CHIMNEY STOVES AND

SMOKE HOODS
GETTING SMOKE OUT OF THE KITCHEN
Why get rid of smoke?
Nearly half the world cooks on three-stone fires or rudimentary stoves. Indoor air pollution, caused
by burning biomass fuels, such as wood and agricultural residues, causes the deaths of nearly two
million people each year. The people most vulnerable are children aged five years and under,
particularly infants less than six months old, and women cooking meals. Where people live a long
way from towns or cities and have no choice other than to burn biomass fuels, ways must be
found to burn fuels more efficiently, and to get rid of the damaging smoke from their homes.
Chimney stoves and smoke hoods are two ways in which this can be done.
Methods of smoke removal
One way to get rid of the smoke is through a flue or chimney, which takes the smoke outside the
house. There are basically two ways of doing this either through a chimney stove, where the flue
is an integral part of the stove (Figure 1), or using a smoke hood (Figure 2), where the hood is
placed over a traditional fire or a stove, and the cook can access the stove through a front
opening, allowing her to cook in a way which is familiar to her. Hot air rises up the flue out of the
room.
These two systems are very different, in that the chimney stove is an enclosed system, with only a
small opening to insert fuel and to let in limited air, and the flue sucks out much of the smoke
out of the room. With a smoke hood, on the other hand, the fire burns largely independently of the
surrounding hood and smoke is again drawn up by the hot gases rising up the flue.
Chimney stoves
In theory, a chimney stove seems a perfect solution.
With nowhere else to go, smoke vents into the open air
outside the house. A well-constructed and maintained
chimney stove can get rid of most of the smoke, halving
the concentration of smoke left in the room.
Figure 1 shows a stove disseminated by HELPS
International that fulfils all the requirements of a good
chimney stove and is very popular with the user.
Such stoves can be found particularly in Central and
Latin America. The top surface is a sheet of metal called
a plancha on which tortillas can be cooked. Recesses are
sometimes built into the plancha into which the pots can
fit.
Clips at the top and bottom of the flue mean that it can
be easily removed for cleaning. The opening for the fuel
is exactly the right size, and there is a small bar across
the opening close to the bottom to ensure that air can
pass underneath the fuel so that the fuel burns
completely. The material for the stove is based on a

Figure 1: A well-designed chimney stove

disseminated by HELPS International in
Central America. (photo: HELPS international)

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lightweight local tile called a baldosa.

What makes a good chimney stove? Table 1 indicates some of the features that are vital for a
good design and some of the problems if care is not taken in design and manufacture.
Table 1: What makes a good chimney stove?
Good design
Stove material

Chimney or
flue

Potential problems

The firebox, where the burning takes

place, must be made of lightweight
insulating material that reflects heat
back into the stove.

Despite its widespread use, mud is not a good

insulator. It absorbs the heat just like a sponge
absorbs water. Whilst this is happening, the fire
remains cool and this causes more smoke.

Metal can also be used as a stove

material, provided it is strong enough
to last.

Metal stoves have to be protected externally as

they do not appear hot, and can cause burns.
They emit a lot of heat into the room, so are not
good in hot regions, and often use a lot of fuel.
If the gauge is not thick enough, they will distort
and air will leak into them.

The chimney or flue must be cleaned

every two or three weeks so it must
be easy to dismantle to make this
task quick and easy.
Training in cleaning of flues is a vital
part of successful introduction of
chimney stoves.

Flues that are fixed to the stove at the bottom

and fastened firmly to the roof at the top require
the cook to climb onto the roof to clean the flue.
This is such a big nuisance that flues tend to be
left, they block up with soot and the smoke
blows back all the time into the room. The tars
left behind in this instance are a fire hazard.

Flue
dimensions

This is highly critical. The correct

cross-sectional area and height of flue
pipe will provide clean and efficient
combustion. It is therefore important
that the person making the stove has
good design specifications and close
tolerances on his / her work.

Too tall a chimney will cause too much suction

on the stove and it will burn excessively quickly.
The cross-sectional area needs to be sufficient to
take up all the smoke, but narrow enough to
accelerate the smoke out of the house.

Fuel opening
size

Fuel burns best when it is cut into

small pieces, and a small opening
will ensure that the cook uses the
right size fuel for optimum burning.

However, too small an opening may stop the

cook from using the stove at all if she finds that
it is a nuisance. Too large an opening allows too
much air to rush into the system, cooling the
fire. It will also allow the cook to use pieces of
wood that are much too large. Air needs to pass
under the fuel to mix with the fuel for good
combustion.

Pot-holes

Ideally, these should allow the pot to

sit down into the stove so that heat
can reach the sides of the pot.

Pot-holes will allow smoke out into the room

unless the pot fits snugly into them. When the
cook removes the pot to stir the food, smoke
escapes through the holes. Also, if the stove has
two pot-holes, an extra disc to block off the
unused pot-hole is required, or smoke will
escape. This is an extra operation for the cook.

