My favorite trick for lighting a wood stove is to pile up chunks of
split wood so that there is an empty vertical space in the middle 2-3
cm wide. Just a bit of kindling set off in there will get the two
walls radiating at each other quickly, especially if they are extra
dry from being near the stove on its previous burn. A chunk on top
should moderate the airflow to increase combustion temperatures until
it starts to burn through. This saves me a lot of time from making
and fussing over kindling. A propane torch or a bit of wax or pitch
are other labor-savers.
Bob Stuart
On 5-Jan-14, at 10:50 AM, Henri Naths wrote:
Hi Ken
Thank you for your good analysis of your wood stove. I know there
is a better design and I'm not sure if my stove is better or not.
Here is the thing. I burn spruce. My supply comes in 5 to 8 inch
round logs dried for ~3 years. Not sure mc but guess around
15%.-20 % I try to maintain a very hot temp so the entire logs
gasify and burn over a 12 hr period. (Absolutely no fuel prep.
splitting etc is mandatory lol ) It's very fickle in setting damper
and air intake but for the most part I am successful. The
refractory bricks helps a lot. So that is 2 burns over a 24 hr
period. ( it's been averaging minus 20 c over the last two months
here so not much choice)Ive run numerous test of my theory for max
efficiency under which this stove operates and settled on this
operation because when the stove is shut down anywhere at the
height of its max temperature and burn cycle and allowed to cool to
20 c it can be relight with a single match.
The volatile gases including h2o could be better used for sure.
They cool and condensate on the inside walls of the stove and flue
before they frac. completely resulting in biochar. The problem
being the gases should be reheated, frac.ed with a catalyst and
burned where the heat would be a benefit to the logs for
pyrolysis. Thus enhancing the entire burn + 20%. ( +++
considering the exponential advantage of said catalysis and
resulting heat)
A fluidized bed would also be an advantage.
I hope this helps.
Yours truly
Henri Naths
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