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Help, please, with my alcohol stove


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  • #1228980
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    Hi all, I looked back a ways and couldn't find an applicable thread, forgive me if this is going over the same old trail again- I made a 1/2 penny stove from V-8 cans, as suggested on Mark Jurey's site, to use with my Heineken pot (with the paint on, but that's a different thread.) It takes my pot o'water to ALMOST boiling before it's out of fuel. This is in my temperate backyard with water from the hose. I tried sealing the seam btw top and bottom cans with JB weld but still, I can't get the mileage needed to bring the water to boil. Any suggestions? I'd rather make a stove than buy one, but don't want to make a career out of tinkering with it. Thanks for any ideas.

    #1433504
    boba fett
    Member

    @hiflyer

    You could do a modified tri-pair setup out of the Heineken Cans…

    Pics and videos here:
    http://picasaweb.google.com/hiflyer.x/

    #1433507
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    OK, thanks Jared, maybe I wasn't clear in my request. I COULD start all over and make a different stove, sure, but this 1/2 penny stove should work. I made it according to measurements provided. I added a priming wick, have paired jet holes around the rim and 3 under the penny. I fill it to the brim with Heet, the yellow bottle- that's a bit short of one ounce. It lights fine, but burns out before it comes to a boil. I can't figure out why it's not performing as has been claimed. I'm asking for help trouble-shooting- others used a 1/2 penny stove have ideas? If I'm going to make a different stove, there's about a million great-looking designs out there. I like this design, though- maybe it just needs to be a bit taller to hold a full generous ounce rather than a bit shy of an ounce? Thanks for ideas about how to get this design to perform, or for reassurance that it doesn't, and it's not just me.:-)

    #1433527
    Derek Goffin
    Member

    @derekoak

    Locale: North of England

    Hi Elizabeth,
    I hav'nt used a penny stove but anyone who tries to answer your question would probably need to know how much water you are trying to boil.

    #1433530
    Rog Tallbloke
    BPL Member

    @tallbloke

    Locale: DON'T LOOK DOWN!!

    Hi Elizabeth,
    As derek notes, we need to know how much water you are trying to boil.

    General tips to try:

    Reduce the number of jet holes. (aluminium duct tape is great for experimenting with this.

    Use a wider bottomed pan: Always more efficient but heavier. I have a 5" diameter titanium pan which weighs two ounces.

    Experiment with the size of the gap between pan and stove: critical to max efficiency.

    I achieve a boiling full US pint with 1/2oz of fuel with my kettle design, so it can be done!clever kettle

    #1433543
    john flanagan
    Member

    @jackfl

    Locale: New England

    Elizabeth – I've had similar frustrations with the ha'penney stove and eventually ditched it. However, I always want to boil 24 oz, not the 16 that most stoves are designed around. Before ditching your stove, I'd try two things. First burning a mix of half & half SLX alc. and 90% isopropyl acl (rubbing alc). This mix is a bit more BTU dense. Second, fill the stove to the rim (literally) so that at first it's burning an open pool of alc. This just extends the stoves burn time. Maybe you've already tried that?

    Frankly I've about abandoned heiny pot because I haven't found a stove that works especially well with it. So far, the best (most consistent boil of 24 oz) I've found is the Mini Zen Chimney/Sideburner Stove found here:
    http://zenstoves.net/LowPressure.htm

    A full sised penny stove with the jets pointed inward works GREAT but can't be carried inside the "pot"

    Alcy stoves take patience, persistence, tenacity in pursuit, and a certain joy in tinkering. Without those attributes, I think they're an exercise in frustration.

    #1433546
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    Sorry about not saying, I was trying to boil a pretty full heineken pot, so probably 20 oz. I was figuring real world I'd want about a pint for food and the rest for a cup of tea. I appreciate the insights. I'm bound and determined to give the h pot a try, so with renewed energy for tinkering I will carry on. Of course I started out with a lot of zeal and my tinkerer's hat on, but allowed myself to get deflated by three or four rounds of failure. Back to it!

    #1433553
    Kyle Purcell
    Member

    @dufus934

    Locale: North Texas

    The first thing I would suggest (and forgive me for stating the obvious), but are you using a windscreen. This helps to avoid heat loss. If you are doing that, maybe you should do a little tinkering. I'd start with the fuel. I like denatured alcohol, and you can add various other alcohols (iso is a good one if its 90%). Just a couple of ideas, hope they help!

    #1433557
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    No problem, stating the obvious is part of trouble-shooting. I am using a wind screen- the obvious that I was (duh) overlooking was that success stories generally are related to a pint of water and my efforts were with a pint and a half (mas o menos) of water. Duh. I'll reduce the volume, play with fuels, then move on to another stove design… and then, if that fails, I'll buy a stove from a superior tinkerer. Maybe I can barter some basil and a zucchini….

    #1433558
    Kyle Purcell
    Member

    @dufus934

    Locale: North Texas

    Mixing tinkering/mixing alcohols might be a good place to start. There is a good thread here that you might be able to get some ideas from.

