gabby
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Post by gabby on Aug 6, 2022 17:22:56 GMT -8
Has anyone else heard about this stove? www.lofi.com/I've been idling my days away watching British "wild camping" videos, so a video on the stove popped up recently. I know wood-burning stoves have fallen out of favor because of fires and the greater fire hazard in recent years, and this one is nothing more than a smaller and lighter version of the old "Sierra Zip" stove. But it seemed interesting to me, even though it still hasn't gotten out of the "prototype stage" on Kickstarter. Of course, I'm more than a little wary of Kickstarter because of all the "scammy" stuff I've seen in the last few years that was designed more to rip people off than anything else. But - what do you think? Negative notes: (1) It's going to be relatively expensive (circa $150, I think) ( EDIT: bad estimate/conversion - more like $195!! based on video mention of £140) and (2) I'm leery of stuff like this that incorporates "electronics". Still ...
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franco
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Post by franco on Aug 9, 2022 18:55:04 GMT -8
Much smaller and lighter (about 1/3rd of the weight) than the other somewhat similar battery operated gasifying wood burning stoves like the Sierra Zip, the BioLite and the SolHuma. The pot needs to be lifted when re-fuelling and the flame can often be too large but they are all like that. More expensive than the rest but size and weight I think make up for that. BTW, like many, I have made my own version using one can inside the other and a small computer fan but those don't last very long.
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 10, 2022 6:33:33 GMT -8
The idea of a wood burning stove is intriguing since you don't have to carry fuel. I have a very old unused Sierra Zip. However, the idea of having to gather burning material every time is a turn off for me. I can imagine trying to find dry tinder in the morning after raining during the night or a heavy dew.
If someone here actually uses one of these stoves I'd like to hear about your experience.
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 10, 2022 7:00:28 GMT -8
Since I backpack in the West, and even the rainforests here are stressed, I don’t think I ever hike anywhere that using one of these would be legal or reasonable. Otherwise I see them as being really useful for long-distance hikes, where your fuel weight would soon overcome the stove-weight difference between something like this and my 1.5-oz stove.
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swiftdream
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Post by swiftdream on Aug 10, 2022 9:38:53 GMT -8
The idea is pretty neat. I just wonder the longevity of the fan and will it become clogged or gunked up with creosote over time. I would want to see some long term hard core testing before laying down money.
I’ve used an Emberlit UL titanium twig stove quite a bit and while it doesn’t have a fan it really burns with very little smoke once up to running temp. It’s very easy to feed and very easy to control the heat output. The ash is very white and fine.
The Caldera Cone wood burning stove is good. Again fine white ash.
The Firebox Nano titanium stove is just super. It folds flat and just pops open with almost no assembly like the others I have. It also has some excellent and versatile accessories and will hold both Trangia alcohol burner or Trangia remote canister burner while focusing the heat efficiently. So if you run out of one fuel you can burn twigs.
Many months in the desert I don’t feel safe using a wood burner even when no fire ban is in place but right now it is very safe with the extremely active monsoon. But alcohol and LPG don’t soot up the cookware and are so convenient that they have top place in my outdoor kitchen.
I’d like to see a lightweight, efficient solar oven that works in all temperatures like our All American Sun Oven.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Aug 10, 2022 20:45:52 GMT -8
The idea of a wood burning stove is intriguing since you don't have to carry fuel. I have a very old unused Sierra Zip. However, the idea of having to gather burning material every time is a turn off for me. I can imagine trying to find dry tinder in the morning after raining during the night or a heavy dew. If someone here actually uses one of these stoves I'd like to hear about your experience. I don't use these stoves. The fire danger with them always seems so high. But I did think that a run or two of sticks can't weigh much. Keeping at least one shot of sticks for the next burn in a ziplock would be doable.
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Post by Lamebeaver on Aug 11, 2022 13:43:48 GMT -8
1. Too expensive 2. Can't use where there are fire bans (unlike canister stoves) 3. I'm skeptical of the reliability. I'd think a battery/rheostat would be more reliable and less expensive than the USB arrangement.
I am one that enjoys cooking over a small campfire where it is safe and environmentally responsible. You're IMHO taking a pleasant and ancient tradition and "geekifying it". No thanks.
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texasbb
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Post by texasbb on Aug 11, 2022 17:28:44 GMT -8
I concur with Lamebeaver 's skepticisms and will add that I'm not convinced the additional efficiency of fan-powered venting is worth the complexity, fragility, geekability, etc. There are several simple wood stoves out there that burn really well. Some even provide primary/secondary air, which results in extremely hot and clean fires with purely passive designs. (Alas, they all share the same ban-ability.)
