Alcohol Stoves…again

[Wayne Packer]

I have been using a Vargo Triad Stove with the Vargo Titanium Mug(3.75″ diameter base)and am not thrilled with the performance of the stove. My head is spinning from all the reviews I’ve read of all the possible stove variations – yes I’ve read them all – so tell me which alcohol stove you have been happy using with a mug this size.

[Ryan Faulkner]

I dont have this stove, but may I ask what problems you have had with it?

anyway what I use for almost all my backcountry cooking is a homemade stove (similar to the mini bull design elite stove design), using snow peak mugs and a homemade energy drink can pot

see http://www.minibulldesign.com for info on this stove

[Ryan Faulkner]

if you have never made your own stove before I highly recomend it. it costs nothing :-)

look at zenstoves.net for different designs, or you could come up with your own

[J R]

My stove is a variation on the latest Ion Stove design… It works, but Ive got another design Im working on that uses tea candle cups. It has a multistage pressurization system. It works really well in “the lab” but is a pain to fill… I think it needs some sort of syringe to fill it in the field, and that just wont do.

[Ryan Faulkner]

Joe could you fill your stove using a BPL red spout cap?

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/platypus-lil-nipper-spout-caps.html

[Wayne Packer]

Ryan – The side burners of the Minibulls I’ve seen are less efficient for heat distribution on the Vargo Mug so I’m focusing on finding a top burner(like the Ion). The issues I have with the Vargo are:
1-Unable to retrieve left over fuel
2-Design of legs is fussy and often unstable for the Vargo Mug diameter.
3-Extremely wind sensitive.
As much as I love the design, hunger does indeed triumph aesthetics out there.
The Ion stove Joe mentions looks ideal just on the great claims of fuel efficiency I’ve seen so I am considering that one for sure.

[J R]

You know Ryan, that MAY work…

As for fuel effecency, my tea stove burns for 9 minutes on 1/2 oz of fuel, with a quicker boil than the Ion.

However, 1/2oz is its max fill and its virtually unsimmerable.

[D G]

I’ve tried a bunch of stoves with small pots and the best results I’ve had is with the brasslite turbo F. The flame comes out the center in this stove in a pretty concentrated fashion.

The only thing is that with pots of this size it’s less efficient, and you will need more fuel. I’ve used the turbo F with a snow peak 600 and in the field I need 1 oz of alchohol to boil 16 oz of fuel. I’ve also used said stove with a miniscule snow peak 450 mug and it will take 3/4 ot 1 oz to boil 12 oz of water.

The same stove with a wider pot like an Evernew 0.9 liter (wide base) can consistently boil 16 oz with 3/4 oz of fuel.

[David White]

I had the same problem you described with side burners — too much heat sent up the sides and not enough on the bottom of the pot.

Tinny over at Mini Bull Design http://www.minibulldesign.com made me a custom Micro Atomic that works well with cups and beer-can pots. Its based on the Atomic shown on his store page but was built with energy drink cans instead of soda cans to make it smaller.

Some of his newer designs which I haven’t tried might be even better. I’ve found he always responds quickly to emails and is willing to work with you to come up with the best solution.

Although I’ve built a lot of stoves, his are better designed and better constructed than anything I can come up with.

[David White]

I had the same problem you described with side burners — too much heat sent up the sides and not enough on the bottom of the pot.

Tinny over at Mini Bull Design http://www.minibulldesign.com made me a custom Micro Atomic that works well with cups and beer-can pots. Its based on the Atomic shown on his store page but was built with energy drink cans instead of soda cans to make it smaller.

Some of his newer designs which I haven’t tried might be even better. I’ve found he always responds quickly to emails and is willing to work with you to come up with the best solution.

Although I’ve built a lot of stoves, his are better designed and better constructed than anything I can come up with.

[paul johnson]

Wayne,

MBD mini-Sith.

the thumb-screw on the top forms a pretty good seal. i tried both scotch-tape and duct tape cut to the correct width and length to seal the jets in order to prevent leaking during transport. haven’t had a problem with adhesive clogging the jets yet (i think Alc. makes a good solvent for the adhesive???). i also put Tinny’s tiny creation in a zip-lock for transport. so, thus far no spills and no clogged jets.

i’ll probably dispense with the tape and just stow it upright inside the zip-lock, inside a stuff-sack in a pack’s pocket, or inside the pack. the way the stuff sack containing the “zip-locked” stove is stowed, it doesn’t shift and is nearly always upright while trekking.

[paul johnson]

Joe,

the following comment is based upon complete ignorance of your stove’s design and so may be totally missing the mark: sure a syringe, like that used for “seam-sealing”, a little extra wt, but it prob. reduces spills, allows “injection” into a very small opeining. it also allows very precise fuel measurements due to the fine gradations on the syringe body/barrel. with the curved plastic tip, it should be pretty easy to draw the Alc. out of a container – even when the fuel container is almost empty.

i’m curious, why won’t the syringe do in the field with your design?. what have you found out, that might be applicable to other stove designs, that others (including myself) may learn from?

many thanks in advance for your time (to reply).

[J R]

The big problem with the syringe is that it would weigh so much it would outweight the size benefits of the stove. A very small syringe might work.

As for the stove design, its hard to describe, and Im still trying to figure out the physics of why it works the way it does… but basically, the vaporized fuel passes over thin plates of aluminum that act like mini radiators.

[paul johnson]

too much wt., understood. thanks for the explanation.

[Wayne Packer]

Joe – Instead of a syringe, why not use a pipette?…capillary action, very light,no fuss, no moving parts.

[Wayne Packer]

Joe – Instead of a syringe, why not use a pipette?…capillary action, very light,no fuss, no moving parts.

[paul johnson]

a plastic straw might work well as a pipette (obviously, straw is inserted into alc. container and sealed with the thumb, NOT drawn up with the mouth). it would be difficult though to completely empty the alc. container with just the pipette, but it’s an interesting concept. good thinking, Wayne.

[J R]

a pipette?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh…….

Good idea.

[Mark]

You may be able to use a Ti stake as a pouring guide, similar to the use of stirring rods in chemistry lab. Just keep one end of the stake near the fuel port, and keep another part snug against lip of the bottle you’re pouring from. I’m not sure how your stove is structured, but it could be a useful trick for closed-jet models. Not too hard with a little practice.
-Mark

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