Alcohol Stove ?'s

[firefly]

OK guys..I love my Snowpeak Giga stove but there are too many of you out there singing the praises of Alcohol. So I took the plunge and ordered the antigravity stove with the cozies and the cookset. I got that stove because you do not need a potstand-you can stick the pot on top. I have been playing with it at home. At first I could not keep it lit. Then I read the directions and discovered you have to let it warm up first (duh) Then I discovered less is better-you can actually get a faster boil with less alcohol in there. The trick is finding the magic combination of water/wind/tempature/fuel. I am having so much fun. Now I think I understand why so many of you use alcohol. Cooking with my Snowpeak cannister stove is a-point and click-fast affair. Cooking with Alcohol is a art. So I am now solicting Alcohol Stove Tips because I am hooked.

[icemanat95]

The biggest advantage of the Alcohol stoves is weight and cost. They generally cost little to nothing and they weigh only an couple ounces. FOr the super weight conscious this is a major advantage and performance issues are put aside. An Alcohol stove would not be my choice if I needed to melt and boil snow for water, but as a three season stove for boiling small amounts of water for cooking, I like mine.

[chris]

Iceman hit most of the advantages of an alcohol stove right on the nose, although there was one that he left out. On longer trips, where you'll need to resupply your fuel, it is usually pretty easy to find something like HEET or other methyl (or isopropyl) alcohol products, whereas cannisters can be harder to find. I understand that this is not the case on the AT and that cannisters are fairly common. But, on something like the PCT, there are about 6 places near the trail where you can get cannisters, and three of those are in the first 450 miles. But, almost every town has a gas station with HEET.

[2Ply]

Does anyone else have trouble getting isopropyl to ignite? I have been using denatured alcohol and love the heat output and ease of lighting, but when I try the isopropyl I always have to add some denatured to it so it will burn. Am I doing something wrong?

[chris]

If you use rubbing alcohol, it might only be 70% isopropyl and the rest water. I could be incorrect here, but I believe that methyl (HEET) has the fewest BTUs, followed by ethyl (denatured), and then isopropyl. Everyone's favorite soldier wrote something about this on some board at sometime in the past. Isopropyl will burn with a sooty flame, leaving a quasi-greasy film on your pot. Occasionally you'll find something called IsoHEET, which is like HEET but with a lot of isopropyl in it. Sometimes generic gasline antifreeze (like you find at Kmart) will throw off soot, indicating the presence of isopropyl, despite listing only methyl as the ingredient.

[Rain Man]

The biggest advantage of the Alcohol stoves is weight and cost. They generally cost little to nothing and they weigh only an couple ounces.

I think my Antigravity Gear stove weighs in at a whopping 4/10ths of an ounce.

Rain Man

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[firefly]

You do save alot of weight with this one-I love the windscreen that comes with it. I was going to use a plastic soda bottle for my fuel container but I read in another post that someone uses a plastic flask using the jigger for their measuring cup. I found one of these-it weighs 1.5 oz versus 1 oz for the soda bottle. Soon I think I will be able to "eyeball" it and I might switch to a platy little nipper bottle with the pop-top.

[SGT Rock]

Then I read the directions and discovered you have to let it warm up first (duh) Then I discovered less is better-you can actually get a faster boil with less alcohol in there. The trick is finding the magic combination of water/wind/tempature/fuel. I am having so much fun. Now I think I understand why so many of you use alcohol.

Read my site. I have been playing with this. My experience with a similar design stove is 18ml for one pint of water at about 60 degrees.

[bearbag hanger]

Just be sure you don't use the same type of container for your alcohol as you do your water. I know of one otherwise intellegent and highly respected backpacking person who just put some colored tape over one of her nalgene bottles to tell it from the water bottle. After a long day of hiking, going up and down PUDs, etc., tired and exhauseted, she managed to "boil" a quart or so of alcohol and pretty much ruined her whole dinner.

[Lilred]

Just be sure you don't use the same type of container for your alcohol as you do your water. I know of one otherwise intellegent and highly respected backpacking person who just put some colored tape over one of her nalgene bottles to tell it from the water bottle. After a long day of hiking, going up and down PUDs, etc., tired and exhauseted, she managed to "boil" a quart or so of alcohol and pretty much ruined her whole dinner.

I wrap my duct tape around my fuel bottle. Even in the dark, I can tell what I'm holding.

[lowthesd]

I currently own the Snow Peak Giga Power Titanium, The MSR pocket Rocket and the MSR whisperlite International 600. I used the pocket rocket once and now it is dusty... once I bought the giga power ti. Enough of that now, I was thinking of taking the Whisperlite for my thru hike, however the weight and complexity (clogging/ repair kits etc...) I am really tending to lean towards getting an alcohol stove. I would like to know, ONLY stove, as I have baclites and titanium pots, what are peoples opinions of which is the best alcohol stove to buy. Going South starting mid july 2004.

