Sterno Inferno model 70138 High-tech Sterno?

[Ken M]

Hi-tech Sterno? Maybe just what you've been waiting for? I saw this on a shelf at Dunham's Sports (Louisville Oh). $24.99. I could not find any info on the web about this stove. I did wonder if the heat exchanger idea might help this (or any) alcohol stove. Photos for your amusement…

[Dan Yeruski]

Not ultralight but should be a good stove for areas in California fire Restriction Areas.

[Tom D.]

At 9 oz + fuel can, I don't think this is going to give a good enough weight to efficiency ratio to replace a light canister stove. But at $24.95, that 16 oz. HE pot might be a good addition to the BRS-3000T stove.

I've been experimenting with Sterno inside a cone windscreen, using the 2.5 oz size Sterno as an alcohol stove, then adding 1/2 oz of alcohol after cooking to allow it to reconstitute as I hike. This provides the gel type fuel to deal with the fire concerns along with a Sterno label (to placate the rangers), but allows for the use of alcohol as fuel.

I've gotten some low 8 minute boil times, but the fuel can overheat if you are not careful and then your efficiency goes out the window. I've found that a canister stove ends up being a better choice for me.

Edit: I've tried a few online searches and don't see this Inferno stove anywhere.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Take the Sterno out of the can to get more airflow. You will get a pretty good boil time as Sterno is ~70% ethanol. Best wishes

[Hikin’ Jim]

I've been experimenting with Sterno inside a cone windscreen, using the 2.5 oz size Sterno as an alcohol stove, then adding 1/2 oz of alcohol after cooking to allow it to reconstitute as I hike. This provides the gel type fuel to deal with the fire concerns along with a Sterno label (to placate the rangers), but allows for the use of alcohol as fuel.

Interesting. And adding liquid alcohol doesn't just cause the gel to become a runny mess? It still stays reasonably gel-like even when adding liquid alcohol in 1/2 oz increments?

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin' Jim's Blog

[Stephen Parks]

Dan, maybe you could make a stealth Starlyte model out of sterno cans. Be sure to leave the label intact. ;)

Though now that I think of it, the Sterno cans are probably steel.

[Tom D.]

"Interesting. And adding liquid alcohol doesn't just cause the gel to become a runny mess? It still stays reasonably gel-like even when adding liquid alcohol in 1/2 oz increments?"

Yes, believe it or not. I just add 1/2 oz alcohol to replenish what I burned off (I estimate that 1/2 oz is about what it uses to boil 2 cups water), put the lid back on, and it reconstitutes as I hike. It does appear to be a bit less viscous than a fresh can, but still remains a thick jelly. If it looks like it's getting too thin, I don't add any till it re-thickens.

[Theron Rohr]

Wow, cool new gear from Sterno. Now that doesn't happen every day! :)

As a Sterno fan I'm intrigued but I would guess the heat ex-changer pot wouldn't be a big advantage. I've always figured they help when the heat source is putting out more heat than the pot can absorb. And I don't suppose that's a problem here. It will be interesting to see a boil test!

[Hikin’ Jim]

A quick Google of "Sterno Inferno" and "70138" didn't come up with anything. Perhaps this is something new?

HJ
Adventures In Stoving
Hikin' Jim's Blog

[jimmer ultralight]

I am about 100 sure that this stove is several years old inventory and no longer made.

Why?

Well, its a little known fact that Sterno has changed ownership THREE TIMES in the last three years.

Blythe, Inc owned them for 27 years up until 2012, when they sold out to the a Candke making firm in CA. It was renamed the " Sterno Candle Lamp " Then, in Feb of this year,it was bought out by an Investment banking group that owns amoung other companies, Camelbak..

What I think are seeing here is basically the last gasps of Blythe's R&D dept leading up to 2012 when just about ANY alternative fuel outdoor stove was marketable to preppers . Just a stillborn product launch that most likely got lost in the buyouts. It happens in the Outdoor industry from time to time.

I is certainly not in Sterno's current product lineup,as any search done on their site -either by name or model number- comes up nill. The Mayan Appocolypse of 12-12-12 came and went over two years ago. Cheap $3 canned fuel is Sterno's bread and butter along with the Catering chaffing fuel market . Sterno dies not catalog any other stove than the crappy 11 oz floorless folding sheet metal stove for $6..

