Super-charged fire pit

[mikepepler]

Thought this might be of interest, very useful as it:

- keeps the fire mostly smoke free, once it's got going

- makes the fire very hot, good on a cold evening

- is good for cooking on, though not BBQing as it would incinerate everything!

http://peplers.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/super-charged-fire-pit-video.html

Mike

[Rich]

Nice job Mike, I thought at first you'd uncovered some Roman plumbing in your wood! Now how would this work? If you started the fire with a hand cranked fan and had a hood over the fire channelling into a flue with a turbine in it which in turn cranked the fan.... just a thought, it would save having to charge the battery?

[mikepepler]

Just having the pipe with no fan makes a difference to smoke levels.

Maybe I could suspend a large wind-pump-style turbine over the fire and the rising hot air from the fire could turn it, then have a system of drive belts and pulleys to run the intake fan? Or maybe I'll stick with the 12V battery... ;-) The fan only uses about 1.8W, so could run off that battery for several days without discharging it too much.

[SimonFisher]

Very nice indeed. What diameter pipe is that? It looks to be about 100mm. I can see a few of your developments making it into our wood at sometime. Do you just use regular bricks around the fire? I've always been a bit wary of them exploding.

What's next - upping it to furnace class and a bit of metal forging, or perhaps a heat exchanger in the fire to provide piped hot water?

Any point in having a regulator on the fan supply so you can adjust the speed, or is it just as simple to turn it on and off periodically?

[tracy]

Simon, I think you guys will have to come along and visit sometime in the summer and see it all!

[mikepepler]

Hi Simon,

It's about 75mm diameter. It's aluminium, as that was what I had lying around, and the end of it has melted a bit from the fire's heat!

A regulator would indeed be a useful addition, but I've not even had time to wire it into a proper plug yet....

Mike