Cooking Fuels & Stove Types

[shoarthing]

 . . . . interesting to hear how you get on with an effective fuel-miser simmer-ring.


It makes *all* the difference to be able to make b&e properly, of a morning . . .

[Tin]

Going to experiment over the weekend and post the results. I really like this stove as there is no priming or cold pot kill and you don't need a pot stand. The only problem is it's an only boil stove so I'm determined to make a simmering ring for it.

[FOX160]

I have recently been looking to improve my cooking set up & get “bang for my gram”
 
I have been a confirmed Hexamine user since working with the Army Youth team some 40 years ago, sooty, smelly and a little slow (and the hexamine wasn’t much better) it always got the water to the boil – even when wet.
Part used tablets can be extinguished and saved, but its messy.
Temperature cannot be adjusted , its all or nothing.
Comes with its own pan-stand.
Can be used with twigs when hexamine supply is exhausted.


I tried Meths (didn’t like the taste and it made my eyes go funny) but was not happy about either the weight of a 500ml bottle and contents (over half a kg), the smell, and the possibility of a leak in the pack, soaking clothing & bedding.
 
A few years ago I ‘found’ ethanol-gel (also known as ‘Sterno’, or Chafing Fuel), burns fairly cleanly, takes about the same time to boil water as a Hexy stove but benefits from the fact that as soon as the water boils you can extinguish it by putting the can lid back on.
Just about gets water to a ‘rolling boil’, but certainly hot enough to reconstitute dehydrated meals, or, make a brew.
Cannot adjust temperature, its all or nothing.
Need to carry a pan-stand (mine is 35 g) to clip onto the top of the can.
 
I have more recently become a gas convert – particularly the ‘gas-mix’ (a mixture that gives the cold temperature performance of Propane with the output of Butane) Boils water much, much faster than Hexy or Gel, has no smell, & is clean with almost no soot.
Simply switched off when finished
Temperature fully adjustable for boiling. Simmering, or even (heaven forbid) cooking food.
Needs a stove to fit to the gas cartridge – I have several types weighing in at between 45g and 114g both with & without auto ignition Piezo devices, and purchased at costs of between 99p and £5 off Ebay.
 
So having looked at the pros & cons, which performs the best for its ‘carry weight’ ?
 
It takes 105Wh to heat 1 litre of water by 1 degree Celsius, so to heat from (say) 5 degrees to 100 degrees takes 9975 watts (call it 1 Kw)


Looking at each fuel :-
Meths produces 7.22Wh per gram
Petrol / Diesel produces 12.5 Wh per gram
Dry & Seasoned wood produces 4.2Wh per gram
Hexamine produces 8.0Wh per gram
Chafing Fuel produces 7.44 Wh per gram
Camping Gas (70/30) produces 14.2 Wh per gram.
 
A Hexy stove with 8 tablets (and its own built in pan stand) weighs 361 grams and produces a total of 1.47Kwh
A Chafer Gel Can containing 200g of Gel weighs 245 grams, add 35g for the pan stand, gives a total weight of 280 grams and provides 1.49Kwh
A Coleman 220g gas cartridge weighs 372 grams, add 45 grams for the stove giving a total weight of 417 grams, and provides 3.12Kwh
 
My 99p stove head brings 1 litre of tap water to a ‘rolling boil’ in 4 minutes 30 seconds and uses 15g of gas (Camping gas 70% Butane, 30% propane mix) so, from a 220g cartridge I can boil approx. 13-14 litres of water (or looking at it another way – 50 mugs of tea).
The stove is producing 2.84Kw, which is not dissimilar to a domestic gas hob.

Never had your problems meths I use these http://www.storminstovesystems.co.uk/stormin-cone/  

[marmottungsten]

Made my first home made Alcohol burner stove a few weeks ago...I was impressed with the fast bloom time of the Evernew Ultralight Titanium Alcohol stove, but not by it's weight...I don't class it as ultralight.  I deemed the best way to get the weight down was to make the stove smaller.  I had an empty 250ml L'oreal Men Expert deoderant can that was begging to be used as a stove.  First I had to get rid of the valve of top, then I cut off the top and bottom of it, threw the middle section away, then joined the top to the bottom using the old "twist the pliers" technique to allow one to fit tightly inside the other, without needing adhesives in it's construction.  I drilled out the middle valve fitting sleeve with a 16mm hole saw and drilled six 1.5mm holes around the top.  The resulting stove is just 50mm in diameter, 45mm high and it weighs exactly 20g (5g lighter than my ultralight BRS3000T gas stove!).  I tried it out with some meths.  I waited ages but could not get it to bloom, it just gave a small blue flame about 20mm diameter out the 16mm middle hole.  I tried wafting it, and swirling it around to agitate the meths but no joy.  Then I decided I should make an ultralight pot stand to go with it.  I cut the top and bottom off an empty 500ml Al can of Carling Lager and kept the middle section.  Using a pair of scissors I cut four triangles out around the top and then did the same with the bottom...This pot stand also doubles as the windshield.  It is about 65mm in diameter, 75mm tall, and weighs 3g, so the completed stove only weighs 23g, including stand and windshield!  The stove itself is also very strong...I could probably stand on it without crushing it.  With this stand around the stove, almost the second I put the pot on the top the stove came alive!  The meths started boiling and I had high jets of blue flame coming out of the six outer holes, running up the side of the pot through the top triangle cut outs!...It brought the water to the boil no problem, before the meths ran out, but it had already been burning for about 15 minutes before that, so I classed it as a success.  What I did not bargain on was that it left a little soot on the bottom of my pot...I thought alcohol burners were clean burning, like gas stoves...I can confirm, they are not!