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Joe Blake
26th November 2012, 21:03
Biolite Camping Stove

http://biolitestove.com/

I don't want anybody to get the idea that I'm in any way associated with this product, because I'm not, other than by ownership.

http://biolitestove.com/Media/CampStove/camp_overview_img_2-942x648.jpg

A couple of years ago in the Gizmag website was an article about the Biolite stove being built for third world countries.

http://www.gizmag.com/biolite-low-emission-eco-camping-stove/14952/

There were two versions, the home stove and the camping stove. The home stove was not (and currently is not) available for sale to the public as it was going straight to the target market.

However, the camping stove was for general sale and after much haunting of the website, waiting for the release, I finally received my stove yesterday.

The principle is simple, but the solution is fairly high-tech. The stove has a sophisticated electronics package which uses the heat from the fuel to generate electricity, which runs a two-speed fan, and also generates power to charge cell phones and other devices via a built in USB port. The on-board battery can also be charged from the USB port of a computer to "condition" the battery initially, or if it's been unused for some time.

Australia has a fairly diverse range of trees which produce rather tough nuts, usually referred to as gum nuts or honky nuts (I don't know the derivation of the expression), which tend to be fairly fire resistant, and therefore a bit of a pain, especially when it comes to mowing the grass, as they can be flung at fairly high speed and cause injury and damage. I figured if this stove could burn honky nuts, it was really going to be good, because in terms of biofuel, honky nuts are plentiful but difficult to burn.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2543916543_a7168cb7a1.jpg

This morning, after having charged the battery overnight, I set the stove up on my back patio, which is pretty open to fresh air, but with a concrete floor. I had a bucket of water standing by, as well as a fire extinguisher, and I collected some twigs as suggested in the manual, and a small handful of honky nuts. The stove came with a packet of fire starters, but I didn't want to use them, so a couple of strips of newspaper were (eventually) enough to start the twigs going. I switched on the fan and as the breeze came out of the holes in the side of the cylinder holding the fuel, the fire started to build up. I placed a couple of well seasoned honky nuts in and then switched on the fan to high speed. The design is such that the fan won't go to high speed until there's sufficient heat being generated, and it didn't take long for the second stage to kick in. I'd placed a tin billy can on the stove with about half a litre of water. The website suggests four and a half minutes to boil a litre, I'm not sure when they turned the stopwatch on, but it took more than 4 minutes to make the water uncomfortably warm, but warm it was. After about 3-4 minutes the fire had a real hold and I could see that the honky nuts were starting to burn.

Initially there was the usual grey wood smoke, but once the system kicked in the smoke was considerably reduced and had a blackish tinge. (Tar?) I didn't breathe it for too long, but there were flames coming out from under the billy. (This was one reason for creating the stove, to reduce the inhalation of wood smoke by people cooking on wood/ dung fires.)

I'd added too much fuel, it seemed, as little as there was. I had to wait quite a while for the flames to die away. As a safety feature, the fan stays on (at low speed) as long as there is fire, otherwise the heat could damage the electronic pack. There is a mesh guard around the body of the stove so it can be picked up with reasonable comfort. Eventually I sprinkled a few small drops of water into the fire (not recommended) and then turned the ash and fuel into the bucket of water.

To complement this stove I bought a free standing barbeque grill and plate on four legs, which was exactly the right height to have the stove sit underneath to heat a billy, a camp oven or even grill meat. The plate has built in gutters to drain the oil and other liquids away through a hole, but this would seem to be a not so good idea with some sources of heat, as the fat etc could catch fire. However, if I was cooking over an open fire, this would be an excellent idea.

The latest news on the website tells about delivering some of these stoves to people affected by Superstorm Sandy, which would be very useful, given the capacity to generate 5 volts of power. The spec sheet says it will generate 2 watts @ 5 volt continuously, and 4 watt peak.

I don't intend to use it very often, especially given that we are about to enter our peak bush fire season, but it's certainly looking like a very useful piece of emergency gear for the 21st century citizen, giving fire and electricity, for cooking, lighting and communication, using almost any biofuel likely to be found. (The book recommends NOT using liquids, gels, plastics or other accelerants.)

A big thumbs up from me.

