What New Wood Stove Technology Would You Like To See?

[Highbeam]

The burning science that is being worked on right now (in Europe, mostly) is using wood stoves to create energy, like a PV panel. So for example if you had a power outage you could use your wood stove to run lights and maybe other things. So changing wood stove burning energy into electricity - it is happening now though you never here anything about it.

That’s too bad. I had hoped that they would spend time on something smarter.

 

[bholler]

That’s too bad. I had hoped that they would spend time on something smarter.

What's wrong with that?

 

[jerrieric]

The burning science that is being worked on right now (in Europe, mostly) is using wood stoves to create energy, like a PV panel. So for example if you had a power outage you could use your wood stove to run lights and maybe other things. So changing wood stove burning energy into electricity - it is happening now though you never here anything about it.

Sounds like a great idea to me sign me up if they're reasonable

 

[bholler]

Sounds like a great idea to me sign me up if they're reasonable

They are a long way from viable product. They do work but not ready for market

 

[jetsam]

The burning science that is being worked on right now (in Europe, mostly) is using wood stoves to create energy, like a PV panel. So for example if you had a power outage you could use your wood stove to run lights and maybe other things. So changing wood stove burning energy into electricity - it is happening now though you never here anything about it.

Wood gasification will probably not be a successful commercial electric generation technology any time soon (though you can go on youtube and see homebrew woodgas generators and trucks right now, and they are cool. Woodgas trucks have been around since before WWI, and were used in WWI and WWII. Hobbyists are still converting gasoline engines to wood gas today.) The commercial products that do work still rely upon heavy filtration to get the goo out of the wood gas, and not many end users want to maintain that.

TEG modules are cool and work well, but a wood stove covered in off the shelf TEGs wouldn't be powering a house by itself.

You can buy prebuilt TEGs made to sit on woodstoves, but they are still pretty expensive (think $7.50/watt and up), and reasonably sized ones require water cooling, which again most end users aren't going to be okay with.

Not sure what other forms of generation they are working on. I just read an article about an inventor in Alaska who came up with a NASA-inspired entirely new woodstove generator- and if you read the srticle, it turned out to be a retrofit cat for the flue pipe of your old smoke dragon, and some TEG modules on the hot side of the cat. Less exciting than the headline.

I do think it's about time that wood stoves were producing enough electricity to run their own fans, but I don't know how much more I would expect soon. (And even that won't happen on low end stoves because it'd 1.5x-2x the price of a 30NC.)

 

[Rearscreen]

The burning science that is being worked on right now (in Europe, mostly) is using wood stoves to create energy, like a PV panel. So for example if you had a power outage you could use your wood stove to run lights and maybe other things. So changing wood stove burning energy into electricity - it is happening now though you never here anything about it.

Amazing and makes sense. But I'm not a lobbyist.

 

[twd000]

Yes I think we're still leaving a lot of BTUs in the exhaust in order to avoid creosote buildup. The rocket mass heater folks have one approach that relies on a very hot fire and short flue paired with mass storage. Lots of kinks to work out before it's a commercial product, but the potential is there. Getting those flue gases down to 120F creates a lot of opportunities.

 

[bholler]

Yes I think we're still leaving a lot of BTUs in the exhaust in order to avoid creosote buildup. The rocket mass heater folks have one approach that relies on a very hot fire and short flue paired with mass storage. Lots of kinks to work out before it's a commercial product, but the potential is there. Getting those flue gases down to 120F creates a lot of opportunities.

Yes and many of them have creosote problems due to excessive cooling

 

[twd000]

Yes and many of them have creosote problems due to excessive cooling

Lots of R&D required to solve that problem, but I'm not brash enough to think it is unsolvable with enough bright people putting their minds do it.

 

[bholler]

Lots of R&D required to solve that problem, but I'm not brash enough to think it is unsolvable with enough bright people putting their minds do it.

It is possible for sure but simply burning hot isn't enough.

 

[Highbeam]

What's wrong with that?

I’d rather see them working on better paint than trying to make electricity from a stove. The power utility makes plenty of power.

What’s the point? What’s the problem they’re trying to solve? There are plenty of valid stove problems to invest in. Charging my iPhone isn’t one of them.

 

[bholler]

I’d rather see them working on better paint than trying to make electricity from a stove. The power utility makes plenty of power.

What’s the point? What’s the problem they’re trying to solve? There are plenty of valid stove problems to invest in. Charging my iPhone isn’t one of them.

Who knows where developing these technologies further would go. If they get cheap and effective enough imagine lining the cooling towers of power plants with tegs. Or any number of other applications.

