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2007 Heater Testing at Shawville

Test HK-H14
March 05/07

Mixed size maple. 19% moisture (estimated). 60 lbs
7pieces, stacked 2221. Left side ignition.
Previous fire: 24 hours.
False start. The kindling got hung of on the air pipe from test HK-H11.
Kindling was poked - worse. Finally more newpaper was shoved under and relit.
This shows up on the opacity curve as the first small spike, from 1 - 4 minutes.
Also quite noticeable on the red stack temperature curve.
After that, it was a fairly slow start, as evidenced in the animation.
At 36 minutes, the fire "takes off".
Good illustration of "sensitive dependence on initial conditions". What happens in the first
few minutes, can affect the whole burn.
In the Austrian stovebuilding tradition, there is a term for this:
"Umkippen der Verbrennung" - the burn goes "off the rails", or "tips over".

Animation HK-H
Animation, 2 minute intervals. 71 frames (142 minutes)

gas analysis
Flue gas analysis
Flue Temp: first dip is the false start. Second dip was due to a gas leak around the temperature probe, that was noticed and fixed.
.................dips at the end are from pokes of the fire.
Blue Oxygen curve: The dip at 38 minutes is when the fire "takes off" finally from the slow start, noticeable also in Flue Temp curve.
The dip at 86 minutes is when the pile collapses.
Dips after that are from pokes (see temp curve)

opacity
Opacity.
Small spike from 1-5 minutes is from false start. The burn is slow to start, as evidenced by slight opacity and the flat
temperature curve to 35 minutes. The fire "takes off" at 36 minutes.

Fuel Load - HK-H
Fuel Load

TESTO Excel data file

Fueling data


This page was updated on March 6, 2007
This page was created on March 6, 2007