Re: Short primer on stove efficiencies

[Peter Verhaart <pverhaart@optusnet.com.au>]

Dear Dean,

As usual, you hit the nail on the head.
Clean combustion as well as good heat transfer to the pan will be a
compromise. You need sufficient residence time (temperature dependent)
for the fuel to burn completely. Having a large combustion space brings
with it the danger of heat loss to the surroundings, so good insulation
would help. After the chemistry has completed, the gases can be exposed
to the cold pan bottom. Velocity increased heat transfer so a chimney
will help. If a chimney is placed downstream from the pan, a gas tight
seal between the pan and the stove is essential.



At 07:04 6/05/02 -0700, you wrote:
> Dear Kirk, et
> al
>  snip. 
> If I were to play devil's advocate I would be tempted to
> suggest that massive, box type combustion chambers that encourage loading
> with too much fuel are obsolete and since they are not clean burning
> should not be matched up with heat transfer strategies that require
> better systems of combustion. A box made from thermal mass is just not a
> modern combustion chamber.
>  
> Best,
>  
> Dean

Exactly.

Piet