Pepsi Can Alcohol Stove any good?

After coming to my better senses on the issue of Alcohol stoves I thought I would have a go at making one…

I decided initially to make one that would “run” off standard 70% rubbing alcohol, since it is so cheap and readily available..

I must have been through half a dozen of the more traditional designed “paired bottom” pop can designs… Some with the fiberglass insulation inside, others without. I had only moderate success with this as the alcohol had to reach a much higher temp to work and the water left behind caused a dilution issue as well…

SO after several hours cutting cans, drilling small holes, pressing them together, watching them not work as planned, AND getting in trouble for having my “PROJECT” (said with pissed off wife inflection) all over the counter and stove…. I decided to do some actual research on the subject…

Gotta love that danged ol’ interweb…. Yee Haw..

So I found out pretty quick that the consensus out there was that only one pop can design would work with cheapo rubbing alcohol… This is the “more traditional” double walled / open top design .. This design allows most all kinds of alcohol to be used. The alcohol in the center chamber burns, thus heating up the can. This vaporizes the alcohol in the outside chamber. When the vaporized alcohol escapes the predrilled holes at the top it is ignited by the center flame. If all this happens as it should you have a “Stove”…

Another good thing about this design is the ability to set a pop can filled with water (or other liquid), or other small pot/can directly on the stove, as the flames come out the sides of the ring…

Now once I decided to actually use 100% (or damn close) alcohol, my options opened up quite a bit… I had issue buying the “GOOD” gas dry from Autozone and Advanced Auto Parts here in town… Apparently the brand of HEET in the yellow bottle is a favorite of local meth cookers, thus is behind the counter or “sorry we’re out”… They didn’t seem convinced by my “its for a pop can stove” story… the bastards… Luckily I was able to find the yellow bottle HEET as well as a cheaper brand at Wal-Mart the same day… It is actually cheaper to buy the 12oz bottles than the bulk metal can of denatured alcohol there as well… win.win to me…


My previous failures now had a better chance of working. I did find out that the size of the chamber had a lot to do with the effectiveness of the design.. Too small and it will not vaporize effectively. Too much insulation and you get the same.. When I tried the “traditional” design, after the flops with rubbing alcohol, my results were somewhat less than good… The ones made with the paired ends both facing out would literally explode when lit. Not a good thing to have happen on the stove, IN THE HOUSE. Definitely not easy to conceal from the wife when she is in the other room. I’m pretty sure the loud pop followed by my “cussin”, then the sink running gave it away… In the end it was a design with both the bottoms oriented the same direction that seemed to work the best.


Now with this design I found that you need to preheat it some.. I tried sitting it a few small metal lids, but none seemed to be effective. I did find that placing this stove in a larger can with higher sides then igniting a small amount of the “spilled “ alcohol was sufficient to get this one going…


After all this fun I found another, much simpler, design. Essentially it is an open top burner that uses fiberglass insulation to absorb the alcohol and act as a wick. You place a fine metal screen on top of this to keep the insulation in place and help in heating up the alcohol. In keeping with the original design I found I first used an Altiods tin. This was very successful. Then I used an empty solder tin, which was equally effective (you’re welcome Soul Reaver). Last I used a much smaller Altiods gum tin. This one worked just as good as the others.


Once these are assembled they need to be “burned in”. Essentially you are charring the fiberglass. I filled each of the stoves up completely and let them burn off. The great thing about these is you can also use rubbing alcohol in them. When you are done you just pour out the left behind “brown water” and you have a stove that is ready for the next burn..



Overall it was a fun and educational experience….

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