Caldera do it all unit

[isaac m]

I’m looking to buy a caldera cone system that I can use the same system snd just swap out the pot between aluminum(food cooking) and titanium(water cooking) as needed and run on wood and alcohol.  Does anyone know a caldera cone that can do this or an aluminum pot that will fit one of the sidewinders perfectly?

[Link .]

they list all the pots they make the Ti Tri sidewinders(including aluminum pots) but since the cone is made to fit each pot specifically you should contact them directly to see if there is a titanium and aluminum pot to their knowledge that are the same dimensions that they know would work.

[Mole J]

Or.  Use a slightly smaller diameter pot than the pot the cone is designed for, and use a pot-stand inside. ( Maybe like this:https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/pot-rests.html )

The smaller pot can also be taller than the “cone pot” then.

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Do you bring both pots? If not, just get two caldera cones.

[isaac m]

@sbhikes No, I just want to have 2 pots, I don’t wanna cook with titanium.  On trips where I want to boil water only, I’ll run titanium.  Otherwise I’ll use aluminum.

[dirtbag]

Check out in trail designs site. He has a 600 ml titanium ultralight pot and a 600 ml titanium NON stick pot.

Not sure if that is worthy for cooking in but it claims.. cleanup is a breeze with silicone- ceramic non stick (not teflon) coating.

Then you can get the 600 ml Ti-Tri Sidewinder.. and can cook with alcohol,  wood or esbit.  Its a great set up and one that i use often, mostly for wood and esbit though i have used it with alcohol.. mind you the kojin stove is sweet little stove at that!!!

Anyway, they are off for month of December ( Trail Designs)  so you will have to wait until January to inquire… perhaps someone on BPL would have some input on that 600 ml non stick pot??

[James Marco]

Getting both pots is kind of wasteful. You can easily use aluminum for boiling water and cooking. I, personally, use a $9 grease pot. it is actually slightly more efficient than ti, takes dents and dings better and fits a 8.5’x8.5′ tarp for use as a storage bag. The only thing it fails at is being stronger than ti. It weighs about 3.5oz for one quart(or liter.) I believe you can get them at Amazon.

FYI: Aluminum is innocuous. An old experiment from the 50’s said it was toxic, but, this was an error. Redoing the experiment showed no toxicity.

[DAN-Y]

trail designs has the grease pot with cone. I’d go with that one.

[Claiborne B]

I’m a one pot guy, so I’m having difficulty understanding the concept of two different material pots for two different purposes on two different trips with an option of two different fuel sources. Ok, mind blown..

The Caldera Ti-Tri can do multiple fuels, so there is the fuels answer for a caldera cone setup.

The pots are a little more difficult. I haven’t seen a manufacturer make the same size pot in two different materials. Most mainstreem manufacturers (MSR, Sea to Summit, GSI, etc) design a pot set in aluminum or stainless with a specialty titanium pot that is odd sized. The specialized manufacturers only stick to titanium, (Toaks, Keith, Snow Peak, Evernew, etc.) The closest I’ve seen are the MSR Alpine cooksets, one in stainless and one in titanium. Its possible the inner 1 liter pots are similar in size, but I really don’t know.

Different pot sizes on a caldera cone could negate the efficiency for which its designed.

So maybe a caldera cone isn’t the answer. If you’re dead set on alcohol with an option of woodburning, then perhaps a firebox stove setup. Or just an alcohol stove setup, with stove, stand, and windscreen. This will accommodate both pot sizes and if the gauge metal of your pot is thick enough you can just use a small fire for cooking or water.

And perhaps one do-it-all pot is a better option… Or possibly have a different setup for different planned cooking types. I would build a caldera system around the cooking type most used and a simple alcohol system around the other.

For instance, when I know I’m only going to boil water (which is my preferred cooking method, ie. freezer bag), I’m most likely to take my evernew alcohol stove, stand, and windscreen. Given the location and temperatures, of course. Can’t use Alcohol everywhere.  But when I’m cooking (rare, unless I’m car camping), I like to regulate the flame, so I use a iso-b gas stove. I will use this setup as well if in a no open flame regulated National Park.

Food for thought.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

I have the TD Sidewinder ti stove with the Open Country 3 cup anodized aluminum pot and lid. the pot is wider than it is tall. A 3 cup pot is just right for solo or 2 person cooking. It is  also the most heat efficient ratio and material. That’s why I won’t buy titanium cooking utensils.

