What're some IDEAL alcohol stove designs ?

“Well, as you all know, there's threads and instructions for all sorts of alcohol stoves, but what's considered an ideal design? One that's most easy to light, easy to make, most fuel efficient, burns hottest, durable, and just all around good? I know you can't have all these perks, but I'm lookin to build a new one, as my pressurized side jet has gotten old. I live in Northern Minnesota and use it year round. ANY commend welcome. Sorry if this has been asked before.”

“back when I was playing around with stoves (yes its true I am a REFORMED stovie) I aimed for minimal fuel use and light weight for the whole system. I found that one needs to consider the entire system when optimizing their stove. In my case I ended up using a chopped off Heineken 24 ounce keg can as my pot and then optimizing for fuel use around this pot - turned out the burner I chose was a tea light candle tin which seemed to be the best for fuel use with this particular pot. As it turned out it also was easy to light even in the cold - just touch a burning match to the surface of the alcohol will light it even if cold - just don't dunk the match. The only modification I ever had to the burner was to add a piece of thin walled conduit (actually large CATV cable without the center stuff) for use when I needed a little extra fuel. The rest of the system was a piece of foil for a bottom reflector, a short cylinder of hardware cloth for a pot support, a windscreen made from the sidewalls of aluminum cans crimped together and vent holes punched in the bottom (how close wind screen is to pot is one of the critical design parameters for the system performance - too close not enough air flow, too far lose heat), and lastly a tight fitting lid for the pot that I insulated with some fiberglass pipe wrap and foil cover - lid was made from a Campbell's microwave soup container chopped down. Note I would pick up the pot using a folded bandanna wrapped around the pot.”

“I appreciate your time. Thank you! A few questions though. Did you fill it to the top? How long would a single fill usually burn? What was the CATV for? Like using it to funnel fuel to it if it was getting low? This is just a open top design correct?”

“yes I would fill the unextended tea light candle tin to the top - made measuring easy. The CATV sheath was to extend the sides of the tea light candle tin upward about half an inch so it could hold more alcohol - needed if water / weather was particularly cold. Note the CATV sheath was just the right diameter to fit inside the tea light candle tin - almost a press fit.

I forget how long it would burn but it was usually enough to boil 1.75 cups of water which was all I needed to add to my zip lock cooking bag in my cozy. One other "feature" of this approach is that it was possible to blow out the alcohol flame by blowing down onto the tea light candle tin - if desired after reach a boil I would blow out the flame and then pour the remaining alcohol back into the fuel bottle once the burner cooled off (quick since it was low mass).

yes this was just an open top design - an unmodified tea light candle tin or one where the sides were extended up for greater capacity
last edited: 1/28/12 5:19:15 PM”

“Oh, that makes sense. I like the idea. I feel like a slightly bigger tin than a tea candle would be good then if you were cooking bigger meals. Only concerns would be burning time vs the heat output. I feel like other stoves might work a little better for that but that'd have to be experimented on. I'll test it out and see what would work better or if a different design like this would work better. Have any other ideas or ones that worked nicely for you?”

“well when I was using a Grease Pot as a cooking pot (a wider base that the beer can) I would use a Turbo V8 stove - it worked reasonably well for that particular pot.

general notes on pots - I prefer aluminum pots over Ti pots - better heat transfer capability IMO”

“

Designed for a 0.9 L Evernew Ti pot.
Burner made from little V8 or grape juice cans.
last edited: 1/29/12 11:47:03 AM”

“I've seen ones that look like that before. I've heard they burn pretty well. Any design instructions by chance? And I like the aluminum over the Ti too. But my aluminum pots aren't as sturdy. They tend to dent easy. But the thin wall allows heat exchange really nicely.”

“the Turbo V8 stove I used in the past is documented here: http://hikinghq.net/sgt_stove/sgt_v8stove.html”

“Nice design. Wouldn't it be a bit fragile though? And i feel like it wouldn't be able to burn alot of water.”

