A stove is a heat-producing device. The word typically describes an appliance used either for generating warmth or for cooking. In British English, however, the term cooker is normally used for the cooking appliance, and stove for a wood- or coal-burning room-heating appliance. Another American English word for a cooking stove is range. The word appliance has several different areas of meaning, all usually referring to a device with a narrow function: One class of objects includes items that are custom-fitted to an individual for the purpose of correction of a physical problem, such as prosthetic and orthotic appliances. ... Heat (abbreviated Q, also called heat change) is the transfer of thermal energy between two bodies which are at different temperatures. ... Cooking is the act of preparing food for consumption. ... British English (BrE) is a term used to differentiate the form of the English language used in the United Kingdom from other forms of the English language used elsewhere. ... American English (AmE) is the dialect of the English language used mostly in the United States of America. ...

There are many types of stoves. A kitchen stove is used to cook food, and refers to a device that has both burners on the top (also known as the cooktop or range or, in British English, the hob) and, often, an oven. A cooktop just has burners on the top and is usually installed into a countertop. A drop-in range has both burners on the top and an oven and hangs from a cutout in the countertop (that is, it cannot be installed free-standing on its own). A kitchen is a room used for food preparation. ... The range of a vehicle is the maximum distance it can cover without needing to be refueled or recharged. ... A hob is a term used in Pennsylvania Dutch Country to describe a cast iron griddle. ... An oven is an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. ... Countertop (also counter top, countertopping) usually refers to a horizontal worksurface in kitchens, other food preparation areas, and workrooms in general. ...

In industrial usage, stove may refer to the place where fuel is combusted before being fed to a large heat consumer (such as an open hearth furnace. For the workstation, see SGI Fuel. ... Open hearth furnaces are the furnaces where excess carbon and other impurities are burnt out of Pig iron to produce Steel. ...

A glass-ceramic cooktop (2004)

A glass-ceramic cooktop. ... A glass-ceramic cooktop. ... Glass-ceramic is a mixture of glass and ceramic materials (mainly lithium-, silicon-, or aluminium-oxides) yielding a material that is impervious to even extreme temperature shocks. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Kitchen stove heat generation

A stove generates heat by one or more of the following means:

• burning of
  • natural gas
  • liquefied gases (e.g., butane, propane)
  • heating oil
  • biofuel such as wood, coal, corn, or synthetic heating pellets
• electrically, by either
  • electrical resistance (by way of a heating element)
  • induction

Combustion or burning is a chemical process, an exothermic reaction between a substance (the fuel) and a gas (the oxidizer), usually O2, to release heat. ... Natural gas (commonly referred to as gas in many countries, but note that gas is also an American and Canadian shortening of gasoline) is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Butane, also called n-butane, is the unbranched alkane with four carbon atoms, CH3CH2CH2CH3. ... R-phrases S-phrases , , Flash point -104 °C Autoignition temperature 432 °C Explosive limits 2. ... Heating oil, or burning oil, also known in the United States as No. ... This article is about the general topic of biofuel. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). ... Binomial name Zea mays L. Maize (Zea mays ssp. ... A handful of wood pellets Wood pellets are a type of wood fuel, generally made from compacted sawdust. ... Electrical resistance is a measure of the degree to which an electrical component opposes the passage of current. ... An induction cooker uses induction heating for cooking. ...

Modern stove features

Modern stoves are typically considered a basic appliance in homes in developed nations. Along with the refrigerator, a stove is usually found in the kitchen.

Many modern stoves typically have from three to eight burners or plates of various sizes and power levels; an oven; and knobs, for controlling the heat of the burners and the oven. The control knobs may be located on the backsplash, on the cooktop, or on the upper part of the front of the stove.

Middle- to high-end models also may feature locking mechanisms for the oven door; convection cooking; automatic cleaning mechanisms, which raise the oven temperature to more than 260 degrees Celsius (500 degrees Fahrenheit) and reduce accumulated food spills to ash or a catalytic oven lining which aids in burning off spills; one or more timers; and a digital display. Many can even accommodate automatically raising and lowering the oven temperature to preset levels at preset times. Convection is the transfer of heat by currents within a fluid. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... This article describes degree as a unit of temperature. ... It has been suggested that Centigrade be merged into this article or section. ... This article describes degree as a unit of temperature. ... Fahrenheit is a temperature scale named after the German physicist Gabriel Fahrenheit (1686–1736), who proposed it in 1724. ...

History

Early stoves in the Western World

Stove manufacture in Senegal.