As a practical matter , my bet is that the "Sterno Inferno" probably was/is really no more fuel efficient than other Sterno setups because-

1) Except for its HE finns on the cuo botton.and the finish colors, its pretty much the sane dedign as the dismally inefficent ESBIT 500 ml cup /stove combo .

2) Heat Exchanger rings dont work very well with central flame, low BTU burners.

Having said that, I think anyone who collects stoves ( LOOKING AT YOU ,HIKIN' JIM;) should snap it up, find out its true history , then Play with it a bit and post results here.

For $25, it is cheap entertainmemt for any "Stovie"..

BTW, "Sterno Inferno" was the name of an early Sterno burner design made about 100 years ago..;)

[Hikin’ Jim]

I think anyone who collects stoves ( LOOKING AT YOU ,HIKIN' JIM;) should snap it up, find out its true history , then Play with it a bit and post results here.

Love to, and I'm quite curious, but none are available here…

HJ
Adventures in Stoving
Hikin Jim's Blog

[jimmer ultralight]

This looks like a good first stove for her..Does she like the color Red?

When can all chip in a few bucks and have somebody buy it in Ohio and ship it to you..:)

The resulting blog articles alone would be worth the cost of the stove.:)

[Hikin’ Jim]

lol. Well, as it happens, her birthday is not next month but the following. And she's quite good with stoves you know.

HJ
Adventures in Stoving
Hikin Jim's Blog

[jimmer ultralight]

I have seen the pics of her cooking .Sterno should be right up her alley. Especially with Pop over her shoulder.

And,stranger things have happened than shipping a $25 stove from OH to CA..It would be a good start on her stove collection;) Plus, she'd look cute using it.

I am also going to turn over a few stones tomorrow and see if I can learn more about this mysterious Sterno model #70138

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

It doesn't seem like there is much information on the Sterno Inferno. I did see a photgraph and a reference to OR.

"Sterno's Inferno Stove which is designed to boil water in less than six minutes and the two parts fold together to be compact. It was on of the items at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market Aug. 6-9, 2014, in Salt Lake City. (Christine Rappleye, Deseret News)"

[jimmer ultralight]

Ok,

Just got off the phone with the nice folks at Strerno. Yes- the Sterno Inferno IS a new product introduced at Summer OR last year..

Thank you for finding that clue, Jon. Your Googlefoo is strong today.;)

The design has been in the works for a while and because Sterno's big push has recently been in the food service market ,I was told it was slowly making its way into the product mix.

I was told Dunhams Sports and Meijer( grocery chain) have it in stock. It has not been put on the website yet because Sterno has not updated their website ..(sigh) The odd thing is, both Dunhams and Meijer are pretty NE regional retailers. Also, neither of them show the product available via amy online search.

Anyway,.it IS in their current product mix even though it seems like they are hiding it from the very folks who would be most interested in it..

Apparently, rolling this thing out has been on the back burner ..bad pun intended.:)

Having said that, I have dealt with a lot of corporate marketing folks over the 30 years and my BS meter is pretty strong. I got a good vibe after talking with the Sterno CS people. They seemed like they were all on the same page and answered my questions quickly and directly. No run-around.. Thats a good sign.

[Ken M]

jimmer, Thanks for the research. I was curious when my search for the model and upc number came up zilch. Very odd when the web can't find something. Will all you UL hikers be rushing out for one of these stoves? Probably not. Me neither. But still, kind of interesting as this is not what we think of when someone mentions a sterno stove. -Ken

[jimmer ultralight]

Ken,
You are most welcome. And, thank YOU for taking the time to post the stove here..Thinking about it, given Sterno's limited distribution of the stove, its possible the thing coukd have been discontiued before we even knew it existed!

My overall take on the stove itself is a little more possitive once I pondered it a bit-

1) It appears to be a nicely made, well thought it unit .Sort of a Sterno version of a Jet Boil.

2) At $25, its about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of other comparably built sytems. It appears to be a good value for that price.

3)The weight is NOT that heavy when you really study the systen compared to something like a Jet boil Sol, Flash etc. If one were to "prune the dead wood a bit" (as folks here do with a Jet boil) by ditching the snuffer, leg base and going with lighter lid, its possible to get the weight down around 6 oz??? The smaller cans of Sterno only weight about 5 oz or less full..It starts to not look so heavy compared to liquid alky and cannister units when delivered fuel weight is added, then..

