Japanese influenced (JSB) alcohol stove

[archeopteryx .]

Zen Stoves has the answer (and so much more).
For kcal per gram the figures are 4.7, 6.4, 7.2 for methanol, ethanol and isopropanol.

[John austin]

I think this stove is going to use a bit more fuel. If for no other reason than the fuel is 30% yes 1/3 water. But it burns very hot and the rubbing alcohol can be purchased anywhere for pennies. Even if you don’t want to use it all the time it is worth having for those times when you can’t find the proper fuel for your regular stove. That is the only reason I have done this is to make finding fuel very very easy and still have it work well. I beleive this stove can also be used with the hotter fuels like meth and and denatured alcohol with good performance but it will require the user to prime it differently.

[Michael Martin]

Hi All-

Last year, I went a little crazy testing various alcohol stoves. The current count is 59 test burns with 9 stoves and 7 different fuels. Anyone interested is welcome to look at my results at:

http://www.nic.edu/compsci/mamartin/files/burntest.xls

and

http://www.nic.edu/compsci/mamartin/files/burnnotes.txt

[My apologies that these files are not beautifully formatted for publication. I originally did these tests for my own use only and just posted the files on my website after receiving requests to do so.]

Isopropanol (Rubbing Alcohol) is potentially an excellent fuel as it contains over 14000 BTU/lb vs around 12000 BTU/lb for Ethanol and less than 10,000 BTU/lb for Methanol. (Yes, these values are somewhat different than those on the excellent zenstove site mentioned by archeopteryx — it depends on how the measurements are done.) As Paul suggested above, the problem has been incomplete combustion with most stove designs resulting in soot rather than heat.

99% Isopropanol is available here (North Idaho) at regular supermarkets and drug stores right next to the 70% rubbing alcohol. The Red “Heet” bottles available at gas stations and auto supply stores are also around 99% Isopropanol (if I remember the 99% correctly…)

If Tinny has a design which can burn pure Isopropanol cleanly, it could potentially take alcohol stove fuel efficiency to new levels — maybe as little as 10ml (1/3 fluid ounce) of fuel to boil 16oz of water!

-Mike

[paul johnson]

Alan,

makes sense. more carbon-carbon bonds to break, so more stored energy in the fuel (not sure of other aspects of HC fuels that might contribute to energy potential). just need a means of efficiently tapping into that energy. looks like Tinny has found a good way to do that.

[paul johnson]

Michael,

good post. great info. thanks. i’m going to take a look at your test results after i read the rest of the “Recent Posts” in other Threads. thanks for sharing.

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just back fr/checking out your XL spreadsheet and ‘Notes’. looks like you’ve been keeping busy. good for you. good info in those files. thanks again for shareing. Since you’re “into” Alc. Stoves (as are many of us here), if you haven’t done so already, check out the MiniBullDesigns website. Here’s a link: MBD

[Michael Martin]

Paul writes:

>> if you haven’t done so already, check out the MiniBullDesigns website.

Thanks for the kind words, Paul. I have a couple of MBD stoves. I just haven’t got around to testing them yet. I’ll eventually update the spreadsheet with some MBD results.

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