Alcohol Stoves.

[sheepdog]

I've been messing around with alcohol stoves. There is something about backpacking stoves that makes me want to own them. All kinds...

Is there any easier stove to make than a supercat? So far they seem real easy to make and work quite well. They also don't need a pot support.

What homemade stoves do you like. How hard are they to make.

Is there a learning curve to get these stoves to function? Some stoves work great on the stove top. On a cold windy day... outside...that is another story.

I have had bad luck with the Vargo stoves.

I have ordered a starlyte from Zelph and a Trangia from a catalog. I can't wait to test them out.

Sheepdog

[oops56]

Go to youtube check some of mine out i dont make to sell but could give you some ideas

Seach RJBURG

[Mags]

Check out http://zenstoves.net/ for all kinds of info on alcohol stoves.

[le loupe]

I just bought the TREK 2 from minibull designs. found it on Ebay for 7$ including shipping. Why make one at that price? unless you really like making stuff...

Its very cool- tested it last night. 44 degrees, no wind to speak of. Fuel was Everclear. Using a stainless bowl it brought two cups of water to boil in 5 1/2 minutes.

I didn't get 12 minutes of burn time advertised, but may not have had it filled to capacity, either. The everclear didn't seem to burn very efficiently, lots of yellow flame. Plan on testing again with Methanol/Heet.

[sheepdog]

Thanks...
I also note that denatured alcohol burns hotter than the yellow heet. I think my wife thinks I'm a little nuts as I show her my newest creations. I even have a tupper ware box with stove making stuff.

[le loupe]

Yellow HEET - bad / Red HEET - good

[RadioFreq]

Yellow HEET - bad / Red HEET - good

I think it's the other way around.

[take-a-knee]

I think it's the other way around.

Yes, you want the yellow bottle (methanol), not the red (isopropyl).

[Skidsteer]

Thanks...
I also note that denatured alcohol burns hotter than the yellow heet. I think my wife thinks I'm a little nuts as I show her my newest creations. I even have a tupper ware box with stove making stuff.

Tupperware box full of stovemaking stuff. That's a good one.

Anybody know where I can get a 1500 sq. ft. Tupperware box?

[sheepdog]

Tupperware box full of stovemaking stuff. That's a good one.

Anybody know where I can get a 1500 sq. ft. Tupperware box?

You mean it gets worse?

[Mzee]

Thanks...
I also note that denatured alcohol burns hotter than the yellow heet. I think my wife thinks I'm a little nuts as I show her my newest creations. I even have a tupper ware box with stove making stuff.

Here's to us nutty stovies: dodging aluminum shrapnel, burning thru the alcohol, inhaling the fumes, boiling countless pints of water in pursuit of perfection, giving our wives (and the guy at the hardware store) one more reason to question our sanity. Three cheers!

[Skidsteer]

You mean it gets worse?

I have to lie to my wife and tell her I'm only going to the shop to look at pornography.

[vonfrick]

Thanks...
I also note that denatured alcohol burns hotter than the yellow heet. I think my wife thinks I'm a little nuts as I show her my newest creations. I even have a tupper ware box with stove making stuff.

hm. define "hotter". does it burn faster? i was just curious (and bored!!) and the relative heats of combustion per mL of methanol vs. ethanol come out so that ethanol only produces about 2/3 the joules of methanol. assuming complete combustion for both.

nerding out.

[sheepdog]

hm. define "hotter". does it burn faster? i was just curious (and bored!!) and the relative heats of combustion per mL of methanol vs. ethanol come out so that ethanol only produces about 2/3 the joules of methanol. assuming complete combustion for both.

nerding out.

Yikes!!
I just know that if I put two tablespoons of yellow heat in my stove, the water comes almost to a boil before it goes out in about 6 minutes.
If I put one Tablespoon and one teaspoon (4 tsp) of denatured alcohol in the supercat. I get a full boil in a little over 4 minutes, and goes out in about 5.
Using two cups of cold tap water.

[Hooch]

The Pepsi-can stove is the easiest to make and requires the fewest tools that I'm aware of. I easily made one the first time with no problem at all. I'm not particularly mechanically inclined, so if I can make one, anyone can do it.

[vonfrick]

Yikes!!
I just know that if I put two tablespoons of yellow heat in my stove, the water comes almost to a boil before it goes out in about 6 minutes.
If I put one Tablespoon and one teaspoon (4 tsp) of denatured alcohol in the supercat. I get a full boil in a little over 4 minutes, and goes out in about 5.
Using two cups of cold tap water.

sounds like i need to do the experiment

yay!

[sheepdog]

sounds like i need to do the experiment

yay!

Be careful. It appears to be a slippery slope. The next thing you know, you are looking for a 1,500 square foot tupperware box.

[Mzee]

Be careful. It appears to be a slippery slope. The next thing you know, you are looking for a 1,500 square foot tupperware box.

Amen to that!

[sheepdog]

Mzee,
Have you ever tried building a supercat stove? $0.51 for the fancy feast. It only takes about 20 minutes to build. And the little stove throws out some btu's. I've built 3 (pepsi, cobra, supercat) different types so far and this one has worked the best.
Sheepdog

[Mzee]

Sheepdog -

I haven't tried a Supercat yet although it keeps hovering on the edge of my radar, mainly because of my love affair with my Heine pot and Skidsteer's amazing ziploc kitchen set up.

I started out with a cat food can stove - one inside the other, holes punched with a church key - my first step on that slippery slope. It didn't seem to work too well, but I was a beginner. I built another catfood can stove - different design. Next came open top Pepsi can stoves, then a poor version of an Ion. None of them were satisfactory. Then my wife sent me to SA (Stovies Anonymous) and I kicked the habit.

I missed a few SA meetings and that notorious pusher known as the internet gave me a shot of minibulldesign.com one day. Next thing you know I'm buying a minibull stove off ebay along with a minibull CD. I got hooked on Heine pots and built a 'sub-Atomic'. I call it a sub-Atomic because I copied Tinny's Atomic stove, but I certainly don't have his skills, so it is a sub-Atomic. I've built several versions of those with different numbers of ports. That's my favorite so far but I don't like the whole priming thing. Along the way I've tried to imitate a few of Zelph's designs: ROF, Starlyte, Fancy Feast with little success. I made a poor man's copy of the Minibull Blackfly #1 just to see how I liked a wick stove. I like the convenience of the wick stove, but my version is hard on wicks. Next I built a poor man's version of a White Box stove just for grins. It doesn't work with Heine pots and I suppose I should build a Supercat just to be fair. I've made a few open top stoves stuffed with tiki torch wicks, household insulation, and fiberglass cloth. They are the fastest boilers I've made though the sub-Atomic is not far behind.

Then one recent starry night, intoxicated on alcohol fumes, I realized that I would probably get frustrated fiddling with an alcohol stove when I'm at 9500 ft, tired, cold, hungry, and dealing with an altitude headache. So, I ordered a Snowpeak Gigapower stove. It hasn't arrived yet, but I'm looking forward to testing it with the Heine pot.

And my wife made me an appointment with Stovies Anonymous for more therapy...

"Hi. My name is Brian and I build alcohol stoves..." >B-D