[Stoves] pot skirt efficiency estimates, scale-up

Ron Larson rongretlarson at comcast.net
Sat Sep 15 05:20:09 CDT 2012


Josh

I suggest replacing the skirt concept with an internal 4"-6" pipe ala the usual gas water heater.  A used water heater could be a least cost approach and already have the useful external insulation. You might find several sizes and could move the TLUD between them depending on number of bathers involved.  
  You could control secondary air supply through varying gap between the stove and the "Kelly kettle".  Googling with images for "Kelly kettle" might give some ideas. I found a youtube video in Italian by Nat Mulcahy showing rapid heating.
    I think your 20% estimate for external flame path probably OK, but the internal chimney approach might give more like 100% improvement and be cheaper even if you need a welder for the inner pipe for the 55 gallon drum approach.

Ron







On Sep 14, 2012, at 10:36 PM, Josh Kearns <yeah.yeah.right.on at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm thinking about building a 5-gal TLUD fired 55-gal water heater for outdoor showers. I'm wondering if anyone has a ballpark estimate for heat transfer efficiency w/ and w/o using a pot skirt attachment. The hot water tank will be a 55-gal steel drum, so I think the setup is pretty analogous to a cookstove setup, just bigger. 
> 
> 20%?
> 
> Any thoughts are helpful, rough estimates OK.....thanks!
> 
> 
> FYI, the char from the water heating setup will be used in arbor-loo style modular composting toilets. This infrastructure is being installed during a rambo design-and-build sesh for my wedding on a farm in rural Appalachia (USA), but will be used continually by future events at the site. Cool, huh?!?!
> 
> Josh
> 
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