You have the best stove reviews on RU-vid. Thanks for sharing them. I'm not sure why they put those big holes on top of the Lixada. My Lixada doesn't heat the bottom of even big pots well unless I put the cross bars on it. With cross bars, the flame seems to stay in much better contact with the pot. BTW a trick I like for long burns in the Lixada is to include one piece of pressed charcoal in the bottom and then load with wood twigs. If I get distracted with meal prep and let the twigs burn down without reloading, I can just toss in more and the charcoal will quickly light them and get the stove going again. And that one piece will last 45 minutes. Another trick to improve stability of the Lixada tower is to use a couple tent stakes through opposite holes on the bottom to attach the stove to the ground. And finally, I discovered Lixada makes a bigger version of this stove that doesn't weigh much more but takes double the fuel, and can bring an impressive amount of water to boil quickly. The biggest negative is it comes with 4 cross bars that are a bit like a puzzle to assemble.
Finding the best setup for airflow can make all the difference in wood stoves. Cool suggestion about adding the charcoal briquette. I will have to give that a try. I did know about the tent peg idea and use it on my Lixada Tower stove. Will have to look again at the larger wood gas stove. Thanks for commenting
Mark, Thank you for another excellent video -- and for the valuable information you always give. I've been using a couple of Canway Camping Stoves, which do a nice job of reburning the wood gas (twigs, pellets). But I use much less than 1.5 cups of pellets; instead, depending upon how long I expect to need to cook at that time, I use a half cup of pellets with twigs on top. The twigs really get things going, quickly, while -- by the time the pellets catch -- the pellets provide excellent, balanced heat. I use the twigs for boiling water -- the pellets for cooking food. You can always add more of either, if needed. Like you, I found that the pellets are too small for the stove (as is), so I put a home-made "riser" (made of flashing material) on the floor of the burn chamber to elevate a home-made round (with a couple hundred holes drilled in it) set on the riser. It works beautifully, allowing airflow from beneath, preventing clogging at the bottom, and keeping the pellets from falling through. (The riser and round store easily within the stove and add nothing to the weight.) I like the idea of the corrugated round. I'll have to try that. Thanks again... and cheers! --- Old Matt PS: To help gasify more quickly, I break the twigs short enough to keep them below the gas ports when I load them. It mostly prevents smoke.
All good suggestions. I may play with other combos of plate and pellet amounts to see if I can get better performance. The Lixada "Scout" stove works so well with pellets. I may stay with that one for pellets. Thanks for commenting
Suggestion to yet ANOTHER final test of the Lixada Tower Stove... Attempt to get gassification with the new plate that you made for this video, using actual fuel as you would use in the woods. So, semi-dry sticks, and what-not - and also, use that water for a coffee that you can enjoy while wrapping the video up ;) Thank you a lot for all these tests that are really interesting, but not something that I would EVER get around to doing myself. Best regards from Denmark :)
Oh no..another test😉. Actually, I will likely try that a few times in the woods. If it works out I will include it in a future video. Thanks for commenting
Never thought of a top down burn, but works awesome in my stove...... i hope it also works in my full sized Solo stove bonfire..... thanks for the great idea... Thanks Mark!
Another good modification test Mark. I think it is handy to carry some pellets for these stoves as they really need very dry twigs out in the field in any of my experiences.
I agree most wood gas stoves (most small stoves for that matter) can be a challenge to start with damp wood. This one is better than most because of its tall design creating some updraft, not unlike a rocket stove, in a small way. Thanks for commenting
Great test Mark. Do you think it was the slower burn of the pellets, new plate, or the combo that allowed gassification? The pellets surely slowed the burn because less air would travel up through them compared to the wood which had spaces between the pieces. May be interesting to use the new plate with wood just to compare it to the pellets. Just a thought. Thanks for sharing, you always get me thinking!
Hi Jackie. I find pellets usually gassify well in must stoves designed to as a wood gas stove. The decreased ariflow may have helped as well. I may try this plate with wood to see if it makes a difference. If it does, I may make a video on it. Thanks for commenting
What pellets do you use? I purchased hardwood smoker pellets from Lowes and have had difficulty in getting them to light and burn clean. I suspect I need pellet stove fuel pellets but the smoker pellets were easily available.
I use hardwood pellets intended for pellet stoves. The brand in Canwick and I but them at Canadian Tire. I have had some people suggest using smoker pellets are safer as they do not contain binders. If I was direct grilling food I would definitely use them but for boiling water I am happy with the Canwick pellets. Thanks for commenting
Glad you liked the video. In my experience, the Lixada "Scout" stove is the best stove I own for using with wood pellets. I would include the Solo stoves but they need a grate in the burn chamber to keep pellets from falling through. A full load of pellets in the Lixada will burn hot and clean for over 40 minutes. I have a couple of videos on this if you are interested. Thanks for commenting
I have been enjoying catching up on your videos and like your style. I have both the Tomshoo wood stove and this Lixada Tower stove. I enjoy the convenience of wood pellets giving a good long steady burn, but the satisfaction of collecting twigs and pine cones to use as fuel. Anyway, I am looking at a combination to try using charcoal on the bottom of the burn chamber for grilling, the top twigs and cones for boiling water. Have you tried anything like that? I figure thr charcoal will give longevity for grilling.
I have a video coming up where I try the stove with charcoal (no spoilers)😉. I have not tried adding wood or pellets on top but it would be interesting to see how it would work. Thanks for commenting
I have used charcoal in both the Firebox Nano, Emberlit original 5 in. stove and the UCO folding mini stoves. Works well in all. I only use the charcoal as a coal extender for even heat for cooking. In these typical stick stoves there really are no coals to cook over and once the flame is gone so is your heat...you must cook over flame. As soon as there is a nice flame in the stove I add the charcoal....one to the Nano and 2-3 in the Emberlit. It is nice to walk away (so to speak) and not have to tend the stove every minute worrying the flames will perish. As the charcoal "grays" it is very easy to re-establish a flame fire if wanted. I have also found the term "stick stove" to be deceiving. Using thicker branches of wood is easily doable. If you haven't tried the Swiss torch method you should. Look to the Firebox website for the best vid on this method. Well worth it.
