22 Gram Esbit Kit

That looks great Dan. Great idea using the ashtray as a lid! I haven't seen one of those in a million years.

Thanks Ian. I first started including the ashtray along with the StarLyte stove here on BPL about 3 years ago. It was furnished as a ground protector piece for placing the stove onto. I had a few laying around on my table and just by chance I tried placing one onto the Foster pot and it fit perfect.

I have to chuckle a bit because no one has said anything about burning the esbit on the ground. Must be ignoring me or all approve :-)

The pot has an aluminum top ring and bottom.

I was going to suggest that you carefully peel the foil top of the Esbit and put the tablet on that instead of directly on the ground…

I don't agree with burning esbit directly on the ground. At the very least, bring a small piece of aluminum foil . . . hardly weighs anything.

A steel bottle cap makes a good Esbit holder.

–B.G.–

What are the negatives of burning esbit on the ground? Possibly starting a forest fire?

Ryan

There are no negatives to burning esbit on the ground unless you are using it on a rock surface that could leave a burn mark. On dirt it's not an issue.

esbit partially liquefies as you burn it. and the liquid still burns. so if you burn it on the ground you will incompletely consume the fuel and waste a good portion of it. Plus you will do damage to the soil surface unnecessarily.

"esbit partially liquefies as you burn it."

Exactly. That's the reason for the bottle cap.

Sometimes an Esbit tablet will burn up and leave behind some sticky black residue, and the bottle cap helps contain that.

–B.G.–

I also think an argument could be made for heat reflection when a tray is used, but the difference wouldn't be great. Obviously a tray, lid and windscreen together would be better although heavier.

One downside of your design is where do we store the lid when packing. It might be hard to nest it.

Ok, I won’t burn it on the ground. I’ll put it in one of these aluminum containers. Testing shows there is virtually nothing that remains of the esbit after it burns out. I’ve been testing the 4 gram tabs. They are placed side by side. 2 1/4 tabs(9grams) boils 2 cups. Now all I need is a nice flexible Ti Cone to fit the pot. I made an aluminum one but it’s too stiff.

The one on the left weighs 9 grams. The one on the right weighs 8 grams, has a reinforced rim to prevent damage once rim is annealed by heat.

The aluminum ashtray lid can be stored right on top. A super light tyvek stuff sack cinched close to the pot will keep it in place.

Interesting. Do you find that the shape and depth of that burner help to focus the heat/flame of the esbit better than a completely open burner?

C B, Absolutely, the shape,depth, hole quantity and placement make a big difference in the burn rate and focus of the flame. I originally started with 6 holes and then went to 3 and then found that the present location of 4 holes was the best. A completely open burner burns too hot and inefficiently. When an esbit burns too fast , you can see it melting and starts to flow away from the cube.

When I make a new video you’ll be able to see the focus ability of the air intake holes. This video shows the burner with 6 holes and is burning “hot”:

Esbit burner with 6 holes and 4 gram tablets
.

Dan very nice design and work. Do you know if it performs any differently in a lower oxygen environment like in a cone?

E J, I'll do a few test burns today in my Ti cone made for my stainless steel 3 cup pot. I'll burn 2 four gram tablets of esbit. I'll use a new burner and a nice clean bottom pot. I'll do a video of it also. The tests I did last week were varied and first impression was it burned a little hotter………..maybe! I was hoping for a 2 cup boil with 8 grams of esbit but it didn't happen. The 1 extra gram is needed to get the boil.

Thank you E J for your positive comment.

Here’s a youtube video that shows the burner with two 4 gram Esbit. No gooey residue on bottom of pot and very little residue left inside the burner.

8 gram Esbit Burner youtube video

A lid can be used over the burner for storage. A new container on the left holds 11 four gram tablets for storage and transport. Has clear plastic insert in lid.

Gentlemen, this thread is beginning to sound like so many alky stove threads, i.e. ever lighter stoves with no thought to FUEL EFFICIENCY.

** I still contend that my TD Sidewinder stove made for a small aluminum 3 cup pot is the most fuel efficient ESBIT stove available.

** With the Brian Green modified Gram Cracker tablet holder to hold in and utilize the burning tablet's liquid you will get even better performance.

** A narrow Fosters can is not as fuel efficient as my wide 3 cup aluminum pot. That's just physics, not opinion.

My Caldera Cone setup gets a 33%+ efficiency increase over my best previous ESBIT stove. And believe me, I've tinkered with ESBIT stoves for a few decades.

So it ain't all in the stove weight. It's in the amount of fuel carried as well.

OK, end of rant.

I got same cookpot and with alu flat bottom (holds about 550ml water) and without lid it is 26g….is yours a smaller version?

Yes, that's the correct weight. It has an aluminum bottom and top ring, yours is probably steel top ring.

Besides, at my age I'm "crusty" enough without having a crusty pot.Keep on tinkering! That's how things improve.

Eric, the esbit burner is an improvement in efficiency. No more crusty residue on the pot bottom(see above video) In the same video is my 3 cup stainless steel "Fire Pot"(2.4oz)pot that gets 2 cups to boil with 9 grams of esbit using the TD Ti Caldera Cone.

Now you just wait and see the results of my Ti Cone being used with the 18 gram small diameter Foster's pot. The weight of the cone weighs 0.08oz. My pot will prove to be better than your pot;)

Eric, Thanks from one ESBIT tinkerer to another. Keep on tinkering! That's how things improve. :-)

"** With the Brian Green modified Gram Cracker tablet holder to hold in and utilize the burning tablet's liquid you will get even better performance."

I made one from a cut down coke can ( I think it registered .9g on my scale)

I then put 10g of Esbit into the tray and fired it up. After a couple minutes of 'simmering' it all of a sudden went from a okay flame to flaming holy moly….but no boil. I think if I got a cone wind shield I might get a boil (for the first time!).

When I had a look at the cup gram cracker it's legs deformed a bit from the heat I think but there is no residue on it or the bottom of the foster's can. Here it is once I straightened it back up;

I am thinking of making a cone from a full height foster's can and folding the edges over so it doesn't tear easily. I MUST get a boil even if it the very very very last thing I do!!!

"I MUST get a boil even if it the very very very last thing I do!!!"

You know, I had a friend who kept trying to boil two cups of water with minimum fuel, and he kept running into problems like this. He went over and over it, and still it didn't work. Finally I agreed to observe his technique. In an instant, I saw his problem. His measuring cup was not standard 8 ounces. It was 12 ounces. So, he kept failing to boil 24 ounces of water with fuel for 16 ounces. Once he measured right, it was normal.

–B.G.–

mikmik, are you using a windscreen?

With the round aluminum esbit burner I can boil 2 cups in my stainless steel Fire Pot with 9 grams of esbit without a windscreen under calm conditions.

Are you testing under calm conditions?

"mikmik, are you using a windscreen?

With the round aluminum esbit burner I can boil 2 cups in my stainless steel Fire Pot with 9 grams of esbit without a windscreen under calm conditions.

Are you testing under calm conditions?"

My current set up is this one;

So the pot is held up by an identical Ti ring but smaller in size. I am going to by a full Fosters can and make a cone shaped windscreen from it to suit.

I think there is 2 reasons why I am not getting a boil as yet;
1.My modified gram cracker dish isn't deep enough and the liquefied esbit overflows and burns un economically.
2.The windscreen really need to be a cone shape to direct all heat into the pot.

You say the pot is just like the windscreen so I say you need a new pot support made with lots of holes. It's too hot inside your burner.