“all I can say to that is that it worked OK for me - I do remember taking extra care to position it on a level location and to place the pot on the stove with care to get it reasonably centered so it won't tip”

“I always had that problem too. I think with a well made potstand that extends around the stove, it might be a little better. If i get time, I'll post a picture or make an Instructable on my potstand/primer idea. I think it'd come in handy for this, although since that design is self priming in a sense. That could be cut out of my design.”

“you may wish to take a look at some of zelph's stoves mentioned over on http://www.bplite.com/ he is one fairly hard core stove tinker. Skidsteer is another person who comes up with interesting designs - it was he who gave me the CATV extended tea light candle tin.”

“Zelph doesn't quite seem to tell/show you how to make the stoves. Although he's got some mean ideas. That doesn't help me as I would prefer to make mine myself without paying much of anything. Last night I tested the tea light stove. I got a boil after about 8 minutes or so and it continued to boil for about a minute or two afterwords. Total time staying lit was about 11 minutes. When I retested it, I moved the flame about a half inch closer. The water never reached boil, but stayed lit for about 19 minutes. So flame distance makes a big difference. I also used hand sanitizer as a random experiment and that never got to a boil either but make small bubbles come up from the bottom occasionally. I do like the tea light design to be honest. There was VERY little fuel used. Less than a half of a fl.oz. I much appreciate this design. BUT...The candle tin is VERY flimsy.. Something needs to be done to reinforce it.”

“what I did for the tea light candle tin was that I carried both the extended version and the regular version - I would put the regular tin on top of the extended tin and that way the extension (stiffer walls) supported both tins when in the pack - the tins got a little dented at times but nothing I could not straighten out by hand by pushing the tin over the extension.”

“Oh, that's good to know. Do you happen to have a picture with the extension? I'd much like to see it if you could. I'd like to do an experiment with a Monster can with the screw on lids. They'd be able to hold more fuel and I could always screw the lid back on and hold the fuel in there as well. Plus the walls wouldn't be quite as flimsy. These are all just ideas though, so I can't guarantee it working.”

“the picture would be (relatively) easy but I have no place to put the picture that would be linkable to TT and the last I knew there was no place on TT to put pics”

“> I prefer aluminum pots over Ti pots - better heat transfer capability IMO

A little off subjet but ...
I mostly use pots for boiling water but I share this opinion with pans. When cooking a quesadilla on titanium I often burn the area that the flaming is making contact with the pan while the rest of the tortilla is not cooked. So I analyze my outing meals and if I am bringing something that cannot be turned on the pan (such as scrambled eggs I can turn on the pan) then I go for an aluminum pan.”

“Heuschele That makes sense. I generally am just boiling water as well or some kind of liquid. If I plan on cooking bigger things, generally I'll cook over a fire since I usually have a fire anywhere I camp.”

“I would be interested in seeing an experiment with the Monster can, too.”

“I used this guide to make my alcohol stove:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Ultralight-Backpacking-Stove-Only-38oz-video-d/

I made it out of a sturdier can than a Coke can because I'd seen videos where people put their pot right on top of the burner. Then I figured out this method actually didn't provide for optimal use and went to work on a wind shield / pot stand combo. I had some metal tubing lying around I thought was left over from installing stove pipe in our old chimney. It turned out a little hard to punch holes in, but works great now that it is finished. I made it tall enough to reach the handle of my pan for cooking actual foods like pancakes and eggs over the fire and use some lengths of heavy coat hanger wire for the pot to sit on. For just boiling water, I have a Heineken can. I just overlap the pot stand / wind shield to maintain about 1/4 inch gap all around.

I just tested my design "in the wild" for the first time. It is definitely more stable than just the Heineken can on top of the burner as some others were doing. I would not say my build is the lightest out there by any stretch, but it works well for me.