Joe

Ralph Day
27th November 2012, 05:35
Hi Joe
Sounds like a fun piece of gear. I have seen some things like it, some which do without the electronics and fan (less efficient I'd presume), but intended to burn twigs and such. Since I don't camp anymore I resisted buying one to add to my collection of camp stoves (2 naptha, 2 propane).

Are you going to keep a ready supply of dry nuts to burn in emergencies? Would your hoard attract any vermin? Would you have to rotate your stock like gasoline stored for a generator? Thought of any of this?:eek:

Ralph

Rob Beckers
27th November 2012, 07:27
Nice stove Joe!
Looks like they put some serious thought into this. Good idea to couple a stove with a Peltier module. I hope they made that fan really robust and long-life; without it the Peltier module will overheat (it's essentially a semiconductor, very similar to a PV cell). It's a very good idea though! The fan helps combustion greatly, and the extra electricity can charge cell phones. Interestingly there are many in rural areas on this planet that do not have electricity, but they certainly have cell phones these days.

I used to do quite a bit of hiking/camping, and in terms of weight and size this is very comparable with a gasoline stove plus fuel (that's what I used most of the time). Now there are places where you won't find anything to burn (I hiked in the north of Sweden at some point in life, a long time ago, and there's nothing there but rocks and grass), guess in most locales that's not a problem.

Have fun with it!

-RoB-

Dave Turpin
27th November 2012, 11:08
Too bad you didn't post this a couple days ago... There was an Amazon Black Friday lightning deal for this little guy....

The Peltier modules are coming down in price; soon we will be able to make our own biolite stoves, fireplaces, etc as DIY.

Joe Blake
27th November 2012, 17:58
Hi Joe


Are you going to keep a ready supply of dry nuts to burn in emergencies? Would your hoard attract any vermin? Would you have to rotate your stock like gasoline stored for a generator? Thought of any of this?:eek:

Ralph

One of the reasons I bought this wee beastie was to try and reduce the volume on nuts on my property, so I think I can guarantee a steady supply of fuel. :laugh:

I wouldn't say it attracts vermin, but certainly, when the nuts are ripe, they attract local bird life like the magnificent but critically endangered red-tailed black cockatoo.

http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j245/saxeharp/general5/red-tailed-black-cockatoo-endangered-WA1.jpg

I have to rotate the nuts into garbage bags and send them to the green-waste tip. Luckily many of the tips around Perth have the methane gas recovery systems in place, so they still give some power.


Joe

Joe Blake
28th November 2012, 17:42
Well, timing is everything, isn't it? Yesterday, one day after receiving this stove, a massive storm front moved through the lower end of the state (including Perth) and took out the electric power to 50,000 homes. Luckily I have a gas cooker, so I was able to have a hot meal, luckily in that with the downpour (roughly 19 mm) I was unable to find any dry fuel to burn in the Biolite.

The battery bank was a bit down on capacity due to cloudiness during the day, but was able to make it through the evening, even watch TV and DVDs, thanks to my pedal generator.

Joe

Rob Beckers
29th November 2012, 07:33
Now there's a solution: With all the obesity in North America, and the propensity of those sufferers to watch TV, they should get a pedal-generator! Wonna watch? Start pedaling! :pop2:

-RoB-

Joe Blake
29th November 2012, 21:58
I've had this genny for several years now

http://www.windstreampower.com/Bike_Power_Generator.php

and even at my relatively advanced 62 years, I'm able to easily generate a measured 65-75 watts for half an hour with barely a pause. (These days I try and generate a daily charge of 0.03 kWh for my afternoon exercise round, if I'm not actually out riding.) I've peaked at about 130 watts and can maintain that for about half a minute. My 240 volt DVD recorder and TV combined consume 84 watts, via a rather greedy 600 watt inverter, so I don't see any good reason why some fit youngster couldn't jump on for half an hour or so to watch TV or charge up their mobile phone or tablet or whatever. If I ever have kids, a generator, battery and inverter will be their birthday/Christmas present at some time. Then I'll be quite happy to buy them their own TV/DVD.:p

Joe

Penny Walters
7th January 2013, 07:04
Yes, This stove is amazing!
I saw it on internet sometime ago and I was
impressed! It seems to be very useful, and practical.