Burning Cat Litter Wood Pellets as fuel in the TomShoo Gasifier Stove
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- Опубліковано 21 сер 2024
- So it had been suggested to me several times that cat litter wood pellets make a really good fuel in a gasification stove. In this video I finally get round to trying this in my TomShoo gasifier stove, I would imagine the results I experienced here would be more or less identical with a Solo Stove or any other brand of gasifier. This video is really an experiment of two parts, the first part being just how little do I have to do to get the cat litter pellets to ignite, and the second is just to see what sort of burn, heat and longevity can I get out of the burn.
I don't know if this is available in the UK, but in North America, wood pellets are sold in 20 Kg bags to be used as a heating fuel. Home Depot (a home improvement center) sells them for about half the cost of cat litter pellets and you can get ALL hardwood. Far superior for the same low price. Great video as I just bought A Tomshoo gasification stove.
They do sell heating pellets here, I'll be honest I've not compared the price. I just sort of jumped to the conclusion that the car litter sort might be cheaper, but I'll definitely do some googling and see how they compare price wise. Thanks for the tip. 👍🏼🙏🏼
Good luck with your search! Here cat litter pellets vs heating wood pellets cost about the same price point per bag. But the heating wood pellets come in bags of over twice the volume/weight.
A squirt of alcohol based hand sanitiser on the top of the pellets makes an effective fire lighter. It can be hard to see the flame in bright sunlight, but you can quickly see the top layer of pellets start to char.
A great suggestion 👍🏼 and I've actually started carrying more than one bottle of hand sanitizer for that very reason, but I've yet to try it on the pellets yet. I will say this though, it pays to test your particular hand sanitizer beforehand as a firestarter, they're not all the same. I've had some that slow burn nicely like vaseline and some that just flame up and out instantaneously. Thanks for watching commenting 👍🏼🙏🏼
I have found that the hardest part of wood pellets is making sure to 'pack' the stove properly before beginning as there is a learning curve if you don't have enough to cook, boil, whatever, and try to add additional pellets to burn. the additional pellets will usually smother the fire that is going(unless you add them very slowly and sparingly), thus causing lots of smoke and having to use something to 'relight' the pellets. for my stove, I have found that two or three handfuls as loosely placed as possible in the bottom, and started with fire gel of some sort works best. also, an occasional small bit of stirring of the pellets if the fire is struggling can get some extra oxygen in the mix. I would suppose blowing through a small air bellows would do the same or better but I never seem to have it with me when I need it🤷♀️.
I always carry some wood pellets with me now. especially if I know it is going to be a wet one. once you get the hang of burning them in your stove they work very well. it took a few practices for me before I figured out how best to use them in my stove. a good video Aggy
Hey Ken, thanks for taking the time to write such an incisive comment. I must say I didn't really pack them as such, i kind of just placed them in a handful at a time so I guess they were fairly loose fitting with reasonable air gaps. I hadn't considered topping the pellets up, but as you mention it I can see how that could cause smothering issues. I got to say it was such a strange sort of burn, they were ignited for a good time but I just couldn't really tell except for the secondary burn. My thoughts going forward are definitely to carry a couple of bags with a few handfuls of pellets in each bag. I really like the clean burn compared to burning foraged twigs and sticks which might not be as dry as you'd like, so far less detectable without that smoke trail. And compared to my gas stoves it's silent and I can grill with it once I get the hang of the timing. I've never used fire gel, but may have to experiment with that too, I was thinking to try the vaseline cotton balls next and maybe try smothering a few of the pellets with vaseline too to see what sort of results that yields. I can definitely see this stove getting more use with pellets going forward; like you say; just need to practice and get a feel for it and then I think we'll be in business. Thanks for popping through 👍🏼🙏🏼
Just drench the pellets w/ " yellow "
bottled " heet " ( watch Your eye brows ) LOL
I think in another video, I smothered a dozen or so pellets with vaseline and it all went up easy👍🏼👍🏼
The fuel is, more or less, baking in the chamber which causes it to start smoking. The gas rises and fresh air comes up through the inner shell wall which then ignites the gas. Gasification
An excellent explanation Ronnie 👏👏 It sure is fun too watch 🔥
i use wood pellets all the time, if i cant use some twigs on top then what i do is break a few wood pellets in half so they have craggy ends, then put them on the fire lighter, the craggy ends catch much easier.
