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Has anyone here made one and used it much?
I was going to send instructions to some groups in UKR, but not if it’s rubbish.
Is it one of those internet things that goes straight in the bin?
Also- what fuel can be used- I don’t think they will have easy access to meths.
Also- does this sound like a terrible idea?
Yep they work very very well. Fragile though.
Any very pure alcohol should work. Meths IPA, rubbing alcohol. Not petrol or anything daft like that.
Some designs are pressurised by placing the pot on top. Don't omit the vent dent or the pressure builds up and the liquid meths is forced out the burner holes and floods the surface you are working on in fiery fire. This is very key when your workspace happens to be your kitchen counter. Ask me how I know
Just buy one of these -
https://speedsterstoves.co.uk/alcohol/meths-burners.html
(edit: it has been the stove I most use for the last 5 years. It is lighter, simpler and *just works* than other stoves I have. I am not in a hurry on camp for a cuppa or meal, so happy it takes a minute longer than a heavy, raging Jetboil thing which has environmentally horrid and costly gas canisters.)
I’d be surprised if they didn’t have some better ideas already tbh, the older guys will be used to improvising with limited resources due to living through the soviet era.
Anyway, I’ve used one and it worked fine.
I only used it with meths tho.
Yep, used them for a few very long trips (3 months in one case) and also regularly on overnighters - works great, lightweight and when you accidentally stand on it you get to make another in about 5 mins after a couple of beers!
I've made a few that work better than others but if I feel one is underperforming I'll normally just make a second and judge by eye on which works best.
Yeh Ive made them and used them lots made from coke cans and the small energy drink cans. Only used purple meths as fuel.
Matt I think you might have missed the point.
Martymac does have a point
I asked my friend who is at the front a lot, she says she not seen owt like it.
Would it run on home brew vodka?
The one I make and use is no.3 , Tom's stove on this link. As simple as they get really. I use a disposable baking tray to make a wind shield too.
https://bikepacking.com/gear/hop-can-stoves-how-to-make-5-ultralight-bikepacking-stoves/
Again I've only used meths. Made the mistake of accidentally buying acetone for it in Greenland, as I can't read Danish, don't use that, wooosh!! lol!
Would it run on home brew vodka?
I think the stuff straight out the still is 100proof? Which absolutely would work.
I say 100proof not knowing what it means but if they can make it really really strong then it shouldn't be an issue.
When I was in Alaska you couldn't buy meths or pure spirits anywhere, but, following a tip from a REI employee, I was happily able to run my Trangia on a cheap diesel additive available at any petrol station that was used to prevent fuel line waxing in winter. There is a a good chance something similar exists in Eastern Europe due to the climate?
I say 100proof not knowing what it means
"Proof" is usually held to mean twice the ABV or thereabouts. So your 100 proof vodka will be 50% alcohol by volume, it'd ideally want to be as near 100$ ABV to burn well.
I've made a few, mostly to play with, I have to admit I prefer the BCB Fire Dragon with their proprietary Gel cube fuel for a similarly sized/packaged alcohol burning stove solution.
But yeah an old coke can + SAK + some Meths/alcohol and you can make a compact working stove for very little spend.
haha. I suspect they're probably ahead of you.
They work surprisingly well for little outlay. Went through a phase of making and using them.
I've made them, they do kinda work, and a slightly more efficient than a Trangia burner.
But they take time, and effort to figure out (the first half a dozen were failures for various reasons).
And you can't burn anything other than near-pure ethanol in them, methanol and acetone are too light and burn ferociously, petrol even worse. Propyl-alcohol is too heavy and thus sooty. Ethanol just has the right balance of vapor pressure, boiling point and enthalpy of combustion to work.
If you have access to alcohol, and don't care about ~50g of weight, just order a Trangia knock-off burner from China.
I think the stuff straight out the still is 100proof? Which absolutely would work.
Nope, not even close.
