[Stoves] Stove terminology

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Martin

 

I would explain the 'down' slightly differently.

 

If you have a downdraft stove it means the flame is under the fuel and proceeding vertically down towards the floor. It does not say anything about where it was lit!

 

If it was lit at the bottom, then it is a bottom lit downdraft fire (BLDD). It is quite possible to light a fire on top and have the flame pass into the fuel downwards if the draft is capable of pulling it. This is then a TLDD: Top lit down draft.

 

A regular fire with fuel thrown on top is a bottom lit, updraft (BLUD) and a top lit one is a TLUD. Simple as that. So the ‘draft’ word means where the fire and smoke is heading, and ‘lit’ word is for where the fire is initiated or burning (because they could be different places.

 

The rotating grate stove from Inner Mongolia that I posted on the Stoves website is a very rare case of a fire that can be turned over while it is burning. It is lit on the bottom, and wood burned BLUD, until it has charcoaled. It is covered with coal and after about 3 minutes, inverted with a crank. At that point it has a charcoal fire on top with heated coal underneath and is a TLUD for the rest of the burn cycle. When refuelled, coal is loaded on top and left for 3 minutes (to get heated a bit) then flipped over again. In theory it will reduce the total emissions. The main problem with it is the huge excess air flowing around the grate, killing the thermal efficiency down to 35-40%. So it uses a lot more fuel than a traditional stove.

 

BLUD

BLDD

TLUD

TLDD (rare except for lighting)

BLDD/TLUD (rare)

 

Regards

Crispin

 

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