SolHuma Vital Bio Mass Stove

I have been waiting for the right moment to line up all the planets that will signal the perfect time to buy this Vital Stove by SolHuma, a Canadian company.

The right moment came, but there was some glitches in the seller's supply side, and the seller did not have the stove on hand. Guess it was not the right moment, after all. No, planets obviously did not align, either. After the unexpected delay, the stove finally arrived. I promptly put the stove to the test.

The design of the stove was superb in principle, and prior to buying it, I have been studying it for a while, reading reviews and stuff. The Vital Stove is a small forge, in a sense. The air is supplied from the bottom through small holes, and the fuel is burned quite cheerfully.

I fed it a variety of bio mass: wood pellets, twigs, tree barks, wood chips, branches, pine cones, mesquite charcoals, and BBQ charcoals. I was impressed by its calorie output and performance.

Here, the stove firebox is glowing, because I put large chunks of mesquite charcoal. I think this is burning a little too hot. I think I will use smaller pieces for a lower heat. Adding woodpellets raised the temperature, too. Wood pellets do not start well, but adding them by a small handful after the stove caught fire keeps things glowing.

It boiled 2 quarts of water in a pot with a thick aluminum bottom in less than 12 minutes (the picture above shows a different pot). I am sure the boil time will change, as the weather and the wind condition change. But i thought the time was pretty good.

Then, at about 2 hours of total run time, the motor developed a noise. As I subsequently used the stove, the noise became louder (something like a far-away wood chipper's whine). At the last use of the stove, the motor quit after about 10 minutes into use. Now the total run time so far was less than 5 hours.

I was disappointed to say the least.

So I emailed SolHuma. The second try got the attention of the owner, Martin, and we exchanged investigatory emails. I offered to buy one spare motor in addition to the motor on warranty. I was concerned that the new motor might suffer the similar fate. Both motors arrived. It took a month, since the initial contact. But once the communication was exchanged back and forth, the motors took about 2 weeks to get here. Thanks, Martin, if you are reading this.

Initially, I suspected the heat from the stove did something to the motor. The stove got pretty hot during the uses previously. I thought I would have to take the motor off the stove, in order to see if there were any damage from the intense heat the stove generated.

I visually inspected the old motor, and I could not find any sign of the heat damage. The fins on the turbine were intact, as sound as those of the new motor. I could hear a faint "click" as I turned the turbine. The new motor did not yield any sound. The turbine is made of hard plastic, very light, yet tough.

At this point, I am not sure, if it was heat or the mechanical failure. Maybe it was the heat. Or, maybe, the motor had a defect. The fins are intact on the turbine, because it is in constant contact with air. I could have taken apart the motor, but I did not want to bother with that. Instead, I decided to run the Stove hard at the max fan setting. It ran for one hour continuously without any problem. This time the firebox did not glow red, however.

When I opened the underbelly of the stove, held by 5 screws, one screw decided to break off. Arrgh! That one was frozen inside, and the screw chose to die, rather than yield. So now the new motor is held by a team of 4 obedient screws, instead of 5. There is no problem with the security of the motor. I decided to lubricate the screws with petroleum jelly, before I reinstall them.

This is how Vital Stove looks underside.

The electric connector, which connects the battery pack to the stove, is held by two tiny screws: they gave up without any trouble. I popped in the new motor, tightened the screws, and the stove was good to go. A really simple operation, it was.

This time, I used only mesquite charcoal and wood chips.

When I dumped the remaining hot coal, I noticed one thing: this time, the stove ran cooler than the last time! Before, the stove was too hot to touch, and I had to watch the grass grow, before the fan cooled it down enough to touch. I guess I will keep the stove from glowing from now on. The new motor will likely serve its master faithfully before it wears out.

Vital stove is compact, compared to the Wood Gas Stove. My Wood Gas Stove XL is about the size of a gallon paint can. It is a superb bio mass stove. The advantage of the Vital Stove is its compactness. With a spare set of 2 AA batteries, you can stay out in the wilderness for a week. I count about 5 hours' worth of use on a set of alkaline AA. After that, the battery power is not so great to enjoy the full power of the Vital Stove. I figure 10 hours of operation time is more than enough for a week's cooking for 1-2 persons, even up to 4 persons, in my opinion.

The Wood Gas Stove produces little smoke, but Vital stove will produce significant smoke, when using woody fuel. That is the only downside of the Vital Stove. But once the fire is going strong, the smoke is minimal.

Normally, a liquid fuel stove needs a windscreen to raise its efficiency and to cut the boil time. With Vital stove, the fire area is so big, about 12 square inches, that a windscreen is not needed. I used the stove in the breezy area, and I did not feel any delay in boil time.

I was going to take this to Point Reyes's backpacking camp, but, alas, open fire is not allowed. I will have to take it somewhere else to put it through the test.

One gripe that I hear from other users is that it is difficult to store the fire box under the stove where it belongs. The problem is that the fire box's stainless steel panels distort under the intense heat at the first firing, and this warpage interferes with the smooth movement in and out of the storage space. All you need to do is to press the panel flat with your thumbs, and gently push it in or out. That will keep it from hanging up on the structure of the underside of the stove. There is no need to force it. You will hardly ever get it in or out by forcing it.

I would also caution against getting the battery pack wet. It is not so sturdily manufactured. I took the small screw off that hold the panel together. I did not want to carry another item, a screwdriver, when I venture out, in case I need to replace the batteries. I will wrap a rubber band around the pack, so I won't lose the cover.

I am quite satisfied with Vital Stove.