"Proof" means if you saturate gunpowder with it, will it still flash. It's the traditional measurement as sailors got their ration of rum and this was the proof that it hadn't been diluted. The oxidiser in gunpowder is soluble in water, so if it flashed, there wasn't enough water to dissolve it.
To burn as a fuel in a stove it needs to be azeotropic alcohol which is 95% and what you'd get from a still.
But if that was your plan you would need a lot of potatoes to brew a lot of alcohol to boil enough water to boil one potato. If there's a lack of potatoes (i.e. a war) then it's obviously a silly idea.
Only used purple meths as fuel.
the purple addition (and foul taste ) is a uk addition to make pure alcohol unpalatable to drink so that it’s legal to sell for other purposes, in shops other than off licenses and without alcohol duty - makes its less than ideal to cook with as it smells bad and creates soot when burnt - just ‘alcohol’ which is much more freely available in the rest of the world as a fuel, is what stoves like trangias were designed for and much better to cook on (and with)
I would use ‘alcool a brûlér’ on the continent which the ‘spirit’ without the ‘’methylated’ bad smell and sold in the same kind of hardware shops, garages etc (and pharmacies I think) as you’d buy meths here
“Proof” means if you saturate gunpowder with it, will it still flash. It’s the traditional measurement as sailors got their ration of rum and this was the proof that it hadn’t been diluted. The oxidiser in gunpowder is soluble in water, so if it flashed, there wasn’t enough water to dissolve it.
every day a school day, thank you for that.
Have you considered approaching a company like Trangia ?. I got £10k worth of sleeping bags for a charity when i went over to Romania in the early 80's.
They were all 2nd's that couldnt really be sold so they gave me every one they had which was a van load full to the brim.
So for meths stoves something along the lines of customer returns, small dents etc etc
Many companies like that would like to be seen as being supportive to the Ukrainian people, they can put it on their literature,adverts etc. Good for them, good for the cause.
Nope, not even close.
Did you read my next post aye?
Thanks everyone for the input, but I think I’ll leave this alone. Im not sure what fuel is available and if it’s wrong, used in a confined space with a poorly prepared stove might not be a good thing.
http://www.mark-ju.net/juliette/meths.htm
I never got the Chinese equivalent of vodka to work. Medicinal/rubbing alcohol will - burners like the White Box stove design, which run hot, cope better with a lower % of alcohol.
Montgomery that’s a handy list, thanks!!
There used to be another one that had a few extra countries on it but that seems to have dropped off the internet.
I use (and like very much) the little speedster stove mentioned earlier. In theory alcohol stoves are more sustainable, in that the fuel can be made from renewable resources. Going by that list's Ukraine entry, though, hexy tabs sound more available there. I cycled through Ukraine in 2008 but I was on a mission and didn't cook, just grabbing cold/café food as I went, so didn't get a sense of what was available even before this kicked off.
Dyna-ti thanks.
I think I’ll pop Trangia a message, see what happens.
Meths? Even the vankers on the site wouldn't drink that!
Yeah why not. Most companies simply might not have thought how they could help, but they will have a number or returns or damaged parts sitting in a store somewhere.
If not Trangia, then someone else who sells that type, but i think meths stoves for cooking are quite prevalent in that part of Europe.
Sorry edit mine - it was the early 90's i was in Romania, not the 80's. '92 to be exact.
Meths? Even the vankers on the site wouldn’t drink that!
I think you'll find that's lighter fluid. They probably did drink meths.
One advantage of meths is you can safely use it inside. It goes out with water.
I think the coke can stove is still a good idea it's something that can be made quickly and easily if they have the fuel in any quantity they need.
Dyna-ti, I’ve messaged Kelly Kettle, those things are perfect.
I made a few but rarely used in anger. Different cans made them more robust. At one point you could buy metal bottle of beer. They worked well. If you can find something more robust that a coke can you'll have more luck. I found the best solution was to buy lots of cans of beer to find the best ones.