[Stoves] Cooking With Corn Cobs in Saipina, Bolivia

[David Whitfield]

Hi James,
You probably meant for the person making the stove to respond to this  
question.  At any rate I am happy to respond.

I know what you mean, the combustion chamber is shorter than a 6  
brick, at least it is shorter than the 6 brick stoves we make.  we  
started out with the standard dimensions when we were in the research  
and development stage and as we evolved the stove we were looking for  
ways to reduce the price and respond to the feed back from the  
users.  We had to shorten the height of the stove to please most  
users.  Also since the cost of metal is going up all the time sizing  
was critical.

We are sending a stove to Aprovecho for testing by them.  Here in  
Bolivia, the University that has the stove testing program says its  
the best one they've tested.  We will be posting numbers on the WBT,  
CCT and KT.  We have 1,500 stoves in the field in use and are  
constantly receiving orders for more.  The users say it is  
economical.  We can boil 5 liters of water in 17 minutes using 400  
grams of wood.  Is that good combustion?

If you look at the "corn cob" video you will see that NO smoke is  
coming out of the chimney.  What does that indicate to you Jim?  When  
first started we can have some chimney smoke, but when the chamber is  
hot usually none.  We can maintain a roiling slow boil or simmer for  
45 minutes without having to add fuel, except occasionally one small  
piece 3 x 3 x 15 to keep us 3oC below the boiling point.

One factor that I think is important to consider is comparing this  
combustion chamber to a 6 brick is that we use both internal short  
chimney and an external chimney.  I believe the external chimney is  
helping our combustion.  Another observation that we have made is  
that the internal pot skit that we have incorporated for pots that  
can fit into the chamber seems to give us the internal chimney effect  
when we are using a larger pot on top of the plancha.

Our combustion chamber is based on the Helps stove chamber.


Thanks for taking the time to check out these details.

warm regards
David
On Jun 4, 2007, at 4:26 PM, jameshensel at comcast.net wrote:

> Robert,  I was curious about the height of the combustion chamber.   
> It appears much shorter in height than other rocket stoves  
> including the Onil Stove and the six brick stove.
>
> I would be interested in whether you are seeing complete combustion  
> in such a short chamber.
>
> Maybe Dean or Don could chim in with thoughts about the height of  
> the combustion chamber as well.  I did not see anything on the  
> aprovecho site discussing this point.
>
> Jim
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David Whitfield
lists.cedesol at gmail.com
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David Whitfield V.

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