who's familar with a soda can stove?

[Hannie]

So I was thinking I would make my own soda can stove(Probably a inch and a half tall). I was wondering, how long the fuel last. I am planning on freezer bag cooking. Thanks!

[Slo-go'en]

There are too many variables to tell before hand. How many burner holes and how big they are, how well you made the stove and so on. You'll just have to build one and test it. One of the fun things to do is make a bunch of these with different configurations and compare them to each other. Use a "standard" fuel amount , say 1 oz, for all the tests. You can time how long that amount of fuel burns for and how long it takes to boil a cup of water. Keep notes!

[Wise Old Owl]

Hannie - what would you like to do? there is a lot to making a stove or if you puchase one - which fuel would you use.... how about a better post with a little more detail. keep in mind the price of some of the tools might exceed the price of buying one

[Hannie]

Wise old owl.- I just wanted to see peoples take on soda can stoves and their ideas. Thanks!

[Hannie]

wise 0ld owl-oh. and watch youtube for the stove making. Pretty easy, if you ask me.

[Doc Mike]

Just make a supercat. easier and more efficient.

[ocourse]

Yep it's hard to beat the Super Cat, especially for a first stove. It requires very few tools and is easy. Look here http://jwbasecamp.com/Articles/SuperCat/index.html

[Hannie]

just looked at the supercat. It seems to me that it would burn more fuel then the soda cans. I will make a variety and check it out. I just seen this guys ultralite cooking kit on youtube. He is my hero! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-oe2-VTCE .

[kayak karl]

make a bunch. they are cheap. them test them out. http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm they are fun to make or you can take the lazy way out and buy one on e-bay

[Rain Man]

Just make a supercat. easier and more efficient.

Yep it's hard to beat the Super Cat, especially for a first stove.

Agreed!

just looked at the supercat. It seems to me that it would burn more fuel then the soda cans. I will make a variety and check it out.

That's what I did; made a bunch. I don't agree that the super cat uses more fuel, but your mileage may vary.

I made a pressurized one (actually several) from 9.5 oz Coke cans. It fits inside my super cat perfectly. So, I usually take both in the same space.

RainMan

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[lissersmith]

I bought a sprite can stove 8 years ago and it is still perfect. Will do you well.

[Spokes]

No matter which alchy stove you make, measure your fuel out every time you use it. A plastic 35mm film cannister holds 1 oz. and fits nicely inside your cook set. You'll save so much fuel in the long run.

[Rain Man]

No matter which alchy stove you make, measure your fuel out every time you use it. A plastic 35mm film cannister holds 1 oz. and fits nicely inside your cook set. You'll save so much fuel in the long run.

Hey Spokes, what's with all the soft-porn avatars?

RainMan

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[atraildreamer]

Oh, No! Another potential stovie addict about to enter on the road to eventual madness!
Feel free to join the following:

ASA (Alcohol Stove Anonymous) Support Group

These are the twelve steps to recovery for soda-can stove addicts:

1.We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-fueled soda-can stoves; that our lives had become unmanageable.

2.Came to believe that a soda-can stove design better than ours could restore us to sanity.

3.Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of lightweight backpackers, as we understood them.

4.Made a searching and fearless inventory of our excessive number of soda-can stove designs.

5.Admitted to the forum moderator, to ourselves, and to another human being , (our long-suffering spouses, etc.), the exact nature of our wrongs. (eg: our compulsive desire to collect, cut, drill, glue, tape and ignite, and possibly melt, beverage containers of all possible varieties.)

6.Were entirely ready to have the forum moderator remove all these defects of character. (See #5, above.)

7.Humbly asked the forum moderator to remove our shortcomings, our obsessiveness, along with mounds of scrap aluminum, empty alcohol containers, etc.

8.Made a list of all persons we had scared half-to-death, (eg: spouses, friends, the cat, etc.), when our stove experiments went awry (blew up) and became willing to make amends to them all.

9.Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, after putting the fire(s) out.

10.Continued to take personal inventory (46 stoves…47…48…49…).

11.Sought through on-line forums and websites to improve our stove-building abilities, as we understand them, praying only for knowledge of the understanding so as to construct the “holy grail” of soda-can stoves—the completely controllable, slow-simmer, soda-can stove!

12.Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other soda-can stove addicts, …WHO ARE WE KIDDING? We will still be making these stoves until they shovel the dirt over us!

[MuddyWaters]

You can spend a lot of time and money making and testing alcohol stoves. I burnt thru several quarts of alcohol, 0.75 oz at a time.

In the end, you have to realize that an alcohol stove is part of a system matched to work well together. You need a stand, a stove, a windscreen, and a pot.

Supercats are fast, but not best fuel efficient, and work best with larger pots with more bottom area. Put a small pot on it and you will see why, the flame is only around the edges of the supercat, not the center which is covered. When that covered part is too much of your pots area, supercat not so good.

all kinds of issues from priming, to fuel recovery to consider.

I settled on a tealight for my Snowpeak 600. Works best for me. 9 min doesnt bother me, its stingy with fuel, and doesnt get any simpler.

[Hikes in Rain]

Hey Spokes, what's with all the soft-porn avatars?

RainMan

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Don't ask!! He may stop!

[Chrisj]

I have been making Pepsi can stoves for at least the last 4 or 5 years, and used them for just as long. They are fun to make and great to use on hikes. I just use mine to boil water, which works great. It will boil about half a liter in 4-5 min.
I still use the original plans for the Pepsi can stove. I just tried to find them online and couldn't.

[Tinker]

just looked at the supercat. It seems to me that it would burn more fuel then the soda cans. I will make a variety and check it out. I just seen this guys ultralite cooking kit on youtube. He is my hero! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH-oe2-VTCE .

It burns less fuel. I made about every soda can stove on the market between 12 and 8 years ago. All are heavier than the Supercat, most require priming or a wick, a separate pot stand, and a taller windscreen which often will not fit in the cookset.

It's a good idea to make a reflector to go under the stove which is about the diameter of your pot. It will increase the stove's efficiency and will prevent scorching tables and shelter floors. Side burner stoves are notorious for that.

As far as being more efficient - the hotter a stove gets, the more the pressure builds and the faster the fuel is pumped out. With smaller jets, the fuel is often propelled beyond the bottom of the pot and does a better job of heating up the windscreen. Larger fuel ports minimize the pressure and therefore, the waste. The only thing you lose is the appearance of efficiency (it doesn't look like your stove at home or a canister stove flame pattern).

A few of my early alcohol stoves: http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1...59664855LIKyMw