Esbit burner testing

[DAN-Y]

Nice little package. It looked like the ESBIT tablet holder had high enough ridges to contain the liquid residue a ‘la BGET.

Yes, it has a good start but it needs the 2 tall side panels and 2 short sides that are close to the cube to control the burn rate. Brian Green has made the greatest contribution to the esbit burning world. A big thank you goes out to Brian.  also  big thank you to Rod Braithwaite  for the addition of the “Bread Pan Corners”

[rmeurant]

Just to be clear Dan, those advantages (i.e., of panels close to the cube) apply to the large Esbit tab size, but do not apply to the small (4 g)?

[DAN-Y]

That is correct Robert.

I don’t remember if the 4 gram need any control. I don’t think they melt either when burned one at a time? Anyone out there have any input on that?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Dan,

What’s the “bread pan corners”?

[Matthew / BPL]

Dan, I have not found 4g Esbit to melt and lean when burned one at a time or two stacked  I use a U-shaped scrap of Ti foil to slow the burn rate. It sits on a scrap of foil and I never see significant evidence of Esbit melting/flowing.

Eric, Bread pan corners are like hospital corners  on bed sheets. They keep the melted liquid Esbit contained.

[DAN-Y]

Pans used for making bread and meat loaf were/are made from a flat sheet of metal, folded like you see in the photo:

[DAN-Y]

Eric, next week I’ll show you a stove set-up that can be used with esbit, alcohol and wood. The pot size is very close to your favorite 5″ diameter one. The one piece windscreen/pot support fits sideways in the pot. All the ideas for this kit comes from this thread.  There is a wealth of information here. The more times this thread comes to the forefront, the more new viewers will be able to read what we’ve learned and shared.

Ok, here is the stove set-up I was referring to; burns esbit, alcohol, and wood. Has 2 small titanium risers for the pot support to sit on when in the wood burn mode. Pot does not need to raised up off the straight wall pot support. Ridge on the pot rests on the top edge of pot support/windscreen.

The pot is a Toaks 1300ml with bail. 5″ diameter just like your 3 cup aluminum pot.

Titanium windscreen/pot support rolls up and is stored in a poly-carbonate tube which is very lightweight. Tube stores inside the pot easily. Ends of tube protect the pot from edges of pot support/windscreen. Anyway, esbit, alcohol and wood can be used in this type of set-up. No need for an add-on wood burning section as used in the ti-tri.

Polycarbonate tube with windscreen/pot support inside of it

Titanium risers for use in wood burning mode. Placed under windsreen/pot support.

[john hansford]

You can burn wood in the ti-tri without the inferno insert. You can get more wood in too. However, it is not such an efficient burn, and it could leave the ground badly burnt too. The little grate set in the inferno helps with both these points.

[DAN-Y]

If you stack your twigs like this and top light you won’t need a grate, just a ground plate for leave no trace:

[Stormin]

You still need a baseplate to avoid ground scorch.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

+ 1 on the grate , +1 on the baseplate

[Eric Blumensaadt]

AHA! “bread pan corners”. Veddy clever for a BGET holder.

And I get this different ESBIT/alky/wood stove. BUT… because Trail Designs’ cones are, well, cones, they let a pot sit waaay down inside to be supported by the rim. IMHO this cone design permits more efficiency by heating up the pot sides. And the two ti tent stake supports under the TD cone’s pot when using wood gives more room for the wood and the Inferno inverted cone used in wood burning.

->OTH, the Toaks pot above has a bottom rim that would not clear a cone top. (Hmmm, more testing of the efficiency of top rim support v.s. bottom rim support?)

->Also, is the TD cone design of the pot sitting only 1/2″ down into the cone on crosswise ti stakes more efficient than the pot sitting on top of the Bushbuddy’s pot supports? Methinks yes, but again, more testing.

Heh, heh

 

[DAN-Y]

Adventures in Stoving shows the Log Cabin lay of twigs.

Eric, most of the flames in your cone go out the side as seen in this photo:

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Dan’l m’boy, When using my Inferno insert & ti pot support stakes W/ wood I do get a few flames and high heat emanating from the slots in the sides of my outer ti cone but not excessively. I can melt snow like crazy with the Inferno insert going full blast under a JB 2 L. finned pot. Maybe an experimenter like yourself has “seen it all” but I’m very impressed with the TD inferno gassifier stove’s high heat. Ashes are white!