The big question is performance – efficiency and boil times. I mentioned the Inferno's Screenstand being a close copy of the little 500 ml ESBIT stove and perhaps suffering from its drawbacks. Actually, it IS a bit different . Sterno cans are about 2.5 times taller than Esbit tablets, so its possible it gets the flame in the proper relationship to the HE ring and actually works as advertised..

For only $25 ,I intend to find out soon.

If nothing else ,that little 500 ml HE pot might work well sitting in top of a little BRS-3000T butane stove..:)

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

Great find, I'ld spend $25 plus shipping to play with one.

[Roger Caffin]

> If nothing else ,that little 500 ml HE pot might work well sitting in top of a little
> BRS-3000T butane stove..:)
Bit cheaper than a JB too …

Cheers

[jimmer ultralight]

Here is a question for you California folks…Does this stove, when used with a normal can of Sterno pass muster during burn bans? I know some forest managers seem to look at Sterno and gelled fuel differntly than liquid alcohols.

Would this be legal in many places this year in your bone dry state?

[Tom D.]

I work as a city firefighter at the foot of the San Gabriels, and as such I try to stay way on the conservative side in avoiding trouble by staying within the regulations. I know of no forestry areas in Southern California where Sterno is not allowed, and I know of no forestry areas where liquid alcohol stoves are allowed (by regulations) at the moment. Every forestry person and rural firefighter I have talked to say that Sterno (the regs call it "Jellied Petroleum", they all know its jellied alcohol) is permitted, as it does not free flow like liquid alcohol can and it can be extinguished with the lid. All say that wood fires are their main concern and that they would enforce the ban fully. Most say that they would enforce the ban on liquid alcohol stoves.

[jimmer ultralight]

Tom,
That is the understanding I have of the regs. Just about every juresdiction allows gelled fuels.

The "gelled petrolium " is kind of funny because Sterno has always been gelled alcohol and I am not aware of campers using vaseline or napalm as a stove fuel..lol.

Anyway,the "no flow" thing makes sense..What about SOLID FUEL tablets like Esbit?

[Hikin’ Jim]

The regs, at least in US Forest Service managed areas, call for stoves to have a valve EXCEPT "jellied petroleum" [sic] stoves are allowed. Sterno, even though it is gelled alcohol, is generally considered OK.

What about SOLID FUEL tablets like Esbit?

Ah, therein lies the gray area.

ESBIT however doesn't have a valve and isn't gelled (or "jellied"). However since it a) cannot spill and b) can easily be extinguished (just like Sterno), many people argue that it's OK. Most rangers I've spoken to are OK with it (if they know what it is; many have never heard of it).

Other people liken ESBIT to a candle. Candles are legal; therefore ESBIT is legal.

Whether you accept the "cannot spill and can be easily extinguished" reasoning or "it's basically just a candle" reasoning, either way ESBIT is generally seen as OK.

The US National Parks in the Sierra Nevada (Sequoia, Kings, and Yosemite) also specifically state that "tablet stoves" (i.e ESBIT are OK).

HJ
Adventures in Stoving
Hikin Jim's Blog

[Tom D.]

"What about SOLID FUEL tablets like Esbit?"

---

I agree with Hikin' Jim in that I believe Esbit to be the safest of the commonly used camp stove fuels. I'm not sure if the "powers that be" intended it this way when they wrote them, but the wording of the regs appears to ban it. Most of the Forestry guys that I talked to didn't know what Esbit was when I asked, and didn't seem too concerned about it when I told them. But none would say that it was OK to use. All of the ones in my area say that they understand the regs to say that all stoves must be either Jellied Petroleum or pressurized gas with a shut off, which leaves Esbit out. Only one of the rangers outright said they were banned, saying "You mean the little white cubes? They're not allowed".

While I think that most would not bother someone who was using an Esbit stove (provided they were doing it in a safe manner), there is always that one "by the book" guy that could show up. Wood fires are a $3500 fine right now, and while I doubt that such a fine would be levied for Esbit, I don't want to take the chance.

Edit: Hikin' Jim is correct regarding the National Parks. I was referring to my local mountains (The San Gabriel mountains, San Bernardino mountains, San Jacinto, etc.)

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