Home 22 Sep 2007 02:46 pm
a neophyte at the soapstone stove
Before this week, all I knew about woodstoves, I learned from a poem by Lew Welch. He seems to be right about the bark.
As the weather cools down, I’ve been spending some time learning how to operate our soapstone stove-insert. It’s kind of tricky to light it when it’s cold. Those soapstone panels soak up a tremendous amount of heat, and it takes some patience (and a whole lot of kindling – always more than I think it’ll be) to get it up to a good operating temperature. When it’s going, though, it’s super cozy. Next time there’s a blackout, it’ll be party time at my place!
The stove has an electricity-powered blower to help warm the room. The blower’s nice, but I wish it could be crank-powered like this fabulous lamp. Hook it up to an old bicycle… that’d be neat.
on 23 Sep 2007 at 10:01 am 1.Barnaby said …
I think a woodstove needs to have a Stirling engine powered fan, so that it is electricity independent.
Beyond which, I’ve just been geeking on Stirling engines.
Like this:
http://www.thermalengines.com/
Animation of what is happening:
http://www.keveney.com/Vstirling.html
It’s steampunk tech, sans the steam. Back when they figured-out all that thermodynamics stuff. (Stirling engine matches the hypothetical ideal engine cycle for efficiency.)
-B.
on 23 Sep 2007 at 10:19 am 2.Cam Sculpin said …
I totally agree, and thanks for the neat links. Stirling engines rule. (I also think that there really ought to be a Stirling engine powering the pump for our solar hot water.) It may be a little tricky, though, with the insert – so much of the heat is up above the insert (which is, of course, the point of the blower) and there’s not a whole lot of room there.
Speaking of heat-powered fans, I’ve wondered how I might adapt one of these. It’s just so dang awkward to work with that space. I sort of wish we’d gotten a Real Woodstove what sits out away from the wall, but there was that silly fireplace right there…
Incidentally, I bought Josh a model Stirling engine for Christmas last year, because he’s that kind of geek too. (You guys really ought to meet up.) There are some kits available at Science Art & More in Roosevelt. Kind of fussy to get going, but neat.