Arbtalk.co.uk | Discussion Forum for Arborists

Somewhere I remember seeing a design for a homemade "rocket" style stove built out of a couple of old cans. There is also something similar made out of Titaniun.

Are you sure you don't mean tincanium? Most of these designs started off life as coffee, paint tins etc.

Cheap n cheerful

That's a three stone fire with a tin can pot.

It does demonstrate some of the problems with a three stone fire though, the uncontrolled combustion air and, more importantly the cold pot being in the flame. This quenches the flame and that means the flame has not burned out, hence the sooty deposit on the can. This is an inconvenience but in the rural third world the cooking may be taking place indoors, sooty particles then circulate in the room and are a source of Indoor Air Pollution, because these particulates are a complex of carbon and phenolic based organic compounds, they are not only carcinogenic, like Benzo-a-pyrene in tobacco smoke also, but are implicated in susceptibility to acute respiratory infecting in youngsters. This and unsanitary water supply are the biggest child killers.

The rocket is in effect 1/3 of a three stone fire with a bit more length for combustion to complete, it still has the problem of allowing too much excess air through the stove which other designs try to control.

The kelly kettle is a precursor to the rocket and I did notice one being used in some of the early footage of the young princess Elizabeth.

Interesting post catweazel.

I'd be interested to know if you think these stove designs take on board what you were saying. With the exception of the first they are enclosed on three sides and raised up a bit.

Yes but they are high mass stoves, these were promoted in the 80s especially in South America, as improved stoves, the lorena was one but whilst they do control air supply to some extent they soak up a lot of energy in heating the stove. This is why there is a move to lighter weight, tincanium, stoves that can be fabricated locally by blacksmiths from old oil drums and such but also using mixtures of clays that are lighter and better insulators.

The first picture shows the woman using a blowpipe to fan the flames, the fire vents to the room in which a young child is sitting. The flames are touching the pot which is blackened with soot, the pot is a good shape but there will be greater heat losses with no lid. Interestingly the woman does not have the blowpipe to her mouth, intuitively this makes sense until you wonder that we inhale 21% oxygen and exhale 18%.

Similar comments on the second picture, is she removing a pot from a steamer? Note the soot stained upper walls. Some say the smoke preserves the thatch by killing bugs but it's a high price to pay breathing the air inside.

I'm not sure of the third picture, are they burning rushes? And a coil to heat water in a sunken two pot stove?

Last picture indicates some sort of drying or smoking of stuff hanging from the ceiling.

What country? Nepal? We discussed cooking and lighting in Nepal and I was appalled to be told the average life expectancy was about 45, this when I was 50 and no a decade later I still don't feel I'm ready to shuffle off.

The site is down atm but if you are interested visit BioEnergy Discussion Lists when it comes back online.

Thanks for the considered response catweazel. You’re right that it was Nepal.

I’m afraid I can’t answer your detail questions as this was 1999 and I have forgotten. I was with Annapurna Conservation Area Project for a while, just off me own bat, as I was interested in the work of NGOs.

Your observations are better than my memory, but I know these stoves were designed for fuel wood efficiency due to shortages of fuelwood.

I’ll take a look at the site you mention when it’s back up as all alternative technology stuff is a bit of a hobby of mine.

By the way I was quite pleased with my 3 stone tin can thing at the time. I thought your ‘tincanium’ was a play on words. Sleeping in the car and no stove for a brew. So I bought a can of fruit the night before and some firelighters and just used a bit of firelighter under the tin for the morning brew.

Had to write this twice as somehow arbtalk blipped and lost the first version

Yes but the proof is in the eating and a good practitioner with a 3 stone fire is hard to beat. The priority is to improve indoor air pollution but this was probably not properly recognised until Kirk Smith pointed out the problems.

Me too though I always hoped to be more involved

I think it was Tom Reed that first used the term for discarded tin cans used for raw materials. I first heard how important it was from a chap with a trekkasaw who worked on ships, he said that in the pacific people dived after the waste that was thrrown overboard, that would be around86.
That's funny, me too, I nearly gave up and went to bed, off again in 7.

Nice chatting with you mate

Funny you got the blip too as I almost gave up as well but thought you deserved a response so made the effort. Probably less BS in my second version anyway.

I also wanted to be more involved and haven't done what I would like.

I did set up a charity which supported Tibetan refugees in vocational training, which has been on hold for a while. I would like to resurrect it.

Some great replies, thanks for the smiles & cheering me up on a wet night :-)
some good pictures too, a great response in a short time.