Biolite stove

“A friend just sent me a link to this site. It is a wood-burning stove like the Zip stove, but it uses a Peltier junction to generate electricity for the fan, so no batteries are required. At 1 pound 10 ounces its probably lighter than an alcohol stove + fuel for more than a weekend trip. Less bulky, too. One or 2 nights out and alky is probably smaller/lighter. I like their suggestion of using it as part of an emergency plan. They claim little smoke or carbon due to the use of the fan, but I've seen a Zip stove in action and there was still some mess on the pot.

http://www.biolitestove.com/BioLite.html”

“That is awesome. Now if they could just get it down to about 8 ozs :) It would be great for an off the grid situation. But yeah, I am guessing it would be messy from the soot. The pay off for a stove that should, in theory, work forever. I'd think the weak point in these set-ups would always be the fan motor craping out.”

“Cute toy.”

“Going with your weight, it isn't lighter than a alky stove setup, unless you are thinking of a Optimus 22B for alcohol. My Caldera Cone with over a weeks worth of alcohol and pot do not weigh that much, not even close. Seems wood burning stoves are coming out of the woodwork everywhere.:) Another toy for stovies.
Duane”

“What other wood-based stoves have you seen? Links?”

“My entire kitchen (except food) when using a Caldera Cone weighs less than a pound, and that's with 3 days of fuel. Give me another 10 ounces of weight allowance, and I can go easily for a week and a half. (A fluid ounce of alcohol weighs less than one ounce, and I only need about 0.75 fl. oz. per meal).

I'm not saying the Biolite is a bad stove, but I don't think it's quite in the class of an alcohol stove for trips less than 10 days.

The Achilles heel of something like the Biolite might indeed be the fan motor, but I suspect the fan motor isn't your biggest worry. The TEG (thermo electric generator) is notorious for being frail. If they've got kinks out of it, they might indeed have a really cool stove.

You'd definitely have the "standard problem" of wood stoves with the Biolite: soot. Just a fact of life when using wood, fan or no fan.

HJ”

“Peltiers are ceramic, I played around with them in the mid-90's and experienced failures so I agree they aren't rugged. Maybe the guys can shave off a half-pound of weight in a future version.”

“I hope they do, and I hope they make the generator really rugged. Really, it's a great idea. The idea of relying on a battery for my stove has never appealed to me.

As far as popular stoves, I keep hearing about:
The Bush Buddy from http://bushbuddy.ca
The Tri Ti from http://www.TrailDesigns.com with the Inferno attachment
The Backcountry Boiler from http://www.theboilerwerks.com

I'm not a wood stove user, but those are the ones I hear the most about.

HJ”

“Yeah, I'm also thinking these type of stoves aren't so great for vestibule cooking...”

“http://www.backcountrygear.com/vargo-outdoors-titanium-hexagon-wood-stove-titanium.html?gclid=CJSEmY3Am6wCFQjc4AodyBGJ2Q

http://www.trailstove.com/

http://www.hikemore.com/hiking/usa-gear/backpacking-stoves.html

http://zenstoves.net/Wood.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roxyNOUjOs0”

“The last thing I want to do when it is snowing and blowing, the ground frozen, is look for twigs. Something I can rig up in a sheltered area and all I have to do is keep the tank pressurized appeals to me. On the other hand, going back to cooking over a woodfire would be neat in the right situations. Wood stoves must have a good following with so many coming out the last few years.
Duane”

“Duane, my observation is that wood stoves are more popular "back east" on trails like the AT which are lower elevation and heavily wooded.

Some of the trails I've been on where you're repeatedly camping at above 10,000', I just don't think burning wood is all that practical -- let alone ethical. Having grown up with doing wood fire cooking, it can be really fun at elevations and locations where wood is plentiful, but for heavily traveled areas, areas where wood takes centuries to grow, dry areas, etc, I'd rather just carry fuel.

HJ”

“For anyone who wasn't sure what an Optimus 22B is (referred to above), here's a photo.


HJ”

“HJ, good points. Like for instance where I bped in Aug. on my vacation, above certain elevations, woodfires were prohibited and later in the Summer woodfires period are prohibited due to high fire danger. My opinion is people are against helping line oil company pockets with their money and maybe to the same degree, burning fossil fuels. Thread drift here.
Duane”

“I made this one out of a street sign:

This one tips in about 440 grams..

Wood stoves are good for thru hiking in the east. I use it for when I need a shower, over 3 days. Usually carry a big pot with it and a white box side burner as a back up.

Never understood why some insist on a fan, I just use a platy tube to force air where I want. Once it's rolling it produces much heat and comforting light on cold nights.”

“440g (basically one pound) seems a little heavy for what it is, but then you don't have to carry fuel.

The fan on a woods stove acts sort of like a super charger. It's not so much to get the fire started but to make it burn more efficiently. I've not used a Zip stove, but they're supposed to be pretty good.

HJ”

“There a guy on hammock forums that makes the same one out of titanium, if I remember right it's 11 oz.

While it won't produce electricity, it stores flat in a ziplock bag.

The fan thing seems like much added weight and complexity for little benefit. Efficiency? Just use it where wood is plentiful. Once hot, it'll burn damp wood.”

“Cooked with wood in the old days and I am not going back.”

“It's part of a hiking strategy. Or not. Sometimes it's just plain nice to have a fire and if you can do it and basically leave no trace, all the better.

The advantage I see in this design is you can add wood with a pot in place. Many wood stoves are top loaders.”

“Sometimes it's just plain nice to have a fire and if you can do it and basically leave no trace, all the better.
You are leaving charcoal which according to the purists, not LNT.”

“There's nothing left but grey ashes. Close enough. You should try to minimize the impact of the hotspot you will create. It gets much hotter than other stoves.”

“Bury it. I created a campsite close to Lassen Volcanic NP, buried my fire pit before leaving. A few years later, went back, I could not figure out where my fire was.
Duane”

“One big benefit to the Biolite vs. all the other stoves is it produces enough excess electricity to charge a cell phone or headlamp batteries. A possible plus for a thru if you aren't doing much town time and are updating Trail Journals daily. A definite plus if you are using this during an emergency. Granted, cell phone towers will likely be out too, but keeping a few headlamps/flashlights going is invaluable.”

“I like the concept. I'd like to try out their homestove for car camping. http://www.biolitestove.com/NextGen_Cook_Stove.html

Just not sure the power produced by the smaller one would be all that beneficial considering how long you would actually have a stove burning on a thruhike. ..and the weight.”

“Considering that this is Biolite's "first cut," I hope to see even more refined (and lighter!) versions in the future. I hope their first edition sells well enough that subsequent editions are produced.

HJ”