Gasoline vs Alcohol Stove Testing

[Perry]

In my attempts to lighten my pack I've decided to evaluate my current cooking system and compare it to the DYI alcohol stoves. I currently use a SVEA 123. I love the simplicity of the stove and it does a pretty good job. I decided to make a cat can stove using the design presented by Hyram Cook on Youtube.


Here are the two contenders. (along with a photo bomb from my cat)...



Here is my cat can alcohol stove. It was extremely easy to make. I spent quite a bit of time smoothing all the cut edges and making sure the inner can was just right so the pot would have a level place to land. I probably spent an hour and a half making it...



This is my current cook kit. The Svea 123 with windscreen nests nicely in my Optimus Terra Weekend HE pot...



My tests were far from scientific but I was just looking for some approximate analyses here not rocket science.

For all tests I used 16 ounces of tap water. For the alcohol stove I used 1 ounce of Heet for fuel. The selected pot was subjected to the tap water to get it to the same temperature as the water. Between tests the stoves were allowed to cool down approximately to room (garage actually) temperature.

My initial test was with the alcohol stove and my current cook pot. It was a dismal failure. Although the Terra has a nifty heat exchanger on the bottom it proved to be totally incompatible with the alcohol stove. It appears that the exchanger limits the flame and as such the amount of heat applied to the pot. The fuel ran out at approximately 10 minutes at which time the water failed to reach a full boil...



Time to switch to the smaller of the two of the pots from my Sigg-Tourist set...




The results were much more encouraging...



Next up the Svea 123. The elapsed time includes the time to prime and start up the stove... about 1.25 minutes...




Given the elapsed time includes the start up time the Svea is obviously more effective and gets more heat into the pot...



As mentioned I used 1 ounce of fuel in the alcohol stove. The total burn time was consistently right at 10 minutes. I measured the white gas used in the Svea which was just less than 0.5 ounces. I don't think the alcohol stove would make it with less than 1 ounce so I'm calling that the minimum I would want to fill it. So it seems the Svea is more efficient when it comes to fuel consumption.

Now to get on the scales.

Here is the Svea with the windscreen. Not terrible but not the lightest for sure. I'm thinking it's at least in the ballpark with other white gas stoves...



And now the wow!




This definitely makes me want to give the alcohol stove a go in the field. I still have to fashion a windscreen. I'll also need to acquire a new cook pot. Looking at the Toaks 550ml titanium pot (new version) on amazon.com for $24.95. The pot with the bag comes in at 3.5 ounces. The stove will nest nicely in it along with a small bottle of fuel and maybe some matches or a mini Bic lighter. Depending on the weight of the alcohol the kit should come in somewhere around 4.x ounces.

Any one have a better suggestion for a pot to compliment the cat can stove?

Comments? Suggestions?

 

[WasatchWill]

A wider pot for the cat can stove will help you get a faster boil, but yeah, the nesting would be easier with the Toaks. Wider pot takes extra care to balance it just right on the stove as well.

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk

 

[Jackson]

Cool analysis! And I was a chem major, and it was detailed enough for me! Those cat cans are so dang light. You've convinced me to go that direction if the real ultralight bug ever gets me. For now, I'm too lazy and will continue carrying my relatively heavy 8 oz Primus Yellowstone and my heavy 8-9 oz GSI pot. Haha.

 

[Wyatt Carson]

Good test. Liquid gas or compressed gas stoves do indeed use about half of what it takes for an alcohol stove in fuel, more BTUs in gas fuel I guess. But alky stoves are super light and as you travel the fuel weight is consumed leaving you with a lighter pack in the end. Its a tradeoff but alky stoves are completely silent and with no moving parts simple and durable. Mine is made of thick aluminum and is bombproof, (Whitebox stove).

I agree with wasatchwill, a wider pot will increase your performance with the alky stove and possibly the gas stove too but moreso with the alky stove as the Svea burner is pretty tight and concentrated comparably. That pot you are looking at, the Toaks 550ml titanium pot, is way too small in diameter though at just over 3 inches. Look at an Evernew .9L or 1.3L. Those are much wider at the base and will increase your fuel efficiency and decrease time to boil. The wider the better so the 1.3L would be my all around choice. In fact that is the pot I use with my alky stove. It will serve two if you are ever in that situation. I have a wider yet pot that does even better but the bulk and extra weight make the 1.3L the better all around for me.