In Europe, the history of the kitchen stove begins in earnest in the 18th century. Before that time, people cooked over open fires fuelled by wood, which first were on the floor or on low masonry constructions. In the Middle Ages, waist-high brick-and-mortar hearths and the first chimneys appeared, so that cooks no longer had to kneel or sit to tend to foods on the fire. The fire was built on top of the construction; the space underneath was used to store and dry wood. Cooking was done mainly in cauldrons hung above the fire or placed on trivets. The heat was regulated by placing the cauldron higher or lower above the fire. Image File history File links What: A boy constructs a stove in Senegal Source: USAID: Sub-Saharan Africa Photo Library File links The following pages link to this file: Stove ... Image File history File links What: A boy constructs a stove in Senegal Source: USAID: Sub-Saharan Africa Photo Library File links The following pages link to this file: Stove ... World map showing Europe A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... A kitchen is a room used for food preparation. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... A brick wall built using the Flemish Bond Masonry is the building of structures from individual units laid in and bound together by mortar. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... A chimney is a system for venting hot gases and smoke from a boiler, stove, furnace or fireplace to the outside atmosphere. ... A cauldron (from Latin caldarium, hot bath) is a large metal-made pot (kettle) for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, usually attached to a hanger with the shape of an arc. ... An object placed between a serving dish or bowl, and a dining table, usually to protect the table from heat damage. ...

Open fire has three major disadvantages that prompted inventors even in the 16th century to devise improvements: it is dangerous, it produces much smoke, and the heat efficiency is poor. Attempts were made to enclose the fire to make better use of the heat that it generated and thus reduce the wood consumption. A first step was the fire chamber: the fire was enclosed on three sides by brick-and-mortar walls and covered by an iron plate. This technique also caused a change in the kitchenware used for cooking, for it required flat-bottomed pots instead of cauldrons. Only in 1735 did the first design that completely enclosed the fire appear: the Castrol stove of the French architect François Cuvilliés was a masonry construction with several fireholes covered by perforated iron plates. It is also known as a stew stove. Near the end of the 18th century, the design was refined by hanging the pots in holes through the top iron plate, thus improving heat efficiency even more. (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Cooking pot. ... Events April 16 - The London premiere of Alcina by George Frideric Handel, his first the first Italian opera for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. ... Architect at his drawing board, 1893 An architect is a person involved in the planning, designing and oversight of a buildings construction. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

Early stoves in East Asia

Raised kamado

Chinese and Japanese civilisations had discovered the principle of the closed stove much earlier. Already from the Chinese Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206/207 BC), clay stoves that enclosed the fire completely are known, and a similar design known as kamado (かまど) appeared in the Kofun period (3rd - 6th century) in Japan. These stoves were fired by wood or charcoal through a hole in the front. In both designs, pots were placed over or hung into holes at the top of the knee-high construction. Raised kamados were developed in Japan during the Edo period (1603 - 1867). Download high resolution version (1024x683, 342 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1024x683, 342 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The Qin Dynasty (Chinese: 秦朝; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chin Chao) (221 BC - 207 BC) was preceded by the Zhou Dynasty and followed by the Han Dynasty in China. ... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 270s BC 260s BC 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC - 220s BC - 210s BC 200s BC 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC Years: 226 BC 225 BC 224 BC 223 BC 222 BC - 221 BC - 220 BC 219 BC... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 211 BC 210 BC 209 BC 208 BC 207 BC - 206 BC - 205 BC 204 BC... Centuries: 4th century BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 212 BC 211 BC 210 BC 209 BC 208 BC - 207 BC - 206 BC 205 BC... Quaternary clay in Estonia. ... History of Japan Paleolithic Jomon Yayoi Yamato period ---Kofun period ---Asuka period Nara period Heian period Kamakura period Muromachi period Azuchi-Momoyama period ---Nanban period Edo period Meiji period Taisho period Showa period ---Japanese expansionism ---Occupied Japan ---Post-Occupation Japan Heisei Kofun is an era in the history of Japan... // Overview Events 212: Constitutio Antoniniana grants citizenship to all free Roman men 212-216: Baths of Caracalla 230-232: Sassanid dynasty of Persia launches a war to reconquer lost lands in the Roman east 235-284: Crisis of the Third Century shakes Roman Empire 250-538: Kofun era, the first... This Buddhist stela from China, Northern Wei period, was built in the early 6th century. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... The Edo period (Japanese: 江戸時代, Edo-jidai), also called Tokugawa period, is a division of Japanese history running from 1600 to 1867. ... King James I of England/VII of Scotland, the first monarch to rule the Kingdoms of England and Scotland at the same time Events March - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies and is succeeded by her cousin King James I of... 1867 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ...

