An improved oil drum tent stove
This post describes some improvement that I have made to my already successful oil drum tent stove. They include a higher and more insulating stove stand, a side hatch for chunky-fuel and to form an ‘Alpine TurdBuster’.
Higher tent stove stand
The next experimental improvement to the stove was to mount it on a second oil drum to provide a taller stove stand. For this, I used a second whole drum, instead of using the remnants of the drum that was leftover from making the fire dome as in the previous post. This improvement put the stovetop at a better height for cooking and it would give better heat distribution to the tent occupants. Also, the bottom of the stand did not get as hot as the shorter stand did. This means that it will be more compatible with any surface below it (please see a video for a tour of stove temperatures).
More capacity for thermal mass
When using the enlarged tent stove stand it occurred to me that its unused capacity could be used to fill with rocks to make a thermal mass heat store that could provide gentle warmth within the tent when the stove was allowed to run down. It could become a substitute for an over-night-tent stove. or an all-night oil-fired tent stove. Furthermore, it may be possible with a strong burn to have the hot exhaust gasses pass through the rock labyrinth to make the rocks much hotter as in masonry heating stoves. “Of course, this is just speculation or dreaming and you will have to look for another post to see if it works.”
An extra hatch for chunky wood
At the same time as making the higher stove stand, I added what I will call a ‘turdbuster’ hatch to allow the addition of big chunks of wood and unwanted alpine body waste.
Relatively big chunks of wood could be added through the hatch as shown in the photo below. These otherwise useless chunks can be put to good use to supplement the thin fuel sticks that feed down the downdraft burner tube.
My testing showed, as expected, that the addition of a large amount of wood through the hatch did upset the normal clean-burning fuel balance in the stove and the otherwise clean clear stove pipe exhaust showed a trace of smoke. This effect was most noticeable when the chunks were freshly added. The smoking diminished noticeably as the chunks became coated with charcoal and depleted the amount of wood that was easy to pyrolyse into wood smoke.
In addition, the slight smoking problem could be easily managed by making the downdraft burner ‘run-lean’ by feeding in fewer sticks.
“A happy and not unexpected outcome. It also confirms that at last, I not only know how to make a tent stove burn hot, clean and efficiently but I am also learning to understand why it is so?”
Me
A hatch for an ‘Alpine-Turdbuster’
Another use for the large side fuel hatch occurred to me. Disposing of pooh in the snow is not PC or easy to do in an enviromentally sensitive way. Some suggest the use of a plastic bag to carry it home. This to me is an inefficient, risky and disgusting idea and the environmental problem and the disgusting problem is just delayed and taken home with you.
“You may need to take crap home from work, but avoid it when you are having a break when working hard on your outdoor adventures and backcountry skiing!”
Mothy The Elder
On the other hand, if you have a largish tent stove at your snow camp, combustion of the waste seems to me to be a viable and less disgusting disposal method.
Collection in a plastic bag before combustion is an obvious technical solution. However, the burning of plastic is no longer acceptable. Consequently, I experimented with wrapping it in newspaper that had been impregnated with waste cooking oil (from the drum that was used to make the stove). The waterproofing worked and kept the inside contents of the bundle away from skin contact. I made a long curved tray or scoop which could support the bundle as I put it into the burn chamber. As it turned out, it was more use for stuffing the bundle in through the hatch opening rather than its intended use.
“The loading method was all good in theory, but it all went to shit as the bundle buckled when it was halfway through loading. Probably not too bad for a first try. It would have worked better without an equally big chunk of wood blocking the path. In hindsight, the extra wood for the cremation of the bundle would have been better added, on top, after the loading! Turds that were left to freeze on the snow would be very easy to pick up with oiled paper to load in”
Me
I have a video of the first turdbusting, but the loading process, can I say, did not quite go to plan. So I am a bit reticent to share the video. Despite the small loading issues the object that was wrapped in oil-coated newspaper did burn up completely without any noticeable odour. I was a little surprised with the time taken for its total destruction (est. 30min). “In the supposed scientific tradition of sharing both research successes and failures, I will share the video with those who dare.”
Tim
Oh I live the turdbusting feature.
Good thinking.
Regarding the rocks:
When a Finland person thinks of stoves and rocks and closed spaces one cannot help but think sauna.
So a thought occured to possibly let the exhaust gasses pass through a seperate oil drum, closed minus the exhaust entry and exit and well filled with stones.
The stones can then be used for having some “löyly”.
Hi Huck, Turdbusting in a stove is not ideal when compared to your composting method. However, it is a good option when out in the winter wilds.
I think your loyly would need the stove to directly heat the rocks to make them hot enough for a sustained steam bath.
I have added the hole cutting video that you requested. https://timtinker.com/cutting-large-holes-in-thin-metal-sheet-and-foils-by-hand-cutting/
Tim