    #1433570
    mark henley
    Member

    @flash582

    I use a Whitebox stove with my Hineie pot and it works great

    #1433574
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    Can you be more specific? Volume of water boiled with how much fuel used in how long a time? Just curious.

    #1433631
    mark henley
    Member

    @flash582

    I'm afraid I'm not as scientific as many ….. I boiled about 20 oz of water with around an ounce of alcohol … took about 7 or 8 minutes. I like it and remember … I'm used to a jet boil, so I'm tough to please.

    #1433640
    Elizabeth Rothman
    Member

    @erothman2

    Locale: Pacific NW

    scientific enough for me, thanks.

    #1433657
    Mark Hurd
    BPL Member

    @markhurd

    Locale: Willamette Valley

    Elizabeth,

    I love the penny type stoves. They work great and are fairly fool proof even for me. The height of the pot above the stove is critical and with a little experimenting you can find the sweet spot for your stove/pot combo.

    I'm a big fan of mixing 91% Isopropyl with ethanol or methanol in about 50:50 mix. or use a little less of the isopropyl if you're getting too much soot.

    Happy Trails,

    -Mark

    (P.S. – Just for fun you should try a CFV stove – worlds easiest to make and one of the most efficient alcohol stoves around. All you need are scissors, paper towels and a disposable pie pan. Search Forums for "CFV" for the thread.)

    #1433663
    Tohru Ohnuki
    Member

    @erdferkel

    Locale: S. California

    I've built both the original and 1/2 penny stove versions and i think the 1/2 penny could be improved. The original penny stove primes well because the jets point outward toward the cup so that some of the flame's heat can be conducted to the alcohol making it vaporize. In the 1/2 penny design, the jets point inwards and the flames don't hit the rim to heat the alcohol. So after trying a few designs, a good solution that primes every time is to drill 6 holes, 3 in the original position pointing inwards and 3 pointing straight up. The new holes should be drilled at the top of the 'dimple' that forms the base of the can. It's easier if you do it from the inside of the burner before assembly. With this design, i can get a 2 cup snowpeak to boil in about 5-6 minutes.

    #1448658
    Dave Weston
    Member

    @wsuweston

    Locale: NW

    Make sure you have a lid or foil on you pot.

    #1710849
    Gregg Russo
    Member

    @greggrusso

    I've used stainless steel with exterior copper coating for years now when car camping and a titanium 0.8 liter for thru hiking PCT in 2003. But using an aluminum beer can to cook food? I also avoid using any of those pots that have a non stick coating which inevitably delaminates to some extent. Though I do occasionaly use a small Calphalon wok when car camping and rock climbing but that's impregnated not coated. Perhaps I'm not keeping up…? and the whole aluminum cookware thing has been debunked? I've always assumed that thru hiker naturalist types would be very keen regarding toxins…no? Weight is'nt so important that we lose sight of long term health consequences, if any, right?

    #1710932
    Hikin’ Jim
    BPL Member

    @hikin_jim

    Locale: Orange County, CA, USA

    Yes, the whole aluminum cookware thing has been debunked. No association with Alzheimer's was ever established.

    HJ

    #1711889
    Andrew Applegate
    Member

    @andrewpdx

    Also, many aluminum cans are lined with BPA – not good stuff.

    #1716626
    Michael Francis
    Member

    @mlfrancis

    I know the OP is a very old post, but since I was making a 1/2 Penny stove and had problems the first time, I thought I would post.

    My first one suffered from a bad penny seal as my V8 cans had stamped numbers on the bases. They wern't very big and I sanded them some but I guess not enough. It also had the jets right next to the inside of the inner rim. It ran really hot with a big puffing center flame and only got about a 8 minute burn on 20ml of SLX. It never did get 2 cups of water in a Heini-pot to boil.

    My second stove attempt, I did exactly as the original 1/2 penny instructions called for, but I moved the three burner jets about 1/16th inch down from the inner rim. I thought having the jets so close to the inner rim that it might be adding too much to the alcohol temperature and causing the faster burn. Of course I sanded the burnner cup smooth to get the the bumpy letters off using 220 sand paper followed by steel wool. And I used a nickle instead of a penny this time.

    My second stove attempt was glorious in the burn time, but not so great in the boil time. I used a priming pan with about 1ml each time.

    20ml SLX
    24min 37sec burn time from light to burn-out.
    2 cups of 66deg water boiled in 10-11 min.
    70deg room temperature
    Heineken pot about 1 inch above the stove rim.

    I'm thinking I need to play with the pot height to maybe get a better boil time. Or maybe add three more jets as I really don't need 24 min burn time for this application.

    Honestly I love the originaly Penny stove and will probably make another one of those with the three sets of two jets inside the inner rim instead of the six single jets outside the inner rim. It fits in the Heineken pot as well. I'm really just doing the 1/2 Penny for the fun since I had a couple of those cans come up.

    Well, hopefully this will help someone if they come across it looking for 1/2 Penny info.

    Happy Trials

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