A question? At 3:45, you're talking about the flame not extending to the bottom of the pot. When I look at the video, at the top left just at the bottom of the pot, I see a blue flame and heat shimmer, as if there is a very hot flame going on there. Is that one of the gasification jets? If so, that would appear to be high enough to reach the pot effectively. If it's not a gasification jet, what is it?
Good question. When I look at the video I don't feel it shows the flames as accurately as when I watched them directly. The stove was certainly producing some good clean and hot flames, and possibly some blue methane( and definitely gassification) flames but despite what it looked like, most of the flame was not in constant contact with the hot. A lot of the heat shimmer may have been heat escaping out the feed port
I think you can ditch the "Fuel 21" and use the dollar store hand sanitizer. ;) I wouldn't mind seeing how you would use your trangia (clone) in that stove.
Right on. Hand sanitizer works great for this purpose. I have shown this stove with the Alocs (Trangia clone) in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jiSC2tsn6kk.html
Excellent video Mark! Wood pellets are a great fuel for many applications but not all of them. I am curious to know what happens if you wrap the upper section of that stove with tinfoil to block off the upper holes and that big loading port. It might get you the flame height you are looking for by stopping the introduction of the cold air above the secondary burn ports and preventing the exhaust cooling.
Good video and thank you for posting this one. I’ve found some perforated metal to do the same. After hearing the definition of gasification it seems my main reasons for wanting a gasification stove are all wrong. I like feeling I’m clearing up fallen limbs and my main reason is I don’t like to dodge smoke. I guess I’ll never be a purist.
Glad you enjoyed the video. I consider gasification a goal rather than a neccesity. If the stove works well and does not smoke too much I am happy regardless if it gassifies. Thanks for commenting
I might use this under a tarp that is open on at least one end but not in a tent. Aside from the fire risk it still produces carbon monoxide. Hope this helps. Thanks for commenting
It seems to me that the holes around the base and the holes under the cooking vessel are about a 3rd larger than they need to be. I have no experience burning wood pellets, but I can think of times when they could be useful to me. I ice skated on a river once, fell down, stood up soaking wet. Any kind of fire would have been useful at that moment.
The holes do look a bit larger than necessary. I made a video a few years ago based on the idea that I had just fallen through the ice and needed a fire. Thanks for commenting
I was using softwood fuel pellets purchased at a local hardware store. Now I use only hardwood fuel pellets (same price). They seem to burn cleaner. Thanks for commenting
Hello Mark! I will start so say that I really enjoy your testing of stoves, I just the other dag notice that Lixada has starten to sell a rocket stove, is that somthing you are considering to ad to your line of tested woodstoves? With regardes Henrik in Sweden
Hello and thank you for your kind words. Yes, if I can get the Lixada rocket stove I will try it. Unless it is the copy of the HotAsh stove I have already tested. Can you send me a link? Thanks for commenting
Mark Young rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F143357655738 Here i the Link! It kind of looks like thehotash but its only about 500 grams!
Mark, I see as you said, that the fire was reduced from that of the wood fire in the earlier test, which would mean a lower cooking temperature. Sounds like a way to lower the chances of burning pans or food. I don't always want a full raging fire to cook with. I see that other folks are asking about what might happen if that large side loading opening was covered. Perhaps that might dampen the fire a bit more, especially if no pot stand was added. I think that you have opened up a few more tests to do my friend.
It looks like the flame is much too far from the pot already... but I appreciate what you are saying. That process of using pot stands worked very well with the square (folding) Lixada stove.
@@PaulSchortemeyer i noticed the flame got larger when Mark lifted the pot off the stove. I think it would be hotter and the flame taller too with pot stand.
@@connosaurus I agree that blocking the feed port may increase effectiveness, but I'd like to also try the pot stands to allow those flames to tickle the bottom of the pot.
Enjoying your reviews of various stick stoves especially using wood pellets. I don't know if you are familar with The Firefly Lantern which is a stove that can both provide light and cooking. It was designed to be used with wood pellets and the effectiveness stems from the way it uses both gasification and rocket stove features. Very well made, boils 2 cups of water in 6 minutes, one hour of maintainence free cook/lantern time. Compact enough to day hike or canoe/car camp, but I think they cost $85 US plus shipping. I wonder if you blocked the feed port on the Lixada Tower, if that would make the stove more effective using pellets?Might be another test for you...
I had heard of the Firesly some years ago. I think it was Hiram Cook who had tested it. I would love to try one out if I can find a good price. It just came up at over $270.00 Canadian dollars on Amazon. Thanks for commenting
Just watched the Firefly video and was very interested, until I saw the lantern was $ 64.00, which is ok, but they charge $29.00 shipping!!! That's a total screwing for me."
Interestingly, I find wood pellets sold for stoves cheaper than Kitty litter. At least in my area. But the kittly litter pellets do work well. Thanks for commenting
This may be a precision test idea. Precisely, test how much dry fuel it takes to boil two cups of water in an average day. Weight the stove primed just before we place pot on, once boiling, weight again with pot removed (with gloves). No fuel was added in between.
Nice results with the gasification Mark. My favourite pellet stove is still the modified folding Lixada from 2 years ago ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cmhA2goTKj0.html That one is just so compact and versatile for me. Always nice to see different products being tested in person (-:
