View Full Version : Alcohol stove
task master
03-18-2003, 18:44
I am leaving for the AT next week. At this time I use a white gas stove. With all the hoop la about alcohol I would like to try it. The problem is I live in south Florida and can not get the stove. I know that they are semple to make if someone could give me some directions. Thanks:-? :-? :-?
If you meander over to Sgt. Rocks site at http://hikinghq.net/, you'll find plenty of directions for making several different types of alchohol stoves.... good luck.... An alternative is to purchase a Trangia stove... the folks at Mt. Rogers Outfitters in Damascus (do a web search) carry them .....
Task Master,
IF you have time to wait for the post office to deliver one you can email me at
[email protected] and I will mail one out to you.
Sparky!
Or if you want, tell me where you are going to have a mail drop and I will mail it there.
Sparky!
Last year Walasi Y in Neels Gap carried about 3 different alcohol stoves. They also have boxes for shipping extra gear out. So, you might swap out your gas stove there. it's only 30 miles from Springer.
Former Member
03-20-2003, 07:46
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Bandana Man
03-20-2003, 21:04
YANK--rattle, clink, clank. YANK--rattle, clinkety, clank. YANK--clank, clink.
That's the sound of your chain being yanked by Ez-hiker...
Hey Ez, did Hammock-Hanger ever accept your VERY generous offer to help teach the youngsters some of your special knowledge? Still lauging at that one...
EDIT: (Forgot to add a smiley!!!)
:)
Bill Strickland
11-04-2003, 13:31
I realize this is too late for the AT this year, but the winner of the Backpacker mag's alcohol stove plan may be found on royrobinson.homestead.com/
2Questions
11-04-2003, 22:46
Check out http://wings.interfree.it/ for many stove designs.
Blue Wolf
11-05-2003, 01:10
Here is the stove I got. I think it smokes I made one of the homemade ones from a cple of sites and bought one of these for 12.00 it smokes the ones I made off some websites and it only weighs .04 of an ounce only downfall maybe is that it recomends using only denatured alc. but I'm sure any alc. or heet would work maybe just not as good I like it cause you don't need a stand the stove is the stand so all btu's go directly to the pot check it out you be the judge.
www.antigravitygear.com
Matt Pincham
11-05-2003, 07:48
Originally posted by Blue Wolf
Here is the stove I got. I think it smokes I made one of the homemade ones from a cple of sites and bought one of these for 12.00 it smokes the ones I made off some websites and it only weighs .04 of an ounce only downfall maybe is that it recomends using only denatured alc. but I'm sure any alc. or heet would work maybe just not as good I like it cause you don't need a stand the stove is the stand so all btu's go directly to the pot check it out you be the judge.
www.antigravitygear.com
And the longest sentence in the world award goes to...
All this talk about alcohol stoves. Driving me mad but I'm definitely gonna make my own now rather than buy a gas one. There was a link in one of these posts to a guy selling them on Ebay (can't find it now) but they can just as easily be made by yourself (I hope). I'm gonna make one this weekend...I'll let you know how I do.
Matt
karensioux
11-05-2003, 08:40
They are sooo easy to make. About two hours is what it takes me. And they work like a dream.
K
Here is the design for an alcohol stove that takes under 1 minute to build, even if you've been swilling beer for hours: Take a knife and cut off the bottom 2 inches of a beer can. That is your stove. To make it fancy, use a pair of scissors to make a level cut an put a little fiberglass insulation in it. Works about as well as a double wall stove and a lot easier to build.
tlbj6142
11-05-2003, 09:58
Here are the ones on ebay...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3635589048
He has another "package" that does not include the pot/cozy. I think this is Brian (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/member.php?s=&action=getinfo&userid=698) who posts quite often on this board.
Mr. Clean
11-06-2003, 12:00
I made one last Spring and it works great, but I didn't get the use of the insulation. Tried it with the insulation and the stuff just kinda burnt, but it seems to work fine without it. Does that just make it easier to pick up or touch when burning?
deeddawg
11-06-2003, 12:59
Umm... you don't put the cozy on the stove, you put the pot in the cozy after you've brought it to a boil and taken it off the stove.
or if you do it like I do you pour the boiling water from the pot into a zip lock bag with the food to cook in the bag cozy.
Chris said:
To make it fancy, use a pair of scissors to make a level cut an put a little fiberglass insulation in it.
Greg said:
I made one last Spring and it works great, but I didn't get the use of the insulation. Tried it with the insulation and the stuff just kinda burnt, but it seems to work fine without it. Does that just make it easier to pick up or touch when burning?
deedawg said:
Umm... you don't put the cozy on the stove, you put the pot in the cozy after you've brought it to a boil and taken it off the stove.
Unless I'm mistaken, I think the insulation Greg is referring to is the fiberglass in the burner, not the foam cozy. I was wondering the same thing. What does the fiberglass insulation in the burner do? I noticed some designs use it and sometimes even add a piece of window screen over the insulation, while some do neither.
I think the fiberglass insulation helps the alcohol vaporize a little better - mainly an advantage when in cold weather. If using a double walled stove the insulation in between the double walls wicks the fuel into the double wall area so that the majority of the fuel is burned through the jets instead of through the central hole. The central hole is then mainly used for priming the stove. Burning the fuel through the jets is somewhat more efficient since the heat transfer from the jets to the pot is somewhat more efficient IMO.
TI did some tests last fall with various amounts (including none) of insulation in this kind of stove. Without the insulation, the stove performed a little worse (but not much) than a stove with some insulation. You can find the test somewhere in the Gear Reviews section.
Thanks HOI and Chris - when I built my stove, I added some finberglass becaused it seemed to be the thing to do. I tried lighting it separately with a lighter first to see what would happen - it sort of melted, smelled and turned grey. I really questioned the fiberglass usage. Then I realized that there is really no combustion in the alchohol chamber - just pressure - so there's no flame contact with the fiberglass. It's really pretty intriging how alcohol stoves work.
The first couple of times the stove won't work as well. It seems that the fiberglass needs to get a little burnt up before good things start to happen.
deeddawg
11-06-2003, 15:22
Ah, whoops, silly me.
Yes, the fiberglass would tend to wick the alcohol which ought to help in cooler temps. An alternative to the fiberglass is perlite -- downside is that little bits of the perlite can find their way out of the stove.
Lumberjack
11-07-2003, 00:48
in the open designs the fiberglass prevents fuel sloshing and evens the burn out a bit - it normally turns gray but that doesnt hurt it none....stinks the first time tho...