[Stoves] Chimney Chula

[Xavier Brandao]

Crispin and stovers,

"An advantage (for India) is the very low cooking height": I think it is not
only for India, we are facing this question at the moment in Benin. We made
an institutional rocket stove for the restaurant of the main university.
They are testing it at the moment, if they like it, all universities in
Benin could have these stoves. The first thing the cooks said when they saw
the stove was : "it is too high". Men and women in South-Benin are rather
short-sized. The stoves they use traditionally are very short. They can
stand up, using a big spoon with a long handle.
We got this remark from other places, but people accepted, liked and used
the stoves anyway. But it is the first time we get such "strong" criticism,
almost opposition. I said they would have to try it for a week or more, and
then give us their remarks. End-users of the equipment often fear they will
be imposed decision by people working above them and sitting in office.

The rocket stove combustion chamber grows with the pot size. So does the pot
skirt. In the restaurant, they use only 50 kilos round pots, the biggest
ones I have ever seen. The stove we made had to be tall : perhaps 1.10 -
1.20 meter high. It was one of the tallest we ever made. The women said they
would burn their arms on the hot skirt, and on the top of the pot, when they
will reach food in the bottom of the pot.
They asked us to reduce the size, we said we couldn't since it was due to
the technology, and that a shorter stove would be less clean and efficient.
We'll see in one week how they liked the stoves. 

Traditional stoves are convenient to use, but as you said they make "not
enough flame space to complete the combustion well."
All the institutional stoves I know (rocket, Lion stove, Esperanza stove,
LEGO stove) and some other wood stove (Justa stove, Lorena stove) seem all
to be working on the same principle: a combustion chamber tall enough for
the fire to burn properly, then the shape can vary. If the pot is big, so
must be the stove.

Do you know any stove or any way to build a stove which would be small, even
if it needs to deliver high power to cook on big pots? Have you faced user
acceptance issues because of the stove size ?

Cheers,

Xavier




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Message: 4
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 09:46:14 -0400
From: "Crispin Pemberton-Pigott" <crispinpigott at gmail.com>
To: "Stoves" <stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org>
Subject: [Stoves] Chimney Chula
Message-ID: <101001cc5376$0d935ef0$28ba1cd0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Dear Friends

http://www.designtoimprovelife.dk/index.php?option=com_content
<http://www.designtoimprovelife.dk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article
&id=81&Itemid=63> &view=article&id=81&Itemid=63

It gets some recognition. Looks like a combination of an Esperanza stove
(small Lion with side-fed air) and a Lorena with pre-cast parts. Metal grate
used. I like that! It gives all air preheating.

An advantage (for India) is the very low cooking height though there is
obviously not enough flame space to complete the combustion well.

Good looking.

Regards

Crispin