 

[velvetfoot]

ECM motors for stove room blowers.

 

[byQ]

I’d rather see them working on better paint than trying to make electricity from a stove. The power utility makes plenty of power.

What’s the point? What’s the problem they’re trying to solve? There are plenty of valid stove problems to invest in. Charging my iPhone isn’t one of them.

And what about a cabin off the grid? And it would be a nice feature when the electrical grid goes down for home owners.

 

[velvetfoot]

I think you'd be ahead, off grid, if the stove made reliable heat while not using any electricity. Producing it from wood would just be expensive gravy.

 

[Highbeam]

And what about a cabin off the grid? And it would be a nice feature when the electrical grid goes down for home owners.

You can’t think of a better way to make power for an off grid cabin that likely needs power in the summer, when it’s hot? Like a solar panel, generator, etc.?

It’s like rather than discovering a way to make a woodstove better, you’re spending the efforts trying to attach a circular saw to it. Maybe power a big pink buzzy female pleasing attachment. Wow cool.

 

[Highbeam]

Who knows where developing these technologies further would go. If they get cheap and effective enough imagine lining the cooling towers of power plants with tegs. Or any number of other applications.

Sure, those would be great. So would curing Ebola. The guys working on stoves should be stove experts trying to make stoves better.

 

[Highbeam]

But heck. In general, a new doodad might be fun. I would pay a couple dollars more for 100 watts of clean, dependable, output.

Now how about some paint that doesn’t fade and does not create nasty fumes?

How about a cat that does not wear out for the life of the stove?

How about vastly improved door gasket materials that don’t need replacement. My oven door, fridge door, and truck door seals last for decades!

How about a ceramic baffle board replacement for noncats that is not fragile.

 

[bholler]

Sure, those would be great. So would curing Ebola. The guys working on stoves should be stove experts trying to make stoves better.

So you see no benifit in crossover research. Engeneers should only work in one feils and never stray? That would xeetainly lead to great innovation.

 

[weatherguy]

You can’t think of a better way to make power for an off grid cabin that likely needs power in the summer, when it’s hot? Like a solar panel, generator, etc.?

It’s like rather than discovering a way to make a woodstove better, you’re spending the efforts trying to attach a circular saw to it. Maybe power a big pink buzzy female pleasing attachment. Wow cool.

Middle of winter, northern location, low sun angle and not many daylight hours, wood electric could be very useful.

 

[KJamesJR]

Would be cool if they took the technology behind what drives the ecofan and upscaled it to a miniature generator. Put it on top of your stove and you can run small electrical appliances. Fans, lights, etc. Maybe even a decent blower.

 

[wooduser]

And what about a cabin off the grid? And it would be a nice feature when the electrical grid goes down for home owners.

I agree that WOULD be a nice feature! One of the common reasons people install wood stoves is to have an alternate source of heat when the power goes out. If there were a nice little plug at the bottom of a wood stove that could be used for plugging into 120 VAC power, or perhaps just 12VDC power, that would be a terrific addition to wood stoves!

I expect we would shortly have a new discussion board at this website as people try to figure out how to power their whole electricv power needs off their wood stove!

I don't think thermocouples are going to cut it though ---- they have only been used for very low voltage applications to my knowledge.

But perhaps someone will come up with a way to do it!

Just what voltage(s) and watts would you want to see from such an application?

 

[byQ]

 

[begreen]

When there is a continuous source of heat, like in a pellet boiler, then interesting things can happen. Imagine if you will this heat being used to create 4-5kW of power. Enough to charge a large storage battery like a PowerWall. That starts getting interesting.
http://www.okofen-e.com/en/pellematic_e_max/

 

[Easy Livin’ 3000]

I agree that WOULD be a nice feature! One of the common reasons people install wood stoves is to have an alternate source of heat when the power goes out. If there were a nice little plug at the bottom of a wood stove that could be used for plugging into 120 VAC power, or perhaps just 12VDC power, that would be a terrific addition to wood stoves!

I expect we would shortly have a new discussion board at this website as people try to figure out how to power their whole electricv power needs off their wood stove!

I don't think thermocouples are going to cut it though ---- they have only been used for very low voltage applications to my knowledge.

But perhaps someone will come up with a way to do it!

Just what voltage(s) and watts would you want to see from such an application?

Enough to run the blower on the insert would be enough for me. Those squirrels must be getting tired by now.

And perhaps charge the cell phone and laptop.

That would get us through power outages and would be useful.