Which alcohol stove?

I received this stove as a pass-along from another BPL member (and it will be passed along again when I can afford a Ti-Tri). I’ve liked it’s performance in the couple tests I’ve done at home. I’ll be able to report a field test after this weekend.

Also really neat is their Fuel bottle top, which I bought after looking up the stove. I just got it today, and it really does work for vacuuming up any unspent fuel back into the bottle. ~1 oz for the whole set-up, less if I could find a smaller than 16oz bottle that’d fit the cap.

Hi aaron. There are some stoves out there that hold up to 3 ounces of fuel and will boil 1 gallon of water if you use the right pot. I’ve cooked angel hair spaghetti for a group of 4 at base camp. Melted lots of snow also. These photos show one of the stoves, the Fancee Feest. It’s made from a 3 ounce Fancy Feast cat food can. Lots of people have made their own. There is a thread on whiteblaze .net http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=27262&highlight=fancee+feest

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Another stove that comes to mind is the “Ring of Fire” good for group and the mighty Heineken pot. Whiteblaze.net has a good thread on it, it tells how to make your own. Here is the link info:

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=22425&highlight=doodahman

Dan – thanks for the links & pics!

Check out Andrew Skurka's comments and DIY instructions/video on the super cat stove. I can't imagine anyone who has had more experience in the backcountry with a particular stove.

http://www.andrewskurka.com/advice/recommendations/stoves.php

Those little tiny stoves (like the Super Gram Weenie pictured on page 1) look insanely narrow and unstable to be used as a pot stand. Don't you run the risk of losing your dinner?

>Don't you run the risk of losing your dinner?<

Yeah, happened to me a couple of times. Part of the reason I switched to a cone.

-Mark

Hi Mike, I recently perfected this 1 oz aluminum and stainless steel stove for use with 3″ diameter pots. It’ll boil 2 cups of water using 3/4 oz of HEET in about 8.5 min. and flame out occurs at about 9.5 min. 3/4 oz. of fuel for a Heineken pot is darn good in anyones statistic book. That’s bench tested under optimum conditions. In the real world using a windscreen and the appropriate pot you should get the same results because of the additionl 1 min. burn time.

It took alot of time to perfect this stove so I have a vested interest in it.

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Looks pretty good Dan.

I'll have a play with the Starlyte first though. :)

In my above remarks, the cat stove I'm referring to was built to Andrew Skurka's design. It's a marvel of simplicity and very easy to construct. The cat stove does the job but I haven't found it to be particularly efficient.

I've found the pressurized jet (as zenstoves.net describes them) or closed jet (as some refer to them) alcohol stoves to be the most efficient of the types I've tried.

Hi Mike, have fun with the StarLyte, it's a winner.

I did some further testing of the Cobalt Blue.
Oh Yes!!!! you gotta love Denatured Alcohol. I did 6 test burns this evening using 1/2 oz. denatured. 2 cups 65 degree water boiled on average of 7.75 min. and continued to burn for 1 more min.

I did one test using 91 percent isopropyl alcohol. 3/4 ounce boiled 2 cups in 8.5 min and continued to burn for an additional 3 min. I should be able to get the boil with 1/2 ounce. The Cobalt Blue has turned out to be a super stove. You gotta try it next on your 3" pot. = )

Boiling 2 cups with 1/2 oz of denatured and still having some burn time thereafter is pretty darn good. Maybe I'll have to fiddle with a Cobalt Blue.

Hi Jim, this little stove is proving to be good in all areas of what we want in a stove. I was surprised to see the isopropyl 91 get better results than HEET. I think I can get 2 cups to boil with 1/2 ounce.

I did a test today of the effect of cold water/pot put onto the stove soon after the stove is lit. I used 35 degree ice water for the test. You’ll be able to see how fast the stove blooms. I have 1.5 ounces of denatured alcohol in the stove.

2 cups of 35 degree water boiled in 11 min.

total burn time for 1.5 oz. of fuel was 22 min.

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A few months ago I was told that the pot diameter has a great impact on the efficiency of any alcohol stove. He said that the smaller the diameter, the longer time it takes to come to a boil.

Upon his suggestion, I took an alcohol stove and filled a 3" diameter titanium mug with one cup of water, and tested the time to come to a boil…it took 7 minutes, 20 seconds. Then I took the same stove and filled a 4 1/2" diameter titanium pot with one cup of water, and tested the time it took to come to a boil… 4 minutes, 18 seconds. The flames were under both pots, not climbing up the sides of either pot. A wind screen was used in both situations.

That is a tremendous difference in time. He convinced me that pot diameter is often overlooked as a major determinant of fuel efficiency of any stove, and hence weight.

Gerry,

You are so right about pot diameter. I like your experiment! The beer can and mug type pots always take more time and more fuel, but then often weigh less and take up less space.

Also, on a somewhat related note, I am always suspicious if someone testing a stove reports amazing boil times, but so often they fail to report the starting temp of the water. You've seen it before: "I used my new BlastSpitfire Stove to boil 2 cups of water in 2.5 minutes on 1/4 oz of alcohol! This BS is sure a great stove!"

