Cooking Without Purchased Fuel (lake, village, stoves, room)
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I've wanted a rocket stove for sometime, since I saw one demonstrated and realized they heat with just twigs and small pieces of wood. This weekend I attended our local gun show and found a booth operated by a couple of guys from Northern California, who were selling all kinds of survival goods, food, water filters, fire starters, and rocket stoves. They had two different EcoZoom stoves for display, and they left with one less. I tried it out this morning and was very impressed, this thing is really well made and uses red clay for an insulator around the fire pot. It was easy to light, made a very hot fire and would have worked well for cooking. The price was $119, and there is no sales tax here...
Did you choose the model which burns charcoal or the one which does not have that extra grate in the bottom?
Did you choose the model which burns charcoal or the one which does not have that extra grate in the bottom?
I got the one without the extra grate in the bottom. I don't plan on using charcoal, just twigs and small pieces of wood. This stove was the simpler of the two, or maybe I'm the simple one and should have considered the other stove. I've been going to tell you, I also bought an Ruger SR1911...
It's really easy to make charcoal at home, for use in stoves & bbq as well as for water filtration, etc. Charcoal is also a byproduct of wood gasification and wood gas can be used in boilers, generators, vehicle engines. So you get two separate forms of fuel for multiple uses from one operation... bonus
Seriously, unless someone is stalking you with night vision I cannot see that the little bit of light coming from a rocket stove cannot be hidden by a person standing infront of it or with camp stoves, a simple wind screen.
Even the pocket Esbit camping stoves can accomodate wood for fuel to boil water/cook small serving(s). Esbit Pocket Stove at REI.com
If you have an indoor fireplace there is no reason aside from heating up the house in the summer, you cannot cook in it either. Just set up a grill frame or hang a pot/dutch oven.
even though I have an electric stove, instead of putting a garage in my home, I put in an extra kitchen that does not rely on modern plumbing or electricity.
I adore the Gem stoves and they cook, bake and heat water really well. Plus, they're really cute
Just a little teeny reminder for anyone in a very cold climate considering a wood cookstove for heat... cookstoves may heat a house, temporarily while you're cooking, but they aren't designed to be continuous burning through the dead of winter. So if you have a lot of heating degree days you might be better off getting a woodstove that you can cook on rather than getting a wood cookstove you can heat with
I adore the Gem stoves and they cook, bake and heat water really well. Plus, they're really cute
Just a little teeny reminder for anyone in a very cold climate considering a wood cookstove for heat... cookstoves may heat a house, temporarily while you're cooking, but they aren't designed to be continuous burning through the dead of winter. So if you have a lot of heating degree days you might be better off getting a woodstove that you can cook on rather than getting a wood cookstove you can heat with
4seasons, I curently live in an earth dome home, with dirt on 3 sides and the roof facing sw. walls are made of steel reinforced concrete and the temp year round inside is a nice 56 degrees. no problem with moisture in the home, and i hope to pass this home onto my childrens grandchildren.
I adore the Gem stoves and they cook, bake and heat water really well. Plus, they're really cute
Just a little teeny reminder for anyone in a very cold climate considering a wood cookstove for heat... cookstoves may heat a house, temporarily while you're cooking, but they aren't designed to be continuous burning through the dead of winter. So if you have a lot of heating degree days you might be better off getting a woodstove that you can cook on rather than getting a wood cookstove you can heat with
Strongly disagree with your assessment that "wood cookstoves" aren't meant for continuous heating purposes.
I've used a Waterford Stanley Wood Cookstove for over 15 years here in Wyoming at 6,000' elevation, where the winters are cold and long. It was intended to be our standby cooking/heating unit when installed, but we found out very quickly our first winter that it is more than capable of heating our house comfortably while serving yeoman service as a cookstove/oven. A pleasure to cook on as the heat is very controllable on the "hob" (rangetop) for anything from a roaring boil (faster than our gas range!) to stir-frying/sauteing to very slow simmer for soups and stews. The sizable oven has cooked turkeys as large as 26 lbs.
I first learned about these stoves on a trip to England when we stayed in a 300-year old stone farmhouse which had only a Waterford Stanley cookstove as the primary source of winter heating and the only cooking stove in the house. The stove was over 80 years old at the time I saw it and looked to be in excellent condition, used every day all those years. The owners told us that Waterford Stanley stoves were to be found in about 50% of homes in the British Isles, and many were used like theirs as the only cooking stove and sole source of heat in the houses.
