Topic

Heat Exchanger Pot from a Grease Pot


Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Home Forums General Forums General Lightweight Backpacking Discussion Heat Exchanger Pot from a Grease Pot

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #1312312
    James Marco
    BPL Member

    @jamesdmarco

    Locale: Finger Lakes

    I have gotten over ten requests to post stuff on how I made this and what it looks like. Here is a pic:
    Heat exchanger built into pot

    Note that this version only has three rings in the bottom, the version I use has five.

    To start, I aneal the bottom by heating it pretty hot. Use caution here, too hot will melt the aluminum. I use a small bead of olive oil in the center to tell me. When it starts to turn brown, then it is hot enough.

    I use a slotted form shaded to match the radius of the pot. It extends to the center most ring, about an inch in diameter. It is roughly 2" wide and is hard, "rock" maple. I use a small ball/peen hammer for the top. I tap the metal gently into the dimples all around. Shift, tap, shift tap, and so on. I then use a smaller piece of rounded wood to smooth out the dimples left from tapping. I have an old push round rod that works well as the final finishing tool. Then I scrub the whole thing with steel wool.

    This is an extraordinarily simple process. The tapping and burnishing will "work harden" the metal, again.

    #3380790
    Matt Swider
    Spectator

    @sbslider

    Locale: Santa Barbara

    I know I am a bit late to the party, but thanks for posting this.  Unfortunately for me, it is not really clear how the inner rings are made.  It looks like the outermost one is done with the bundt pan, but I don’t follow the others.  Also the written discription is not working for me.  If you have the time to elaborate or maybe show some of the other items described that might help.

    Also, do you ever use the pot for more than heating water?  Seems like if you cooked in it then it would be harder to clean, but maybe not with sand or something.

    thanks, Matt

    #3380816
    Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear
    BPL Member

    @jonfong

    Locale: FLAT CAT GEAR

    How much difference in performance do you see?

    #3380824
    Matt Swider
    Spectator

    @sbslider

    Locale: Santa Barbara

    James posted in another thread

    One mod you seem to have overlooked was the heat exchanger rings dimpled into the bottom of the pot. ~5 seems to work best because they are easy to clean. You get around a 15% improvement in boil times for the same fuel.

    http://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/28250/page/3/#post-2078327

     

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
Forum Posting

A Membership is required to post in the forums. Login or become a member to post in the member forums!

Get the Newsletter

Get our free Handbook and Receive our weekly newsletter to see what's new at Backpacking Light!

Gear Research & Discovery Tools


Loading...