I have had busy weekends with travel and family commitments, and weather hasn't been great for backpacking. The summer months here in Arkansas are not ideal for backpacking because of ticks and the heat. Trails also become overgrown with grasses and brush. How to fill that time...?
Over the last month or so, I have been experimenting with various DIY (do it yourself) alcohol stoves. There are three different designs I have made successfully, but [spoiler] I have decided that I ultimately don't like alcohol stoves. Haha. I will talk about each of the designs, the pros and cons of each, then I will discuss the reasons I prefer my canister stove.
Cat Can Stove
This is the simplest stove by far. All you need is an empty cat food can and a tool to make holes in it.
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| Fancy Feast Stove |
Less fuel efficient than the others, but you can see the fuel, which is nice, both when you're filling it before you light it as well as when you're finished cooking to see how much is left.
This is by far the lightest option. It weighs only 6 grams or 0.25 oz. The time to bring 1 cup of water to a rolling boil was over 5 minutes. This stove is also less efficient than some of the other designs. I thought I had poured enough fuel, but it ran out just before my pot started to boil and the timer was at 4:50ish. I will say more about the issue of fuel required and variability there at the end because this is an issue for all of the alcohol stoves.
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| Cat can stove lit up |
Double Wall Soda Can Stove
There are various designs for this type of stove, but the common elements are the bottom of a soda can as the bottom of the stove, either the top or bottom of a soda can as the top of the stove with the center cut out and holes around the perimeter of the top as jets, and a solid ring around the inside of the can that forms a wall around the center and funnels fuel vapor up to the jets (after the stove has been primed and gets hot enough to create vapor).
If the design isn't crystal clear, here is a Wikipedia article with some helpful illustrations.
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| Double wall soda can stove |
I used some metal insulation tape on the outside of this just to keep it secure. For this can, I used the can top as the top of the stove, cutting out the middle inside the ring where the pull tab goes. I like this version because it gives a lip inside for the inner wall to push against when you're assembling it.The inner wall is just a strip of aluminum cut out from the middle wall of a soda can, then coiled in a ring. You have to fit it around the bottom ring of the can, then secure it. I have seen a couple of methods for this, but I used normal office supply paper staples. Before you install it, you also have to cut notches out of the bottom to allow fuel to go into that outer chamber. The bottom of the stove is convex (because it's the inside of the bottom of a soda can), so fuel poured in fills that outer chamber because of the dome.
The tape on this one makes it a bit heavier than the other two stoves. I probably went overboard with it using two strips of tape, but taking it off isn't really an option. My scale shows 14 grams or 0.5 oz. Even being the heaviest alcohol stove in my list, it's half the weight of my BRS 3000t canister stove.
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| Double wall stove lit (before the tape was added) |
This stove requires 30 seconds or more to prime. Spilling a little fuel around the outside helps it prime more quickly.
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| Priming double wall stove |
This stove surprisingly took more than 6 minutes to bring 1 cup of water to a rolling boil.
Penny Soda Can Stove
The design of these stoves is to use two soda can bottoms. One is the bottom, one is the top. The top has one or more small holes (small enough to be covered by a penny). The hole(s) allow fuel to go into the main chamber and when it gets to temperature, some pressure builds inside the chamber. This one takes even more time to prime than the double wall stove (in my experience).
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| Priming the penny stove |
My test of the time was more than 5 minutes again, but it ran out of fuel before the boil. When I tried to fuel it up again, starting over, it had way too much fuel.
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| Penny stove |
I used a larger hole than most of the designs I saw. The reason for that choice is it gave me a way to reopen the cans and make adjustments to the design.
This is my least favorite design of the three. It's difficult to tell if there is leftover fuel inside the stove. Burning it all off can take a long time. And even after the flame goes out, there can still be residual fuel. If you try to relight it, the stove can make a big popping sound and create a jet for a split second.
At least one source I found related to these penny stoves recommended using a penny with a date before 1983 (in the US). He said that 1983 and newer, pennies are made mostly of zinc and have a lower melting point. The one in the photo above was 1962, but before I found that one, I had a much newer one that I used a couple of times. It didn't melt.
Soda Can Stove Building
Here are some general observations about building the soda can stoves.
Cutting
There were a number of different methods of cutting the cans. The two that I saw more often than anything else were cutting with a scissors or scoring with a utility knife until the blade starts to break through. I liked the scoring method best.
Assembly
They don't really fit together nicely because you are pairing two cylinders that are exactly the same diameter. Some designs just tape them together. This seems especially weak to me.
Most designs that I have seen insert one piece inside the other by slightly stretching the outer can and/or crimping the edges of the inside can. The result is a tight fit, but the risk is that you tear the outer piece (and have to start over with that part) or your inner piece gets folded on itself in a way that interferes with flow of the fuel to the jets.
