Update: 20th August – Light my Fire
We build a massive tube and made it smoke. The colors of the rain forest seem brighter today and the song of the birds more rhythmic. We are all very relaxed and enjoy the sunshine. There is a generally good mood.In other words, our incinerator is finally functional! After a last fitting of some bitumen to seal the hole in the roof and some final painting of chimney we were ready for the first test. A little bit of boxes and a bit of paper.
then the disappointment: the fire did not catch a good draft and smokes heavily our of the ash tunnels. No smoke from the chimney. Frowns, surprised faces from the staff. Is this thing not as good as the guys promised? It does not work after all?
heavy discussion on our side. Decide, the grill must be to high, bad airflow, low contact area in ration to the volume, too little waste in the chamber. Said done: Cut the legs of the grill, crumble documents form 1975 for lighting the fire.
Next try: Great success. The fire picks up nicely, the smoke quickly turns from white to nearly invisible. Raising the temperature with more plastic, we got confident enough to add the first small load of medical waste. A few bloody bandages, some wet syringes were the test. The burning slowed down a bit and started pulsing. With more dry waste, that should be no problem. We will start the more extensive teaching on Monday with more fresh waste.
Stay tuned!
Text: arne.bruns