[pct-l] Alcolhol fuel consumption.

[goforth@cio.net (Joanne Lennox)]

I have been using alcohol stoves for 4 years now.  I prefer my Sigg 3 oz
alcohol burner because it uses about a third of the alcohol that all my
other stives use ( the homemade varieties of pepsi, tomatoe paste cans,
etc.).

It took me about one season to adjust my stove use to the point where i
halfed my alcohol consumption.  I found that it was very important to
adjust the windscreen, pot height, pot width, etc. so that the blue flame
was  just under the pot and and the rig was not over heating and wasting
fuel.  This is important for those of us that boil about 2 quarts of water
in the morning (coffee for all day).  My Sigg is brass and looks like a
squashed fuel tank - I have never seen another one like it.  It was part of
my husbands dowry and is at least 30 years old, probably closer to 50.

All the Pepsi can stoves that I have made and /or used seem to burn very
hot and fast and waste a lot of fuel.

I have made a number of the stoves and can't seem to change the consumption
much or get it even close to the Sigg.  I do not know what the parameters
are here to keep the flame low ,slow, and blue. I have made a stove that
had such small holes, I could not get it to stay lit(a certain amount of
relained heat and oxygen are necessary).  When I open the holes the fuel
consumption skyrockets.  I wondered that maybe it was the aluminum as
opposed to brass. I have used perilite, fiberglass, and lamp wicking as
stuffing for the stoves but they still burn hot.

Again , I emphasize that it probably doesn't make much difference if you
only boil 2 cups of water at a time, but the stove seems much less
efficient the more water you boil.

I live in horror that fate will somehow intervene to separate me from my
beloved Sigg, and I will have to resort to my collection of homemade
backups.  You will see me out there with a large pack - no, that is not the
Garcia Bearcan on my pack, it is the alcohol tank!!

Joanne