[pct-l] Fw: Alcohol fuel consumption, windscreen

["Joanne Lennox" <goforth@cio.net>]

----------
> From: Joanne Lennox <goforth@cio.net>
> To: pct-mailing list <PCT-L@backcountry.net>
> Subject: Alcohol fuel consumption, windscreen
> Date: Wednesday, November 03, 1999 2:55 PM
> 
> When I first started using my Sigg Alcohol stove on my thruhike, I
started
> with a smaller windscreen (two pop can sides stapled together).  Later I
> replaced it with a bigger screen made of very light aluminium with lots
of
> small holes in it ( Boeing surplus, looked like circuit board).  It fit
> tightly around my titanium pot and left an inch hole on one side.
> 
> As the weather warmed, the stove was getting quite hot.  The flame was
red
> and would fill up the space inside the screen, and spurt out the inch
> opening.  If I took the pot off, it would made a shwoosing sound and get
> larger.  Later I realized that my alcohol consumption had almost double
and
> if anything, the pot was boiling slower.
> 
> I pulled the screen away from the pot edge. So there was more oxygen
> getting to the flame.  The flame was smaller, just under the pot and
blue. 
> A quart of water would boil in about 6 minutes.   I halved my alcohol
> consumption.  As the weather started to get cool again, I still needed to
> give the flame plenty of space and oxygen.  the weather was not really
the
> influencing factor, but the size of my windscreen and its position.
> 
> My sense is that the esbit tablets burn much cooler, and probably need a
> tighter trim on the windscreen.  the thing that I did not like about the
> Esbit tablets were their smell.  I wondered about the toxicity of the
fumes
> they produce (Uh-UH, more of those nasty toxic chemicals. ).  I kept away
> from HEET with it methyl alcohol content, but realized that denatured
> alcohol is somewhat toxic (it is denatured with methanol).  One is
> basically choosing the lesser of various evils in choosing stove fuels,
and
> the Esbit thing was simply an unknown for me.
> 
> BTW, after the stove had burned out, I was also caping it and putting it
> inside my clothing or bag as a hand warmer.
> 
> Goforth
> .. 
> 
* From the Pacific Crest Trail Email List |  http://www.backcountry.net   *

==============================================================================