I've been fiddlin with a pot stand wind screen combo..similar to what you see over on zen stoves under the 'narrow windscreen'.

Basically the Al stand is a narrower dia than the pot (in my case a snow peak 1400 ti). So no pegs...pot is NOT recessed into the stand...it sits on top.

I have 2 rows of hole-punch dia holes on both ends of the stand...it still doesn't seem like enough even though the diagram at zen stoves would have you believe it...

the exhaust smells a bit and i'm not getting a complete burn or a complete boil (2 cups, 1 oz of fuel). I really dont think its the stove.

Just add more holes?

edit: running the stove by itself i'm not really getting super nice blue flames...still a little orange and tall...not sure if that helps? (edit edit: going to try different fuel)

Edited by want2belite on 02/25/2010 08:27:20 MST.

Put your pot on the stove/support with the flame going. What is the distance from the top of the flame to the bottom surface of the pot?

Every combination is different, and you need to find the right distance for your rig. However, a typical distance is 1 inch.
--B.G.--

the zen stove pattern called for 1.5" i think? will double check tonight...

any other ideas?

Is there a difference between Esbit and alcohol with respect to the pot height above the flame?

What fuel are you using and what are you changing to?

What kind of stove? (I'm trying to load the zen page, it's going real slow for some reason.)

Edited by lori999 on 02/25/2010 10:57:35 MST.

top burner...open well, no priming...

fuel...in all honesty i'm not 100% i but i think it was the crappy red heet....going to try the yellow tonight and/or denatured alcohol....

thoughts?

Yes, try either denatured alcohol or yellow Heet.

--B.G.--

Isopropyl has water in it - switching fuel will help a lot. Give the yellow bottle HEET or denatured a try, see what happens.

I just scrolled through the windscreens and pot stands. Still not sure which one - geeze, the options are endless - but if the fuel doesn't fix the problem, try a conventional wire stand and windscreen around the pot. You might be able to get a boil if the heat is more widely distributed across the bottom of the pot.

http://zenstoves.net/PotStands.htm#WindScreen-PotStand

if you go here and look down to step 3...the first section is 'narrow windscreen'

the only difference is that i have more holes than they are showing.

will try other fuel first...

The trouble with this approach is the more you open it up to get good air flow (you need to add both top and bottom holes to increase oxygen flow to the flame) the less wind protection you get. Sort of a win, lose situation.

I recommend you go a little further down the zen page and try the riveted tab approach. That's what I use and it works very well both as a pot support and a wind screen.

By the way, they overkilled on the rivets. You only need two per tab.

Gary, this article might help answer your question.

http://thru-hiker.com/articles/esbit_stove_height.php
.

Thanks much, Frank--that solves the Esbit issue. Anybody able to surmise the distance for alcohol (or a tea candle, or 3 in a triangle, for that matter)? I feel the need to know, gear geek that I am. I've been playing around lately with these combinations, and any help would be great.