surface protection for stove

[Diane Pinkers]

I’ve had a couple of times when I’ve used my alcohol stove on a surface where the surface was damaged by the heat of the stove–once was the varnish of a picnic table, once was melting the plastic top of one of the Cascade Wild folding tables. I usually set it on a folded piece of foil, to create a small kitchen area and somewhere I can put my cup or spoon down without putting it in the dirt.  Obviously, though, that isn’t managing the heat dispersal much. I’m wondering if there is something light that I can carry a small pad of in my stove kit that will manage heat?  I know Pmags advocates a piece of blue foam covered in windscreen material for insulating a stove from snow, but I was hoping for something less bulky.

[Iago Vazquez]

I use a disc the same size as the stove base or slightly larger of 1/4 closed cell foam. Got the foam scorched but never anything else.

I heard of people using plywood, some even spraying it with some heat resistant engine paint of some sort for use with liquid fuel stoves.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

I use and recommend the use of 0.005″ aluminum foil as a heat shield to prevent that from happening.  My 2 cents.

[Dale Wambaugh]

Get a cork trivet or a thin cutting board.

[Mike The Slug]

What about steel wool or a screen? Double use as pot scrubber or strainer?

[Diane Pinkers]

Hmm, I like the cork idea,  I’m pretty sure I’ve seen rolls of cork at our hardware store. Jon, for those of us that are ignorant about metals, what is the equivalent of the weight of aluminum foil you are referring to in kitchen foil or roasting pans? I thought my double layer of heavy duty foil would do the trick,  but clearly not. I sometimes fold up the sides of the foil to help with a wind screen as well, so I’d like to keep using that.

[Jon Fong / Flat Cat Gear]

0.005″ aluminum is commonly used for the aluminum disposable trays.  BTW, I wouldn’t use any stove on a heat sensitive surface.  I saw someone post a video using one of my stoves on a glass tabletop and it made my stomach turn.

 

 

[Matthew / BPL]

How about a piece of plumbers felt? I’m fairly sure I have some around here. I could send you a scrap, Diane.

Jon, would this be a good application for this material?

[Dale Wambaugh]

You can find round cork trivets in any cooking store, IKEA too. The ones I have are 7-1/4″ x 3 /8″ and 2 .4 oz. I dont think it would be hard to find thinner ones.

[David Thomas]

I’ve used 1/8” 3-ply plywood mostly as a stable base on snow or rough ground, but it would be insulative and good to 450F. I can cut, sand and mail a piece to whatever dimensions you want.

[Roger Caffin]

I’m with Dave here.

It’s cheap, light, strong and handles the temperature. Easy to replace when it wears out.
I anchor the stove down onto it as well.

Cheers

[Chris R]

What kind of alcohol stove?

Are you using a cone? The temperature gets pretty hot inside the cone, or is it the stove itself that is getting hot and burning the surface? Conductive heat or radiation.

One trick is to wet down the surface first. Definitely helps cool things down.

How about a piece of the fabric used on ironing boards or going up a notch welding blanket or as Matthew k suggests, plumbers felt though that could be too bulky if you want to protect a large area.

[Diane Pinkers]

The most recent incident was using a Kojin stove, the varnish on the picnic table was likely using a Starlyte. I do use a cone, but the stove is what gets heat damage  bubbled underneath it. So, conduction, not radiation, I think.

I try to have my kitchen kit fit inside my Toaks 650 mug. Would I want a piece of cork or plywood just large enough for the stove to sit on, or would I need to encompass the area that the cone sits on? The statement above suggests I could get away with just a small disc, but maybe I should think bigger.

[Chris R]

If its just under the stove a small disc the same size as the stove may be enough, a circle of carbon felt plumbers mat or maybe try a circle of silicone baking mat. Maybe even coating the underside of the stove with silicone would be enough?

On a recent trip i was cooking on very wet wooden picnic tables in Banff NP. After cooking I saw that the area under the cone had completely dried though there was no sign of scorching at all. I was using a Starlyte.

[Diane Pinkers]

Hmm, well, Chris, that seems to suggest that an area the size of the cone should be protected. Although, the main problem may still be under the stove itself. I thought about cutting out a piece of a silicone baking mat, but I’m honestly not sure what temperature I’m worried about managing-500°F? 600°F?  I know that the silicone baking mats have an upper temperature around 450-500°F, at least the ones I’ve seen.

