June 21- Successful Wood Stove Test

Today I had my first successful wood stove water boiling test. It was very exciting and the data looks great. I got up at 4am in order to start my testing. It’s interesting because I thought that I would be disrupting the family by using their biodigester gas, but I am actually disrupting them by using their wood stove. This is because they use their wood stove for tortillas every day, beans, and coffee. These are items that take a long time to cook, so there is insufficient gas. When I use their gas, they can use their wood stove or they can use their propane gas stove. However, normally they do not like using their propane because it is so expensive.

The women of my family are very helpful. In fact, my host grandmother helped me throughout the entire test with the fire to make sure it stayed consistent. She also gave me some tips for starting it and controlling it. She also yelled at me whenever I had to weigh the charcoal or leftover wood out of the stove. I thought this was interesting because I was the one with the gloves. She would just sort of take over and help me out and not use the gloves. Clearly she has a lot of confidence that comes with experience.

The wood stove during testing.