Homemade Alcohol Stove FAQ
From the Home Office in Wahoo, Nebraska...
Top 10+ Homemade Alcohol Stove Questions:
- How much does the stove weigh?
- How much fuel does the stove hold?
- What kind of fuel does the stove burn and where can I buy it?
- Where does the fuel go?
- How do you light the stove?
- How does the stove work?
- Why doesn't the stove contain wicking material/vermiculite?
- What is the optimum distance of the stove from the pot?
- How much ventillation does the stove need?
- How do you put out the flame once you are done cooking?
- How much does the pot stand weigh?
- How stable is the pot stand?
- Does the pot stand / stove setup need a windscreen?
- I'm having problems with flames coming out the seam between the base and the burner portion of the stove. What can I do to correct this?
- Why didn't you make your pot stand out of a coat hanger or similar wire?
- How small do the holes in the burner need to be and how many holes need to be around the circumference of the stove?
Here are the answers to the above questions:
Q: How much does the stove weigh?
A: Empty, the stove weighs right around 1 oz.
Q: How much fuel does the stove hold?
A: As designed, the stove will hold no more than 1/4 cup fuel. 1/4 cup fuel will burn for approximately 20 to 25 minutes before the fuel is spent.
Q: What kind of fuel does the stove burn and where can I buy it?
A: The stove can burn most any fuel: methanol, anhydrous isopropyl alcohol, Coleman white gas, gasoline, kerosine, etc... It has, however, only been tested with methanol and anhydrous isopropyl alcohol. Take appropriate precautions when testing out your stove with new fuels (test outside away from building, etc...). See the disclaimer at the bottom of this page.
Methanol can be purchased in at your local hardware store in the paint / solvent section of the store. You can also purchase methanol in the automotive section of any department store (K-Mart, Walmart, Meijer, etc...) in the form of HEET (that's the product name). Make cerain to check the label to make sure it contains methanol. Rubbing alcohol most likely won't work in this stove because it contains a certain percentage of water. Even if it does burn, it will burn with a sooty flame because rubbing alcohol typically contains either denatured ethanol or isopropyl alcohol.
Q: Where does the fuel go?
A: The fuel is poured into the hole in the center of the stove. Take care not to get any fuel on the outside of the stove or overfill the stove. If there is fuel on the outside of the stove walls when the stove is lit, a person runs the chance of the stove bursting into flame. The stove should not be filled any higher than 1/4 inch from the rim.
Q: How do you light the stove?
A: After the stove is filled with the appropriate amount of fuel, the stove can be lit with a match or a lighter or other suitable small ignition source. Light the stove in the center hole, but be cautious because fuel is volatile by nature.
Q: How does the stove work?
A: After the fuel is poured (carefully!) into the hole in the stove and lit, the flame will begin to burn in the center section of the stove. As the flame burns, the fuel will begin to heat up. As the fuel heats up, it will begin to volatilize more quickly and the gas vapor will begin shooting out the burner holes. The flame in the center of the stove will then start burning the vapors shooting out of the burner holes. As the stove and fuel heat up more and more, the fuel will volatilize more and more quickly which means that the stove will burn hotter and hotter. The stove will continue to burn until the fuel burns ou or the stove is extinguished by the user.
Q: Why doesn't the stove contain wicking material/vermiculite?
A: The stove doesn't contain any sort of wicking material because the wicking material adds weight and it also soaks up a certain percentage of the fuel. This soaked up fuel cannot be reclaimed and it just goes to waste. Burn time and boil time comparisons were performed on both a stove containing wicking material and not containing wicking material and no significant difference in boil times were noted, so the wicking material was omitted from the design.
Q: What is the optimum distance of the stove from the pot?
A: The optimum distance of the top of the stove to the bottom of the pot is between 3/4 inch and 1 inch.
Q: How much ventillation does the stove need?
A: As designed, the pot stand provides adequate ventillation for the burning stove.
Q: How do you put out the flame once you are done cooking?
A: To put out the flame, remove the pot from the pot stand, and then carefully remove the pot stand from the stove taking care not to burn your fingers in the process. Carefully place the pot directly on top of the burning stove. The lack of oxygen will extinguish the stove approximately 5 to 10 seconds.
Q: How much does the pot stand weigh?
A: The pot stand weighs roughly 0.4 oz when complete.
Q: How stable is the pot stand?
A: I have successfully cooked with 1 quart of liquid on this particular stand with no problems with stability. However, the stability of this pot stand setup is ultimately governed by how well the pot stand is leveled on the ground.
Q: Does the pot stand / stove setup need a windscreen?
A: The need for a windscreen is ultimately governed by the strength of the breeze while you are cooking. If there's no breeze, then a windscreen won't be necessary. If there is a breeze, then one more than likely will be necessary. A section of tin foil works nicely as a windscreen from what I've found and best of all, it's lightweight!
Q: I'm having problems with flames coming out the seam between the base and the burner portion of the stove. What can I do to correct this?
A: The one or two small flames coming out the seam is caused by an inadequate seal between the burner and the base. One option is to try sealing the burner and base better by lightly tapping around the rim of the burner with a hammer. This will set the burner a little deeper into the base. Another option is to take a soldering iron and seal up the seam with a little bit of solder. Solder can be purchased at a local Radio Shack and if you don't have a soldering iron, a wood burning tool will work also. A final option could be to use aluminum tape to seal up the holes, but since methanol is a solvent by nature, it may eat away at the adhesive on the aluminum tape. All I can say is try it and see what happens...
Q: Why didn't you make your pot stand out of a coat hanger or similar wire?
A: In the beginning, I did use a coat hanger to fashion a pot stand for my stove design. After the first two times of using it during a weekend backpacking trip in Michigan, though, I realized that using a coat hanger wire bent pot stand wouldn't work. This is what I found: after using the coat hanger wire as a pot stand to cook two meals I found that the wire became extremely brittle and would bend and break very easily -- even under mild stress. After I saw that, I knew that wouldn't do at all, so I sought a better design. I happened upon a website that used a metal dryer duct as the pot stand, so I tried that and -- viola! -- my new pot stand design. And best of all, it weighs in at 0.4 oz!
Q: How small do the holes in the burner need to be and how many holes need to be around the circumference of the stove?
A: The holes in the stove need to be as small as you can make them. That's why I recommend you use a thumb tack or the smallest drill bit that you can find. The larger the holes, the smaller the flame will be coming out of the top of the burner. There should be at least 32 holes around the circumference of the stove. Too few holes and the flame will not be continuous around the stove.
Any further questions? If so, then e-mail me at sgraber@bigfoot.com.
Return to the Make Your Own Backpacking Alcohol Burning Stove and Pot Stand page...
Disclaimer: All persons taking on this project do so at their own risk. Care should be exercised when working with all sharp objects and flamable materials. The author of this site bears no responsibility for accidents or mishaps that occur because of improper use of chemicals, equipment, fire, etc...
Copyright 1998, Shaneo's Sites
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