[Stoves] Stratifying TLUDs for 'turn down'

[neiltm at uwclub.net]

On 14 Jan 2017 at 15:31, Mangolazi wrote:

> Hi Neil, 
> 
> I've also had success with making half-boiled eggs for breakfast
> using TLUDs :) Glad to hear of people using those stoves for real
> world cooking beyond the lab. My small tincanium stove boils water
> in about 10 minutes and the remaining heat from char is enough for
> another 10 minutes of quick frying. I try not to run it on char too
> often because it wrecks the housing. 
> 

Yes.   I built a lovely ash insulated rocket stove out of tin cans.  Went 
beautifully on the three occasions I used it before the tins burned 
through.

> I'm using dried peanut and walnut shells, they're light and make a
> roaring flame when packed in tightly. Any problems with smoke when
> using wet wood at the bottom of the pile? 
> 

No, none at all, nor during the main burn.  The stove makes more smoke 
burning stove dried wood alone, and less to none when mixed with wet, or 
charged with just air dried wood.

> There's a lot of optimization that can be done on these small
> stoves. I've never had a soot-free burn though. You could try adding
> a cross draft bar or a flame disk like on kgharris' designs to
> better mix pyrolysis gasses and secondary air for cleaner burning. 
> 

I had a look at that a while ago, but concluded that the disk would 
prevent reloading, so only any use for batch mode only.  I suspect that 
for a small camping/backpackers portable NDTLUD these Chinese stoves and 
the Solo and Bush Buddy types with their wire grates are probably optimal 
designs for this purpose, except that a rotatable disk to progressively 
close off primary air might permit cleaner burning where good dry fuel is 
available, but the extra cost in production might be unlikely to appeal 
to more than a minority of camping/backpacking users that would actually 
understand its worth, so probably not a commercial prospect.

Best wishes,   Neil