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Alcohol Stoves

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    • Re:Re: Alcohol Stoves

      TrafficJam wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      http://propersoda.com/shop/hop-soda

      Here's a new can to use for an eCHS stove. It seems to be pretty much the same as a V8 or Ocean Spay Sparkling Soda Can, but it has a plastic label the peels off to give a "naked" can with no work.

      Haven't tasted it yet, but it got good reviews from the lady at the beer store.


      Might be good with a little vodka in it. :cheer:


      Speaking of which, JJ...the store was out of Tennessee Honey so I took Jim Beam Honey on my hike. I liked it better than the TN Honey, less sweet, more bourbon.


      That is good stuff Evan Williams honey is good too. I forgot my hooch again..
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      OzJacko wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      This is turning into the Alcohol thread.

      and your problem with that is....?
      :whistle:


      Noooooooo problem at all. :lol:

      If you don't stay dry, you might become a wet nurse.


      NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO, Grinder! Do NOT post your first reply that came to mind!

      Or the second.

      Or tenth.

      Or...
      Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee

    • Alcohol Stoves

      odd man out wrote:

      http://propersoda.com/shop/hop-soda

      Here's a new can to use for an eCHS stove. It seems to be pretty much the same as a V8 or Ocean Spay Sparkling Soda Can, but it has a plastic label the peels off to give a "naked" can with no work.

      Haven't tasted it yet, but it got good reviews from the lady at the beer store.

      I like the peel off label, but not the price.

      I have five Perrier Water cans from Marion's Hiker Homecoming to try. They came out of a trash can.

      I have five empty Milo cans. They can be hard to find, but I like drinking them.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      I got a comment on YouTube that my video sucks. Hopefully I can do better with a camera, zoom lens, and tripod. I did not want to get too close to the flames with my laptop computer. I have already destroyed two thermometers testing alcohol stoves.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I got a comment on YouTube that my video sucks. Hopefully I can do better with a camera, zoom lens, and tripod. I did not want to get too close to the flames with my laptop computer. I have already destroyed two thermometers testing alcohol stoves.


      Your average YouTube critic has a room temperature IQ and makes their mark in crayon when a signature is required. IF they haven't eaten the crayon before time to sign.
      Do your duty in all things. You cannot do more, you should never wish to do less. - Robert E. Lee

    • Alcohol Stoves

      I spent 4 days on the AT testing an eCHS variant I built without removing the coatings from the can. The coatings seem to have no discernible effect on the operation of the burners, even with repeated use. Has anyone else here tried this? Your results may vary if you are not stretching the outer piece.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      TrafficJam wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I got a comment on YouTube that my video sucks. Hopefully I can do better with a camera, zoom lens, and tripod. I did not want to get too close to the flames with my laptop computer. I have already destroyed two thermometers testing alcohol stoves.


      The video where you're next to your car?

      That is the one, with me in the driver seat, and just a hand visible.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I got a comment on YouTube that my video sucks. Hopefully I can do better with a camera, zoom lens, and tripod. I did not want to get too close to the flames with my laptop computer. I have already destroyed two thermometers testing alcohol stoves.


      The video where you're next to your car?

      That is the one, with me in the driver seat, and just a hand visible.


      I've only seen the one where the stove is on the ground next to your car.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.

      There are 3 rows of 26 holes 3/16" in diameter around a steel tube 1 1/2" long and 2 7/16" in diameter. There are 3 screws 1 1/4" from the top edge that rest on the top edge of the burner.



      For storage, I invert the pot support and place it over the burner. The two pieces fit inside my pot, along with the spoon and two lighters.

      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      TrafficJam wrote:

      This is turning into the Alcohol thread.


      Four of us went up to the Brevard area to do a loop hike, one of the guys had gotten into beer brewed in Brevard, Old Chub was one of their labels, 8.?% alcohol, he'd bring a six pack to hand out the first trail night. We arrived around lunch and thought the brewery had a restaurant........the post is getting too long for me to read so I wont expect you to.
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      Drybones wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      This is turning into the Alcohol thread.


      Four of us went up to the Brevard area to do a loop hike, one of the guys had gotten into beer brewed in Brevard, Old Chub was one of their labels, 8.?% alcohol, he'd bring a six pack to hand out the first trail night. We arrived around lunch and thought the brewery had a restaurant........the post is getting too long for me to read so I wont expect you to.


      Hey. I was reading that. What's the rest of the story?
      Lost in the right direction.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.

      There are 3 rows of 26 holes 3/16" in diameter around a steel tube 1 1/2" long and 2 7/16" in diameter. There are 3 screws 1 1/4" from the top edge that rest on the top edge of the burner.



      For storage, I invert the pot support and place it over the burner. The two pieces fit inside my pot, along with the spoon and two lighters.




      Very nice looking set up.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.

      There are 3 rows of 26 holes 3/16" in diameter around a steel tube 1 1/2" long and 2 7/16" in diameter. There are 3 screws 1 1/4" from the top edge that rest on the top edge of the burner.



      For storage, I invert the pot support and place it over the burner. The two pieces fit inside my pot, along with the spoon and two lighters.