I also have the Inferno insert that makes it a gassifier insert that far more efficiently burns wood. Almost all of the ashes are white, attesting to the high heat of the recirculating gasses within the double walls of the stove.

 

 

[DAN-Y]

I also have the Inferno insert that makes it a gassifier insert that far more efficiently burns wood. Almost all of the ashes are white, attesting to the high heat of the recirculating gasses within the double walls of the stove.

The gasses don’t recirculate.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Dan,

HUH? It is my understanding that unburned gasses given off from initial combustion are recirculated and burned because of the double wall and its venting setup. And that is true of other gassifier stoves like the Canadian BushBuddy.

If theses not true then why even bother with the double wall? Is it just to get more oxygen in the combustion chamber?

[Mole J]

Eric.

They don’t “recirculate.” They just burn, where often in other setups they don’t to to lack of oxygen at that part of the fire.

The gases are present in all fires.

It’s just the arrangement of the holes at the top of the double wall allow extra oxygen to be introduced at a point where it’s not usually there, (as local oxygen has already burnt off(combined).

So the wood gases ignite rather than just rising away higher as normal. Same as the secondary burn in a modern household woodburner. Extra air/oxygen is introduced to enable the secondary burn of the gases.

(In a hot enough bonfire, you can see these gases reigniting above the main fire once they reach the air where more oxygen is available)

[DAN-Y]

Read this post:

 

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/15681/#post-1450806

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Yep, my term “recirculating” is a misnomer as there are only rising gasses, on both sides of the inner cone.

I see now from looking at my stove with the Inferno insert that atmospheric oxygen outside the Inferno cone does come in at the top of the inverted Inferno cone to permit the unburned gasses to ignite (once the fire is hot enough). Thanks for the explanation Dan.

I looked at the other post you linked and as to “time to gather wood” mentioned by a poster, I  could care less. I’ve got the time, it’s the fuel weight I don’t have to carry in winter for melting snow that is important to me.  And a nice little wood fire at night is also cheery.

 

 

[DAN-Y]

Dan,

HUH? It is my understanding that unburned gasses given off from initial combustion are recirculated and burned because of the double wall and its venting setup. And that is true of other gassifier stoves like the Canadian BushBuddy.

If theses not true then why even bother with the double wall? Is it just to get more oxygen in the combustion chamber?

 

Eric, here is more reading for you about double wall stoves. It was one of my projects long ago.

https://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php/20416-Modified-Sierra-Zip-Stove

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Soooo… Could Zip Stoves benefit from some small holes drilled near the top on the inside liner steel? Seems that would aid combustion a la gassifier style.

[DAN-Y]

Not zip stoves, they have a massive amount of air being forced up via the fan through the bottom holes. Air will naturally come over the top of the zip to provide oxygen to the rising gasses.Most people light their stoves from the bottom.

Gassification occurs in a twig fire regardless if the fire is in a can or just sitting on the ground Air entering from the bottom is always a good thing, that’s why the caldera/bushbuddy have a grate for the twigs to rest on and let air enter.

[isaac m]

@danepacker which trail deaigns fissure/sidewinder unit will fot thr open country 3 cup HA pot?

[Ben C]

I’m curious. Why wouldn’t you cook in titanium? Also, why wouldn’t you heat water in aluminum? I’m intrigued by the underlying basis of the question.

[Link .]

Isaac, just go to the site and say you are interested in the Sidewinder Ti-Tri  you click on choose a pot and a drop bar listing all the pots will appear and you just scroll down till you find your pot  click on it then choose the options you are interested in and add it to your cart.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

TD must have stockpiled the Open Country 3 cup pot as I think that they are obsolete.

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Issac, I replied to your PM but I think TD no longer uses the anodized aluminum Open Country 3 cup pot & lid. But they have another similar pot.

I’ve used that Open Country stove on many types of stoves besides the Sidewinder. It is just highly efficient in terms o fuel use.

TD Sidewinder cone, a “Do-It-All”stove: 1.)-> alcohol using KOJIN burner  2.)->ESBIT tabs using Brian Green tablet burner  3.)->wood twigs using INFERNO insert

To me that’s a nicely versatile stove, if a bit expensive. But I use mine a lot and like it. Due to the light weight of ESBIT tablets I’ve used it twice in Grand Canyon backpacking trips and cooked meals including spaghetti with rehydrated home-dried sauce and dried mushrooms, Pad Thai & retort pouch shrimp and pan fried scrambled eggs. And ESBIT works well for this kind of cooking.

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