HydroFan Update #1

I made a few small improvements to the HydroFan that makes it somewhat easier to run. One was to drill a hole in the bottom of the water bucket that allowed me to fasten the feed tubing to the bucket with an interference fit.

The next feature was to add some metal strapping and two tie straps to hold the end of the tubing that powers the HydroFan.

Next was the nozzle that was made out of a fitting that inflates basket balls. I just cut off about 1 cm from the end of the fitting. Also a water shield was added partially around the water wheel.

Now it was time to set up and run the HydroFan, hands off, and record some videos of it in action, also make observations.

I made about six videos each about one minute long and may have used one gallon of water. I could feel air being moved, on my hand, with it running. I tried to compare it to Tom Reed's Woodgas Camp Stove set on low (the electric fan) and I am confident the the HydroFan was moving less air. How much less it difficult to estimate, I'll say ¼ the volume of air.

At this point the HydroFan has not been optimized and there is much room for improvement. For example; both the fan and water wheel are out of balance, the shaft is not straight, the fan design needs redesigned (centrifugal?) and the water wheel needs redesigned.

Possibly the HydroFan could be used on a cook stove that used a charcoal like fuel that would need fanned in the beginning of the burn to reduce start up emissions and bring water to a boil then when the HydroFan ran out of water, and stopped, the cooking water/stove would be in simmer mode.

I see no reason to continue with this model and plan a total redesign in the future.

Best Wishes,

Jeff Davis

Improved Biomass Cooking Stoves

This site exists to help people develop better stoves for cooking with biomass fuels in developing regions.

HydroFan Update #1