Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove

Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove

We evaluated the Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove based on our criteria, as outlined in our methodology.  The stove met a majority of the criteria, although it fell short in its accessibility.  Please read below for more details.

The Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove most satisfied the following criteria

Safe

The Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove has multiple safety features which substantially decrease the chance of a cooking fire.  One such feature is that the burner is turned off immediately when the stove is lifted up, tilted, or moved (Arivi, 2009).  This feature important because a common way that fires are started in the settlement is through flame stoves being knocked over.  Another design feature of this stove is the separation of the filling hole from burner as well as the addition of air circulation over the fuel.  This will reduce the likelihood of the paraffin reaching the temperature at which it can catch fire: 43 (Kehrer et al, 2008).  Furthermore, in the case of a fire, the fuel cap shoots off and allows the paraffin to pour out safely so that it does cause an additional explosion.  The outer shell of the stove protects against burns by keeping people away from the dangerous inner parts of the stove.

Healthful

The burner of the Arivi stove produces less than half of the maximum carbon monoxide allowed by law.  There are also fewer smoke particles emitted into the air, which decreases the risk of respiratory ailments (Arivi, 2009).  This is still not as clean as using electricity, however it is an improvement upon the health risks associated with the  current paraffin stoves.

Inexpensive

The stove has a sixty percent efficiency which is a higher efficiency than any known flame stove (Arivi, 2009).  This high efficiency reduces the amount of paraffin used when cooking, in turn decreasing the weekly expenditure on paraffin for a typical home using a typical Paraffin Flame Stove.  According to Arivi, a user will save thirty-two percent of the money they spend on fuel by switching to the Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove.   Assuming the average family consumes slightly more than six litres of Paraffin a week on cooking, this would save them two litres a week (this assumption is based on our Weeklong Cooking Survey [PDF]).  Currently the stove is priced around R200 which is high in comparison with the existing flame stoves that can be purchased at R60 to R70 (Magada, 2009).  If the stove were to be sold at R200,after ten weeks of saving two litres of paraffin a week, the cost difference between the current flame stoves and the Arivi stove will have been deferred.  The high start up cost would be deferred by the fuel savings in the long run, however it is still a concern for sales in Monwabisi Park.

Socially Acceptable

Through our studies of residents in the park, we have found that many people would be interested in purchasing this stove because of their comfort with flame stoves and the added safety features.  During our community presentation, we found that many people were drawn to the appearance of the Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove.  We are confident that this stove would be well received by the community of Monwabisi Park and possibly in other informal settlements as well.

Sustainable

The Arivi stove is much more durable in comparison to the existing paraffin stoves.  In testing, the stove lasted for 500 hours of continuous use while a typical paraffin flame stove only lasts a few years (Arivi, 2009).  This durability is important for residents of informal settlements since they do not have the money to be spending on stoves every few years.  It is important to take note that there will be a certain level of uncertainty at first as far as durability for the first few years that the product is on the market since it is brand new and complications could arise.

The Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove least satisfied the following criteria:

Accessible

The stove will be in the market in 2010 and was not available for sale while we completed out project.  The company was interested in distributing the stoves into the informal settlements since that is where the largest need and market for the stoves exists.

For more information on the Arivi Safe Paraffin Stove, visit their website: http://www.myarivi.com