How to Use a Woodgas or Smoke Burner Stove

The Woodgas or Smoke Burner Stove technology is new to many users. These are the most efficient Good stoves, with a choice of using different types of available biomass.

Choosing fuel: It is based on the design of combustion chamber (dimensions, primary and secondary holes, air pumped through the fan / natural draft).Follow the instructions provided for each model.

Smoke: There is a chance that your stove might sometimes generate too much smoke, for the following reasons: 1.When the chips of wood / shavings are too wet. 2. Insufficient air from the primary air source - blocked by the biomass material, or material packed too tight, or biomass of different sizes (big and small pieces), etc.

Kitchen environment: Always use a well ventilated kitchen or semi-ventilated or fully open areas.If exhaust fans are available keep them always on even after cooking for some more time.

Filing fuel: There should be contiguity between each piece of fuel (no voids, Not to be packed too tight (there should be chance for flow of primary air). Homogeneous size of biomass pieces / shavings, Avoid wet biomass and bark of certain trees in the biomass.

Lighting the fuel: Use small pieces of wood shavings soaked (not too much) in any mild fire oil (kerosene / diesel / vegetable oil / etc). Spread a layer of it evenly on the top of the fuel charged, lit using a match stick / lighter then place the bowl / container for cooking and then swithch on the fan.

Multigrade fuel: If using multigrade fuel, sieve it and could could classify it into two grades for use. say 1 inch size fuel / 2 inch size fuel, etc.

If you want to use two grades of fuel simultaneously use the large size grade at the bottom and then the small size fuel at the top, see that this small size fuel simply does not slip downwards while burning. If it is true woodgas stove, the char produced will have some brittleness / stiffness and the finer biomass won't move downwards. In quasi-woodgas stove the small size fuel might get more air and get converted into ash of embers might move downwards generating some amount of excess smoke, which is unexpected.

-- Saibhaskar 09:27, 1 July 2007 (GMT)

Tips

• What to do when suddenly there is lots of smoke and the stove is not burning because of several reasons like (more moisture / lack of primary air / different grades of fuel are used / leakage of the secondary air from the stove, etc)

Tips

• Swith off the fan immediately.
• If there is enough fuel and you would like to try again, use the kerosene soaked shavings and lit it again.
• Last option is just take the combustion chamber into an open area and dump all the fuel and extinguish with water.

Warnings

• In the forced air Models fans are used, there could be sparks generated during the cooking process, so please keep away the combustible or highly inflammable things away from stove.
• The stoves also sometimes get heated during the process of cooking, please keep the stoves away from children.
• The smoke generated by these stoves is less, still, let all the smoke out from your kitchen / living area, more important to remember before you go to sleep in the night.