[Stoves] Fuel specific Stoves

[Charlie Sellers]

Indeed my few experiences suggest that non-technical (or less technical) things may be most important much of the time.  Recently in Peru we almost had a show stopper because installing a Justa type stove slowed down their time to boil - when they come out of the fields at noon they want a fast lunch, and nothing seems faster than putting the pot right in the flames.  We won't know until the next trip whether we ended up convincing them that no smoke was worth it.

Charlie


cornelio torrijos <cctorrijos at gmail.com> wrote: Hi Crispin,

Thanks for your valuable comments. Your penchant for accuracy is valuable to
me.


 You stated:



"Questions of user-friendliness and durability and many subjective things
are ancillary. They are not less important, they are just different."

My own thoughts are:



For cooks, what you consider "ancillary" are at the utmost importance. They
are the ones exposed to the heat, emissions and the other hazards of
cooking. Thermal performance and emissions are also quite important to them
but not in the way most scientists and health professionals consider these
things.



Getting the job done conveniently (subjective thing)  is most important to
them. If squatting is their habit and preferred way of cooking, stoves that
require them to cook standing up will not be purchased and used by them.



Even as an amateur stove designer, I am not worried about tests that require
a lot of expensive equipment.



I merely use good old observation (time consuming and requires many
repetitions) and compare my stove designs and their variants by a simple
water boil and simmer test.



My primary objective is how can to get the stoves to boil water (2.5
or 5.0liters) as quickly as possible and for the remaining fuel to
continue
simmering the recipe. These are important for cooking rice and the soupy
meat dishes that Filipinos most enjoy and prefer.



So far my best "time to boil" efforts using locally available charcoal is 15
minutes for 2.5 liters and 25 minutes (consistently) for 5.0 liters. Ambient
time has varied from 25C to 30C and my elevation is about 60 ft above sea
level.



I am now beginning to experiment with wood and using these charcoal stoves
as "top lit up draft" devices. In crowded cities like Manila, scrap wood
(mostly coconut trunks) from housing construction can be had at low cost.



All the best,



Cornelio




On 10/17/07, Crispin Pemberton-Pigott  wrote:
>
> Dear Cornelio
>
> I agree that local stove varieties suited to local energy sources will
> always exist.  Common sense!  In recent years we have been expanding the
> definition of what constitutes a fuel and that is wonderful.
>
> Staying topical: there is no need to worry about fuel specific stove
> having
> their own tests.  All manner of stoves and tests can be used, because In
> the
> end, the thermal performance and emissions are going to be evaluated in a
> straightforward manner.  What is the fuel consumption, and what are the
> emissions?  As Roger Samson points out, if a 'waste' (like rice hulls that
> were going to be burned anyway) turns out to be a great fuel, its effect
> on
> emissions in the community is significant.  Rice hulls can entirely offset
> the combustion of a certain amount of wood fuel.
>
> Questions of user-friendliness and durability and many subjective things
> are
> ancillary. They are not less important, they are just different.
>
> It is a bit like automobiles.  They vary a lot in price and features, but
> we
> all want to know the fuel type, fuel economy and seating capacity!
>
> Regards
> Crispin
>
>
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