[TheForge] OT Wood Stove for Shop heat

[Andrew Vida]

Peter Fels And Phoebe Palmer wrote:
> There was an "Alaskan" version of those that used 2 horizontal oil 
> barrels, one over the other. There was an air gate in the upper one and 
> it was supposed to benefit from secondary combustion of the smoke in the 
> upper chamber.

	I wonder if placing a catalytic converter into the upper chamber would 
produce similar efficiency to the stoves for which they were designed. 
A friend had one in his living room.  Two to three logs, perhaps 10" in 
diameter would slow burn all night long.  The house was so hot we used 
to have to open windows when it was in the single digits outside.  It 
was one of those soapstone clad stoves... maybe Tulikivi or some such 
Scandinavian manufacturer.  The converter makes an enormous difference 
in the efficiency of the stove.  I'm pretty sure you would have to burn 
3 to 4 times as much wood to get the same heat out of a stove without 
one.  I just don't know how tightly coupled any given converter design 
will be to the stove for which it was manufactured... or are they 
standard commodities?

	-Andy