Kmart Grease Pot tips and mods?

Kevin –

Actually, my "two burners" are actually my one stove taken apart – I just placed the outer can over the inner fuel chamber over a piece of flashing, since I was in a hurry. My post a few entries above describes the measurements. The outer can (60mm diam, with a 24mm diam center hole) has 12 holes, the inner one (53mm diameter) has 10. Without actually seeing a 12-10 stove in person, this was the closest I could come from available images and descriptions on the web. I wonder if the lack of a "seal" contributed to the bumping/flashing phenomenon.

My system did burn hotter (apparently) than your ideal 8 minute/15 ml, since it boiled in 6 minutes with 15 ml. I wonder if this is due to the decreased venting in my cone. Maybe I should add a few more holes to keep the cone from excessive browning.

I'll try getting some materials for the red bull stove you suggested.

I made a similar stove to the red bull chimney just now, only from a V8 can. Using that and the clone, I boiled 2 cups of water using 15 ml alcohol in 5 1/2 minutes or so, with 10 seconds more boil before fuel was exhausted. There were some flare-ups with that stove, too, it looked like (harder to tell because it's daytime now). So maybe it's just too hot inside that cone, and I need to punch more holes. I'll probably try that and see what the effect is.

I two aluminum screws thru the side of mine near lip, 180 degrees apart. And a lightweight wire bail to lift. To pour, you lift with the bail, then put the lid UNDER the pot, holding it by the knob, and use the lid to tilt the pot.

trim the lid down to just a small lip, maybe 1/8 " on the straight side to make lighter
put a couple holes in the lid for straining and to see steam when boil
Score inside at 1,2,3,4 cup levels so you can add water accurately
replace knob with very small wood knob.

perfect for 2 people for fbc, too large for one.

> Actually, my "two burners" are actually my one stove taken apart

d'oh! I've made similar setups, so should have recognised it…

> My system did burn hotter (apparently) than your ideal 8 minute/15 ml, since it boiled in 6 minutes with 15 ml.

The 'ideal' isn't really ideal, it just seems to be a good compromise between boil time and fuel use, and as an estimate as to the power output of the burner; the ones I've seen causing trouble in clones are often around the 4-minute mark for a 2cup/500ml boil.

What 'flame gap' are you using with your clone & burners? I tend to use 25mm (1") for the conic burner, but chimney burners seem to need a bit more; about 35-40mm. Your V8 chimney seems to be burning faster than the ones I use.

The other variable is fuel, I guess. I'm using UK 'meths', aka denatured alcohol (95/5 ethanol/methanol). It may be that the lower boiling point of methanol allows a faster evaporation, so a faster burn.

At a recent flea market I picked up a pan called the PERFECT PANCAKE.It is Teflon coated and 7 1/2 " dia. This is a two piece pan, your are supposed to be able to flip it over, to make perfect pancake. Dumb idea, I took it apart and it makes a good light weight fry pan. I kept the deeper pan and am giving away the shallow side.I fried an egg on it,no problem. Here is a photo, if anyone wants it e-mail your address and I will send to you, just send back whatever the postage. e-mail shootera3@gmail.com

Back to the original question, I took the original lid, removed the knob, cut off the overhanging lip (both these mods reduce weight), turned it upside down, cut and bent three tabs to hold it on pot well, and added a zip tie as a new knob. Makes a lighter, more durable, more functional lid. Pot cannot itself be improved on. BTW, if you can't find at KMart, it's made by Stanco and can be found online as a "Stanco Greasepot". Here's the photo (on a FireFly stove in MultiFuel mode, pardon the promotion):

I was looking for grease pot and found this in local grocery store for $3.50. 1.25L capacity, handle, 3.5oz. I'll use a cutout from disposable aluminum pie pan for lid; bringing total to 3.65oz.

Seems relatively sturdy. Weak spot will probably be riveted handle (both in terms of cleaning and reliability.

Have also been thinking of a 1q aluminum measuring cup (http://www.webstaurantstore.com/1-quart-measuring-cup/92268296.html)

My mods: ditched lid, replaced with a lid made of AL flashing weighs .3oz. Ditched screen. Used a small nail to puncture two small holes on opposite sides of the pot just below the little rolled out rim and crafted an over the top bail (handle) from an unpainted coat hanger. Then slide the ends through the holes and fold over tightly with pliers. With a bail, you can easily use the pot hanging over an open cook fire or ontop of a stove and it eliminates the need to carry a pot grabber. The bail also makes frying easy because I can pick it up off the stove/fire and gently but quickly rotate the pot allowing the meat/bacon/whatever being fried in the bottom of the pot to be gently agitated preventing sticking, burning, or uneven cooking. To flip just stick it with a small knife and flip it over. I scoured the bottom of the pot with sand paper to prevent sliding and created a few scratches with a serrated knife to really prevent shifting ontop of a cat can stove then after blackened the bottom of the pot by cooking over a wood fire, washing and repeating a few times till I had a nice coat of carbon but one that wouldn't blacken my fingers or leave residue on my gear. Made a Reflectix cozy for pot and lid. Now I'll boil a few cups of water over a cat stove with minimal fuel, add ingredients and let cook in hot water off the stove to save fuel. Cozy also helps protect cook kit. Whole cook kit: modded stanco grease pot w/bail & lid , cat can stove, AL foil windscreen, McD's flurry spoon with handle trimmed to fit in pot. Reflectix pot cozy, quart size ziplock freezer bag as "stuff sack." Everything fits into pot and pot goes into ziplock. I also keep a paper matchbook to light stove in the pot which doubles as backup matches. Fuel is denatured alcohol kept in a small 8oz well marked Poland spring bottle kept in a ziplock sandwich bag. This is kept seperate in a mesh pocket on the outside of my pack in case of leakage.

One mod you seem to have overlooked was the heat exchanger rings dimpled into the bottom of the pot. ~5 seems to work best because they are easy to clean. You get around a 15% improvement in boil times for the same fuel.