Caldera cone questions

I've been using this in a TD Fusion and a SP700: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klean-Strip-Green-1-qt-Denatured-Alcohol-QKGA75003/202249513

My choice was based on a fair amount of research tempered with actual availability locally.

Thanks Travis,

Looks like my local store has it in stock, will pick up some up tomorrow :-)

Much appreciated.

Everclear. It's easy and burns clean. I don't have to worry about any toxicity either.

While I'm certainly no expert on alcohol stoves, I have probably burned at least 2 gallons of various alcohol types during my patio tests with scads of different MYOG alcohol stoves–Crown, Sunnyside, yellow HEET, Klean Strip Green, SLX and also straight Everclear. I found that while they all seemed to perform pretty much the same, I did think that the SLX produced the least amount of residue on my pots. It also might be the cheapest, when bought by the gallon from Home Depot.

The Caldera Cones are pretty amazing. I've made clones for my Titan Kettle, BPL 550 pot, and a Heineken keg can, and also a cone that is adjustable for the BPL 550 pot, a Snow Peak 600, and a SP 450 cup. The wider diameter pots performed best, with the MSR Titan kettle winning–6 minute boils using .75 oz. of SLX at temperatures down to +30* F with mild breezes. The Heinie can cone was much slower at about 7:30. The following photo shows my Titan and 550 setups, which use my most efficient stove (cat can with carbon felt wick and a ti foil pot stand made to the exact height for optimal efficiency with the cone).

I'll bet that you've opened up a real Pandora's box here, Stephan. It will be fun to read all the responses you'll get here. Lots of experts with lots of opinions.

Thanks Clayton,

I think I know folk who drink Everclear ;-)

Hi Gary,

I probaly have opened a can of worms alright :-)

Normally I use gas but bought the caldera a few years ago to play around with it but left it to one side.

SLX was the fuel used most of the time during the design/devellopment phase of the CC system.
( Rand told me)

Good to know Franco :-)

I make my own.

I hate to hijack Stephen's thread, but this is a handy place to ask a question about Caldera Cones. Does anyone have both versions, the aluminum and the titanium? If so, have you seen a difference in the efficiency between them? It seems that the titanium cone would hold the heat around the pot better, since it's less conductive than aluminum. I would think that would effect a faster boil. I e-mailed Rand about this, but he never responded.

Hijack away Gary :-)

Everclear for me too…not really based upon experimentation and comparison, but any weight that has multiple uses, along with its non-toxic (ha!) nature makes it a pretty easy decision for me.

:-)

"Does anyone have both versions, the aluminum and the titanium? If so, have you seen a difference in the efficiency between them?"

I haven't done any garage "bench testing", so no definitive answer…

But using a 1.3L pot, boiling a liter at a time, with the variations in water temperatures, air temperatures, and wind, I didn't see a difference in the field. Fuel consumption wasn't noticeably different, nor was time-to-boil.

I use SLX Green for testing and Everclear in the field. I use a Ti-Tri for longer trips and plan on using wood half the time. If I use it more often, than a little Everclear in my Gatorade takes care of the extra weight. :)

Hi Gary. Hope the floods didn't impact you too much last year.

>>> …have you seen a difference in the efficiency between [aluminum and titanium cones]?

I own both (for different pots, though), and I would be shocked if it made more of a difference than any of a thousand other factors. You'd need a bomb calorimeter to see the difference.

Side note- Yes 190 proof Everclear works just fine. But it is expensive as hell.

Hoo-rah! The Colorado boys came through for me. I'm a bit surprised that the Ti version isn't more efficient, but what do I know? Thanks, guys.

Randy, the only flood issues have been a super high water table. My sump pump has been going on and off steadily since early October. So much so that it slowly went bung. I had a serious crisis impending, as it's in the basement room where all my bags and pads are stored. But the guy came fast, replaced it fast, and the problem was solved. He only had half an hour between cycles, to shut down the power, jerk out the old pump, install the new one, and flip the power back on. But he did it, just in time. Whew. But I was one of the lucky ones–some people lost their homes in the canyons of the foothills. The 5 access roads to get up to the Indian Peaks behind Boulder were closed for a month, and nobody in Boulder did much camping last fall, unless they drove several hours to get out of the affected area.

Am I good at thread drift, or what?

Thread drift makes the world go around Gary :-)

I was out your way before Xmas with Stuart and saw some of the damage caused, very scary

So thread drift is what it's all about, Stephen? Hmmm…and I always thought that the hokey pokey was what it was all about.

Yeah, it's amazing what the power of raging water can do. It was quite the feat for the construction crews to get those major roads open so quickly. But that was only a temporary fix, and they are now re-doing several of them in a more permanent fashion, to prevent more damage when the spring runoff occurs. Expensive stuff, these floods (and typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, and wars of all types).

I have both. I've not noticed one having better boil times than the other.
So, like Greg, I think it is reasonable to say that there's no appreciable difference.

It sure is indeed expensive Gary, I hope things get back to normal soon.

Thanks, Tony, you've confirmed it–they're pretty much equal.

Stephen, things will probably get back to normal when the daylight savings time switch comes next week. I've noticed that people here are getting tired of winter, even though it hasn't been all that bad. But I'm thinking that the collective feeling, at least among non-alpine skiers (the ski areas have a ton of snow base), is that winter kind of started in October, right after the floods. We're ready for our usual sunny spring.