To properly build a traditional Chinese stove, you need to know the features of its design. The main thing here is not only to correctly calculate the order, but also to draw up a diagram of the tunnels, with the help of which the room will be heated.
Kang is not just a Chinese stove, it is a complex system that serves to cook food and heat your home. It is still widespread in rural areas of this country today. There are several kan designs, one of which is “di-kan”, that is, a stove that covers the entire floor space.
What is special about the traditional Chinese oven?
Regardless of what its size is (it can vary from 2 meters or more), this stove is built in such a way that there is enough space for several household members to sleep. As a rule, a kan occupies at least 1/3 of the room that is intended for cooking. The main structural elements are the stove itself (or fireplace), a stove bench and a chimney.
The materials from which they are made are brick and clay. The secret of the effectiveness of such a furnace is in horizontal cavities or tunnels, which are laid under the floor and inside the bed. Thanks to this system, hot air, striving for the chimney, heats up both the home and the sleeping place well. Flat stones 5-7 cm thick are laid on top of the tunnels to keep the heat in the room. Moreover, the farther from the stove, the thicker stones are placed. Each of them must be covered with a layer of clay, which is subsequently leveled, thereby giving the stone the correct shape.
How to build a kang?
The calculation of the order is carried out individually for each specific house, since it is required to take into account all the features of its design. But there are general rules for construction. Brick or stone flagstone is used for masonry. On the outside, the oven and tunnels are covered with large slabs, but not bricks.
The stove for lighting firewood and cooking should be on one side of the bed. The design of the chimney should be such that the smoke from the hearth flows to the chimney built near the house. The height of which should be 3-3, 5 m.
The tunnel system should have as few zigzags as possible to prevent heat loss. The peculiarity of the kan is that the smoke in the adobe cavities under the floor and the stove bench seems to "hang" from above, and after cooling down, it goes down and goes out into the chimney. The firebox can also be built from the outside of the house, while being well insulated from the environment.
The Chinese Kan stove is an example of economical heating of housing, since a small amount of firewood is consumed with it for heating it. This efficiency has become possible thanks to the peculiar design, which has been verified over the centuries of operation of these furnaces.