Iron stoves, aka wood stoves

An open fireplace is a very inefficient form of heat for two reasons. First, in order to prevent air, and therefore smoke, from spilling back into the room you need a large updraft pulling air (and therefore heat) out the chimney. This both pulls heat away and pulls air from the rest of the house into the fire and then up the chimney. A fireplace consumes 200 to 600 cubic feet of air per minute, more for a very large fire. A mostly closed off fireplace, for example a modern fireplace with glass doors closed will use 50-150 cubic feet per minute. High airflow creates a draft which pulls heated air out of the house to be replaced with cold air leaking in from the outside. Second, in an open fire some of the combustible gas coming off the wood escapes does not ignite and is lost. To resolve these problems iron stoves came into use in the 18th century. (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ...

An early, and famous, example of an iron stove is the Franklin stove, a wood burning stove said to have been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1742. It had a labyrinthine path for hot exhaust gases to escape, thus allowing heat to enter the room instead of going up the chimney. The Franklin stove, however, was designed for heating, not for cooking. Benjamin Thompson at the turn to the 19th century was among the first to present a working iron kitchen stove. His Rumford stove used one fire to heat several pots that were also hung into holes so that they could be heated from the sides, too. It was even possible to regulate the heat individually for each hole. His stove was designed for large canteen or castle kitchens, though. It would take another 30 years until the technology had been refined and the size of the iron stove been reduced enough for domestic use. Stewart's Oberlin stove was a much more compact iron stove, patented in the U.S. in 1834. It became a huge commercial success with some 90,000 units sold in the next 30 years. In Europe, similar designs also appeared in the 1830s. In the following years, these iron stoves evolved into veritable cooking machines with flue pipes connected to the chimney, oven holes, and installations for heating water. The originally open holes into which the pots were hung were now covered with concentric iron rings on which the pots were placed. Depending on the size of the pot or the heat needed, one could remove the inner rings. A Franklin stove The Franklin stove (named after its inventor, Benjamin Franklin) is also known as the circulating stove. ... Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Baptiste Greuze 1777 Benjamin Franklin (January 17 [O.S. January 6] 1706 – April 17, 1790) was one of the most prominent of Founders and early political figures and statesmen of the United States. ... // Events January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... Benjamin Thompson. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: Official (Latin): E pluribus unum (1789 to 1956) (Translated: Out of Many, One) In God We Trust (1956 to present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at federal level; English de facto Government  â€¢ President  â€¢ Vice President Federal... 1834 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... // Events and Trends Electromagnetic induction discovered by Michael Faraday Dutch-speaking farmers known as Voortrekkers emigrate northwards from the Cape Colony Croquet invented in Ireland Railroad construction begins in earnest in the United States Egba refugees fleeing the Yoruba civil wars found the city of Abeokuta in south-west Nigeria...

By controlling the inflow of air to allow only what a fire needs to burn, iron stoves reduce the consumption of air to a mere 15-30 cubic feet per minute (this figure is for a modern stoves. All wood stoves operate on the principle of controlled air flow but their consumption will vary).

Modern wood stoves also increase the completeness of combustion. More expensive stoves use a catalytic converter which causes the gas and smoke particles not actually burned to combust. Other models use a design that includes firebox insulation, a large baffle to produce a longer, hotter gas flow path and pre-heating the air prior to its entering the combustion chamber.

In the US, the EPA created stricter emissions standards in the late 1980s. Maximum smoke output is limited to 7.5 grams per hour and some stoves achieve as little as 1 to 4 grams per hour. Put differently, this is roughly 90% less smoke than older stoves, which equates to nearly zero visible smoke from the chimney. This is largely achieved through causing the most possible material to combust, which results in a net efficiency of 60 to 70% as contrasted to zero to 30% for a fireplace. (net efficiency is the amount of heat energy transferred to the room compared to the amount contained in the wood, minus any amount central heating must work to compensate for the airflow problems described elsewhere in this article.)

Gas and electric stoves

Many stoves use natural gas to provide heat.