In some Latin American countries,

the hotplate is a flat metal sheet
(called a plancha) on which food such
as tortillas can be cooked directly, as
in Figure 1.
Distance
between fire
and cooking
pot

As the fire burns, particles of smoke

are created and rise up towards the
pot. In a well-insulated chamber,
these particles will burn creating
more heat if there is sufficient
distance between the fire and the
bottom of the pan.

If there is insufficient distance between the pot

and the fire, the particles of smoke will move
past the pot and go into the cooler flue before
they are burnt. This creates more smoke and
reduces efficiency.

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There are many designs of chimney stove that do not work well, that create a lot more smoke than
an open fire, and that burn more fuel than an open fire. As a result, large numbers of chimney
stoves have been abandoned and their components used for other purposes, or they have not been
replaced once worn out.
Successful chimney stoves require good design, good maintenance and good instructions on how
to clean the stove very regularly. In the right place, well-designed chimney stoves can have a
major impact on smoke reduction.

Smoke hoods
Another approach to venting smoke is through a smoke hood, which may be more appropriate in
some situations where...
Where people like to sit in front of a fire that they can see when they need to keep warm
Where some kind of microfinance is available, as the smoke hood will last many years once it
is installed
Where there are metalworkers keen to broaden their skills and manufacture a new product
Where there is not much access to other types of fuel than woodfuel and agricultural residues
Smoke hoods work in a similar way to open fireplaces used for heating in
many countries worldwide. They alleviate smoke by venting it out of the
kitchen from the fire or stove on which the food is cooking. Practical Action
has been promoting smoke hoods for several years.
Recently, Practical Action has been working with Bosch and Siemens
Home Appliances (BSH) to develop a more advanced smoke hood in
cooperation with the Bundeswehr Universitt Department of
Thermodynamics and funded via a Public Private Partnership, BSH, with a
project title Healthy Hoods. This has included building a virtual smoke
hood and a fire inside a computer and step-by-step altering the various
dimensions and parameters to achieve the best possible results (Figure 2).
Field testing has indicated that the new design reduces indoor air pollution
by over 80% - in most cases achieving WHO standards for indoor air
pollution.

Figure 2: Computer
design of smoke
hood.

To make the technology as accessible as possible, the project is developing

an interactive website. The website, www.healthysmokehoods.org offers
anyone the opportunity to start the process of designing their own smoke
hood. By providing basic data on the type of region, household size,
cooking pots and habits and special needs, a customized design complete
with manufacturing instructions will be generated. A film showing the
impact of the hoods is available on the web:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0HXGqHvbUM

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Case study

In the Gorkha region of the Nepal High Hills where the

Healthy Hoods project has been undertaken (Figure 3),
over 25% of the households in all of the villages have
already placed down-payments. The smoke hoods are being
sold without direct subsidy, and dependent upon size and
location (transportation can be expensive) the hood prices
range from 5600 6400 Nepalese Rupees (about US$65 $75; 2012).

Figure 3: Using the smoke hood to

brew tea - Gorkha region, Nepal.

The project has focused on establishing local

manufacturing and a financing model to allow for long-term
sustainability and expansion. A revolving fund has been
established whereby villagers are able to make an initial
down-payment of 1000 Rupees and then finance the
remainder over a 24 month period. The fund is managed by
the local cooperatives which concurrently play a role in
raising awareness and promotion of the technology.

Smoke hoods in other countries

Earlier work on smoke hoods by Practical Action led to very well-accepted hoods in Kenya, Nepal
and Tanzania. These hoods did not remove as much smoke, but they illustrate that smoke hoods
are appropriate across a wide range of cultures and types of climate.
In Kenya, the well-known low-cost upesi stove is built
under the hood in place of the open fire, as in Figure
4. The upesi is a well-accepted ceramic stove which
can be built into a base, with the hood set over the
top to provide a neat safe environment reducing the
risk of burns and reducing the fuel costs. Another
type of stove, built on a principle called a rocket
stove, is becoming very popular. This could be
combined with
a smoke hood,
with the stove
reducing
emissions and
Figure 3: Woman cooking with her
fuel costs, and
stove and smoke hood, Kenya. Photo
credit: Practical Action East Africa
the smoke hood
venting any
residual smoke up the smoke hood. The smoke hood is
sufficiently versatile to allow these changes to happen.
A successful initiative in Tanzania and Uganda involves the
use of smoke hoods, combined with the installation of upesi
stoves (Figure 5).
Figure 4: Maasai woman
standing beside her smoke
hood, Tanzania. Photo credit:
Practical Action East Africa.
4

Some structural changes to homes included removing a wall

across the door opening, and the addition of two small
windows were made. The result is that the Maasai homes in
this district have been transformed from enclosed smokefilled kitchens to clean bright open houses.

