Steve,
Have you tried it on a quart of water before?

Roger,
Any model suggestions in the hypothetical case (convince the wife we need to have three different kinds of stoves) that I do buy a canister stove?

I have boiled a quart when I was experimenting. But I don't remember how much fuel it took. Certainly more than an ounce.

The picture below shows the stove, windscreen, bottom reflector, and measuring cup (tea candle tin).



Since I use one tin to boil 16 oz of water I probably put two tins in for the quart.

The wind screen and reflector are made from an oven liner from Walmart. Scissors easily cut the liner. The holes are made using a modified paper punch also from Walmart.

Steve,

Nice illustration, I think I will give it a try if I have time, I am enjoying making my own gear. Been thinking about posting "the perfect potty trowel" on the MYOG section, but it sounds like most people around here don't take a trowel.

Steve, what can did you use to make your stove? It looks like it has a lip, very nice!

Everybody has found something different that works for them. What I've found works for my wife and I is very simple and light. I use a Pepsi style stove that I made from RedBull cans (smaller burner), a windscreen I made from aluminum flashing that uses 2 tent stakes as a stand, and a Snow Peak Ti 700 mug for the cook pot. The whole works weighs 5.5 ounces and nests inside of the mug (except the stakes).

All of our meals take 1.5-2 cups of water to re-hydrate, so I never need to boil more than that at once. If you need much more, this probably wouldn't work for you (the mug's max is around 23 ounces). We typically do 2 boils per day - morning coffee/tea and dinner. Breakfast and lunch never require cooking. The setup reliably boils 2 cups of cold water with 3/4 of an ounce of alcohol in under 5 minutes.

Doing the math, a week without resupply for us would be 14 boils, or roughly 10.5 ounces of alcohol. Alcohol weighs .85 ounces per ounce, so the total fuel weight for a week with us is about 9 ounces on day 1, and dropping more than 1 ounce per day. Day 1 total kitchen weight is 15.5 ounces (stove, mug, screen, fuel & bottle). Average kitchen weight carried per day is 7 ounces. I don't count the stake weight because they are counted under my shelter.

This has worked well for us for the last 4 or 5 trips.

Eric, my Super Cat is made from a Diced Green Chilies can from Albertsons. I have made Super Cat stoves from cat food containers but the chilies can worked best for me. It also holds more fuel.

Weights for the cook set are below:
stove - .9 oz
wind screen - .6 oz
reflector - .1 oz
tea tin - doesn't measure
1+ quart pot with bike spoke bail - 4 oz
tight inverted lid - 1 oz
------------
total 6.6 oz

Everything (stove stuff, fork, spoon, scrubbing pad, lighter) fits nicely in my circa 1960s aluminum pot with inverted lid.



On top of the pot is my bear bag hanging outfit: nylon stocking rock sack, BPL Bear Bag Hanging Cord, and carabiner that came with my Montane LightSpeed jacket.

The red bag holding everything together is an apple sack.

Also included is a mini muffin tin I built from a beer can. Thought I would try out the infamous Mike Clelland! muffins :)

Edited by pappekak on 05/11/2007 08:56:17 MDT.

>Wish I had some data on that time . . .


My standard meal prep is to boil a quarter of water, and I've never had a problem doing so with my alcohol stoves up to 11,000 ft (haven't tried any higher than that). Here are a few entries from my "stove log". They should give a general idea of alcohol stove performance. All tests were performed at sea level, measured 1 liter of water, aluminum pot (5-6" dia.; Mirro Gease Pot or equivalent), 70* water, with lid, homemade windscreen, outside with light breeze, S-L-X Denatured Alcohol. "Rolling boil" means full rolling boil, not just steam and bubbles. (This is overkill, but it was readily identifiable without a thermometer.) I have more results conducted at 7300' elevation and include the SuperCat, but YMMV anyway so it's best to just do your own tests.

