[Stoves] FW: South African "TLUDs" with coal ---- TLUD Stove history

[John Davies]

Crispin, Paul and All,


>Dear Crispin, and to all interested in the history of TLUDs (and in
dissemination efforts),

>Thank you for finding and providing (as an attachment in his previous
message) the informative article "Granny shows the way..." published in the
refereed Journal of Energy in Southern Africa, May 2006, an article that was
first submitted to the editors in August 2004.  I had never seen it before.
Imagine what else might be out there, yet to be discovered.


JD.  It would have been in about 2004, when Sasol did a massive PR exercise
in promoting This method in the townships around Sasolburg and Secunda,
where Sasol has its factories.


>1.  The BNM method refers to burning coal (and references to biomass are
almost negligible), and there is minimal reference to fires of the  
size for cooking.  The South African embuela or mbuela or mbawuala   
(it has several different spellings) is a coal burner that is mainly  
used to heat houses in the cold season in the impoverished townships.   
It is responsible for massive outdoor air pollution and many deaths from CO
poisoning indoors.

JD. For those not familiar with the "embuela", this is not really a stove.
It is a brazier, " a 20 litre tin can with holes punched in it", in which
bituminous coal is burned. Biomass is not used, except for lighting the
coal. It is more expensive, and has to be transported large distances. The
coal is cheap and local.

>2.  Granny Mashinini learned of the stove when it was first introduced into
South Africa near the town of Secunda (which is where John Davies lives), as
reported in a 1999 publication, which I do not yet have, but it implies that
its introduction only a few years earlier.  That does not match well with
Crispin?s statement about it being ?quite some time ago.?  Granny M. added a
nice touch (a couple handfuls of coal on top of the starter materials on top
of the column of coal) to help get the fire started better. 

JD. As we know from history, top lighting has been around for possibly
hundreds, or thousands of years. Being reintroduced or re discovered in
communities around the world.

I wonder if Granny M. actually discovered the concept ????   Or was the
whole story just part of an advertising campaign.    Here we have a local
person with a solution to massive smoke pollution, much more acceptable to
the local people than something from an outsider.

> I have no idea how far back the technique goes, but it was called 
> 'lighting it like grandma does' which gives you a hint.

JD. This brings to mind the story of "Colonel Saunders, of Kentucky Fried
Chicken", fact or Myth !
  
>John Davies and I separately but
at the same conferences (at least two events) presented discussions and
conducted live-fire demonstrations in South Africa prior to the end of 2003
(which is the last time I was in South Africa).  And John was top-igniting
COAL in a small gasifier.  And I presented about such activities at early
meetings of ETHOS in Seattle.  With that as the background, why do the
References in the article have no mention of the prior work about top  
lighting for clean combustion?   This is a peer-reviewed document, so  
it is not just the author who overlooked the prior art.

JD Before this time, I had been using the gasifier principle, in a miniature
steam locomotive, and had been persuaded by Paul to try it out in a coal
stove. The stoves list had been my main source of information for several
years, which was used in the development of the stove. Although a coal
burning stove has to be tuned differently, to biomass, the principle of TLUD
applies.

>4.  The amount of information about the South African initiatives to
disseminate the BNM method is well worth reading to help us understand
efforts to introduce and inform about innovations with solid-fuel combustion
devices.  They spent millions on demonstrations that reached over 15,000
households in South Africa.  And all indications are about success.  I hope
that someone in South Africa can up-date us on the progress to have these
top-lit updraft coal burners adopted throughout the country.

JD. I have not done any recent research. But the pollution problem has not
improved much. In my opinion there are 2 factors involved.

1. People arriving home after a day's activities, want to achieve an embaula
( brazier ) with burning coke in the shortest possible time. Top lighting
takes longer to achieve this. ( Information gathered in 2003 ) This now
smoke free heat source, it carried into the house, ( usually a single room
corrugated iron structure ). Where the occupants can enjoy the warmth, and
cook over the coals. 

2. Many homes are burning coal in cheap, and home made stoves, which have
zero combustion design built in. Possibly worse than the traditional
Mongolian stove.


In summary, ANOTHER SUCCESS STORY for TLUDs!!!  And it is almost all in the
21st century.

Well this depends on who you believe. The politicians, the promoters, or
others. It can work, but we have a long way to go.

Neither Sasol or the powers that be have any interest in my stove. A stove
that was designed to do everything that the embaula does, plus the advantage
of instant heat, use of the volatiles, currently flared off, which would
equate to about 40% less coal consumption. And no CO in the house as it uses
a chimney. 

I do not have the time or funds to promote it myself. I have put the design
in the public domain. Maybe someone will take it and promote it. 

John Davies.