DIY Backpacking Stove: An Ultralight Vortex Burner (Part 1- Background and Theory)

And the good Sheriff Caffin rides again!

More stoves, more stoves, gotta have more stoves …

Cheers

Good show. Damn good show.

So as a Caffin Stove happy camper, I need to ask what is the end game of this Vortex design? Fuel efficiency, play nice with bigger pots, audible noise feedback, or just fun with stoves?

What an interesting question!

Well … it did start partly with an itch about 100% MYOG, and the aesthetics of it all – as discussed at some length in this Part 1. It was ‘unfinished business’ as it were.

But as I mention right at the end – having established that I could make a good Vortex burner using the 38 mm Ti tube I had, it naturally followed that I should make some. If the logic here is not obvious, then it can’t be explained. :-) I guess that could be ‘just fun with stoves’.

Good fuel efficiency depends on complete combustion and good heat transfer into the pot. Most canister stoves can do that if you don’t run them flat out. Really fast boil time means a slightly lower efficiency.

Play nice with bigger pots – yeah, as a secondary goal, not a primary goal.

Noisy operation – no, that was never a significant factor. It just happens with the Vortex design.

Cheers

Fascinating stuff Roger, looking forward to the rest.

One thought – if the vortex chamber is red hot then it is well above the Draper point and all that heat wants to go somewhere!

cheers

Hi Stuart

Oh definitely – well above. It GLOWS!
A lot of the heat goes upwards of course, hitting the bottom of the pot. This is good. Some of the heat goes sideways, and a bit of that can warm the canister. Within obvious limits, that too is useful, especially in real cold weather.

Anyhow, more to come.

Cheers

Nice read, Looking forward to the rest of this epic mission!

Hi Ebbo

Thanks. The rest is coming.

Cheers

I loved the thorough explanation of the design process.  Really gives an engineers perspective on designing something.  Really cool.  My questions about the whole project is weight.  Beyond the aesthetics of a Caffin design, and the coolness of being released on BPL, is there really that much of a weight savings with this Caffin Vortex?  In the end my bottom line is always weight, and I kept wondering if the weight savings is truly worth the effort.  Sometimes its worth doing it just to do it, I agree, and I’m supportive of any MYOG no matter what, but the weight question comes to me generally.

Hi Josh

Ah well, you have to compare the weight of my finished stove with the weight of a commercial vortex stove to answer that. We haven’t got that far yet … :-), so I will simply say (at this stage) that I found the weight savings huge.

There were several other reasons for doing it: the ‘universal’ canister connector was a big one for me, to handle trips around the world. That was covered in the previous series. The dual valving for better control was another. A better pot support for big pots was yet another – that has yet to appear.

But do I really need a huge business ROI case to ‘follow my nose’ here? I am a career research physicist, with a severe case of ‘need to know’. As I am retired, I have the time (and facilities) to fill that need.  :)  :)  :)

Cheers

Love it Roger…sorry for the delay…out camping much of June…

Hi James
Thanks. Now read Part2 !It’s been great fun – better than the past week which has seen me repairing the rusted gal roof on my 100 year old barn/workshop.

Cheers