[Stoves] Ceramic fiber insulation

[Crispin Pemberton-Pigott]

Dear Graham

Ceramic fibre insulation is used in double shell stoves.  In SSA there are very few double shell stoves.  Where there are, and insulation other than air (using the gap as a preheating channel) causes the inner liner to burn out within a few weeks.

There aren't many stoves that benefit from ceramic insulation.  Losing the ability to pre-heat primary and or secondary air causes greater loss than mere insulation.  The loss of heat to the walls is not great, assists the burning of CO late in the fire if the material can conduct the heat back to the chamber again at a sufficient rate, and the efficiency of any subsection of a flame path must be considered in terms of everything else that is going on.

Further, there are simpler solutions available.  All Rocket stoves benefit (in terms of fuel efficiency) by adding a grate. All flat-bottomed charcoal stoves should not be flat but rather have an included angle of 135 degrees.  The IKJ (jiko) is flat because the ATI consultant wanted to make the ceramic parts on a simple rotating jigger, not because it was better.

All stoves with tall chimneys should have a barometric draft regulator ($0.50) to prevent over-draft.  None do.

The most common use of ceramic fibre I see is as a fuel absorbent in the fuel canister of ethanol stoves. 

Best regards
Crispin


-----Original Message-----
From: Stoves <stoves-bounces at lists.bioenergylists.org> On Behalf Of Graham Knight
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2022 2:42
To: stoves at lists.bioenergylists.org
Subject: Re: [Stoves] Ceramic fiber insulation

Dear Member,

I have just joined bioenergy lists as I was looking for answers to a puzzle.
Why is there no mention here (that I can find) of ceramic fiber insulation?
It has been used in all  sorts of stoves in the USA for many years, including rocket stoves, but I  can find no mention of its use in other countries - apart from with pizza ovens.
CF blanket is a remarkable material and is so insulating that the outside of stoves has negligible temperature rise!

Its benefit in developing country stoves seems obvious and it is sold in some SSA counties so why is it still not being used for clay stoves?
Can anyone help me?

Yours,

Graham Knight
biodesign20.co.uk


Attached is a pdf showing some of its uses in the USA

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