      That is a cool looking stove
      Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.
      Dr. Seuss Cof123

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.


      Is the weight of the pot supported by the rim on the stove on the three screws? Seems like the rim of stove may not support that weight.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      Rasty wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.

      There are 3 rows of 26 holes 3/16" in diameter around a steel tube 1 1/2" long and 2 7/16" in diameter. There are 3 screws 1 1/4" from the top edge that rest on the top edge of the burner.



      For storage, I invert the pot support and place it over the burner. The two pieces fit inside my pot, along with the spoon and two lighters.



      That is a cool looking stove


      How long does it take to boil 2-cups of water?
      I may grow old but I'll never grow up.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      BirdBrain wrote:

      I should add to my rant to make one thing clear. I am talking about homemade stoves. There are many talented builders out there selling quality products. I am not disparaging their craftsmanship. I am disparaging the efforts of people on par with me. :evil:

      Thanks for the rant! I was afraid that I was alone in wondering at the obsession everyone on YouTube seems to have with using as few tools as possible or completing in the shortest amount of time. What happened to pride in craftsmanship?

      Sorry, I'm new here. Back to lurking.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      TimCan wrote:

      BirdBrain wrote:

      I should add to my rant to make one thing clear. I am talking about homemade stoves. There are many talented builders out there selling quality products. I am not disparaging their craftsmanship. I am disparaging the efforts of people on par with me. :evil:

      Thanks for the rant! I was afraid that I was alone in wondering at the obsession everyone on YouTube seems to have with using as few tools as possible or completing in the shortest amount of time. What happened to pride in craftsmanship?

      Sorry, I'm new here. Back to lurking.


      I hope you don't go back to lurking!
      Lost in the right direction.

    • Alcohol Stoves

      odd man out wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.


      Is the weight of the pot supported by the rim on the stove on the three screws? Seems like the rim of stove may not support that weight.

      Yes.

      I took a hint from you and made the outer piece extend about a millimeter above the inner piece, and filled the gap with plenty of JB Weld. I filed the cut edge of the outer piece down to the JB Weld. The JB Weld and the thick rim of the inner piece distribute the weight adequately, at least with just two cups of water. That is one pound of water plus the weight of the pot and lid.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      Drybones wrote:

      Rasty wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.

      There are 3 rows of 26 holes 3/16" in diameter around a steel tube 1 1/2" long and 2 7/16" in diameter. There are 3 screws 1 1/4" from the top edge that rest on the top edge of the burner.



      For storage, I invert the pot support and place it over the burner. The two pieces fit inside my pot, along with the spoon and two lighters.



      That is a cool looking stove


      How long does it take to boil 2-cups of water?

      It took 6 1/2 minutes. That is probably not bad for a narrow 3 3/4" diameter pot without a cone or chimney to keep the exhaust near the side of the pot and block the wind.

      I deliberately sacrificed speed and efficiency to put my cooking system in a Walmart book bag with my shelter, clothing, food, water, and fuel. I carried a CCF pad, but no sleeping bag. I should have brought thermal bottoms. My legs were cold and I kept waking up, but I did not shiver.

      Two young guys hurried up the mountain with much larger packs, passing me while I sat on a rock. They took a break a short way past me. I passed them while they were resting and arrived at the shelter 20 minutes before they did. Going with a light pack really helped with the climb and walking through the infamous Pennsylvania rocks.
      I am human and I need to be loved - just like everybody else does

    • Alcohol Stoves

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      odd man out wrote:

      WanderingStovie wrote:

      I spent last night at the Cove Mountain shelter. I cooked beef ramen and loaded mashed potatoes with an eCHS variant built from a Milo can. I made a minimalist pot support / flame spreader before walking five miles to the shelter. I carefully balanced my 3 3/4" diameter Halulite Minimalist pot on top with two cups (480 ml) of water.


      Is the weight of the pot supported by the rim on the stove on the three screws? Seems like the rim of stove may not support that weight.

      Yes.

      I took a hint from you and made the outer piece extend about a millimeter above the inner piece, and filled the gap with plenty of JB Weld. I filed the cut edge of the outer piece down to the JB Weld. The JB Weld and the thick rim of the inner piece distribute the weight adequately, at least with just two cups of water. That is one pound of water plus the weight of the pot and lid.


      Very nice. I found a whole bag of energy drinks in the recycling dumpster so I now have an infinite supply of cans. Made and eCHS three nights in a row. Each time I make fewer mistakes. I now have a cutting jig for cutting the inner piece and I use the same jig elevated on a CD disk to cut the outer piece, so it is that much taller. I also cut a 2" piece off my triangle ruler to make it easier to make the creases. I had been "drilling" holes by hand with a push pin after my drill bit broke, with only limited success. Bought another bit. Tonight's came out very nice. I made a snuffing device by cutting the bottom of of a 12 oz soda can just slightly taller than the stove. I cut out one of the tabs inside the stove so I can get to the bottom. I can extinguish the stove and recover unused fuel with one of these.

