The ABSOLUTE BEST alcohol stove, GUARANTEED!!

[Backwoods Bum]

Originally Posted by winters921

lol ok i tryed tho right i will make another one with very small holes. i am always worried this thing is going to explode in my face.

If you screw the top on tight, it won't blow apart.

I did have that problem with pop-can stoves. It was very frustrating trying to make one that worked good and didn't plow apart on me.

I got the idea for this when I took my nephew out pellet plinking last spring.

[fortknox0]

Originally Posted by eyeofthetiger

What do you carry your anit-freeze/fuel in? I could just see me dropping my bag and HEET getting all over the contents!

Trangia do a fuel holder bottle with a leak proof sprung closer. Rather then screwing down it screws a springy valve shut. When you want to poor you unscrew the top and push the spring valve down. Ill try and make a quick demo vid and post it up....

[winters921]

Originally Posted by Backwoods Bum

If you screw the top on tight, it won't blow apart.

I did have that problem with pop-can stoves. It was very frustrating trying to make one that worked good and didn't plow apart on me.

I got the idea for this when I took my nephew out pellet plinking last spring.

works very well pop cans always explode well not really expolde but they bust part.

heres the one with small holes. the primer wasn't all the way out yet

[IMG]http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh164/wint...

[Tango2Echo]

Built another one tonight. This one I put the holes farther out towards the edge of the can. It seems to work alittle better. I just filled the tin with about a tablespoon of alcohol and then splashed about a 1/2 teaspoon on the closed can. Lit it with a strike of a LMF flint&steel. Works great for smaller cups/pots. Found a larger tin of the same kind in China-mart tonight (also hold pellets). Using a keg-can (beer) for a pot I was able to boil water pretty quickly. Didn't time it, but I would say about 5-6 minutes. Will let you know how it goes with the larger tin once I empty it. Thanks again to the OP.

T2E

[Tango2Echo]

Looks like the holes on mine are even smaller. I used the smallest drill bit I had for my dremel tool. The flames on mine burn blue with very little white/yellow. Thoughts?

[Backwoods Bum]

Originally Posted by Tango2Echo

Looks like the holes on mine are even smaller. I used the smallest drill bit I had for my dremel tool. The flames on mine burn blue with very little white/yellow. Thoughts?

Ya, blue flames is what you want (like a gas stove in the kitchen). They should make a low hissing sound. In the 3rd pic of my opening post the stove is running at full-blast. That's enough to boil water quickly.

I think that winter921 is making a pig-roaster, but that's his thing. LOL

I just shelled out some crazy money for a titanium kettle from MSR. Using that I got 2 cup of cold water to boil fully in just 6 minutes flat.

(I had to lie to my live-in girlfriend about how much the kettle cost - I'm wipped, I know)

[winters921]

lol i think it bc my alcohol is so old this can i have it probly 20 years or older i have to get some heat and try that.

[midlifer]

This is an awesome idea. Thanks for sharing!

[lynchfort]

Great post. I haven't been thinking of an alcohol stove cause I didn't want to carry the fuel, but I have to try this. Too bad I just got back from Wallyworld an hour ago. Wish I read this first.

[WolfBrother]

I have several trangia stoves from surplus Swedish mess kits.

If I'm car camping, I use denatured Ethyl alchohol from the paint section of Home Depot/Lowes whatever. I keep them in their original container within another protective box. Leakage is contained to that box.

For the ones I carry in a pack (where leakage could contaminate stuff) I use Everclear. Granted it's a bit more expensive but if it leaks and gets on/in my food, I can still eat the food.

Methy alcohol and denatured ethyl alcohol can not be made non-poisonous.

[talleymonster]

I have a gallon of tiki torch fuel in my garage....would that work as a fuel for one of these things? Any reason I shouldn't use it?

[scosmo451]

Missed this thread somehow. Seems to be a very good idea. I'll be trying it out.

[Backwoods Bum]

Originally Posted by talleymonster

I have a gallon of tiki torch fuel in my garage....would that work as a fuel for one of these things? Any reason I shouldn't use it?

You could "try" just about anything, I guess. Just stand back when you light it! Methyl Alcohol is my preference because it's cheap, burns without any smell at all, leaves no residue on pots, and lights very, very easily.

The Bum

[Ithaca1937]

Have you tried running it on 91% isopropyl alcohol, to see how well it does?

[DocYoung]

Originally Posted by winters921

lol ok i tryed tho right i will make another one with very small holes. i am always worried this thing is going to explode in my face.


editttt
k made another i will try it now

LOL. Dont play with them in the kitchen. I had a hard lesson learned from that one.

I was trying to make one, it was flaming nicely on the stove ... when ...


POOM it exploded and sent flaming alcohol everywhere. It was on the counters, tile floor, roof, ... freakin ... everywhere! I was running around trying to put out the fires and remove burn spots before my wife got home.

To this day she still dont know .. so keep quite. LOL (that and I've acquired this irrational fear of alcohol stove *twitches* )

[Backwoods Bum]

Originally Posted by Ithaca1937

Have you tried running it on 91% isopropyl alcohol, to see how well it does?

