About the stove

The stove works on ‘rocket stove’ principle which uses thin twigs that are burned in a simple combustion chamber containing an insulated vertical chimney, ensuring complete combustion before the flames reach the cooking surface. Here are a few features of the Panval Rocket Stove as mentioned in the manufacturer’s website:

The PRS-v5 is a smoke-free, economical biomass stove that can cook meals for 5–6 people using fallen twigs from trees. It can be ignited easily using few dry grass, leaves or paper as tinder and does not require an air-blowing or kerosene like traditional stoves.

It can make 20 cups of tea in 15 minutes using about 6–8 twigs (approximately 150gm of wood), cook 1kg rice with 8–10 twigs and trained three youngsters to troubleshoot and maintain the stoves.

10 rotis in 30 minutes using 12–15 twigs.

The tall body of the stove acts like a chimney and creates a strong natural draught of air flowing through the stove to make it work almost smokeless throughout its operating power range.

Ash can be flushed out without extinguishing the fire or halting cooking operation. This can be done by simply pulling out the fuel grate while holding the burning sticks in place. Such mid-operation ash-disposal permits uninterrupted cooking for as long as needed.

The stove can be assembled easily, is portable and can be used as a camping stove when going on a picnic.

Roshan, a young villager, recalls his childhood memories of a hillock behind the school. “The winding paths of the hill were then lined with huge trees. But as I grew older, I could see how they were all cut down gradually for firewood. Today it is just another barren land.” He points out to the logs of wood each house has stacked up in its rickety shed to be used during the monsoon. “Imagine the number of trees that have been hacked to build the pile,” he adds.

The Rotarians explained to the villagers how detrimental to the lungs it is to inhale the smoke from traditional chulhaas. The smokeless stoves fuelled by twigs would warm hearts and homes without the toxic haze of smoke, and is an ingenious solution to effective environment care, says Swati.