I have tried to make a alcohol stoves with pop cans a number of times, but is was not really working for - so I bought one on line and it was better made and has a screw top lid - the problem is setting a pot the stove puts out the flame- I was Planning on using it as a back up to my Pocket Rocket - any suggestions?
_Lightbulb_Home Made Alcohol Stoves
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#1
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#3
It takes a good deal of screwing around to perfect a alcohol stove system on the trail. It's sensitivity to the elements as well as difficulty in set up makes it a poor choice as a back up. But, if you still want to endure the learning curve just for fun then the answer is practice, practice, practice. Don't make one stove, make a whole six pack. If you keep to good quality standards you will see that all six are different. Light them all up at once. Outside in the elements, learn how to light it, learn how much fuel you need to boil water in your pot. It won't take long before you find the right way to work it. My back up is first a camp fire, then I bum some heat from another hiker, If that won't work I eat my food cold. P.S. Be careful, you are packing around a small bottle of fuel. While my pocket rocket has never failed, my fuel canister has, so I bring a small back up.
_Francis_
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#4
If you do not want to carry a stove stand I would find a couple of rocks to put the stove between and rest the pot on. You can make a stand using a slightly taller and wider can and poking large holes all around it or bending a clothe hanger into a stand.
_Big B_
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#5
Thanks for the suggestions - the reason for the back up stove is I was not sure how the supply on the trail would be for the pocket rocket fuel, so I felt that I may need a back up stove - the camp fire sounds good, but not dependable in bad weather but the alcohol stove may not be either
_Lightbulb_
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#6
We used a homemade fancy feast cat food can stove and found that the alcohol had to be lit and allowed to warm up for a bit before placing the pot on top. If it went out, then the fuel was not heated up enough yet.
_Marti /Swannee_
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#7
The White Box alcohol stove has an integrated pot stand, ie you place the pot directly on the stove and it won't go out (because the burner holes are on the side instead of the top).
Downside to White Box style stove is you can’t simmer with it.
You can make your own combo pot stand and wind screen out of light gauge sheet metal from Home Depot. Would work with any stove incl homemade. Roll it around your fuel bottle for storage.
Homemade alc stoves may not be the fastest to reach a boil but they’ll get there. Good news is you won’t use much extra fuel even if your stove is less efficient, because efficiency = BTU’s = fuel consumption rate. More efficient stoves reach a boil quicker but burn about the same fuel supply as a less efficient stove that takes longer to reach a boil.
The way to kill your fuel efficiency is by exposing the flame to wind and by compromising the microclimate between the flame and pot, so make sure to use a windscreen at all times.
_hoch_
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#8
You need to make sure that the flames are coming evenly out of the little jets on the top of the stove. It will take a while after lighting it. Once you see them then you can place your pot on it. If you do it before this it will extinguish the flame.
_Cracker_
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#9
FYI:
Excellent alcohol stoves available on the internet that are inexpensive. I own one- works great- and I would have a hard time duplicating the perfection that these stoves offer. I do admire those who like to tinker though.
_mythe_