FYI: Two alcohol stoves

[Jeffrey Wong]

during late spring cleaning, found two penny stoves (10 gm each) that I loaded with denatured and set 1″ under my evernew 0.9 L saucepan with two cups water.  After 9 minutes neither would boil the water.  Indoors at an ambient temp of 67 F.  Ew.  recycled.

Part II.  Jim Wood’s Super Cat stove (6 gm) did far better.  water boiled in 5:50.  A keeper.  It’s just two rows of 15 holes made with an office hand held hole puncher near the top of a small aluminum cat food cat.  Full instructions at Jim’s web page.  Be sure to make the snuffer can for use in those places that require on/off control.

Cheers!

[DAN-Y]

Be cautious with the SuperCat, it will stick to the bottom of your pot when least expected. Boiling alcohol splashes up to pot bottom causing a liquid seal around top edge of stove.

Remaining fuel in the stove will ignite when stove releases from pot bottom when least expected. Happened to me several times when testing and modifying the design. The more you burn, the more you learn says Jon :-)

[Jeff McWilliams]

I’ve experienced what Dan describes.

[Jeffrey Wong]

Is it alcohol or water? The products of combustion are water and carbon dioxide.

If you’ve seen the alcohol splashing up, I believe you. Water tension will also cause the stove to stick.

I’ve had the fortune to have only seen the alcohol at a rolling boil and never splashing up for the 1,000 miles that I carried the Super Cat in 2015. Happy trails!

[DAN-Y]

Jeffrey Wong.Water tension will also cause the stove to stick.

All the more reason to be careful using this type of stove.

You can put 3/4 ounce of fuel in the stove, ignite it, don’t put the pot on,  and watch for it to boil off the fuel and it will get to a point where you’ll be able to see the boil bubbles throwing liquid upward.

Just for fun…..let’s say its water forming a seal. Just be careful and enjoy the outdoors.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

With something like the Super Cat, during the initial burn, alcohol will vaporize.  Since the pot is initially cool, the alcohol vapors will condense (liquefy) on the bottom of the pot.  I suspect that is where some of the flames come from when you lift the pot off the burner.  I am not sure what happens latter in the boil.  And yes, alcohol will splash up onto the pot.  You can watch this by placing a glass pot on top of the stove and looking down through the center.   Most people tend to put a relief at the top lip of the stove to break any capillary forces holding the stove to the pot bottom.  My 2 cents.

 

BTW, while the Super Cat is a simple stove to make, my experiences have indicated that fuel efficiency is pretty bad.

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