Most efficient alcohol stove system currently?

I’ll add my 2 cents here: it is theoretical.  In a community that is concerned about grams, obtaining a repeatable metric of performance allows you to make relative decisions.  A fair number of people like the Cat Can stove as it is simple manufacture and cheap.  It also can be a fuel hog using almost twice as much fuel as a highly efficient one.  So having a metric for evaluation can help in making decisions.  In the old days, people were striving for the lowest possible pack weight and alcohol systems were the darling of the world.  Today, not so much.  My 2 cents.

32citrus,

Why do you hide the design of your pot support in your video?

I’ll add my 2 cents here: it is theoretical.  In a community that is concerned about grams, obtaining a repeatable metric of performance allows you to make relative decisions. A fair number of people like the Cat Can stove as it is simple manufacture and cheap.  It also can be a fuel hog using almost twice as much fuel as a highly efficient one.  So having a metric for evaluation can help in making decisions.  In the old days, people were striving for the lowest possible pack weight and alcohol systems were the darling of the world.  Today, not so much.  My 2 cents.

Fair enough. Personally, I like my alcohol system for the convenience of easy-to-find fuel and the flexibility of taking the amount that I want.  I hate dealing with half-empty canisters.

Dan Y, just not ready to show it yet. Its something I’ve been working on but its not great yet.

Dan, for me I was just interested in seeing how efficient I could get an alcohol system. I agree that in practice 12ml vs 15ml is simply not going to matter unless you’re off for a month at a time. I saw there were others interested in what an efficient system looked like and so figured I’d see if what i’d found was in line with others and document it.

Just another thought here.  I think the innovations being demonstrated are great.  I always think that it is great to push the envelope.  When does it become significant?  Good question.  From my experience, and new idea should show a 20% improvement over what currently exist, or it is not worth the effort to migrate to a new concept.  Getting a stove system to work using 12 ml of fuel does meet that criterion, that being said, I think that it would need to work on generally available fuel (HEET and straight denatured alcohol) and work across a multitude of systems.  Sgt. Rock’s Ion stove was great with some systems but not well with others.  My 2 cents.

There is a backpacker on Whitblaze.net that put together a kit that got him a 2 cup boil with 12ml using this set-up:

This little improvement is nice:

I’ve found that one, which Tetkoba calls a CHS-U kicks out way too much fuel and wastes heat when using denatured alcohol, or other ethanol based fuels. The eCHS is smaller and that is where I found things starting to make more sense.

The integrated pot support is awesome.

The one from whiteblaze is nice using the HX pot to increase efficiency….12ml to boil 2 cups.

Am I the only one with safety concerns about alcohol stoves with integrated pot supports? If the pot should tip it seems the likelihood of the stove being knocked over is much higher. I much prefer the support to be integrated into the windshield. Feels much more stable.

I agree, 100%

I much prefer the support to be integrated into the windshield. Feels much more stable.

I agree, so do lots of folks….Sterno Inferno, Trail Designs and Zelph to name a few.

Hi Jon!  You said Esbit (and other solid fuel) will leave a residual soot on your cookware.  Well, yes, the way most people use it.  I discovered that I can burn Esbit in my Bushbuddy stove and it leaves NO residue on the pot bottom, NONE whatsoever!  And a two cup boil consumes only about half a tab.  As you are well aware the Bushbuddy is a secondary combustion stove, which I presume accounts for the clean and efficient burn.  I now like my Esbit!

Cool.  IMO, Esbit is an under utilized fuel,  Additionally, (as a fuel) it has not gone through the extensive stove develop that we have see with alcohol stoves.  We can almost boil 4 cups of water, but it takes too long,  We need a new design that is fast, small,  efficient and sootless.   (a mini Bishbuddy) My 2 cents.

An Esbit stove needs a lot more air injected somehow. You can see that from the colour of the flames. Also the pot usually needs to be sitting higher to get proper combustion.
Cheers

Jon, when I saw you say that, I looked up Bushbuddy Mini, and turns out it exists. Is this mini enough?

@Ethan A – I am think more on the line of 2″ in diamter and less that 1 1/2″ tall.  That and under 2 oz.  More like a small alcohol stove.  My ideal system anyway.

@Jon, do you think that 2 oz. could include a double wall? I’d guess it would based on the dimensions.

I don’t typically burn wood, so considered the original Bushbuddy too heavy. I’ve seen it in action and it does burn pretty clean.

@Ethan A – Well, ideally, it would fit into our existing windscreens.  The ground to pot distance is set at 1.75″.  I am actually testing a few ides tonight.  I suspect it will take many months to figure something out.

“I am actually testing a few ides tonight.” I’d expect no less ; )  Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.