[Chris R]

We need someone with one of those fancy infrared thermometers to check the temperature. I can likely borrow one but it would be a couple of weeks.

[Roger Caffin]

If the wet table under the stove had dried out but not burst into flames, that suggests temperatures of less than, say, 150 C. Silicone baking mat would easily take that.

I would prefer to say you should cover the full area under the cone, but in practice I do not see damage beyond the area of the stove base. It’s mainly the hot metal doing the damage, so just slightly more than the area of the stove.

Silicone baking mat should roll up for storage, yes? It’s not very expensive on eBay. What’s to prevent you from trying it out on some scrap timber at home?

Cheers

[Diane Pinkers]

Absolutely nothing prevents me, Roger, save for availability of materials.  Which is why I stopped by my local hardware/general store, and picked up some cork gasket material, and a Copper Chef grill and baking mat. No silicone baking sheets available locally. I am planning a run to IKEA later in the month, so will check out their cork coasters-smaller than a trivet.

The stove/cone set-up I’ve been using hasn’t been the most efficient,  and it wastes a lot of heat I think. I just ordered a Fissure cone set up from Trail Designs. I’ll try both setups. I did look for an infrared thermometer at the store, but they didn’t have any.

[William Kerber]

For my alcohol stove i use the circle of aluminum that they vacuum seal cans of Blue Diamond almonds with. Plumbers felt or silicone mat is probably better for heat protection. I picked up some silicone pot holders at the dollar store and cut them to size to use as a put grabber. They were a couple of dollars each.

[DAN-Y]

Diane, I’ll send you a few discs of material you can choose from. I’ll also send a sample of the Starlyte “PoP”, works well inside cones.

[Diane Pinkers]

Cool, Dan, I’ll be interested to see what works. I’d looked at one of the Starlyte Pops, but wasn’t sure about the opening of the top of the stove inside a small cone.

Poking around on Amazon, I note that silicone baking mats are rated to 450-480 F, but silicone soldering mats can withstand up to 932 F.  The one I looked at is 3 mm thick, might be rather heavy, so probably a piece just the size of the stove would be ideal.

[Roger Caffin]

Cork gaskets and cork sheet are fine except that I found them a lot more bendy than 3-ply, and prone (a bit) to breaking up. I have been using the same bits of 3-ply for years.

I was fascinated by the accuracy of the temperature spec for the soldering mats: 932 F, not 930 F or >900 F. Such precision! But it turns out that 932 F = 500 C, which is definitely an approximate value, and very probably wrong. The normal upper limit for silicone rubber is 300 C. I suspect one company claimed 500 C in complete ignorance, so every other Chinese manufacturer has just copied them.

Not to worry: 300 C is still very high!

Cheers

[DAN-Y]

I have some thin Viton discs that I’ll include.

BLUE FDA VITON™
Specifications:
66% Fluorine
FDA Title 21 of CFR177.2600
75 Durometer

What temperature is Viton good for?

 

While both Viton and Buna seals both serve as great sealing options at moderate temperatures, Viton is far superior to Buna for high temperature applications. Viton seals provide an indefinite seal for temperatures up to 400°F, and for temperatures up to 600°F they offer an excellent seal for more than 48 hours

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Viton is a brand of FKM, a synthetic rubber and fluoropolymer elastomer commonly used in O-rings, chemical-resistant gloves, and other molded or extruded goods. The name is a registered trademark of The Chemours Company. Viton fluoroelastomers are categorized under the ASTM D1418 and ISO 1629 designation of FKM

[Roger Caffin]

Viton is good stuff. I use Viton O-rings in my stoves.

Cheers

[Chris R]

Just don’t burn it. Risk of Hydrofluric acid burns when handling that can be really nasty and difficult to treat. Could be an issue if fuel is spilled around a stove and then catches fire.

If using a disc under the stove it should probably extend out from the sides a cm or so or you will get a nice corona halo around the stove. Buy me a beer and I will tell you how I know. Involves a Trangia burner and a kitchen countertop. Not a good combination.

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