Performance of large portable metal woodstoves for community kitchens

✍ Scribed by Josef Ayoub; Eric Brunet

• Book ID: 103979365
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 639 KB
• Volume: 7
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0960-1481
• DOI: 10.1016/0960-1481(95)00107-7

✦ Synopsis

Experiments were undertaken in the laboratory to test the performance of traditional threestone open fire cooking against a large-sheet metal fuelwood cookstove designed for community kitchens. The standard water boiling test was performed for both cooking methods. The percent heat utilisation, firepower and the specific fuel consumption are calculated. Results show the cookstove to be at least three times as fuel efficient as the open fire. Also it consumed about one fifth of the energy of the open fire method in boiling an equivalent amount of water. Preliminary feedback from actual use in the field corroborates these experimental findings. Appreciable savings in wood consumption, fuelwood collection time, and fuelwood purchase costs are noted. Tangible health and social benefits from using the cookstoves are enumerated. Suggestions for simplifying the stove fabrication process, improving field dissemination and creating a possible cottage industry are proposed.