All previous stoves were fueld by wood (or other biofuel), charcoal, or coal. The first gas stoves were developed already in the 1820s, but these remained isolated experiments. (James Sharp in Northampton, England, patented a gas stove in 1826 and opened a gas stove factory in 1836.) At the world fair in London in 1851, a gas stove was shown, but only in the 1880s did this technology start to become a commercial success. The main factor for this delay was the slow growth of the gas pipe network. The first gas stoves were rather unwieldy, but soon the oven was integrated into the base and the size reduced to fit in better with the rest of the kitchen furniture. In the 1910s, producers started to enamel their gas stoves for easier cleaning. A high-end gas stove called the AGA cooker was invented in 1922 by Swedish Nobel prize winner Gustaf Dalén. It is considered to be the most efficient design and is a much sought after kitchen "must have" in certain circles—despite the hefty price tag. Photo by Quadell. ... Photo by Quadell. ... Natural gas (commonly referred to as gas in many countries, but note that gas is also an American and Canadian shortening of gasoline) is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood derives from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... This article is about the general topic of biofuel. ... Charcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents of animal and vegetable substances. ... Coal is a fossil fuel extracted from the ground by underground mining or open-pit mining (strip mining). ... Natural gas (commonly referred to as gas in many countries, but note that gas is also an American and Canadian shortening of gasoline) is a gaseous fossil fuel consisting primarily of methane. ... Events and Trends Nationalistic independence movements helped reshape the world during this decade: Greece declares independence from the Ottoman Empire (1821). ... This article is about Northampton in England; for other places of the same name see Northampton (disambiguation) Northampton Guildhall, built 1861-4, E.W. Godwin, architect Northampton is a large market town and a local government district in central England upon the River Nene, and the county town of Northamptonshire. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location within the British Isles Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population – Total (mid-2004) – Total (2001 Census) – Density Ranked 1st UK... 1826 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Charles Darwin 1836 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Worlds Fair is the generic name for various large expositions held since the mid 19th century. ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... 1851 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... // Events and trends The 1910s represent the culmination of European militarism which had its beginings during the second half of the 19th Century. ... The AGA cooker is a stored-heat cooker invented in 1922 by the Nobel Prize-winning Swedish physicist Dr. Gustaf Dalén (1869 - 1937), who also founded the AGA company. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Gustaf Dalén Nils Gustaf Dalén (November 30, 1869 - December 9, 1937) was a Swedish inventor and industrialist, the founder of AGA, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1912 for his work on automatic gas regulator controlled buoys. ...

The AGA, and similar products such as the Rayburn Range are examples of always-on stoves which continue to burn fuel even when cooking is not being performed. Stoves (or ranges as they are also known) such as these are often used instead of boilers or furnaces to supply hot water and central heating to the rest of the house. --69. ... A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated under pressure. ... A furnace is a device for heating air or any other fluid. ...

First attempts at building electrical stoves were made in the 1880s, but its real debut was at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, where an electrified model kitchen was shown. But like the gas stove, the electrical stove had a slow start, partly due to the unstable technology, and partly because first cities and town needed to be electrified. By the 1930s, the technology had matured and the electrical stove started to slowly replace the gas stove, especially in domestic kitchens. // Events and Trends Technology Development and commercial production of electric lighting Development and commercial production of gasoline-powered automobile by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler and Maybach First commercial production and sales of phonographs and phonograph recordings. ... World Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893 The World Columbian Exposition (also called The Chicago Worlds Fair), a Worlds fair, was held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbuss discovery of the New World. ... 1893 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... // Events and trends A public speech by Benito Mussolini, founder of the Fascist movement The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ...

The electrical stove technology has developed in several successive generations:

• The first technology used resistor heating coils which heated iron hotplates, on top of which the pots were placed. Though the technology is slowly fading into obsolecence, coil ranges still provide the best durability out of all electric cooktop implementations.
• In the 1970s, glass-ceramic cooktops started to appear. Glass-ceramic has a very low heat conduction coefficient, but lets infrared radiation pass very well. Electrical heating coils or infrared halogen lamps are used as heating elements. Because of its physical characteristics, the cooktop heats quicker, there is less afterheat, and only the plate heats up while the adjacent surface remains cool. Also, these cooktops have a smooth surface and are thus easier to clean, but they only work with flat-bottomed cookware and are markedly more expensive.
• A third technology, developed first for professional kitchens, but today also entering the domestic market are induction stoves. These heat the cookware directly through electromagnetic induction and thus require pots and pans with ferromagnetic bottoms. Induction stoves also often have a glass-ceramic surface.

