[Stoves] Excess air

[Philip Lloyd]

Dear List

In one of his responses to Crispin, Ron said "RWL:  In summary, I think you
are raising issues that are hopelessly complicated for the world of stove
testing and comparisons.  I see insufficient reason so far to explore your
metric words "possible" and "to check" and "Obviously".   I hope you will
try again to convince this list (with citations), if you disagree."

I think stove testing needs to be comparable between both stoves and fuels.
What Crispin has done is bring standard combustion theory to bear on the
question so as to allow this. I need, for instance, to be able to compare a
single stove burning either wood or charcoal.  I have to be able to take the
oxygen present in the cellulose and other constituents of the wood into
account in calculating the excess air, because it contributes to the
combustion, whereas with charcoal there is essentially no oxygen present in
the fuel.  The difference is real, measurable, and has an impact on the
efficiency of combustion.

I, for one, am convinced.