[Stoves] Which technologies will best reduce CO and blackcarbon, improve health and safety and lower household energy costs?

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Martin

>If fire is speeded up quickly, heat transfer is good and there is
>no need to reach the boiling point.

The problem with speeding up the boiling is that the food itself does not
get hot if the water is rapidly boiled, and it has to be held at the boiling
point to allow the heat to get into the centre of the food.

As the RTC can only hold what heat is already in the pot, the temperature of
the (usually dense) food is low, the _average_ temperature of the water+food
is not really near boiling and it will not cook properly.

Normally the advice is to cook for 1/3 of the usual time before transferring
to an RTC.  This is to allow the heat to penetrate the food adequately.

Even if the boiling were instantaneous, it would still have to be held at
that temperature for a while as the heat is absorbed into the food.

Regards
Crispin