Competitors are finishing up the first ever Wood Stove Decathlon at
the National Mall, 12th and Jefferson Drive SW in Washington, DC. The
Decathlon, held November 15 - 19 challenged teams to design and build
wood stoves that are highly efficient, produce low emissions, and are
innovative and affordable.
The event is sponsored by the
Alliance for Green Heat, the
U.S. Forest Service, the
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and industry groups seeking to improve the efficiency of wood-burning appliances.
The
14 finalists are Dragon Heater, Firemaster, Helbro Stoves, HWAM,
Intercontinental, Kimberly, Mulciber, Ofenbou and Feurerstellen,
Smartsove, Travis, Tulikivi, Walker Stoves, Wittus, and Woodstock
Soapstone. These companies entered high-efficiency wood stoves,
hybridt stove/rocket heaters, and masonry heaters, as well as retrofits
to modify existing wood stoves to improve efficiency.
According to
Dragon Heater their Helix stove is a hybrid of traditional wood stoves
and rocket heaters. It utilizes a traditional firebox with horizontal
feeding of the wood including a glass door for viewing the fire. Then,
it uses the turbulence and an internal stack or secondary burn chamber
from rocket heaters to produce very hot, optimized burns.
 |
| Soapstone stove by Tulikivi |
Jason
Stewart invented the IntensiFire, which is a new downdraft retrofit for
wood stoves. He said that Downdraft brings the benefit of more complete
combustion up to 60% more for the same amount of wood. It will bring
the benefits of secondary combustion air to older stoves that don't have
this function. Baffles are no longer required and the cost of the
IntensiFire is around the same as the cost of a replacement baffle.
A
team from the University of Maryland created the Mulciber Wood Stove,
which includes heat recovery and smart ventilation and burning systems.
It has automatic systems to control air flow in order to maintain the
ideal burning conditions and thermoelectric generators provide power to
circulate stove heat throughout the home.
Tulikivi introduced
their Hiisi 4 hybrid heat-retaining fireplace using soapstone which
releases heat more slowly. The Hiisi 4 uses cord wood or pellets
without electricity to operate, and is designed to meet the world's
tightest emissions standards set for 2015.
The winner of the contest will be announced on November 19, 2013.