BUT… my finned JB pot has a Dremeled groove in the fins that matches the top of my ti Sidewinder cone. Originally I did it to stabilize the pot on top of the cone but evidently it also helped somewhat with heat absorption as well. I cut only a 1/4″ deep groove in the JB pot’s bottom fins to keep their integrity. I drew a Sharpie line 1/4″ from the edge of my Dremel’s diamond cutting disc to guide me on depth of the cut.

Been meaning to mention this non-standard pot-to-stove setup but kept forgetting.

[DAN-Y]

I like all wood stoves….my GOTO fuel 

and most esbit stoves 

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Dan,

I don’t know where you live but here in Nevada and most of the mountain west most seasons are definitely not wood burning seasons. When I lived in NW Pennsylvania there were usually no fire restrictions so I could use wood whenever I wanted. Nice.

Of course in my early backpacking days in the ’70s I was so infatuated with my SVEA 123 brass stove and its companion SIGG TOURIST cook kit that I used it most of the time – unless I was grilling brook trout.

In those days “We didn’t need no stinking’ UL gear.” ;o) We were manly and masculine men carrying 45 lb. packs and wearing 6 lb. boots and dam proud of our stainless Sierra cups!

[DAN-Y]

Ohhh to be young and manly again I wish they made the sierra cups in aluminum.

Good memories:

[Roger Caffin]

I wish they made the sierra cups in aluminum.
How to burn your lips really well!

Cheers

[DAN-Y]

A piece of this silicone ring seal would work to make life easier, second item on the left in photo.

[Roger Caffin]

Actually, now that you mention it, I think you can buy silicone cup lip covers to protect your lips. Not sure how well they would work on a Sierra cup as the rim is very flared.

Cheers

[DAN-Y]

In this thread, page 3, Aaron Sorenson indicated he got fantastic boil results in a pot/bowl which is shapped similar to the sierra cups (see photo). I’m convinced the shape is more efficient than a straight wall cup/pot under calm conditions.
I quote what he said about his set-up:

I made a BGET style holder that fits a 14 gram esbit cut in half.
It will easily boil 2 cups of the coldest water in a stream you can find.

On page 4 he says:

It will boil tap water for 5 minutes.
2 cups of ice cold, no problem.
Fill it to the brim (20oz) and it barely boils tap water.
It wouldn’t boil 18 ounces of ice cold water (without the lid).
This was without a lid, so maybe with a lid, it will work.
I was doing this on an overnight the other day at 10,000′

Others have posted they get 2 boils out of a 14 gram esbit.
I have my burner on the surface of a tray like this.
.edsed

I just used a sharp rock to score around the esbit then snapped it in half.
I’m sure I can get a full boil on a full pot with a lid on it.
The windscreen/ stand doesn’t have many holes in it and it’s just under 1.5″ high to the bottom of the pot.
I could feel a lot of wasted heat coming off the squared off pots, but the bowl seems to hold much more heat in.
It’s crazy how little left over residue is left on the BGET style holders.

 

 

 

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Aaron’s cool little ESBIT kit belongs in a daypack for emergency use – along with some Knorr soup, etc, for emergency hot food. I carry a tiny pot and a little ti Vargo alky/ESBIT burner for that purpose.

*I think ESBIT tabs, a good BGET holder, little pot  & a pot stand should be one of the “Ten Essentials” Being able to merely “make fire” isn’t enough in many situations.

(Feel free to quote me Dan. I love being quoted and I often quote myself. ;o)

[Roger Caffin]

Chuckle – making emergency soup late in the afternoon usually means something did not go quite as planned.
Happens.

Cheers

[DAN-Y]

*I think ESBIT tabs, a good BGET holder, little pot  & a pot stand should be one of the “Ten Essentials” Being able to merely “make fire” isn’t enough in many situations.

This is it, purrrrfect kit, the company has come a loooong way, look at the tray to hold the esbit, Soon they will have  a BGET style tray inside the pot support ;-)

Mans’ best friend gets in on the action, gotta see this vid:

 

[DAN-Y]

It gets better, the same esbit stove is shown in this video using twigs at around the 7:00 min mark:

 

 

 

[Author]

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