Hey John thats a great tip, hadn't considered that,. In the second video I did using the TomShoo stove, I smeared a dozen or so pellets in vaseline and the whole thing went up easy peasy. Just lit it and left it. 👍🏼 Well thanks for watching John and taking the time to comment 🙏🏼👍🏼
@@AggyGoesOutdoors yeah i use cotton balls in Vaseline as a failsafe, but i hate using artificial means if i can help it, much prefer to find ways to get it started without.
@@JohnSmith-df4vb I completely understand, I love a bit of birch bark myself, magical stuff.
Hi Aggy. I got similar results when I tried it. I think the pellets prevent a good downflow of air, so it makes it difficult to get it started. I also got pellets dropping down through the holes in the bottom. I cut a disc of metal gauze mesh into a circle that fits in the base👍 Convenient source of fuel, but still not convinced it's better than twigs though.
It was certainly an unexpected result for me, with hindsight I should've left the top section off till they ignited to aid the airflow. I think I know what to do for next time. I didn't have any issues loosing pellets so I guess mine must've been just about the right size. Twigs also work very well and they are also free, I just think these might be a good alternative if it's been raining. Very smoke free, clean burning and relatively undetectable. Sounds ridiculous to maybe consider carrying a couple of 100g bags of pellets around, but no more ridiculous than carrying cannisters of gas around; with the bonus that you can grill with these. More to come, some real life usage soon. Thanks for watching and commenting Des. 👍🏼🙏🏼
@@AggyGoesOutdoors Maybe mine were kitten sized pellets? 😁 Definitely an option where dry twigs are a problem👍
Haha 😂🐈 that'll be the problem.
I think it would've lighted if you had put pellets on top of the firelighter, like you did with the twigs. The reason why you're not seeing much flames from the wood is it's not getting air. That causes the wood to release tar, which then ignites and wood gas which is ignited at the top. You're left with smoldering coal. I'm making a bigger version of that kind of stove today and your experiment is exactly what I was hoping to see, because I'm deliberately not making holes at the bottom of the burn chamber in order to starve the fire. Because my purpose is not to boil water as quickly as possible, but to have a long-lasting heat source with little maintenance. I should be able to light it, hard pack a pot full of snow and put it on, then go out to get firewood. Then, when I get back, I expect boiling water and hot coals ready for new gasification using twigs I found out there. I'm using a 3 liter burn chamber, so it's significantly larger and I'm really excited to see how it'll work out. But from the gasification I saw in your video, I'm now really optimistic.
Thank you for watching, I'm very interested to hear about your project. I'm also considering building a considerably larger gasification stove, I was thinking of making something huge using a steel drum and a tumble dryer drum, something along those lines . With this small stove I had considered making a small vent ring that I can add to bottom section to regulate the air flow, so I can limit the air flow like you say to get a much longer controlled burn. Thank you for watching, I hope your project goes well 🙏🏼👍🏼
@@AggyGoesOutdoors: Thanks. Oh, I like your idea. You'll use a tumble dryer drum because it's perforated, right? Creative. I like it! Good luck! :)
That and I currently have a broken tumble drier, so I figured I would upcycle it into something different rather than take it to the dump 👍🏼
@@AggyGoesOutdoors: Perfect. I made mine today, but I havent tested it yet. :)
Great news! I hope it works out well!
I think a full load of wood pellets can get you between 1 hour and 1 hour 20 minutes of cooking time.
Great video. 👍
Many thanks, your comment is much appreciated 👍🏼🙏🏼
Maybe I'm stateing the oblivious
here , but , only use " unused " cat liter ! I wouldn't advise " recycling
in THIS case ! LOL
Sounds like good advice 🤣😉
Nuts, I was hoping that this was a way of disposing of used cat litter...
Awesome content! Enjoyed watching. Big LIKE and keep in touch ✌
Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment 👍🏼