Thermoelectric generators

Do you know which TEG generators (& the companies that make them) work
best with the heat put out by rocket stoves?

Care Warner : Welcome to Permies.com and our sister site Richsoil.com! And A big Welcome to our Rocket , Wood stove and Cob Forum Threads !
posted below are a few useful links :


https://permies.com/t/34193/tnk/permies-works-links-threads

https://permies.com/t/43625/introductions/Universal

Using the Permies search engine I found about 75 Threads related to T.e.g. after a 1.4 second search, all within Permies.com - some of the best Threads
were posted in the Alternative energy section !

Per your question regarding T.e.generators and Rocket stoves mass heaters,I am going out on a limb here and say none ! It is my sincere
hope that there has been a breakthrough in this Technology and I will be proved wrong !

T. E. Generators have many fans - but the Truth is they are very inefficient in transferring Heat Energy into Electrical Energy with its own problems with
Energy Storage- With losses in conversion to chemical energy (batteries) and from Chemical back to Electrical energy !

The Physics of T.e.g. units requires an area that can accept The inward flow of heat energy, and a much cooler opposing end that is 60ºƒ + cooler,

Most units smaller than a dump truck barely produce enough electricity to pump a continuous supply of cool water PLUS light a few LEDs.

I expect that if there is to be a future for Small Scale T.E.G. units it will be in Finding a way to make them very cheap! This would seem to eliminate most
of the current crop of Approaches

With Ether Solar or Wind energy it is much simpler to determine a R. O. I. or Return on Investment, Maintenance costs and a pay-back date !

It is nearly impossible to find anyone who is posting Any 3rd party testing for the performance of existing units, and it is critical that you Know both the
minimum number of Kilo-watt hours needed and the units of Electrical energy capable of being produced by any T. E. G. Unit !

Certainly This is not the final say on this subject today or in the future, a little study on your Current Kilo-watt hours consumption will prepare you to
determine when and if any teg unit will serve you as more than a toy !

For the Good of the Craft ! Big AL

For real Big Al?!

Hum. From the adverts they make it sound like these things will trickle charge your battery bank and actually be a viable way to produce some electricity, but it sounds like it's just a drop in the bucket. Is that true of the water cooled versions too? If so I'm bummed. It sure sounded good... Does anyone else out there know any differently or do you know the same as Al?

Here's an experimental T.E.G. system for woodstove:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKWDp_yWq8c

Sounds great. Well, almost, that is until you take note of the very low power of the system which they mentioned in the video. Specifically, 14 volts at 1.5 amperes. That's a minuscule 21 watts, good for lighting a few LEDs, "trickle charging" your phone, and etc.

Let me embed that for you.

Care W. : please watch the video- At 1:20~ish you have this dialog !


- the pump is pushing it (heated water ) through all these heaters (radiators )and then it goes back to be reheated ?

Correct! And is pumping it back to be reheated and the by product of creating Electricity is Hot Water !


It is more accurate to say that the pump is removing all that excess heat energy form the T.E. generators 'cold side' allowing the process to continue.

Apparently the space they were standing in was itself cool enough to continuously cool the radiators and then the cooled water was recycled back to the
T-E Generators coolside -

Thus they were able to say that the heated water was a by-product of the production of electricity !

It is important that we compare apples to apples, The 5 watt pump is spoken of as pumping 5 gal a minute, but is this water being pumped directly into a pail?

What volume will it flow thru 3/8th pek tubing if asked to pump the water up the 15 ' we were promised the pump was capable of achieving ?

While this might actually allow you to provide heat for a (not very) remote space How many units will be needed to heat that space around Thanksgiving in

St. Louis ? and how many units to heat a space in Bangor Maine past Christmas time ?

What are the Costs per unit ?!

I hope other more knowledgeable people will add their thoughts, I am scraping the bottom of the Barrel here and am looking for further comments Too ! Big AL