Alcohol Stove Fiberglass

[reh1966]

I have reviewed several of the stove designs and have a quick question. When discussing fiberglass-is it OK to use the fiberglass clothe like one would use when doing fiberglass repair? It appears to me that most often the pictures look like people are using the pink house insulation fiberglass. I have plenty of the cloth and was just curious to know if it would work as well. Thanks.

Rex

[zelph]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EGAWICK020.jpg
Did a little tinkering with making a burner using a tea candle holder. These pictures show that adding a small wick around the inside of the container and raising it approx. ½ inch above the rim makes a big difference in the amount flame produced. Fuel used was denatured alcohol. I used an empty candle holder as a lid to cover the wick, worked super, small, compact,microlite burner for gram counters.
The wick is made of fiberglass cloth from the automotive supply store.


I.ll add another photo later showing flame difference with and without wick

[dla]

I have reviewed several of the stove designs and have a quick question. When discussing fiberglass-is it OK to use the fiberglass clothe like one would use when doing fiberglass repair? It appears to me that most often the pictures look like people are using the pink house insulation fiberglass. I have plenty of the cloth and was just curious to know if it would work as well. Thanks.

Rex

Fiberglass is used to control the rate of fuel vaporization. The pink stuff works fine but over time will get "crusty" from the heat. Usually that is when it is time to build another stove. Glass cloth should work for a wick as well but it won't hold up any better to the heat, spills, etc.

If you are building a stove, like the original cat stove, the pink stuff is usually the easiest to find.

[Spock]

Can you use fiberglass repair cloth? Yep. Be advised that the non-woven mats sometimes have some resin on them to keep them together. The flat woven cloth does not. Don't breath the burning resin.

[zelph]

Here is both photos showing what difference the fiberglass makes in flame production.

Fiberglass type is for automotive and boat repair.

It won't get crusty like the pink stuff. Holds fuel much better than the pink.

Use enough to absorb all the fuel and you got yourself a much safer burner. Tip it over and no fuel escapes. Try that with most others and see what happens.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EGAWICK019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...EGAWICK020.jpg

[Tinkergnome]

i'm new to this site and someone may have already touched on this option but i will give it any ways.
An idea from my other hobbie (firebreathing). We normaly use Kevlar for our wicking as it burns at a much higher temp then most liquid fuels can reach.
http://www.luxotica.com/shop/detail.cfm?id=17

and just a bit extra for those who accedently find out that there alchohol stove is lit
http://www.luxotica.com/shop/detail.cfm?id=31

[zelph]

I've used the kevlar sleeves as wick material.

After 4-5 burns of 1 ounce fuel(denatured alcohol) the first layer became charred and crumbled to a dust like substance. The damaging affect comes when the most of the fuel has been spent and is burning hot against the wick. The fibers actually glow red hot in places.

The sleeves make nice Hiny pot cozys. Over on HHQ site I started a thread in the homemade gear section showing the pot cozy. Sorry I don't have the link to it.

I would guess the firedancers extinguish their "torches on a string"(what is the proper name?) long before they get to the low fuel point that I described above.

Kevlar is a unique plastic that is high heat resistant but a direct flame will melt it in short order.

[Skidsteer]

Kevlar pot cozy.

[sum41punk91]

Hey rex ive found the best wicking material is the stuff in oil lamps, the flat woven stuff you can find em around the candle section at walmart however the stuff zelph already told you about is cheaper and efficient

[Tinkergnome]

I would guess the firedancers extinguish their "torches on a string"(what is the proper name?) long before they get to the low fuel point that I described above.

Poi, and yes we do normaly extinguish them (normaly with a fireblanket or wet towl) when firebreathing (AKA spitting flamable liquids directly onto an hand held torch) i'm constantly "refueling" the torch head and rarely get to the point where my wick runs dry. I guess to make it practical for stove use it would need to be smothered before/as it his the low fuel point...


ehh may or may not be practical... but it is fun to play w/

[zelph]

Poi----sounds fishy to me

Good information Tinkergnome, what kind off fuels do you spit at your torch? Do you have to coat the inside of your mouth with something to be able to do that?

Did you singe your eyebrows when you first starting the art of firebreathing?

Do you do both dance and breath/spit fire?

Thanks in advance for sharing the info.

[rpettit]

I use a pepsi can stove. I use AAA steel wool as a wicking material. Since it is captured inside the stove walls I can tell you what it looks like, though some of the strands that stick out into center are still there. Corrosion might be an issue if you leave water in it or store it in an extremely humid enviroment.

[zelph]

Did this test today to clarify in my mind the capillary action of three different wick materials that have recently been mentioned as a wicking material. Material that does'nt get consumed when used as a wick. Steel wool will burn when lit and enough oxygen supplied, but I included it for my benefit to see if it has any cappilary/wicking ability.

1. Fiberglass cloth, used for automotive repair.

2. Pink, home insulation, type used in the Ion and Cat stoves

3. 0000 (very fine) steel wool

The photo shows the fiberglass cloth wick on the left, the pink stuff in the middle and the steel wool on the right.

I first filled the aluminum containers with test material to equal volume/height.

I then removed the material and added 20ml of denatured alcohol to the containers. Volume wise it was about half filled.

I then returned the material to the containers pushing it into the fuel in order to observe the ability to wick it up.

After waiting one min. I tried to light the three materials. The fiberglass cloth lit but not the others. I then snuffed out the one that lit.

After waiting 5 min. I tried it again, same results. I did this three times, the pink insulation and the steel wool did not have the ability to wick up the fuel.

In conclusion I speculate that the pink insulation acts as a buffer/splash preventer in the stoves that use it. Not as a wicking material. When fuel is poured into the burners it provides fuel on the surface which readilly burns and acts as a preheat to the aluminum containers that they are in. The burners are shallow and vapors are close to the surface. They would ignite without the aide of the insulation.

These are my findings in todays test.

Those of you that are interested, conduct this test for youselves and then report back to verify my conclusion and results.

These photos show the things that I have mentioned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...icktest001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...icktest002.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...icktest003.jpg

[Stickbow]

I've not tested empirically as you have, but when I've made various can stoves, using or not using pink insulation has seemed to have minimal impact. I finally found my roll of 'glass tape (from various boatbuilding projects) and am going to play with these in the stove styles people say you should use pink insulation in to see if it helps.

Thanks for the formal testing. It's helpful.

[Tinkergnome]

Poi----sounds fishy to me

Good information Tinkergnome, what kind off fuels do you spit at your torch? Do you have to coat the inside of your mouth with something to be able to do that?

Did you singe your eyebrows when you first starting the art of firebreathing?

Do you do both dance and breath/spit fire?

Thanks in advance for sharing the info.

I do both, although i breath more then dance b/c i normally end up catching myself on fire when i try to swing a poi. yes i did loose my eyebrows the first time i did it... and my goatee, and shirt, and most of my chest hair (BTW DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!!!)

as far as coating my mouth i will drink a glass of milk beforehand and eat a couple slices of bread. and beer (a lot of beer) afterwards to get rid of the taste.

Mostly i use lamp oil (PS don't try this at home b/c most lamp oils are toxic!) they do make some oils that are non-toxic though and i use them when available. Some use bio-deisel, I personally can not vouch for how safe this is.... ...but it looks cool. For the torch itself i like to use a blend of white gas and lamp oil (50/50 split) gives off a good amount of light is stable and will burn a pretty long time. once while camping at an event i used a torch to cook with.. worked fairly well, once I figured out how to make the pot stand.