description                 alcohol     rolling boil    flame out
-----------                 -------     ------------    ---------

Can Stove #4  Fosters 3"
5" wire stand               60ml         9:00           15:00

Can Stove #4  Fosters 2" revision 1
5" wire stand               60ml         7:30            9:30
4" wire stand               60ml         7:30           10:00

Can Stove #4  Fosters 2" revision 2
                            60ml         7:00            9:00

Can Stove #2  Pepsi/Guiness
                            60ml         9:00           10:00

Can Stove #5  Pepsi G spec/Pepsi
                            45ml         7:30 almost     9:30
                            60ml         9:30           11:30

Cobra stove #1  Pepsi
ss pot 4" stand             60ml         6:00            8:00

can stove #9    Guiness/Pepsi no-tape burnished
Al pot 3" stand             45ml         9:00           10:30

Edited by Otter on 05/11/2007 11:09:39 MDT.

Thank Doug and Dan for the excellent illustrations and descriptions, very helpful information.
I am curious how many other couple's setups use alcohol stoves and what their typical boiling requirements are.

Cheers!

Hi Nat

> Any model suggestions in the hypothetical case (convince the wife
Yes, definitely! I will assume you want light weight, good control and low carbon monoxide (CO) emissions - and not too expensive as well. Recommendations:
Snow Peak GS100
Snow peak GST100
Vargo Jet-Ti

There are many other small upright canister stoves on the market, but they all have deficiencies compared to these three. The Coleman F1 Ultralight and the Primus Micron Ti 2.5 aren't bad, but emit more CO. The MSR Pocket Rocket has very weak pot supports, while the rest of the ones I have tested emit a lot more CO. Others are heavier.

There will be an article published fairly soon here on the CO emissions of canister stoves, so this is preview data. It may be that your wife will be so pleased with the results of using a canister stove that she will forgive you completely!

Roger,
Thanks for the recommendations, I appreciate the info on the CO emissions especially. Does alcohol have CO emissions too, or is it unique to canisters and white gas?

Nathaniel, I've tried several of Tinny's stoves and like the Atomic best. It requires a separate pot support ( 1.0 oz for the one Tinny supplies), but the flame is focused on the bottom of the pot. More efficient, and I can pick up my pot barehanded since less heat is going up the sides. It will hold a relatively large fill of 3 oz and runs with a steady efficient, not too big flame. I would think it would cook for two.
I made the switch to alcohol last year. I've used other stoves that were simpler to fill and light, were lighter, and didn't need a pot support, but the Atomic is the one I take with me. Good luck!

Since we are sharing photos of stove setups here are some photos of mine. The cup is an aluminum 2-cup flour scoop I bought at a flea market. The stove is made from two Red Bull cans and a screw (it's a pressurized side-burner design). I made probably hundred stove designs before I settled on this simple one. The priming disk, lid, and windscreen are from aluminum foil. I'll confess I made a new set of foil parts for the photo. They were pretty grungy from my last trip.

Total weight = 1.55 oz.

I use a Platy Lil Nipper with a BPL red nozzle fuel cap for the fuel bottle.

Coin,

Thanks for the info, I too have been looking at the atomic stove from Tinny and it looks really nice, and of course well made. I went ahead and ordered a Caldera cone system to try instead though as it seemed to be well recommended. I don't understand why there haven't been more reviews of Tinny's stoves on BPL, it looks like he has many excellent ones to choose from. I will post a review once I have enough time with the cone system.

Most people make there own I guess. James has an interesting setup.

Tinny makes really great stoves. I have a few I purchased just to get ideas and they are VERY well made. The one thing about them that is special (to me) is the way they are crimped/rolled to seal the cans together. Really well done. I mean you can get ALMOST as good a product making them at home but at the price he is selling them at the quality is for sure there. Also, some of his designs are really innovative. I have played with the NION and it is an impressive stove. The NION 2 is even more promising but I have not tried it.