Zelph's "GoTo" Alcohol Stove

[zelph]

I've been working on a few new items.

One of them is a new stove that is a hybrid of the Cobalt Blue Soloist. The stove is made of a Venom energy drink bottle and has an aluminum pot support integrated into the stove. It has a fuel capacity of 4 ounces. Blooms on average of 8 seconds and is not effected by cold pots of water being placed on the stove. I has a high temperature fiberglass ignition wick attached to the pot support for cold weather lighting. It replaces the copper ignition wick that was used on the Soloist.

I am now able to produce 6" corrugated EZ-Fold windscreens

I have perfected a corrugated simmer sleeve for the new stove. Works really slick.

I also have produced graduated fuel bottles showing increments of 3/4 ounce. Makes filling the stove very easy and is a quick visual to let you know how much fuel you have left. 3/4 ounce of fuel will boil 2 cups of water under most field conditions. I have done extensive testing of the new stove and I'm going to make it my "GoTo" stove.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_Video202.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=Video202.flv)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_Video17.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=Video17.flv)

In the beginning of this one you can see the flames coming out of the 16 jets.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_Video18.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=Video18.flv)

shows the bloom time with 4 ounces of fuel in the stove.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_ZelphsGoTostove.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=ZelphsGoTostove.flv)

The stove is 2.5 inches in diameter and 2.75 inches in height.
It's made out of aluminum bottles and is light weight.
It is a double wall, low pressure stove. Bloom on an average of 8 seconds.
Has a 4 ounce fuel capacity.
Has the ability to simmer using the new corrugated "simmer sleeve". The simmer sleeve stores around the stove, has a small extended handle that easily folds close to the stove for storage.
Has a 1/2 inch wide fiberglass ignition wick that helps light the stove in cold weather.It carries the flame from your match down to the surface of the alcohol.

Something that I noticed over the years is the need for a fuel bottle with graduated lines to see how much fuel is being added to the stove. I made up some Mylar decals(screen printed them) and applied them to some 4 ounce bottles and WoW!!! makes life easy when filling the stove.

The "Simmer Sleeve" is made of the same durable aluminum as the windscreen. Because it's corrugated it will maintain it's shape.

Watch the videos.:)

[skinewmexico]

Limiting yourself to one "go to" stove? I don't believe it. Slick looking stove though, and the corregated windscreen a got from you a while back is first rate. I used a permanent marker on my bottle (looks exactly like yours), and apparently it's only permanent if you don;t get alcohol on it.

[zelph]

Limiting yourself to one "go to" stove? I don't believe it. Slick looking stove though, and the corregated windscreen a got from you a while back is first rate. I used a permanent marker on my bottle (looks exactly like yours), and apparently it's only permanent if you don;t get alcohol on it.

At first I did the same as you with the magic marker(permanent) looked good until the alcohol ran over the lines and wiped them out and only left a stain mark that eventually faded away. So I put a little effort into making a really permanent way to put the lines on. The lines are printed on clear material and then a sheet of clear material is laminated over the top of the ink. Problem solved for now until I do more tests on an ink that will be alcohol proof.(persistance;))

SmokeBait, over on HammockForums had a question on how well the stove performs under a Snow Peak 600 mug. I answered his question and made a copy to post here to share the info.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeBait http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?p=244749#post244749)
Cool! How does it work with small pots/cups like the Snow Peak 600?

SmokeBait

It works great with small pots/mugs like the Snow Peak 600.

Irvingdog got it on the nose, it's a "Jess Lid" Probably the most important new DIY item to come online for backpackers during the year that it was brought to our attention on Whiteblaze.(2 years ago?)

Link to the Jess Lid at Whiteblaze http://whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=42307&highlight=jess+lid

I have not got to a point of putting this stove up for sale. The stove that some of you have seen on Whiteblaze for sale is the "SuperStove" That one is still available on ebay. If there is enough interest in the "GoTo" stove, I'll make some available.

Watch the video and see how the stove works for small pots/mugs. It also shows the "Jess Lid" a little better.

