Stove Set Up Feedback

[Sierra2015]

Whatever they (bosses) tell me. I'm currently in industrial maintenance in the security printing industry. Formerly a field engineer and electrician in chemical, brewing, steel, and aerospace industries for roughly 30 years. Earned Business and Accounting degrees after a severe back injury put me out of work in 2007, but couldn't find opportunities in those fields after graduating in 2010. Luck turned better (both my back and job prospects) and I went back and taught apprentice electricians for a while, did a short stint in HR (fascinating but high pressure), and ultimately wound up in my current really great job.

All I heard was blah blah blah aerospace industries blah blah blah.

I can smell 'em!

[4eyedbuzzard]

You'll get a little efficiency definitely. Measurable? Maybe. Probably not. Have you tried using header paint? Black header paint on the bottom and outside of the pot. It's worth trying. Not sure if it'd change the numbers but it's worth a shot. Also aluminum foil on the ground under the stove. Again worth a try but not sure how much it will change the numbers. I'm going to make some of these modifications myself and see what it does for my numbers.

Black paint may help, similar to a wood fire cook pot absorbing heat a little better after it has blackened with use. The Al foil is an interesting idea. Possible? Yeah. Probable? Maybe less so. But it is fun to play around with stoves and fire

[Kc Fiedler]

Hahaha we can use it as a good excuse to burn more stuff!!!! Science.

[4eyedbuzzard]

All I heard was blah blah blah aerospace industries blah blah blah.

I can smell 'em!

You'll probably smell a lot of 'em (us) on the trail. I think a lot of us in tech fields like nothing better than getting away from all the technical stuff and being in the natural world. On that note, it's hard to improve on the efficiency of a wood campfire and an old pot. And it sure is a hell of a lot more "romantic".

[Sierra2015]

You'll probably smell a lot of 'em (us) on the trail. I think a lot of us in tech fields like nothing better than getting away from all the technical stuff and being in the natural world. On that note, it's hard to improve on the efficiency of a wood campfire and an old pot. And it sure is a hell of a lot more "romantic".

... Yay.... Smelly men. :/

Any hope they'll all smell like campfire and not feet?

[4eyedbuzzard]

... Yay.... Smelly men. :/

Any hope they'll all smell like campfire and not feet?

WM sleeping bags, Jeeps, men who don't smell like feet . . . The first two may be doable. But you're asking for a lot with that last one

[Sierra2015]

WM sleeping bags, Jeeps, men who don't smell like feet . . . The first two may be doable. But you're asking for a lot with that last one

Drinks and dinner too.

Haha, I sound like a ditz!

[capehiker]

After trying a few alcohol set-ups, I settled on the Trail Designs Ti-Tri Sidewinder w/ modified Starlyte and a .9L Evernew wide pot. I have it down to where 20ml of fuels gives me enough time to get the water to where I need it. For me, it really has it all: easy to use, pot stand/windscreen in one, and it all fits in my pot.

[grateful 2]

After trying a few alcohol set-ups, I settled on the Trail Designs Ti-Tri Sidewinder w/ modified Starlyte and a .9L Evernew wide pot. I have it down to where 20ml of fuels gives me enough time to get the water to where I need it. For me, it really has it all: easy to use, pot stand/windscreen in one, and it all fits in my pot.

After trying more than a dozen setups, I ended with the exact same setup as my favorite also. However, I find it more efficient if I fill up the starlyte with fuel and only use some of the fuel and cap the rest for the next burn. A full stove seems to burn more efficiently for some reason. About 6 minutes for rolling boil of 16 ounces.

[scrabbler]

Like Kevin said above, you're in the sweating the small stuff category. A $.50 cat food stove will arguably compete with any stove of the day out there. None of them tend to do side by side comparisons for that reason. That said, it's fun to make and experiment with stoves. I do it too. Might as well consider Esbit fuel and stoves while at it - no fuel to leak. Anything other than a JetBoil (or clone) type stove is going to leave you sitting around for a while anyway….

[Shonryu]

I've used just about every stove imaginable from Jetboils, Snowpeak Lite Max, MSR Pocket Rocket, Cat Can, Starlite, and so on. As an UL backpacker I keep finding myself going back to esbit cubes for ease of use, simplicity, and weight savings.

My set up is a snowpeak 700 or 600 and custom TI lid, TI windscreen, and Esbit TI stove.

Snowpeak 700 3.8oz - With Lid
Or
Snowpeak 600 3.1oz - With Lid

Esbit TI stove 0.4oz

TI windscreen 0.5oz

Total weight with 700 4.7oz
Total weight with 600 4.1oz

On a 14g esbit cube I can bring 2 cups of water to a rolling boil and still have enough fuel to get another cup of water warm enough for a hot drink.

