An Esbit power !!!

[myo tun]

Hi
It's me again,using 600 ml cup to boil 2 cup of water using Ti-C.C.S side winder.

Anyone know how much Esbit do I need for 2 cups of water regardless of elevation and wind, (using C.C.S).

Thanks
Tun

[James DeGraaf]

The best I've been seeing done recently is about 9g of esbit. Higher elevation will lower the boiling point and starting water temp and even wind to a degree will effect haw much esbit you need. I've tried,tried, and tried to get two cups with 7g but to no avail. Good luck to you, you may find experimenting with esbit a bit addicting as well :)
James

[myo tun]

How am I going to calculate how much do I need for JMT … 6 cups/ a day to boil for 2 weeks
Any easy way?

[Bob Gross]

You can generally boil two cups of water with a half-cube of Esbit. If you have problems, then it will require slightly more. If you are very good with it, it may require slightly less, but you aren't that good with it. For example, your windscreen, your lid, your placement out of the wind as much as possible, a stable ground underneath it that won't act as a heat sink. Your Esbit burner must be good. You have to know which way to orient the Esbit half-cube (flat, on edge, or vertical), etc.

If you are afraid that you won't get a full boil on two cups of water, then you can reduce slightly the amount of water. Or, if you have your cold water in a sealed flat container, you can put it under your shirt for a while to let it warm up to body temperature. That will help out just a tiny bit.

When I pack up for a trip, I figure (worst case) that I will have a complete stove failure, so I understand what I will do with cold food and beverages and I plan accordingly. Now, 99% of the time, I have no such failure. I just like to be prepared for what can happen. Probably 50% of the food that I carry requires no cooking or boiling.

–B.G.–

[Rex Sanders]

>How am I going to calculate how much do I need for JMT … 6 cups/ a day to boil for 2 weeks
>Any easy way?

The simple answer:

One 14 gram Esbit tablet will boil 2 cups of water, in most Esbit stoves under most conditions using a good windscreen.

To boil 6 cups of water per day, that's:

– 3 tablets per day
– 42 tablets for two weeks
– 588 grams (20.7 ounces) total

The complex answer:

You need experience with your particular stove in a range of conditions. If you had that, you wouldn't be asking how much Esbit you need :-)

To get lower Esbit fuel weight, you must carve up the 14 gram tablets, or watch carefully to blow out and re-use partially burned tablets, or experiment with the hard-to-find 4 gram tablets. As James said, some of the best results under ideal conditions with the best stoves requires about 9 grams of Esbit to boil 2 cups – which requires three 4 gram tablets, or 12 grams per boil, unless you carve up the 4 gram tablets or blow them out and re-use them. So you might save 2 to 5 grams per day for a total of 28 to 70 grams (about 1 to 2.5 ounces) over two weeks. If you take less Esbit, hope you guessed right before the trip for varying winds, temperature, and windscreen effectiveness, or you risk running out before the end of the trip.

That's a lot of work and risk for very little weight savings. I'd go with the simple answer.

TrailDesigns makes some of the most efficient off-the-shelf Esbit stoves. You can boil 2 cups of water in most conditions and have enough fuel to heat another cup for tea. My Ti-Tri Sidewinder is the best Esbit stove in my collection of five different designs, including home-made. Others have similar opinions.

Hope this helps.

— Rex

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