[Stoves] The Art of Using Grass Bundles in TLUD Stoves

[Julien Winter]

Hello stovers;

I have read with great interest about the Vetiver Grass bundles used
in Peko pe TLUD stoves in Haiti.
http://haitireconstruction.ning.com/page/tlud-grass-stoves
The reason for my interest is that I would like to use rice straw as a fuel.

Does anybody have experience with grass bundles to be able to answer a
few questions:

How big are the bundles relative to the TLUD chamber (e.g, 80% of the
horizontal cross sectional area)?
Do you place one big bundle in the TLUD or many small ones?
Are they stacked horizontally or vertically?

To my mind, this all relates to how the primary air flows in the TLUD.
 If primary air flows around the outside of bundles, then is there a
possibility that the fire will just burn down the outside of the
bundles and go straight to the primary air inlets at the bottom of the
TLUD, bypassing much of the fuel?  If so, we will get a bottom fire
producing incombustible smoke.  I expect there is some art to using
these bundles.

Getting grass bundles to work in stoves is a great idea, because (for
me so far) loose straw is a smoky mess, and pelleting is too expensive
for many people.

Cheers,
Julien.

-- 
Julien Winter
Cobourg, ON, CANADA