On a 4g cube I can get my water warm enough for a warm drink in the morning for an instant cup of coffee.

I usually use x1 4g cube for breakfast and x1 14g cube for dinner. 18g of fuel per day. Or a total of 0.6oz

If I want a hot breakfast and went with a 14g cube it would be enough for oatmeal and enough to warm my instant coffee. Total weight is 0.9oz per day.

4.5oz of fuel is more than enough to cover me for 6 days and I usually still have a few cubes left.

If I remember Snowpeak 110g canisters weight 7.4oz. So I end up cutting almost 3oz and have more burn time. Not to memtion I dont have to worry about carrying an empty canister around with me when I'm done with it.

As for alcohol fuel I hate having to feel like I'm rationing it and it sucks when you spill your fuel lol. With esbit cubes I know one cube will easily get me through a meal.

[Shonryu]

FYI for those of you considering painting the bottom of your pots black to reduce burn times its a myth. I've seen several youtube videos that do boil tests with amd without. There was no difference in boil time.

[Dogwood]

Shonryu, have you ever done a long distance hike with that cook system fueling with Esbit tabs? I'm listening. You have me sold on several worthy considerations. This: 'If I remember Snowpeak 110g canisters weight 7.4oz. So I end up cutting almost 3oz and have more burn time. Not to memtion I dont have to worry about carrying an empty canister around with me when I'm done with it.' I'm thinking about availability of Esbit tabs though. Seems Esbit tabs would overall definitely be harder to locate compared to canisters in the U.S. I could drop some into mailed resupply boxes though. Do you ever back up your Esbit system with any other cooking ways? Of course campfires, but anything else?

[Shonryu]

I've done a lot of long distance backpacking and I usually do mail drops. Esbit cubes can be hard to find but more and more outfitters are starting to carry them. Ive never had an issue with my system failing on me. Its a simple system so there aren't many risks of failure so its another reason why I perfer it. If I had to carry a back up I would probably bring my little alchol stove from QiWiz. Its about half an ounce if I remember. No need to carry a bottle for fuel since HEET can be found just about anywhere. If all else fails use a camp fire. Needless to say even carrying a back up stove its still a lighter option then any canister stove option on the market.

[chall]

I want to make a cat can stove, and was reading Skurka's instructions on it. He mentions that if you're using a .6L mug, like myself (GSI Haulite Minimalist), you might want to consider making a top-burning stove, because the cat can is a side burner and may not receive enough flame. Have any of you had any success with using a .6L mug and a cat can stove?

[MuddyWaters]

I want to make a cat can stove, and was reading Skurka's instructions on it. He mentions that if you're using a .6L mug, like myself (GSI Haulite Minimalist), you might want to consider making a top-burning stove, because the cat can is a side burner and may not receive enough flame. Have any of you had any success with using a .6L mug and a cat can stove?

some people like to make smaller side-burner stoves for small pots. Unless you use a large pot, a cat can stove wastes heat, the flames can totally engulf a small pot, up the sides.

Cat can stoves are fast, but they are not that efficient because of this. They use too much fuel. They also are a pain because they have to heat up and "bloom" before you can put the pot on top, takes about 30 sec. Personally, I think they really suck in every way but speed. but to each their own.

If you dont want to reinvent the wheel yourself, get one of zelphs stoves.

[Odd Man Out]

You could consider a simmer cat (one row of holes) using a pot stand. This system would have a few advantages, but still may be too much stove for your pot. Here is a previous post with my experience on this set up. Also note that you have to consider the pot, stove, stand, and windscreen as a whole system. With my current system, my windscreen barely gets warm. If your windscreen is getting very hot from flames coming up the side, that represents heat that is not getting to your pot (i.e. inefficiency). Go ahead and try it. At 50 cents a pop to make a cat food can stove, its worth experimenting.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...=1#post1849634

[Wilson2016]

If you are planning to use an al, cool your water to 33 degrees before measuring your boil time and while you're at it, do your test in a cooler. There is somebody in your area that works some where with a cooler for you to use.

[Kc Fiedler]

If you are planning to use an al, cool your water to 33 degrees before measuring your boil time and while you're at it, do your test in a cooler. There is somebody in your area that works some where with a cooler for you to use.

Yeah. That's not going to happen.

[Odd Man Out]

If you are planning to use an al, cool your water to 33 degrees before measuring your boil time and while you're at it, do your test in a cooler. There is somebody in your area that works some where with a cooler for you to use.

Finding a "cooler" isn't the problem. Have you noticed a few of us live in Michigan?