      http://packafeather.com/fuelbottle.html

    • Today I tested the effect of pot stand height. I am using an Olicamp XTS pot. It has a heat exchanger ring that extends 1/2 inch below the bottom of the pot and has a 3" inner diameter. I am using a eCHS stove that is 1.5" tall. I made a 5" tall pot stand out of 1/2" hardware cloth. It was narrow so it rested on the bottom of the pot, not the heat exchanger, thus gave a clearance of 3.5" between the top of the stove and the bottom of the pot (3" to the bottom of the heat exchanger). My wind screen is a 4" tall cylinder of Al flashing. I used 15 mL of denatured EtOH (50/50) and 24 oz water. I measured time to flame out and temperature increase to calculate power and efficiency using my spreadsheet. I then cut 1/2 inch off the pot stand and repeated the test until the pot stand was only 1" above the pot. Here are the results:

      Height (inches)
      		Power (Watts)
      		Efficiency (%)
      1.0
      		515
      		58.4
      1.5
      		714
      		65.6
      2.0
      		766
      		70.4
      2.5
      		765
      		70.3
      3.0
      		702
      		65.8
      3.5
      		685
      		64.2

      I had been using a 1" pot stand which seems to have been inhibiting performance. I need to be using a taller pot stand. With the optimal height, I should be able to boil 2 cups in about 3.5 min with 12.5 mL of fuel (have to test that to confirm the calculations). What I think is happening is this. When the pot stand is too tall, the heat does not all go up in the middle of the heat exchanger and I loose some efficiency (max temp was about 80 deg C and burn time was about 4:20). This was probably exacerbated by the fact that pot was above the wind screen and it would be easy for wind to blow the rising heat column off center. With the bottom of the pot inside the wind screen and closer to the stove, I was getting maximum heat delivered in the center of the heat exchanger (max temp was about 86 def C). The stove also burned slightly faster (burn time was about 4:15) which I attribute to some radiant heat feedback from the pot to the stove. But when I got the stove too close to the stove, performance suffered. At 1" from stove to pot, the burn time was about a minute longer. I think that the heat exchanger (only 1/2" above the stove) was blocking air flow and inhibiting combustion of the alcohol jets. If you had a flat bottom pot, they you maybe wouldn't see this effect at least not as much.

    • TrafficJam wrote:

      TimCan wrote:

      BirdBrain wrote:

      I should add to my rant to make one thing clear. I am talking about homemade stoves. There are many talented builders out there selling quality products. I am not disparaging their craftsmanship. I am disparaging the efforts of people on par with me. :evil:

      Thanks for the rant! I was afraid that I was alone in wondering at the obsession everyone on YouTube seems to have with using as few tools as possible or completing in the shortest amount of time. What happened to pride in craftsmanship?

      Sorry, I'm new here. Back to lurking.


      I hope you don't go back to lurking!


      Ok, I won't. :) And PG Wodehouse is my favorite.

      Mr. Tetkoba, I mentioned your channel and the tools you use in a video I uploaded. I hope you approve.

    • TimCan wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      TimCan wrote:

      BirdBrain wrote:

      I should add to my rant to make one thing clear. I am talking about homemade stoves. There are many talented builders out there selling quality products. I am not disparaging their craftsmanship. I am disparaging the efforts of people on par with me. :evil:

      Thanks for the rant! I was afraid that I was alone in wondering at the obsession everyone on YouTube seems to have with using as few tools as possible or completing in the shortest amount of time. What happened to pride in craftsmanship?

      Sorry, I'm new here. Back to lurking.


      I hope you don't go back to lurking!


      Ok, I won't. :) And PG Wodehouse is my favorite.

      Someone saw that post after all. PG Wodehouse is the best.

      Great video! Even though I'm not likely to make an alcohol stove, I like knowing how they're made.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • TrafficJam wrote:

      TimCan wrote:

      TrafficJam wrote:

      TimCan wrote:

      BirdBrain wrote:

      I should add to my rant to make one thing clear. I am talking about homemade stoves. There are many talented builders out there selling quality products. I am not disparaging their craftsmanship. I am disparaging the efforts of people on par with me. :evil:

      Thanks for the rant! I was afraid that I was alone in wondering at the obsession everyone on YouTube seems to have with using as few tools as possible or completing in the shortest amount of time. What happened to pride in craftsmanship?

      Sorry, I'm new here. Back to lurking.


      I hope you don't go back to lurking!


      Ok, I won't. :) And PG Wodehouse is my favorite.

      Someone saw that post after all. PG Wodehouse is the best.

      Great video! Even though I'm not likely to make an alcohol stove, I like knowing how they're made.


      LMAO last night reading PG Wodehouse quotes. I know what book I'm taking on my next hike. If anyone hears a woman laughing hysterically in her tent, don't be alarmed, it's just me.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • I've now optimized my pot stand. I then fired up all of my best eCHS stoves side by side to pick my best ones. Then I built a better windscreen (tall as can be stored in my pot and with minimal gap between the pot and screen. Next to experiment with air vents. The plan is to prop the wind screen 1/2" off the floor and test for performance with maximum airflow. Then I will drop it to the ground and punch a few holes around the bottom to test for performance with minimum airflow. I can then add more air holes until I get optimal performance. But that will have to wait until next week. Daughter gets married this weekend.