Alcohol stoves

[ben.h]

Very easy to make, fuel efficient and rather powerful (depending on the design you decide to make).

Here's one I made the other day:

Prototype home made self priming pressure jet alcohol stove weighing in at only 31 grams. Ingredients: two aluminium coke bottles. Pressure jet alcohol stoves are energy efficient and burn hot. The combustion system relies on vapourised fuel to keep the jets ignited and therefore, the stove needs to be primed. Typically, pressurised jet stoves are placed on top of a priming pan with a small amount of burning fuel to bring them up to operating temperature at which point they self ignite. The advantage of the stove I've made here is that it is self priming and does not require an outside heat source.

Edit: Typically (in Australia at least), we run these stoves using metho. Fill the fuel chamber to about 4/5 full or so.


Vapour chamber (left) and fuel vessel/jet body (right)


Fully assembled - vapour chamber and fuel vessel/jet body


Top down view showing the clearance between the bottom of the fuel vessel/jet body and the vapour chamber (about 1mm or so).


For ease of access, light the fuel before inserting the vapour chamber


Insert the vapour chamber and wait for the jets to prime (takes between 60 and 90 seconds to prime)


Ignition! Once the jets have self ignited, the stove is ready for use.


Pressurise the stove by closing off the top of the vapour chamber to seal the fuel vessel after the jets have ignited. The stove is now hot enough that it will continue to generate enough heat under pressure to keep the fuel vapourising and the jets burning.


Edit: I should mention some stats: Using the pot that appears in the photo, 500ml of water from cold to rolling boil in about 4 1/2 minutes (after jets have ignited).


Here are some resources if you're interested in different types of alcohol stoves and building some yourself:

• "Zen and the art of the alcohol stove" is the best resource for learning about the different designs: http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm (go to menu at top: Alcohol Stoves -> Stove Types).
• "Tetkoba's Alcohol Stove R&D channel" has a full video collection showing step by step how to make perhaps 100 or more alcohol stoves, with tests, statistics, etc: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh0atHj ... M5H5tU7iWA
• There are a lot of instuctables showing how to make stoves, although the quality varies a lot from prototype to hobby to some pretty robust backpacking stoves: http://www.instructables.com/howto/alcohol+stove/

Enjoy!

[Tortoise]

Hey Ben. Is that different from the commonly made ones? I don't remember about the pressurised bit. Sounds more interesting.

[GPSGuided]

Whilst these DIY alu alcohol stoves are interesting and cheap, what's the chance of them getting crushed in a tightly packed pack or by accident on the trip?

[simonm]

Very nice work Ben.

[Picaro]

Whilst these DIY alu alcohol stoves are interesting and cheap, what's the chance of them getting crushed in a tightly packed pack or by accident on the trip?

Very little if it sits inside your pot

[ben.h]

Whilst these DIY alu alcohol stoves are interesting and cheap, what's the chance of them getting crushed in a tightly packed pack or by accident on the trip?

As this is made a thicker guage aluminium than a typical food tin or soft drink container the fuel bowl/jet body is pretty tough. The vapour chamber could be crushed pretty easily but the stove can be used without it (essentially turning it into a simple open flame stove requiring a pot stand or something to provide a gap between pot and stove). I would pack it inside a pot or inside my trangia pack as Picaro said and there's no reason not to carry more than one as they cost next to nothing to make.

[ben.h]

Hey Ben. Is that different from the commonly made ones? I don't remember about the pressurised bit. Sounds more interesting.

There are lots of different designs for home made alcohol stoves out there and most are dead simple to make from stuff you have around the house. Most production stoves I've seen are either a simple open flame or open jet (such as the Trangia).

"Zen and the art of the alcohol stove" is the best resource for learning about the different designs: http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm (go to menu at top: Alcohol Stoves -> Stove Types).

There's a bloke on youtube with a full video collection showing step by step how to make perhaps 100 or more alcohol stoves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh0atHj ... M5H5tU7iWA

Finally there are a lot of instuctables showing how to make stoves, although the quality varies a lot from prototype to hobby to some pretty robust backpacking stoves: http://www.instructables.com/howto/alcohol+stove/


Enjoy!

Edit: added this info to the original post.

[michael_p]

Ben,

That is a nice variation on the open bath stove design. Must try that myself. Thanks for sharing.

Michael.