.

The briquettes were 4 years old.  I have suspect the moisture content 
was high as we have had hard rains for a week or so and they have been 
in an unsealed bucket in the back of the shop.

One of the ports of the "T" should have been closed off. My thought was 
that wind gusts could pass under with less updraft being created but the 
negative pressure is then a factor etc etc.

The cage "bottom" was too high. It should have been an inch over the 
fuel bed not an inch over the body.


I will try to correct the problems and try again.
One very good outcome was that we have demonstrated that 10 year olds 
can understand and construct the device.
All in all science class was a hit and we are well on our way to the 
creation of another generation of pyromaniacs