Wicking Materials
Some of the YouTube channels I watched for designs of these cans recommended the use of fiberglass insulation inside the stove or carbon felt as a wicking material. Opinions on this varied. Those in favor of using the wicking material believe it helps reduce the priming time.
I gave it a try with both the double wall (between the inner and outer wall) and also in the penny stove. My experience was that the fiberglass insulation retained fuel, which didn't feel safe, and also got scorched and gave off noxious fumes that I didn't appreciate. I didn't try the carbon felt because I don't own any, and I didn't feel like spending more money on these than I already have.
Pot Stands and Windscreens
You can accessorize these stoves with homemade pot stands and windscreens. Some of them can be made from items you may have in your home. Others require more expense. I didn't bother more than a lazy and unstable version using a folded can that doubled as both. I would never use it on a trip because it was unstable and didn't work very well.
I will say, the penny stove tended to burn better and hotter with the pot set above it rather than on top. If I was more interested in using these stoves on the trail, I would probably invest some more time and effort into creating some kind of stand and/or windscreen.
Summary Thoughts on Alcohol Stoves
I'm not a fan of these alcohol stoves. My order I have shared them here is also (coincidentally) my ranking order. If I had to choose one to use, I would opt for the cat can stove first because it doesn't take long to prime, weighs almost nothing, it's simple, and there is no guessing game as to whether or not there is any remaining fuel.
Before I get into all the reasons I don't like alcohol stoves in general, here are some of the "Pros" in favor of them.
Pros
- Weight
- Fuel Availability
The fuel is readily available in gas stations, hardware stores, and even grocery stores. You can also use a variety of different kinds of alcohol for these stoves. Canister stoves require specific fuels, and they can't necessarily be found as easily.
I tested a couple of fuels, but for all my testing figures in this article, I used Heet fuel treatment that comes in the yellow bottle. I also tested 70% and 90% isopropyl alcohol, but Heet seemed to work best.
- DIY
DIY projects can be fun.
- Quiet
These stoves burn much more quietly than the canister stoves. If you are bothered by a low roar for a couple of minutes while you're in the woods, these are a better option than a canister stove.
- Field Repairable/Rebuild-able
It's unfortunate, but true that people litter and if you accidentally stepped on your stove in the field, you could make a new one out of trash you can find in the woods. I would add that this is also true if I was using a canister stove. Once you have an idea of how to make these, you can apply that knowledge no matter what kind of stove you brought with you. If I were on a long thru hike and my canister stove crapped out, I could cold soak a meal or two until I made it to a town, then build an alcohol stove and find some alcohol to keep myself going. That could be a handy skill for backpacking, or in the event of an apocalypse. Haha.
- Cold Temps?
I have heard these stoves also do better in very cold conditions than canister stoves. I can't attest to that, although I have definitely heard from multiple sources that canister stoves struggle in extreme cold. I haven't had experience with that as an issue, even camping in near freezing temps in Arkansas in the winter months.
Cons
- Safety
The biggest con for me is the safety issue. This fuel is essentially in the open. You're cooking on an open flame, and these stoves seem less stable to me. The ones that use pressure can pop, and open flames with fuel flying around make me uncomfortable.
You also cannot see the blue flame in daylight, so it's difficult to tell if they are lit or not. Because it is also difficult to know how much fuel is required to bring your pot to a boil, I have had multiple attempts to boil water where the flame went out and I was forced to refuel a hot stove and/or wait for it to cool and start over.
The fact that these stoves are also essentially silent also means you can't rely on the sound to know if they are burning or not. You basically have to feel above them when it's bright outside to know if they are lit or extinguished. For the ones you can't see inside, you also have to feel and sometimes guess if there is residual fuel inside. While doing testing to prepare information for this article, I guess wrong about the penny stove and ended up with fuel all over my hands.
- Fuel Efficiency
I will grant that some of the issues I experienced were undoubtedly due to lack of practice and experience. I'm sure I could come closer to using the right amount of fuel to boil the right amount of water. Having said that, there are so many variables. I was boiling 1 cup of water. Some meals require more water than that. Assuming I learned to eyeball or measure the right amount of fuel to bring 1 cup of water to boil, how much more do I need to boil 1 1/2 cups of water? What if it's windy? One thing I did learn is that it almost always took more fuel than I thought it would to boil the water.
- Speed
I can appreciate why some people like these stoves, but they are not my cup of tea, and not the way I would heat water if I wanted a cup of tea.
It's true that the list of pros is longer than the list of cons, but the cons list are points that matter more to me. They are higher priority issues for me.
That's about all I have to say about alcohol stoves for now. Have you had positive experience using alcohol stoves? Do you love your alcohol stove? What style is it? Have you tried using them and didn't like it? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for stopping by,
Gavagai
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