I’ve long been interested in primus ovens and have a lovely old Hestia which I use regularly in my off grid home. I’ve recently acquired a much smaller oven, essentially a 10 inch copper cube with opening front which sits on top of a large RM branded stove equipped with a ring shaped support for the oven. The oven has manufacturers plate bearing the name Townson & Mercer of Croydon. This long established company appears to specialise in laboratory apparatus so I’m wondering if this oven was for lab. rather than domestic use?
@brassed-up I've seen a couple of those RM/simple oven combinations over the years. I reckon you're correct, originally intended for warming something in labs rather than domestic cooking. But simple single skin ovens were commonly sold cheaply for stove top use over the years, as I'm sure you know. Not at all jealous of the Hestia , I'd love one to use daily in summer when the woodburning range isn't in use on days when there isn't enough sun to run the electric oven. I intend to build my own version soon, with modern insulation.
Yes an upgraded Hestiam would be a really useful piece of kit for off-grid living. As you’ll probably know the offset position of the heating stove does give some degree of uneven oven temperature but I guess is necessary to maintain the convection circulation around the double skin. I guess some outer insulation might help with this. Let me know when you have the prototype!
Thanks, that's good to know. I've built a number of woodburning stoves over the years with both side ovens and ovens above the firebox- the latter of which give far better cooking. So my pressure stove oven will be mounted above the heat source, double skinned and well insulated (vermiculite board most likely, I don't trust ceramic fibre). Do you manage to bring things to the boil on top of the Hestia in use?
Yes - rather slowly, with primus on full throttle. Normally use an additional stove to bring things to boil. Right hand hob best for keeping things hot, left hand for simmering (the Hestia I have has primus mounting on left)
