Update, 4/7/13. It works! I had to fill the spare space with bubble wrap and toweling, but it stayed warm enough to cook a stew of beans and potatoes that had just been brought to the boil. Carbon saving – a rough estimate assuming 30 minutes gas ring time saved = 260g. This assumes 30 min at full blast (extrapolating from here ) but actually 30 min to cook beans through is a low estimate. The saving would be less if a pressure cooker were the comparator.
I decided it was time to clear out the garage (actually the shed – a car hasn’t been in there for at least 30 years. First object, some foam insulation salvaged when the extension was built. The type used for cavity walls when building them.
I’d saved it to build a ‘hay box’ – traditionally a box filled with hay to insulate a cooking pot while it slow cooks. Now was the time to put it together. I decided to build it around a cardboard fruit box – big enough for the big enamelled casserole – maybe a bit too long though. I stuck the slabs of insulation around it and taped them together with matching silver duct tape. The base I covered with surplus radiator foil (the kind you put behind radiators so they heat the room and not the wall) reasoning that heat goes up so less insulation needed below. And a big slab for the lid.
So here it is – I’ll try it out with something like a vegetarian fabada/cassoulet later this week.
As you can see from the pallet (cut down by one plank) it is big – too big to store in the kitchen, so not having done any more tidying in the garage I’ve just reshuffled 1% of the junk – let’s hope it works and isn’t another white elephant.
Next project a recycled brick pizza oven to burn tree prunings.
Uncommontater 