I've seen many other domestic USA and European brand wood cookstoves intended for the same use and have stayed in friend's cabins throughout the Rocky Mountain West where these stoves were used as the only cooking and heating source as far back as the 1880's. I've been in line shacks in the region with the original stove dating from that era still in use, and have seen similar wood cookstoves in the old mining camp towns in Idaho, too.
You can readily find these or similar wood cookstoves on the 'net or in the pages of catalogues such as Lehman's of Kidron OH which cater to the Amish.
I'd add that I bought a Waterford Leprechaun (small box stove) from a friend who'd used it for 18 years as the primary cookstove and heating source in his house in Evergreen CO, and it was continuously fired up every winter. He was upgrading to a larger Jotul stove, and I've used this cookstove for supplemental heating in another house with an enclosed (glassed-in) patio. The small stove is adequate to heat the patio and about 1/2 of the house which is primarily the area of it that we use on a daily basis.
Both of these Waterford stoves have a flame path design that allows them to burn very cleanly on hard and soft woods once they are up to operating temperature. Neither has a catalytic combustor, yet both meet federal emissions standards for wood burning devices ... although the Stanley is exempt from the standards due to it being classified as a cookstove.
I've also got a Jotul modern styled mid-size wood stove that I use for heating my shop. It's very efficient, but the top surface is small and suitable only for a couple of cooking pots or a tea kettle. It, too, burns very cleanly.
The key to getting these stoves to work effectively is to size the fire and regulate the airflow so that they make charcoal out of the wood fuel and then burn that to a very fine ash. It takes a bit of ongoing management to achieve this; rather than stoking the firebox to maximum capacity and letting it burn for many hours, it's better to add modest quantities of wood more frequently and keep the fire hot with a minimal airflow.
Here in interior AK, it is quite common to see wood cookstoves (even the good ones) die in a year or two after being continuously fired 24/7 for 6 months to cope with the subzero temps. The fireboxes either warp or burn through, or the firebricks (if it has any) disintegrate. The problem is trying to maintain/overcome a 60+ degree difference between indoors and outdoors for several months without a break.
With a small, well insulated home, with less temp differential, a slightly oversized cookstove can work perfectly and stand up to the usage because you're not firing the stove on full all day long. Two or three hot cooking fires for meals and then either a smaller standby fire or a complete cool down in between are the parameters that most cookstoves are designed for... which is closer to the operating specs we only see for a couple months in spring and fall.
As always, YMMV... not too many folks live above 55 latitude and have to contend with a continental climate, most of the few cities/towns at that latitude are lucky enough to have a more moderate maritime climate. Still cold to be sure, but not OMG that boiling water just vaporized, my nostrils and eyelids froze shut, gasoline won't burn and propane won't flow cold for months end LOL
Here in interior AK, it is quite common to see wood cookstoves (even the good ones) die in a year or two after being continuously fired 24/7 for 6 months to cope with the subzero temps. The fireboxes either warp or burn through, or the firebricks (if it has any) disintegrate. The problem is trying to maintain/overcome a 60+ degree difference between indoors and outdoors for several months without a break.
With a small, well insulated home, with less temp differential, a slightly oversized cookstove can work perfectly and stand up to the usage because you're not firing the stove on full all day long. Two or three hot cooking fires for meals and then either a smaller standby fire or a complete cool down in between are the parameters that most cookstoves are designed for... which is closer to the operating specs we only see for a couple months in spring and fall.
As always, YMMV... not too many folks live above 55 latitude and have to contend with a continental climate, most of the few cities/towns at that latitude are lucky enough to have a more moderate maritime climate. Still cold to be sure, but not OMG that boiling water just vaporized, my nostrils and eyelids froze shut, gasoline won't burn and propane won't flow cold for months end LOL
I always wondered where in Interior AK you lived, who knows, maybe you are one of my sisters neighbors. although I do know her closest neighbor is 30-40 miles away from her.
just called her up, she said she is about an hours flight from tanana, not sure where that is exactly tho.
Last edited by monkeywrenching; 05-09-2012 at 12:39 PM..
Reason: content
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Cooking Without Purchased Fuel
