Houses in Goa essentially had a stove made of three stoneswhich was fed by firewood. Though the smoke from the wood was not the best forhealth and the consumption of firewood was not efficient “ heat was lost as thefire licked the space between the stones “ there did not seem to be a betteralternative.
Caetano Luis Braganza from Verna, has been buildingsmokeless chulhas for over 40 years now. He completed a course in Pune whichwas which was sponsored by the Department of Rural Development, on passingwhich he taught students at the Agnel Ashram to build smokless chulhas.
“Smokeless chulhas use a quarter of the wood used by a3-stone stove, do not emit smoke and there is no soot as a result,” saysBraganza. The chulhas are made of fire bricks which are held together by fireclay. The chulhas are constructed in a way that the heat of the fire isutilised to the maximum, as the fire is completely contained in the structure.The smoke is purged out without decreasing its thermal efficiency through atall chimney constructed of a cement pipe. The most common pattern for asmokeless chulha is one which has two openings on the top for the vessels andonly one below for the wood. The chulha utilises the convective energy of thesmoke for both openings.
Earlier, chulhas were constructed of mud and cracked in 1-6years. “I experimented and learnt that fire bricks were a better option as theyretain heat and these chulhas remain intact for as long as 20 years,” saysBraganza. The vessels which are used for cooking do not turn black except forthe part of the base which is in contact with the fire.
The chulhas constructed by Braganza are non-portable. Hebuilds a chulha within a day and it is ready for use 10 days later. Houses witha tiled-roof pose no problem for fitting the chimney. However, a circularopening has to be made in a concrete roof. “While constructing a new house, anopening could be kept in the slab to make provision for a chimney should one berequired anytime later,” says Braganza.
Smokeless chulhas are minimally obtrusive and improvepeople’s ways of cooking.
