[Stoves] Starting stoves

[Paul Anderson]

Frank and all,

Very nice thoughts about starting fires in different ways.    Glad you 
will be at ETHOS and at the Aprovecho Open House after ETHOS.

One comment now:   The special starter needs to be in some appropriate 
contact with the fuel.    Under piles of sticks (tinder, etc) in a 
stick-fire could work fine.    On top of a pile of fuel in a TLUD can be 
great, but needs some additional comments.

Probably should have a small amount of the raw fuel mixed in or on top 
of the starter?    This works well with pellet fuels and other fuels 
that have sufficiently small size to fill in any voids between the fuel 
pieces.    However.......

Be careful of gaps between pieces of larger fuel such as vertical sticks 
or corn cobs, because the starter could fall down and the ignite the raw 
fuel too far down in the fuel bed.

Note:   Presented months ago, but not widely discussed, is the use of 
Regular char (not the starter stuff) to fill in the gaps when using 
larger pieces of fuel.    I have tried that several times, always with 
reasonable success.    The char-as-filler is essentially "inert" as the 
pyrolysis front of the TLUD passes downward, creating more char (and 
leaving the filler char re-heated but probably not modified).   (no char 
is lost in this re-use of the previously created char.).

Frank, see you at ETHOS and after !!!!!!!!

Paul

Doc  /  Dr TLUD  /  Prof. Paul S. Anderson, PhD
Email:  psanders at ilstu.edu
Skype: paultlud      Phone: +1-309-452-7072
Website:  www.drtlud.com

On 1/2/2014 3:56 PM, Frank Shields wrote:
>
> **
>
> *Dear All,*
>
> **
>
> *It seems most stoves work very cleanly once started. It's the 
> starting that produces the most particular matter and poor combustion 
> and the part of the process that needs improving upon. *
>
> *I think that means when we light the match we need a fast, hot flame 
> produced from a well-mixed gas in the exact ratio for combustion and 
> next to a material that burns hot. *
>
> **
>
> *I do not understand this process (cannot visualize it) but activated 
> carbon has a butane activity of ~30 g per 100 grams carbon. A good 
> Biochar has around 10g/100grams. 30g butane = ~12 liters gas and 10g = 
> ~4 liters gas all 'packed' into a cup of char. And char burns very 
> hot. So wondering if loaded char could be used as a fire starter? So 
> one can squeeze 12 liters butane gas into a cup of Biochar (?!?!!) 
> using no pressure etc. *
>
> **
>
> *Char having high activation (> 10) I have loaded with gasoline and 
> have a tank of methane ready for testing when I get the time. *
>
> **
>
> *The next improvement might be a better way to light the stove. I was 
> thinking a Wile E. Coyote mechanical detonator where one pushes a 
> plunger that creates a spark within the packed fuel to ignite 
> something (loaded char?). *
>
> **
>
> *http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_wpcJX2WqAXo/S06hLGzpHgI/AAAAAAAAAJY/t-fip6bv-nI/s400/coyote-6.jpg*
>
> **
>
> http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=printpage;topic=780.0
>
> *//*
>
> I plan to bring some high activity biochar loaded with a couple things 
> to Aprovacho (after Ethos) and hope we have the time to experiment 
> with using it for igniting fuel.
>
> **
>
> Regards
>
> Frank
>
> **
>
> *Frank Shields*
>
> *Control Laboratories; Inc.*
>
> *42 Hangar Way*
>
> *Watsonville, CA  95076*
>
> *(831) 724-5422 tel*
>
> *(831) 724-3188 fax*
>
> *frank at biocharlab.com <mailto:frank at biocharlab.com>*
>
> *www.controllabs.com <http://www.controllabs.com>*
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
> **
>
>
>
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