[firefly]

If you want a storebought stove I vote for the antigravity. I have used the trangia and have also tried the Etowah alcohol stove out but they are heavier and also require a pot stand. BUT I believe the only fuel tinman says to burn in it is denatured alcohol. I do not know about using other fuels in it.

[slabfoot]

just about any pepsi can stove rocks. you can buy em, youcan build em in about 10 minutes. I used mine down to 10 deg. F on a breezy day and got my meal just the way I like it. I tried to build just about every homemade alchohal stove design available and I keep coming back to my pepsi stove.

[jlb2012]

Currently I am using probably the simplest alcohol stove to make - the aluminum cup from a tea light (aka tea candle) with two circles of fiberglass pipe insulation stuffing to bring the fiberglass up to the level of the top lip fo the tea candle tin. For pot support I use a cylinder of 1/2 inch hardware cloth - 3 squares high by 14 squares around. Total weight for the burner plus pot support is 0.3 ounces. Add a bottom reflector/table protector from aluminum foil, a windscreen from flashing or soda cans and away you go. Fill the cup all the way up and it is just right for boiling 2 cups of water.

[Youngblood]

Like HOI, I use the aluminum cups from tea light candles as burners except I don't use fiberglass or any type of wick. I have been pleased with the stove but I feel that it is real important to use a ground reflector/preheat pan and a full windscreen to get acceptable performance. Without the wick, I can blow-out the burner(s) when I am done and pour any unused alcohol back into my fuel bottle.

Youngblood

[lowthesd]

I bought the anti-gravity stove and MSR backlite cozy... My goodness is it light!!!!!!!! I don;t know why everyone isn't using this system, incredible. I manage multi million dollar aerospace engineering projects for the Navy, USMC and USAF and I am impressed with this system. Tin Man has excellent service and I would recommend anti-gravity THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DeBare]

and I thought I was the only one to think of using a aluminum cup from tea light candles for a stove

[AT2004]

I just did some experiments and also talked to a few chemists. The pepsi can stove (and just about any alcohol stove) is heavier than most canisters. How? Fuel. One ounce of fuel for the pepsi can stove (alcohol) contains about 50% less energy than one ounce of canister fuel (butane / propane mix). With this in mind, it takes twice as much fuel to output the same amount of heat (assuming the same efficiency). An 8oz canister of fuel weighs 13oz (can and fuel full). The equivalent amount of alcohol would be 16oz. Now:

Pepsi can stove
Stove (0.25oz) + Fuel (16oz) + canister for fuel (at least 1oz) + windscreen (0.5oz minimum) + Pot stand (0.5 minimum) = 18.25oz minimum

Canister Stove (Specifically Gigapower Auto)
Stove (3.75oz) + Fuel (13oz) + windscreen (0.5oz minimum) = 17.25oz

The numbers for the container, windscreen, and pot stand are estimates of course as people make their own. But, in general the pepsi can stove with fuel is heavier. Weird huh? I found this out by doing a head-on test between the pepsi can stove and the Gigapower Auto. The gigapower used 0.25oz of fuel to boil 2 cups of tap water (in about 3:00 mins too) and the pepsi can stove used about 0.5oz of fuel for the same test (taking about 5:00 mins).

Of course, the pepsi can stove's fuel is much more available, but is also more prone to spills. Also, it's pretty cool to be able to say you built your stove. One last comment, the fuel for the canister is about $5 - $6 for 8oz. The fuel for the pepsi can stove is about $1 for about 8oz. Even though you have to buy more fuel, the pepsi can is still cheaper (especially if you take into consideration the cost of the stove).

Just my 2 cents.

[Lilred]

[QUOTE=AT2004]I just did some experiments and also talked to a few chemists. The pepsi can stove (and just about any alcohol stove) is heavier than most canisters. How? Fuel. One ounce of fuel for the pepsi can stove (alcohol) contains about 50% less energy than one ounce of canister fuel (butane / propane mix).

That's great in theory, but when you buy fuel with a canister stove you have to buy the whole canister. I can last 5 days with 10oz. of fuel with my pepsi can stove, so my weight would then be less. My pot stand also weighs less than my stove, and my windscreen is aluminum foil, also less than my stove.

stove - 0.25oz.
fuel - 11oz. (with container)
pot stand - 0.25oz.
windscreen - 0.25oz.

total - 11.75oz. And if I resupply more often, my weight can go down even further. Not an option with a canister stove.

[LWOP]

Some other advantages of the alcohol stove are being overlooked. You can carry only the fuel you anticipate needing. When the fuel is depleted you are carrying a container which weighs maybe an ounce. With an empty canister you are carrying more. And if you are not sure you can make it to the next resupply do you throw out the half empty canister or do you wind up carrying two? Cheap, easy to resupply, clean, no maintainence; alcohol is clearly the way (weigh) for me.
By the way, I use the Trangia. It is heavier than a pepsi stove but it is almost indestructable. And it nests perfectly in my mess kit.
Lwop