It obviously takes less time and fuel to heat up 80*F water to boil than 35*F water. (Gerry-In your case it doesn't matter because you are doing a direct comparison and one assumes the water temp was the same in both tests.)

Also, testers fail to measure "boil" temperature. You may first start to see bubbles in hot water somewhere around 170-180*F, but it is not until it is "rolling" or vigorously boiling that it has reached a true boil. So it is best if a thermometer is used.

Ok- Rant over.

Anyway, Gerry, nice test and it makes a great point. Thanks,

-Mark

22 minute burn time! Wow, that's pretty good.

Hi Zelph,

“I was surprised to see the isopropyl 91 get better results than HEET. I think I can get 2 cups to boil with 1/2 ounce.
“

I am not surprised, with most stoves it is relevant to the heating energy in the fuel, it is all in Roger and my recent article on Alcohols.
.
The Performance of Alcohol Fuels for Backpacking Stoves
Part One: Three Straight Alcohols and Alcohol Blends

Tony

I'm partial to the penny stove, but then I've only made cat and penny stoves. The penny stove is fairly easy to make as it takes advantage of the unique structure of a Heineken can. I made a another penny stove a couple of weeks ago and tested it last weekend. It brought 3 cups of 41 degree water to a rolling boil in a hair over 10.5 minutes, and the stove kept burning for a little over 13 minutes on 0.9 oz of denatured alcohol. That's not bad, and I have the satisfaction of using something in the field that I made myself. I should note that I made one modification to the stove not in the instructions. I put JB Weld on the seam between the burner and fuel cup.

Hi Jerry B Thanks for that comparison. What stove did you use to keep the flames underthe 3″ dia. pot?

Hi Tony, I’ll have to read up on your report over the weekend. Thanks for your detailed expertise.

Tony, I did 3 more tests using iso91 and these are the results:

70 degree starting temp for the 2 cups water. 1/2 oz/15ml of fuel.

biol 8 min, flame out 10 min.

boil 8 min, flame out 10.25 min.

boil 8.25, flame out 11 min.

I did one test using a simmer ring:

boil 12 min, flame out 15.5 min.

Simmer ring video:

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Dan,
The stove that I used to conduct my test was a ThermoJet Microlite. It was the owner of that stove that told me about the effect of pot diameter.

Mark, you assume correctly that the water in both tests was the same temperature. However, I should have noted the temperature with a thermometer. I too agree that the term "boiling point" should only apply to a rolling boil. Thanks for your comments.

Gerry, I agree that pot size and material does make a difference. I once did some tests on an aluminum pot, 8 cup capacity with 1 ounce of denatured alcohol, under ideal conditions. I was able to boil 6 cups of water with the one ounce of fuel. The stove was a DIY wick style stove.

Your ThermoJet Microlite model does not seem to be available at his site. The models listed are:

Standard ThermoJet MicroLite Stove
(for pots 4-3/4" to 5-5/8" diameter)

Large ThermoJet MicroLite Stove
(for pots 5-7/5" to 6-1/2" diameter)

How did you get your stove to concentrate the flames not to exceed the 3" diameter? Is the stove a basic pop can stove?

Even though the standard is designed for a larger pot, it did work on the mug. However, I may have to redo my test to verify that the flames did not go up the sides of the mug since I did it about a half year ago and my memory is not what it used to be!

I've just received my Starlyte, so gave it a burn out in my backyard. There was a light, gusting wind.

75mm/3" dia 450ml Ti mug with foil lid. I used the supplied windshield.

I boiled 400ml of 'cold' tap water using 25ml of alcohol (UK Methylated Spirits) I don't have a thermometer to measure the temp of the water, but it is piped underground from a snow-melt fed mountain lake about 30 miles away, so it's nice and cold.
I put the pot straight on the stove after it was lit. The water reached a rolling boil after 8 minutes, 36 seconds. It continued to boil for a total of 12 minutes, 57 seconds.
I obviously need to use a lot less fuel! More experimenting needed.

Nice work Dan! :)

aaron gould said: Thread, please don't die.

Ok aaron, here it is again for an update.

Mike Reid (MikefaeDundee) started this thread, had an inquiring mind and wanted to know which stove would be best. After reviewing all of the submitted information he chose the "StarLyte" stove.(available here on BPL) In the post right above this one he gives the results of his backyard field testing.

I just stopped by to say thanks to Mike for the compliment. Thank You Mike ; Cheers china

I have started using a Featherfire (made of recycled stuff, but very good workmanship) just this year. I love it! Easy to use, light weight, fast. Does not work as quickly using small diameter cups (about 1 minute longer), but diameter pots of about 4 inches work very well (2 1/2 cups rolling boil in about 5 minutes or less using fresh cold from the creek water).

Just to try alc0hol stoves, try the Cat Stove. I made one a few years ago and became an alcohol stove convert. I used it for a long time before buying one.

Given the weight v.s. BTUs of even the best burning alcohols after about 3 days a light canister stove begins to be more weight efficient.

SO… are you alky stove fanatics going out just for weekends or do you like 'em so well you're willing to carry the extra fuel weight for week-long trips? (7 10 days)

Eric