[pct-l] Alcohol Stove Questions

[chwillet@indiana.edu (Christopher Willett)]

4 Tablespoons for a 9 minute burn sounds like an awful lot of fuel for not
much burn time.  I've never been able to make a good Pepsi can type stove,
mainly due to my lack of mechanical ability.  One day I came across the
Cat stove, which seemed easy to make.  Not having a cat, nor eating much
out of cans, I didn't have any of the raw materials to make such a stove.
One Friday evening, though, after drinking down a few cans of Old Style,
I was struck by a fit of genius (actually, probably remembrance).  I cut
the bottom third off a can of Old
Style, put a very small bit of insulation in it, and had a working alcohol
stove. 1 Tbs will get me about 5-6 minutes of burn time (in my kitchen)
and is enough to get water (2 cups) hot enough for tea.  1.5 Tbs is enough
for 9-11
minutes of burn times.  It will boil a pint and give a few minutes of
boiling as well.  In the cold, however, fuel efficiency seems to take a
big hit and I need a full 2-2.5 Tbs to cook a Liptons.

Chris



On Fri, 15 Nov 2002 NickJStone@aol.com wrote:

> Last weekend I successfully constructed my first alcohol stove.  I follow=
ed the Pepsi can stove instructions out there on the web.  They were very d=
etailed instructions (like 8 pages worth) which was a little frightening at=
 first, but once I was done, I realized how simple what I had done really w=
as.  I was surprised that it worked so well!  I used a Guinness can for the=
 bottom of the stove.  Annoyingly, in PA you can't just go buy a six pack i=
n a convenience store.  If you are buying beer, you have to buy a whole cas=
e from a state store!  I couldn't find a local bar with the cans to sell fo=
r takeout, so I wound up having to buy a whole case of Guinness.  Mind you =
I'm not complaining.  It's just that drinking beer (or several beers) and l=
ighting denatured alcohol on fire is not that great a combination, in retro=
spect.  Fortunately I managed to avoid serious injury.
>
> I have one question though, that maybe someone else who has experimented =
with the Pepsi can stove can answer.  I didn't have any really thin needles=
, so I used a push-tack to make 24 pin holes around the top.  This works pr=
etty well, but I found that I had to put in approximately twice as much alc=
ohol as recommended in the instructions to get a 9 minute burn (4 tablespoo=
ns).  So, my question is this.  If I make more (32) but SMALLER holes using=
 a sewing needle, will this be more efficient?  What if I made another stov=
e with 24 holes again, but with a smaller hole size?  Or use the same hole =
size, but eliminate 4 more holes so there are 20?  I'm not really concerned=
 about having a quick burn time;  I can wait 10 minutes for water to boil j=
ust as easily as I can wait 5 minutes.  My main goal is to promote fuel eff=
iciency such as to heat water carrying as little fuel as possible.
>
> I actually studied aerospace engineering many years ago in college, and o=
nce understood fluid dynamics even,  but I don't think that I could solve a=
 partial differential equation today if my life depended on it.
>
> Final question:  If you make your stove with a Diet Pepsi can instead of =
a Pepsi can, will it be lighter (because it's on a diet?).
>
> Nick Simon (AKA Hidalgo the Infidel)
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>
>


----------------------
Christopher Willett
Department of Mathematics
Indiana University
831 East Third Street
Bloomington, IN. 47405-7106
(815)-855-6737
chwillet@indiana.edu
php.indiana.edu/~chwillet