January 11th 2009 Istvan's improvised wood burner
Istvan is a physics teacher by profession and he has designed this amazing heating system that runs on sawdust. It heats a large family home and heats the water as well.
To the left of the photo above you can see the hopper which is filled with sawdust in the morning. One hopper full is required per day to heat the house during the subzero temperatures of winter. Istvan acquires his sawdust from a local sawmill, which just goes to show that nothing at all in the village is wasted.
The fan at the bottom of the burner is driven by a 12V car battery and is thermostatically controlled.
Sawdust is simply fed into the top of the hopper by the sackful.
At the bottom of the hopper is a chain pulley system which drives a finned shaft which slowly rotates feeding sawdust into the burner. The speed of the feed is determined by the temperature in the house and is thermostatically controlled.