No. But I've read that iso alcohol has some harmful fumes when burned. It's also more expensive than methyl, so why bother?

[monet108]

Originally Posted by Ithaca1937

Have you tried running it on 91% isopropyl alcohol, to see how well it does?

From my experience with soda can stoves iso alcohol will not work. You may get it to burn, sometimes, but not very consistent. But and I think this is the most important part I was never able to get it to get a blue flame.

I really like this idea of yours bum. I think my only real complaint about my soda can stoves has been the lack of control with cooking times and temp.

I have a clarification question. Are you injecting more fuel from the syringe while it burns? How do you prevent the syringe catching fire? Or is there no danger of that?

[WolfBrother]

Originally Posted by talleymonster

I have a gallon of tiki torch fuel in my garage....would that work as a fuel for one of these things? Any reason I shouldn't use it?

I believe TIKI fuels are kerosene (petro-chemical) based not alcohol based.

You could try it but I suspect you would not get good results.

If you do try it - please post your results.

[WolfBrother]

Trangia Westwind Alcohol Stove Evaluation.

Short version:

IMNTBHO - This is a VERY GOOD BOB burner/stove. Using either Ever Clear grain alcohol or Denatured Alcohol from a paint store,
it raised a quart of water from 69 degrees F to a rolling boil in 15 minutes.
That's a 143 degree F rise in temp over 15 minutes. That's a 9.5+ degree per minute rise.

Packs light, small, and if using Ever Clear - you can drink the fuel.

Long Version:

Evaluation consists of Trangia alcohol burner and Westwind "stove".

Trangia burner is about 3 inches in diameter and is about 3 inches tall.

The "stove" is three flat shaped pieces of thin aluminum that hooks together to form a triangle that has a place to put the burner and put a pot on top of.

Evaluated

http://hitthetrailnewnanga.stores.yahoo.net/westwind.html

May be a better "stove" - uses the same burner
http://hitthetrailnewnanga.stores.yahoo.net/minitrangia.html

Military surplus contains Trangia burner with Swedish military messkit
http://www.omahas.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=363

Testing conditions:

1 1/2 quart covered pot, slightly wider than tall - at room temperature.

1 quart of water - temperature measured after sitting in the pot for 5 minutes. Pot was covered during heating tests except for 30 seconds every 5 minutes for temperature check.

3 oz of alcohol in trangia burner positioned in Westwind stove.

Time check - to fully vaporized flame and then

Every 5 minutes until 30 minutes or rolling boil

Tested fuel

70 % Isopropyl Alcohol - purchased at a local Walgreens

70 % Ethyl Alcohol (ETOH) - purchased at a local Walgreens

Denatured Alcohol - purchased at a local Paint store

190 proof Ever Clear - purchased at a local liquor store

Test Results

Time to heat stove before a fully vaporized flame appeared varied from 10+ minutes with the isopropyl alcohol to 8 minutes with the ETOH to less than a minute with either one of the other two.

Isopropyl Alcohol - 30 minutes - 69 degrees to 197 degrees. Significantly noticeable fume smell
ETOH - 30 minutes - 70 degrees to rolling boil. 25 minutes to 197 degrees. Significantly noticeable fume smell

Denatured Alcohol - Ever Clear - identical results. No real noticeable fume smell
5 minutes from 70 degrees to 100 degrees.
10 minutes went from 100 degrees to 150 degrees
15 minutes rolling boil.

The Westwind triangle is not a good wind break. To effectively heat/cook with the burner, you'll need to provide a wind break or a lot of heat will blow away.

Why do I think it should be in the BOB?

1. In wet or cold or wet/cold weather the ability to have a warm to hot cup of water/tea/soup/whatever could be the difference between just being miserable and dead. Plus the occasional hot drink/food is a significant moral booster.

2. It packs small and light.

3. Most any alcohol will work in it - including whiskey/vodka/rum. It takes longer to get a fully vaporized flame but as it's getting going, you can too with the same alcohol.

[Backwoods Bum]

Originally Posted by monet108

From my experience with soda can stoves iso alcohol will not work. You may get it to burn, sometimes, but not very consistent. But and I think this is the most important part I was never able to get it to get a blue flame.

I really like this idea of yours bum. I think my only real complaint about my soda can stoves has been the lack of control with cooking times and temp.

I have a clarification question. Are you injecting more fuel from the syringe while it burns? How do you prevent the syringe catching fire? Or is there no danger of that?

First off, I want to say that it is very important that you make the holes very small if you want the efficiency and blue flames that I got with mine. I made another one for a friend and at first I made the holes too big, but only slightly larger than the holes in my first one. The thing worked but it burned the fuel up too quickly and the flames were too large. So start with pin size holes, then enlarge (since you can't make them smaller).

Secondly, no, I don't try to fill it with a plastic baby medicine needle while it's burning. But if you want to keep cooking, you can add more fuel and relight it without waiting for it to cool down so you can open it. I rarely have to do this, since it will burn for 40 min. or so when full.

The Bum.