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Aug 15, 2022 20:39:16 GMT -8
I think I anticipated many of the responses. They're all valid. I have had a couple of "Bush Buddy" stoves for some time now, and I still use one every now and then, but neighbors get nervous when they smell smoke, even from a backyard chimenea. I also have a DIY reverse gasifier I made about 15 years ago, and a rocket stove made out of metal tubing. If it isn't already obvious, I love playing with fire. :^) The pot needs to be lifted when re-fuelling and the flame can often be too large but they are all like that. It would be nice to have a somewhat finer control over the flame, but I don't really have much of a problem with the Bush Buddy I already have. Most of the time, boiling doesn't actually require a lot more than the initial fuel, but, yeah, it would be nice to have a way to fuel w/o moving the pot. More expensive than the rest but size and weight I think make up for that. BTW, like many, I have made my own version using one can inside the other and a small computer fan but those don't last very long. Expense is a big issue, but it's (supposedly) made entirely of titanium, which contributes to its light weight (and high price). $200 is still a lot, though, these days, almost all of the white gas stoves I see are moving in that direction. A bigger problem might be just getting a product out of Britain w/o a lot of hassle. (I've had bad luck in the past.) I don’t think I ever hike anywhere that using one of these would be legal or reasonable Yeah, I get that. Even the local parks here in Austin are off limits for fires lately. The idea is pretty neat. I just wonder the longevity of the fan and will it become clogged or gunked up with creosote over time. I would want to see some long term hard core testing before laying down money. alcohol and LPG don’t soot up the cookware and are so convenient that they have top place in my outdoor kitchen I think this is the biggest issue, at least in my mind, with the design. From what I gather, the maker is a very small outfit (maybe just the designer at this early point, who just has the parts fabricated and puts them together himself), and there is some degree of concern about it ever actually "taking off". Though compromises are almost certainly being made to achieve light weight, it seems to me that it would have been a better setup if the fan assembly was "detachable" and, thus, replaceable. What I most like about these kinds of things is that it makes me think about new possibilities, so I've already started thinking about using a small fan (Thermorest mattress inflator) with heat resistant silicone tubing on my old Bush Buddy to see what would happen. The bottom of the Bush Buddy also stays cool - I've picked it up after firing it up, and it wasn't even close to being hot - since it's a "reverse gasifier", the bottom of the stove is not the bottom of the firebox. The firebox is elevated for airflow. I'm not convinced the additional efficiency of fan-powered venting is worth the complexity, fragility, geekability, etc. There are several simple wood stoves out there that burn really well. I admit that I have a collapsible fire blow tube (that I've never used), and I was thinking that a small fan with a relatively large capacity battery would do the trick instead of the "built-in", but I'm not an engineer, though I am a bit "geeky".
The most pleasing thing about this stove is the clean design, but the proof of the pudding is in use, so we'll have to wait and see. Or not.
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franco
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Post by franco on Aug 15, 2022 22:12:06 GMT -8
I think that a big advantage of the fan is that the extra oxygen makes the fire burn hotter so that even poor fuel will burn. I have seen that advantage with the Bio Lite and my own. I used a computer fan with a 9v battery for my versions.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 3, 2022 10:08:02 GMT -8
The pot needs to be lifted when re-fuelling and the flame can often be too large but they are all like that. Most of the time, boiling doesn't actually require a lot more than the initial fuel In the time since your (and my) last post, I've thought about this further. When I made that response, I was thinking about the way in which I originally stacked wood in my old Bushbuddy stove, which isn't all that efficient as far as burn time is concerned. It's somewhat better to use a system similar to the "Swedish fire torch", with larger sticks stuffed into the bottom of the stove and the kindling on top. In fact, this is the way the gasifier stoves were meant to be used. Doing it this way, you should be able (with luck and weather on your side) to get nearly an hour of burn time from the original fueling. You could also use a more dense fuel, like pellets, but that would defeat the primary advantage of the stove, that being, outside of starting forest fires (not an advantage!), not having to carry your fuel. There are so many of these examples of fueling on youtube I don't think I could even count them all, but the one from which I got the picture should suffice, even it it's not the best.
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Sept 8, 2022 9:17:31 GMT -8
The LOFI stove went live on Kickstarter this morning.
Yes, expensive, but innovative. Delivery is planned for spring, 2023. Shipping from Britain to the USA is also quite dear.
(Just thought it was interesting, but I guess I’m a stove geek.)
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Sept 10, 2022 6:53:09 GMT -8
gabby You **guess** you’re a stove geek? 🤣
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gabby
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Post by gabby on Nov 15, 2022 18:35:36 GMT -8
Fiddling with different wood stoves this week. Some 14 minutes after initial ignition. The water boiled at ~13 minutes, and the stove continued to burn for 6 or 7 minutes after that without refueling. Though the stove didn't smoke a lot, there was a lot of smoke immediately after placing my sooty pot on the flame. <All the neighbors' dogs began to bark, so I guess they're all trained in smoke detection. 👍> Initial fueling. I also have a new silencer for the Primus Omnilite. Very quiet. At this point, the fuel bottle is already flipped, and I'm just waiting for the fuel in the line to empty itself.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Nov 18, 2022 5:50:40 GMT -8
I was trying to think under what conditions this LOFI stove would be near perfect. Maybe only for someone living off the land for long periods moving not stationary in wooded and not too wet terrain? Good for cooking your squirrel or fish stew on? It wouldn't be good at making acorn flour pancakes. An off grid shack would likely have a better fireplace or stove.
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