Multiple Tealights

Well if your measurements are correct:
Pi*(39/2)^2*17.5 =2091 cubic mm = 20.91 cc (aka ml) = .71 oz.

Pi times radius (1/2 diameter) squared times height

I guess if you measured the outside I'd have to account for the thickness of the aluminum.

This compares to the other measurement of 15.59 ml or .52 oz.

So it's apparently 36% larger.

Measurements are approximate O.D., as close as I could get with inexpensive non-digital calipers.

Jon

Hi Jon:

Thanks for the info! 0.71 falls short of 1.0, but it's better than 0.5! I have a Whole Foods store near me — I'll give them a try tomorrow. If they don't carry the larger size tea candles, I may just take up your offer! :)

Thanks also to Jaiden for his computations.

Ok, Found the 5-hour tealight online

5-Hour Tealights

-Mark

Just came back from my neighborhood "Whole Foods" store. Nothing.

Hmmm, looking at the website – $1.50 for ten — $7 shipping! :(

Ben,

These 5-hour tealights seem to be for restaurants. You might check a local restaurant supply store or find a restaurant that is willing to part with a couple. The other places I found online only sold by the gross!

-Mark

I tried cutting a aluminum bottle to 1 1/16 high and did 2 tests. First using a wire cloth pot stand, windscreen, keg pot. The stove held 3/4 ounce of fuel and burned for 20 minutes even, but didn't boil what I estimated to be 16 ounces faster than 19 seconds (hard vigorous boil). It actually started to bubble at about 9 minutes. The second test involved a inprovised Caledra Cone made from .006" aluminum. The stove started bubbles at 7:30, but failed to achieve a hard boil and burned out at 9:30. I'll keep plugging and see where else it leads….

George,

Great minds…….I just finished the same experiment with a cut down bottle plus wire cloth and then an improvised cone both with keg pot and got similar results to yours. The bottles are just slightly smaller in diameter than the tealight, which to my mind should help focus the flame. Still, not quit enough oomph!

-Mark

When you mentioned old film containers it reminded me of these, might be a slighty heavier gauge than you want but you can cut to any volume you want.
I have one at home somewhere, will measure and weigh it tonight:
http://a1-health.stores.yahoo.net/berocca.html

I made an imitation tea light candle container using an aluminum sheet like below:

I then compared it my existing "wedding tin" stove:

Wedding tin stove / Firelite 550 pot:

2.125" D x .6875" H – 1 oz. capacity – boils 2 cups in 6 minutes – 8 minutes total burn time.

My imitation tea light stove / Firelite 550 pot:

1.5" D x 1" H – 1 oz. capacity – boils 2 cups in 7.5 minutes – 11 minutes total burn time.

I expected the deeper and smaller diameter stove to burn slower — and the results bore that out. Roughly, the wedding tin stove took 0.75 oz. to boil 2 cups of water, whereas the tea light used up .68 oz.

Surprisingly though, the narrower tea light stove had more flames lapping up the pot!

It sound like you have missed one of the more important parts of operating the ISO-FLY—reading the directions !!

You are pulling out too much wick and letting the stove run out of fuel–both of these things will cook wicks and make the stove overheat. This is a slow minimal stove designed to cook with small pots and low effecient heat. But still 10 times better than a bare tea lite can.

I've used tea light candles for cooking. Three of them fit easily in an esbit stove. They can boil a cup of water in less than an half-hour, if the cup is covered with a flame resistant insulating cozy over the top and sides.

I've put them under a KMart grease-pot with the strainer cut down to convert the pot into a steamer. The candles easily steam up an ounce of water for baking up to three biscuits.

KMart grease-pot with the strainer cut down to convert the pot into a steamer

Nice idea!

In case you're interested, John Austin, a/k/a Tinny, who posted a comment above, has posted a video on his site with more instructions on how to use the Iso Fly. Look for the December 28 entry on his minibulldesign.com site under "My Adventures." Like Ian says, Tinny is a bit of a genius, and he has lots of great ideas on his site which discuss the development of his own stoves and which may also give you more ideas on how to tinker with your own creations.

Oh, I forgot to mention something. For those who are interested in the tea-light stove but want more capacity, try this: Buy one of those travek-sized hair mousse bottles at the drug store, empty it, and cut it down with a pipe cutter. That way, you can cut it a little larger than the TL to get more capacity. I've done this and the performance is almost identical to the TL though it doesn't have the "instant prime". The one I made is about 1 1/2 oz capacity but you could make it a little bigger if you wanted.

So, we had an unseasonably warm day today in central ohio and my darling bride put me out in the garage to "organize my junk". (Yes, I was offended!)

I spiritedly marched right out the door!. I was going through my toolbox….es….and came across what looked to be a tealight candle, although seemingly larger with a green candle in it. I checked the measurements and it is larger — a height of .75" with diameter of 1.5". After two tests in the kitchen, I was able to successfully boil 2 cups of 58F tap water in 9 mins, with a total burn time between 11 and 12 mins.

Now the mystery is where did this tealight on steroids come from? I'm pretty sure it's a citronella candle, so next time I'm at the store, I'll check for refills of bug repelling candles.

Also, one last piece of data is I dropped 2 cups of 200F water in a freezer bag and placed it in one of those freezer bag cozies that was shown in Backpacker mag a few months back. After 19 mins, the water temp was 160F.

Just wanted to share. I guess sometimes it is good to clean.

Ryan