The iron hotplate technology is still in widespread use, although newly equipped kitchens nowadays usually get a stove using one of the later technologies. Resistor symbols A pack of resistors A resistor is a two-terminal electrical or electronic component that resists the flow of current, producing a voltage drop between its terminals in accordance with Ohms law. ... A coil is a series of loops. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Glass-ceramic is a mixture of glass and ceramic materials (mainly lithium-, silicon-, or aluminium-oxides) yielding a material that is impervious to even extreme temperature shocks. ... Image of a small dog taken in mid-infrared (thermal) light (false color) Infrared (IR) radiation is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength longer than that of visible light, but shorter than that of microwave radiation. ... The halogens are a chemical series. ... An induction cooker uses induction heating for cooking. ... Electromagnetic induction is the production of an electrical potential difference (or voltage) across a conductor situated in a changing magnetic flux. ... Ferromagnetism is a phenomenon by which a material can exhibit a spontaneous magnetization, and is one of the strongest forms of magnetism. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Electrical oven technology has also advanced: in the convection oven, a stream of hot air is used for heating food instead of the heat produced by coils directly as in a conventional electrical oven. An oven is an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. ... Convection ovens use heated air that is forced into the oven by fans located in the back of the oven, generally for cooking food. ...

Gas and electric stoves are the most common today in western countries. Both are equally mature and safe, and the choice between the two is largely a matter of personal preference and preexisting utility outlets: if a house has no gas supply, adding one just to be able to run a gas stove is an expensive endeavour. In particular, professional chefs often prefer gas cooktops, for they allow them to control the heat more finely and more quickly. On the other hand, chefs often prefer electric ovens because they tend to heat food more evenly. Today's major brands offer both gas and electric stoves, and many also offer dual-fuel stoves combining gas cooktops and electric ovens. Cooks in training in Paris A term commonly used to reference an individual who cooks professionally. ...

Ovens and stoves, throughout history, have one thing in common, they will burn the person who comes in contact with their hot metal surfaces, for instance, the oven rack's front edge. Devices to protect the hands, such as oven gloves, have been developed, but need to be used consistently, to be effective; so people still get burned. Recently, a device has been invented by Burt Shulman of Wappingers Falls, NY, called the Cool Touch Oven Rack Guard, which is a fabric strip that attaches along the front edge of the oven rack and stays in the oven. If a person touches it, even at 500 deg. F., they will not be burned. - The fabric is made from a modern synthetic fiber called Nomex - which can withstand 500 deg. F. temperatures and has both low thermal conductivity and thermal mass. - These material properties reduce the heat transferred to the skin, during the "touch', so no burn results. See independent sources [1] [2] NOMEX® is the brand name of a flame retardant meta-aramid material marketed and first discovered by DuPont in the 1970s. ... In physics, thermal conductivity, λ or k, is the intensive property of a material which relates its ability to conduct heat. ... A thermal mass in the most general term refers to any mass used to absorb and hold heat. ...

Modern corn, pellet or biofuel stove

A corn stove is a type of pellet stove which is a type of biofuel stove. The shelled dry kernel of corn, also called a corn pellet, creates as much heat as a wood pellet but generates more ash. "Corn pellet stoves and wood pellet stoves look the same from the outside. Since they are highly efficient, they don't need a chimney; instead they can be vented outdoors by a four-inch pipe through an outside wall and so can be located in any room in the home." Encyclopedia of Alternative Energy

A pellet stove uses small, biological fuel pellets which are renewable and very clean-burning. Home heating using a pellet stove is an alternative currently used throughout the world, with an extremly fast growth rate in Europe. The pellets are made of renewable material –- typically wood sawdust or off-cuts. There are currently more than half a million homes in North America using pellet stoves for heat, and probably a similar number in Europe. The pellet stove typically uses a feed screw to transfer pellets from a storage hopper to a combution chamber. Air is provided for the combustion by an electric blower. The ignition is automatic, using a stream of air heated by an electrical element. The rotation speed of the feeder and the fan speeds can be varied to modulate the heat output.

See also

• Beverage can stove
• Furnace
• Kitchen
• Oven
• Portable stove
• Rocket stove

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Stove

Pepsi can stove (pot stand omitted for clarity). ... A furnace is a device for heating air or any other fluid. ... A kitchen is a room used for food preparation. ... An oven is an enclosed compartment for heating, baking or drying. ... A small portable stove and its container MSR WindPro with skillet, heat reflector, wind shield and isobutane/propane canister A portable stove is a stove specially designed to be portable and lightweight, such as for camping. ... This article belongs in one or more categories. ... Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

References

• Woodheat.org information on woodstoves
• Woodheat.org information on open fires

External links

• History of iron stoves – in German.
• The History of Stoves and Ovens From About.com
• How Stoves Work Article by RepairClinic.com
• Do-it-yourself Appliance Repair Forums Forums by Fixitnow.com Samurai Appliance Repair Man
• Early Chinese stoves, with images.
• Early Japanese stoves, with a good image.
• Wood Pellet Stoves A consumer guide to pellet stoves