Smokehoods and chimneys

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The very low level of emissions now evident in the households is partly to do with the technology,
but also perhaps because of the extreme fuel shortage. Women in this region walk for several
hours twice or three times per week to gather fuel.
Reasons for success
Key to all of this is the combination of stove and hood, and the
fact that the hood can be designed to fit many shapes and sizes
of stove, including locally manufactured stoves that save a lot of
fuel, but may not get rid of sufficient smoke to make them
healthy. Putting a smoke hood on top of such a stove allows
local manufacture of a stove plus hood combination that
reduces pressures on forests, reducing the harmful emissions
within the households, and can all be locally manufactured.

Smoke hood manufacture

Smoke hoods need to be made within certain tolerances, but
these are not so precise as those required for chimney stoves.
The hoods can be made by local artisans (Figure 6), thus
providing new employment, and support if ever things go wrong.

Figure 5: Manufacturing a
smoke hood using hand tool
in Nepal.

Smoke hoods can be made in a variety of

sizes; the website tool advises on the right
size for a particular situation. It provides
dimensions and drawings for hood
manufacture. If more than one size is
feasible, thought should be given to the size
of hood that will minimize wastage of steel,
as the dimensions should not be
substantially modified once the size is
chosen.
The smoke hoods currently being made in
Nepal are being made only with hand tools.
Steel is brought into the area as flat sheets.
Figure 6: Detail of the metal fold at the hood
The sheet is then cut into several pieces and
intersection.
the pieces are joined by folding them tightly
against each other. Some of the sections are
bolted and/or riveted together. This is done by hand by skilled metalworkers who have been
trained by the project team, and by one of the first entrepreneurs trained by the project.

Can people afford chimney stoves and smoke hoods?

Both chimney stoves and smoke hoods are quite expensive if you are on a very low income.
However, the major problem is finding all the money at once the up-front or capital costs. Once
installed, the technologies often save fuel costs for reasons described above. One way to enable
purchase of hoods and stoves is to create revolving funds. These funds are based on seed capital
an amount of money that starts off the process. A few households belonging to a community
group, will buy the appliance in instalments; sometimes paying a low additional interest rate to
provide a small income for the person running the fund. Once they have paid back some of the
money, this provides enough funds for a few more people to get appliances. The larger the seed
capital, the sooner everyone gets a chance to reduce smoke in their kitchen.

Smokehoods and chimneys

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Choosing the right technology

Practical Action believes that people should have the right to choose what is best for them, and
the organisation will strive to make it possible for them to purchase whatever they choose. The
most important people in any development work are the people in the community with whom the
organisation works.
Good chimney stoves that are well-designed and constructed will be appreciated, and therefore
are more likely to be well-maintained by cooks who are keen to use them. If they are an imposed
solution, they are likely to fall into disrepair.
Smoke hoods are an excellent solution if they are affordable and if people want to maintain their
traditional cooking practices. They also allow people to sit in front of them when the weather is
cold. The social aspects of sitting around a cosy fire should not be underestimated. All manner of
stoves can be built underneath them.
Ultimately, the choice is going to be decided by the user, and by what they can afford.

References and further information

Healthy Hoods Smoke Hood Designer www.healthysmokehoods.org interactive toolkit

Health Hoods Maintenance http://practicalaction.org/healthy-smoke-hoods-maintenance
webpage

Health Hoods Microfinance http://practicalaction.org/healthy-smoke-hoods-microfinance

webpage

Healthy Hoods http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0HXGqHvbUM video

Monitoring Indoor Air Pollution https://practicalaction.org/monitoring-indoor-air-pollution
Practical Action Technical Brief

Design Principles for Wood Burning Cook Stoves Bryden.M. et. al. Aprovecho Research
Center 2004

The effect of ventilation on carbon monoxide and particulate levels in a test kitchen Still,
D. & MacCarty, N. in Boiling Point 51, Practical Action 2006
Smoke, Health and Household Energy Volume 1: Participatory Methods for Design,
Installation, monitoring and assessment of smoke alleviation technologies. Bates. E. et.
Al. Practical Action May 2005

Smoke, Health and Household Energy Volume 2: Researching pathways to scaling up

sustainable and effective kitchen smoke alleviation. Bates. E. et. Al. Practical Action May
2005
Good website for looking at efficient and effective stoves:
http://www.crest.org/discussiongroups/resources/stoves/
HELPS International: http://www.helpsintl.org/

How to Build The Improved Household Stove: A Construction Manual for the Rocket
Lorena and Shielded Fire Stove, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development, Uganda.
World Health Organisation website on indoor air pollution
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs292/en/

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This document was originally produced by Dr. E. Bates for Practical Action in April
2007 and was updated by Dr. E. Bates in July 2012.
Photographs (except for HELPS stove): Practical Action.
Practical Action
The Schumacher Centre
Bourton-on-Dunsmore
Rugby, Warwickshire, CV23 9QZ
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1926 634400
Fax: +44 (0)1926 634401
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://practicalaction.org/practicalanswers/
Practical Action is a development charity with a difference. We know the simplest ideas can have the
most profound, life-changing effect on poor people across the world. For over 40 years, we have been
working closely with some of the worlds poorest people - using simple technology to fight poverty and
transform their lives for the better. We currently work in 15 countries in Africa, South Asia and Latin
America.