On a damp and windy day, I found it easily held more than enough fuel to boil 2 cups of water. Although we didn't time it, it was fast than the same amount in the same container sitting directly on a penny stove made from a Coke can surrounded by a folded foil windscreen. Both used Heet as fuel. This stove beat it out both for time and for amount of fuel required: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXXxm1GosxQ”

“Hog_on_ice : ok, I'm trying to work out this tea candle tin stove and I'm evidently not following properly. I read you used CATV cable outer part to extend the walls. You mean the black plastic part? Because that stuff is nasty if it starts burning. Real bad for you to breath and would probably coat your can. Or I am completely misunderstanding (a good possibility). I can see how the little tea candle tin would be light, though, so I 'm really trying to figure this out. I finally ended up kinda making the tea light the dish part in the middle of the stove like Gertie made, with one of those tall, slim Red Bull energy drink cans for the other two parts. Works pretty well as long as you make the holes for the drains to the outer ring small and not quite touch the bottom of the tea light dish.”

“the type of cable I am talking about has an aluminum outer shell - not the more commonly seen black plastic stuff

a chopped off red bull can is almost the same thing though - just not quite as light - probably the best thing to do is to just look around for small cans that are just the same size as the tea light candle tin then just use the side wall of the cans where I had the CATV cable outer wall

when I use the tea light candle tin as the burner its just a small open container to hold the burning alcohol - no jets or anything like that - the pot/heiny can is supported over the tin using a circle of hardware cloth - this circle is sized to fit in the depression at the bottom of the can and thus makes the pot self centering over the burner”

“Gertie, I quick made a stove like the one from the instructable link you posted except mines not an open center like that and I put about an ounce of alcohol in and it was enough to make 2 things of ramen noodles (boil 2 cups of water twice) and the starting temp of the water was 33 degrees (I was ice fishing and pulled the water straight from the lake) It was definitely efficient and handled very well in the cold (with my homemade primer/potstand) My test with half an ounce of alcohol burned for 13 minutes. And Hog On Ice, could you take one of the small V8 cans and cut the bottom off and curl the top edge down to increase strength and capacity? It'd be just a little bigger than a tea light tin, stronger, and you could choose a preferance as to how big you want the sides to come up. Again, these are just ideas. Is there anywhere you can buy sturdy hardware cloth? I had some chicken wire sitting around, but it slowly collapsed under the weight and the heat made it very brittle.”

“I think I got my hardware cloth at a local hardware store which is now gone - Lowes carries it : http://www.lowes.com/pd_218929-16418-838929_0__?productId=3159919&Ntt=hardware+cloth&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dhardware%2Bcloth&facetInfo=

make sure the first few burns with the galvanized hardware cloth is done outdoors to burn off the zinc coating - avoid inhaling the zinc vapors

wrt the V8 can - curling the top edge down isn't anything I ever bothered with - just chop it and smooth it some was my approach - there would be no weight on the V8 can during use because the pot would be on a separate pot support”

“http://s1151.photobucket.com/albums/o629/kingsmanname/Designs/ Thats my potstand/windscreen design. The bottom is open to slide a tealight candle in to prime the stove. The tabs are there to hold the stove up and allow air flow. And the top is used to hold the pot and holes are cut for air.”

“Its kind of roughlyu cut since I made it a long time ago, but the bottom stays fairly cool and you can see the dark part of it that gets kinda hot. Plus since its all metal anyways, it holds heat nicely and transfers it well. I'm not sure dimensions of all the cuts, but with my stove in, the flames are about an inch or more under the pot. I'm not sure what can I used, but its just barely bigger than the can stove. Only issues I have are. The can needs to be level, and the candle primer leaves alot of dark black soot on the botton of the stove, but that comes off pretty easy.”

“kingsmanname: Like you pot holder / windscreen. Looks nice and compact, and I bet it would fit down inside a plastic lemonade jar over top of your penny stove and bottle of fuel to keep your bag clean / keep it from getting crushed up / plus if you used a plastic baggie liner in the can, could use it as a cup or bowl in camp.”

“Thank you. Its nice because the candle, stove, and matches/lighter all fit inside it and it fits inside my pots. I could probably fit my 2 oz container of fuel in it too.”