Silverfire Survivor RS vs Hunter TLUD

I am looking to purchase a biomass cookstove for daily use and am considering these two silverfire stoves. I have a RS in our greenhouse, so have experience with their operation, but none with TLUD stoves. If anyone can help me understand the differences it would be appreciated.


- I am still a little unclear as to the length of burn time between the survivor and the hunter - to say, boil and simmer 2 quarts of water and rice, would a few sticks suffice, or would you start with a few sticks to boil and then more to simmer? Or more fuel? If using the hunter, would you just select the right amount of sticks, load them, light them, and let it be? Or would it need one load and then another?

- How low is the simmer on each, if there is much 'control' of the burn?

- How do you 'shut down', or end the burn process when finished cooking on each?

- I am not so adverse to tending, especially if it allows more control. Is this the case in working with the survivor vs the hunter?

- I like the burning cleaner part of the TLUD. Folks say it burns faster - does this mean it heats up in a shorter time, or burns the fuel quicker? Would the TLUD Hunter use more fuel?

thank you
-Anthony

I have a survivor and a dragon, but not the hunter.

Survivor is not as hot, it but it comes up to temp faster--so total time from lighting the fire to boiling is about the same for 2 quarts. If you have the right fuel (DRY) and ready, you can be boiling in 10-15 minutes easy including loading the stove.

The dragon gets about an hour from a full load, depending on the draft setting. I think the hunter is about the same. They are a little bit short for pressure canning batches, but you can do almost any normal cooking on them. Reloading in the middle on a TLUD is a PITA and should be avoided if possible--the second load is not top down. I use pellet stove fuel when I want a really long hot fire and then I can get 90 minutes plus. I need to process some hedge branches and see how long they run and if they melt steel in the process.

The hunter has to burn down, but you can pull the sticks out of the survivor and put out the fire.

The TLUD's run HOT--they go to 11!, but I can't really simmer on the dragon--it starts at 8. The hunter is better at choking down, but then it isn't burning clean. If you want to simmer, you want the survivor.

The dragon puts out 45,000 BTU (almost as much heat as all four burners on your kitchen stove put together), yes it burns fuel faster to do it. Hunter is almost as much, depending on how tall your chimney is. The survivor is 20 something IIRC. That is still more than any kitchen burner and twice as much as most camp stoves.

I use the dragon like a propane turkey fryer. I use the survivor like a kitchen stove burner. I use the dragon a lot, but I am usually cooking for 12 or more. For one or two I use the survivor.

The reason I didn't buy the hunter is the limited pot size because of the chimney (and the pots I use to cook for 12).