Hey, this is kinda cool....

mrbigbluelight

^^^ " We swish swish swish you a Merry Christmas".

halen

Steve,

Did you end up with a solo stove?

halen

I have been transitioning into family mode for some time now. Thinking about family trips, camping, hiking... bush craft type of things.

I picked up a couple different solo stove models and have used all of them extensively. Even went caveman and learned all the ways to make fire from flints to quartz using cotton to char cloth.

I find that the second burn is a novelty at best. Smokeless or less smoke? Once optimal heat stage is achieved, my charcoal grill is the same.

I do like the titan. But man. It is a wood guzzler. Same as the campfire.

I find natural gas/propane to much cheaper and cleaner as I burnt well over $200 in wood in three days.

treitz3

aprazer402 wrote: »

Anyone else remember using one of these back in the 60's?

Went to a Sherriff's partayyy back in the day. Everyone was wasted as much as the folks they normally arrest daily. Yes, everyone. They had a barrel in the back for a "bon fire".

One of the Sherriff's came out and stated that he was cold. Walked around the barrel with his pistol and opened it up with said pistol (albeit not too much). Emptied the thing.

Mucho better, as he walked off back into the Dining Room. It was at that point that I knew I could throw down.

The neighbors homes were 40' away from the firepit in more than 3 directions.

Shut up Russ, Jealousy will get you nowhere.

That was a fun night. Only in the South....

Tom

Dabutcher

We do turkeys in a trash can. Not perforated . When camping in the winter. Turn out awesome.half keg works even better. Top holds more charcoal.
Peace. D
https://www.instructables.com/id/Turkey-in-a-Trash-Can/

aprazer402

^^^ Looks exciting, but a little too involved at my age. I have used this cooker several times for a turkey <14 lbs. with very good results, even quicker than in an oven. I usually don't care for Char-Broil quality, but this works well. Called the Big Easy No-oil fryer/roaster?

steveinaz

halen wrote: »

Steve,

Did you end up with a solo stove?

Sorry for the late answer....No, I didn't get one. Right now I just have a fire bowl thingy.

Jstas

So I was looking for another post about something and this thread popped up in the results. I don't recall mentioning it but last fall, I picked up a Solo Stove because they had a crazy good sale and since mine showed up with a dent in it, I ended up paying about $350 for a 29" Yukon.

Aside from some smoke at initial start up, once this thing gets going, it really is smoke-free. Or, at least, it generates enough heat and has the directional flange that what little smoke does come out of it gets pushed up and away from the folks sitting around it. In fact, it has so much updraft that if someone directly opposite from you is talking loudly, if the fire is between you and them, the upward movement of hot air will muffle them enough that they can be hard to hear.

We've used it a few times and it will run through some firewood quickly. But otherwise, it's worked as advertised.

I have a stainless steel spark guard on it from Solo Stove as well as a set of tools for handling the scorching hot spark guard. I also have a cover for it to keep junk from falling in to it. I wish the cover was black, not white, and didn't have branding emblazoned on it to attract less attention, I mean, it's a pile of high quality stainless that someone could fairly easily gank and sell for scrap. So there's that.

Also, I have the pedestal ring. The outside of the firepit can get quite warm but I've had blazes going in the pit as you can see in the picture below and I have been able to stick my naked finger on that pedestal ring and it's barely above ambient temps. It does a real good job at not transferring the firepit heat to whatever it's sitting on. Really opens up options for where you can use it. I don't know that I would put it on a wooden deck but, you don't have to worry about having fire-rated masonry to put it on or setting fire to plant life below it with that ring.

Some pictures:










There's an alternative that I didn't know about when I got it, though.

A company called Breeo out of Lancaster, PA has similar units for similar prices with way more options. So if you're looking for something like this and either want more option or the Made in the U.S.A. matters to you, Breeo is the way to go.

https://breeo.co/

Kex

I’ve had a couple of Solo Stoves (different sizes) for a couple of years and would never go back to a regular fire pit.

The double wall is the secret, as heated air flows up the sides to create a secondary burn above the fire (a bit like a turbo? 🤔) which is why there is almost no smoke.

Advantages:

1. Can be put on any surface with the stand (usually included during promotions). Heat is not directed down, and there is a double base anyway.
2. Almost completely smokeless after a 1-2 minute “warm up”. About 75-95% of smoke is eliminated.
3. Almost completely spark free.
4. Flames are much higher and more consistent than a normal fire pit.
5. Creates very little waste. Less than half the ashes of a normal fire pit, and absolutely zero solids or coals left in the ashes.
6. When you’re finished, just wait for the flames to die down, and it’s completely safe to leave it to smolder (smokeless). It won’t flare up again.

There’s no need to pile the fire high with too much wood. Just keep it fed at a measured pace in the bottom, and the flames will rise up high enough to create a dramatic effect. This also means that you won’t burn copious amounts of wood (especially if you have to pay for it).

There’s also a really cool flame pattern at the top.



That is the [RANGER], which is more than enough for a suburban back yard (logs up to 12” long). Diameter is 15”. Height about the same with the stand.

Jstas

It's not really a "secret" but it is a good innovation that's not new idea, just an innovative application. The biggest benefit to Solo Stoves (and Breeo too) is that they built a package that incorporates it into the design easily.

But it's not a turbocharger type of design, though.

The double wall and the directional flange move wood gases back into the firepit via the convection that gets started when the double wall system heats up.

It's a huge emissions thing in many parts of the country, like NJ, where we have dumb laws about recycling wood gases in wood burning stoves/fireplaces. You can't really do an open hearth here anymore. If an old open hearth design needs repair, they won't approve a repair either, they make you get a new insert that will do the wood gas recycling. So many people have just been plugging chimneys and making the fireplaces into planters and stuff.

But the wood gases are produced as a by product of combustion and the present moisture content of the firewood. This is why wet or "green" wood produces more smoke and odors than seasoned, dry, split firewood. The moisture reacts with compounds in the combustion by-products and they bond and cool faster than the rest of the gases given off. So they sink to the bottom of the firepit.

But the holes inside the inner wall at the top and bottom of barrel, they let those wood gases get drawn in and pre-heated for combustion when they get drawn out the top holes. The flange is necessary for this because it creates a smaller opening for the now hotter air trying to expand to escape to atmosphere. This creates a draw on those top holes because the narrower flange opening creates an acceleration effect, like a venturi in a carburetor. As the gas in the wider section heats up and expands, it tries to rush through the narrow section made by the flange. But there's not enough space to handle the volume. So it compresses the gases a bit. This at least retains if not adds heat which adds energy which increase the flow rate through the flange hole.

That increased flow rate creates a negative pressure situation right at the edge of the flange lip. This in turn causes negative pressure in the chamber created by the double wall. That sucks the wood gases up from the bottom of the pit and once the now hot gases hit the flames at the tops holes, they ignite too and create a more complete combustion situation. That creates a much more efficient burn which means significantly less smoke and less pollutants overall.

It's essentially an afterburner.

And if you get a Yukon to a fire level like what is in my 4th picture, many people that I have seen in reviews and comments have said it has a faint wooshing noise like a jet engine. But it's only the people with the big Yukons that I've seen say they experienced it. Ours was making a low, wooshing rumble noise when I took that 4th pic too. It was why I took it.