I can't find my notes on how well the stove does on boil times and length of burn times for different amounts of fuel. I'll have to redo the tests this weekendhttp://www.hammockforums.net/forum/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_Video203.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=Video203.flv)

[zelph]

These are the results from some testing:


Amount of Water-----Min. to Boil----Flame Out--- Amt of Fuel Used in ml


2 cups/473.176ml----------7.75-------------8.5---------------------17

2 cups/473.176ml-----------7.5--------------8.5---------------------17

2 cups/473.176ml----------7.75-------------8.75--------------------17



4 cups/946.352ml-----------13.5------------14.25--------------------30

4 cups/946.352ml-----------13.5-------------15----------------------30

4 cups/946.352ml-----------13.5-------------15----------------------30




8 cups/1892.705ml----------30.25------------31.5-------------------60

8 cups/1892.705ml----------27.5--------------32---------------------60

8 cups/1892.705ml----------29----------------31.5-------------------60



12 cups/2839.058ml----------44.5-------------47.75------------------90

12 cups/2839.058ml----------36.5-------------39----------------------90


16 cups/3785.411ml----------37.5-------------47---------------------120

16 cups/3785.411ml----------43.25-----------43.15------------------120

16 cups/3785.411ml ----------43.25-----------43.15------------------120

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EkI4exjrFw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nANvakx7_64


These are the items in a kit:

WINDSCREEN------------FUEL BOTTLE-----------SIMMER SLEEVE---------STOVE---
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/th_NewWebsite129.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/?action=view&current=NewWebsite129.jpg)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/th_NewWebsite127.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/?action=view&current=NewWebsite127.jpg)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/th_NewWebsite126.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/?action=view&current=NewWebsite126.jpg)http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/th_NewWebsite125.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/?action=view&current=NewWebsite125.jpg)

[beakerman]

odd how average time to boil is virtually identical for 12 and 16 cups. I can understand teh burn out time not being nearly linear but not the boil times unless you went to a different pot at that volume.

[zelph]

odd how average time to boil is virtually identical for 12 and 16 cups. I can understand teh burn out time not being nearly linear but not the boil times unless you went to a different pot at that volume.

Yes, it's interesting how the numbers work out. The difference in the two tests was and insulated cork coaster under the stove when I went over to 16cups test.

The 2 tests at 12 cups and 1 test at 16 cups were conducted with 2 Kmart grease pots. Once the pot came to a boil it was removed from the stove and another one put onto the stove. I then cooled down the 1st pot and filled it with 70 degree tap water and then waited for the 2nd pot to boil. Once it boiled I did the switch over.

I went through the same procedure with the first test of 16 cups of water. That you can see on the chart.

At a certain point I placed a large aluminum baking sheet under the stove to prevent spreading of fuel in case of a spill over. I think it was when I started testing 2 ounces of fuel.

The next test of 16 cups was with a 2 gal size aluminum pot. It did not achieve a boil, only rose to 200 degrees. Pot was too big. Test results were not included on chart.

The next test of 16 cups is included on the chart. A 5 quart stainless steel pot was used for the test. You can see the difference in time to boil compared to the Kmart pot test.

There are videos over at bplite.com(my GoTo stove thread that show the pot switch over method used and photos of the stainless steel pot that I used. I'll make a copy and bring one over here.

an aluminum baking sheet was placed under the stove for safety reasons. That is why I added the cork coaster. Lots of heat being dissipated from the stove, slowing down the boil.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/th_Video23.jpg (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v228/obijiwa/New%20Website/?action=view&current=Video23.flv)

[beakerman]

well being an old school analytical chemist I tend to look at trends and deviations from trends and try to explain them...

you do pretty good work for a guy making stoves. I don't think I've ever seen anyone list times for 12 cups of water. It's cool though that the fuel consumption is linear with volume of water. you also don't have a great deal of burn time after boil with the volumes you added which says you are very good a knowing how much alcohol to add---it seems like you've done this once or twice before maybe.

[Connie]

How did you add the fuel, to get the different volumes listed, to the Venom stove?

[zelph]

How did you add the fuel, to get the different volumes listed, to the Venom stove?

I measured with a medicine cup. Poured it in while stove was cold. My goal was to see how long the fuel would burn. How much water it boiled was secondary information.

The GoTo stove holds 4 ounces of fuel and the Venom Super Stove aka Mangold Mamba holds 1 ounce. Both are made with the aluminum Venom energy drink bottle.