[Stoves] Fire Stump / stump-incuts

Thu Jul 21 18:45:57 CDT 2011

Hello......How long is that log? and how long will it burn? From the width of the pavers on the ground as an estimate that log must be at least 28 inches long. I wanted to tell you about a stove which would burn for probably two full days and nights on that much fuel, and do it without any (or very little at refueling time) smoke from the stack. This unit is great for both cooking and heating, made from high quality stainless steel, and weigs 55 lbs. The attached tells the stroy of it's early days. Since the time of this writing allot has changed, for the better. We are soon to be featured in several boating magazines like the story attached. I wish to be clear....this is not a solicitation to buy. You will not be offered an opportunity to do so. I do however think that this article represents a technology which needs to be implemented world wide. I believe it will curb the coal burning in Mongolia, the Rain Forest depletion in the Amazon, and fossil fuel burning here in America.

        Thank you for your time.....

     Roger and Bridget Lehet

					by Deborah Bach

					Created in desperation, boat stove becomes business venture
					Jan 12 2011 in Business of Boating by Deborah Bach

1ShareRoger Lehet with a prototype of the stove he spent about six months developing, which is now being manufactured for sale.
A year ago Roger Lehet was in a desperate situation, on the verge of 
losing his business while moving onto a boat with his family because 
they could no longer afford their house payments.

Today Lehet is filled with renewed hope, believing that the woodstove
 he designed and built to warm his boat might also be his ticket to 
success.

Lehet says his stove, which is currently being manufactured for sale,
 will burn a single presto log for at least 6.5 hours and is more 
efficient than anything else currently on the market. The stove will 
also burn wood and driftwood, Lehet says, and with simple modifications 
can also run on pellets, kerosense, diesel or glycerine.

He’s applied for a patent and says as word of his product has spread, people are showing interest.

“Every day I get phone calls from dealerships and people who want to 
be able to stay out on their boats all year, and this is definitely the 
key to that,” says Lehet, 45.

Desperate times

Last winter, business at Fireside Hearth Shoppe, the Vashon Island 
store Lehet opened in 1985, was so slow he started opening by 
appointment only. He and his wife got rid of their cars and were barely 
scraping by.

So when a customer offered Lehet a 30-foot Bayliner Contessa in 
exchange for a woodstove, Lehet — who had barely ever driven a boat, let
 alone owned one — said yes. His wife was not thrilled about the 
arrangement, Lehet says, though her 9-year-old daughter saw it as a 
great adventure.

The trio moved aboard in February, anchoring out in Quartermaster 
Harbor. The storms came, bringing pelting rain and powerful gusts. Lehet
 had to learn quickly about maintaining a boat. One of the first lessons
 was that a propane heater is not the optimal choice onboard.

“It just turned the boat into a shower,” Lehet says. “It was just icky, moldy sheets and the whole nine yards.”

He tried a generator-powered electric heater, but it used a lot of 
fuel and he worried the noise would annoy the neighbors. He looked for a
 stove with a glass door, that could burn all night on a load of fuel 
and that he could cook on. It also had to fit inside of a 12-inch wide 
cabinet, the only convenient place on the boat to put it.

But Lehet couldn’t find what he wanted, so he set about making it 
himself. The back of his boat serving as a workshop, Lehet toiled 
through the winter and spring, designing and testing his stove. The 
first version got so hot the chimney fell off and hit him in the 
forehead. Over the next four iterations he tweaked the stove’s air flow,
 gradually lengthening the burn time.

“I was able to extend the burn time much longer on the same load of 
fuel,” Lehet says. “The only problem was, it was ugly as hell. Someone 
saw it and said, ‘You should get this thing patented and make it 
pretty.’”

Lehet didn’t have the money for a patent application, but says a 
customer of his offered to pay for it. A grateful Lehet dubbed the stove
 “the Kimberly” after the man’s wife, who was also supportive of his 
project. He soon partnered with a machinist, who Lehet says is now 
manufacturing the first 500 units of the stove at a facility in Orting, 
Wash.

The first batch will have stainless exteriors and be priced at 
$3,500, and Lehet plans to also offer models with copper, brass and 
anodized aluminum exteriors. The stoves have a 316 stainless steel 
interior and a chimney that vents from the back to keep the stovetop 
free for cooking.

“We cook bacon and eggs on it, hamburgers, steak … it makes the best buttered rum,” Lehet says.

A new venture

An initial run of 500 units may seem risky, but Lehet says based on the level of interest he’s hearing, he doesn’t think so.

“I think that 500 are going to be gone in probably two months,” he 
says. “More and more people have been coming out of the woodwork and 
saying, ‘How soon can I get one?’”

Lehet is pursuing certification to ensure his stove meets U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency standards and already has plans for 
expansion — adding water coils so the stove can double as a hydronic 
heater, developing an oven that will mount on top, making smaller-sized 
stoves suitable for backpacking, creating a line of accessories.

Ultimately, he hopes to take over an empty space on Vashon previously
 occupied by K2 Skis, which left the island nearly a decade ago and 
moved its manufacturing abroad. Lehet, who opened his shop on Vashon at 
age 18, wants to help provide jobs for his fellow islanders.

“It’s going to be a very high-quality stove,” he says. “It’s going to
 be manufactured here and we’re going to put people to work here.”

Fireside Hearth Shoppe
 is now back to regular opening hours, and Lehet and his family have 
moved back into their house, which he co-owns with his mother. Though 
the past year has been a struggle, Lehet also sees it as a blessing.

“I’m very thankful I hit rock bottom. I needed it,” he says. “I’ve 
had my fat years and I’d gotten kind of lazy and complacent. To have 
everything stripped away — all the toys are gone and you’re going to be 
living on a boat because you don’t have a choice — it’s a very humbling 
experience.

“Had we never come to the brink of destruction business-wise and 
moved onto a boat and gone through these experiences, I never would have
 done this.”

From: boll.bn at t-online.de
To: rongretlarson at comcast.net
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 22:01:38 +0200
CC: stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org; peetersfrans at telenet.be
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Fire Stump /  stump-incuts

Ron,

- Frans, Frank and „Stomp-Stovers“ 

Here some pictures from a fire-stump. It is laying
around in a garage for a year of three. I just took the pictures to explain,
without need of many words.

With such a type (but with bark) I did my test as I
described in the stoves-list. But that burn was without aluminium-foil. 

I was discontent with my first test, which I made in
summer last year. The burn of the dry pine-stump did not happen as
symmetrically as I expected, and the stump had several times to be turned for
using the wind direction to direct the burn.

The in-cuts from the bottom were done too high, so
the stump burnt too early in pieces. The central channel appeared in begin too small. 
(A commercial fire-stump in the web has on top a sort of dish/cup which seems to
work better)

.

The idea to wrap it (in different test in somehow
different manners) with aluminium-foil came by reading the thread about the
fire-stump. So I cannot say anything about that. I have not yet planned how to
play with the foil-wrapping. Here is for the moment lack of time and appropriate
weather. But possibly is someone interested in that first step to struggle
further.

The difference with this stump is:

There is a channel from top to bottom, not made by a
drill, but by chain-saw-in-cuts in 60° angles

Picture 001 shows that by a metal-stick going through
the central-hole.

Picture 008 shows (with good will of the viewer) that
the asterisk has a central channel, going through.

Pictures 010 and 012 show the different position of
the in-cuts from bottom in comparison to the in-cuts from the top,

-By going further with fire-stumps, I think it would
be useful to remind the old-fashioned type of saw-dust –stoves with the
central hole.

Regards 

Martin

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