The Calder Cone stove uses less fuel than the whitebox stove but it is much more bulky to pack, heavier with its "caddy" and it is super slow to boil. Less fuel to carry so there are tradeoffs to choose from.

 

[LarryBoy]

It's been several years since I used an alcohol stove, but I will say that the cat food stove is far inferior, in my opinion, to a pressurized design. I made a penny stove several years back that lasted ~120 burns on the AT. Weighed nothing, used maybe 1/2 or 3/4 of an ounce of fuel (I don't really remember), and brought my pot to boil in about 5 or 6 minutes. I then switched to a cat food stove, had abysmal results, and right around that time, decided that I didn't really like carrying a stove anyway. But if I were going back to a stove, the penny stove would be my stove of choice.

 

[pstm13]

You have good taste in stoves: SVEA 123 and a Sigg touristor...You should look for an Optimus 77 on eBay or something. It would fit your style perfectly. I had one and never really used it so I sold it.

 

[Kullaberg63]

My first winter ski trip on Hardangervidda in Norway featured a cantankerous SVEA 123 and assorted soot belching Optimus varieties using kerosene. This was in 1983. An issue of the American magazine Climbing was along on the trip, and I remember us looking with longing at the MSR adds for the XG-K, just knowing innately that here was a reliable, modern design. It was also unobtainable in Scandinavia at the time.

Our current choice is the Capillary Hoop Stove conceived by Tetkoba, a Japanese master of aluminum can stove development.

Edit: The Penny Stove, mentioned above, has become more or less obsolete as current cans have a protruding number stamp on the bottom lens that prohibits the crucial seal the penny needs for proper burning.

 

[Perry]

My first winter ski trip on Hardangervidda in Norway featured a cantankerous SVEA 123 and assorted soot belching Optimus varieties using kerosene. This was in 1983. An issue of the American magazine Climbing was along on the trip, and I remember us looking with longing at the MSR adds for the XG-K, just knowing innately that here was a reliable, modern design. It was also unobtainable in Scandinavia at the time.

Our current choice is the Capillary Hoop Stove conceived by Tetkoba, a Japanese master of aluminum can stove development.

Edit: The Penny Stove, mentioned above, has become more or less obsolete as current cans have a protruding number stamp on the bottom lens that prohibits the crucial seal the penny needs for proper burning.

Looks interesting. One thing I really like about the one I built is the integral pot stand but I might try out one of Tetkoba's designs just for giggles. I was toying with getting a Vargo titanium wood stove that could double as a windscreen and pot support with my cat can stove. Tetkoba's design would be more suited to this use as it needs a separate pot support.

 

[LarryBoy]

Edit: The Penny Stove, mentioned above, has become more or less obsolete as current cans have a protruding number stamp on the bottom lens that prohibits the crucial seal the penny needs for proper burning.

Sandpaper does the trick to remove the number. Start with the coarse grain, and work down to the fine grain. Once you're getting close, use the penny itself as the sanding block for your fine grain. Makes a perfect seal.

 

[Kullaberg63]

Sandpaper does the trick to remove the number. Start with the coarse grain, and work down to the fine grain. Once you're getting close, use the penny itself as the sanding block for your fine grain. Makes a perfect seal.

You have succeeded in this? We (my son is the stove addict here) have been down the sandpaper road with only frustration as the outcome.

Looks interesting. One thing I really like about the one I built is the integral pot stand but I might try out one of Tetkoba's designs just for giggles.

The integral pot stand is tempting and we did use that type of stove for a while. It is a little unsteady with a big meal on top (I rarely go solo), and since a windscreen is needed most of the time anyway, we finally made an integrated pot holder/screen and then started experimenting with open bath stoves, like the Capillary Hoop.

 

[LarryBoy]

You have succeeded in this? We (my son is the stove addict here) have been down the sandpaper road with only frustration as the outcome.

Yeah. It takes some patience and you do have to get it down to a fine enough grain. You can also use the penny itself to rub down part of the number just with the edges and friction and then finish it off with coarse, then fine grain sandpaper.

 

[pstm13]

My first winter ski trip on Hardangervidda in Norway featured a cantankerous SVEA 123 and assorted soot belching Optimus varieties using kerosene. This was in 1983. An issue of the American magazine Climbing was along on the trip, and I remember us looking with longing at the MSR adds for the XG-K, just knowing innately that here was a reliable, modern design. It was also unobtainable in Scandinavia at the time.

Our current choice is the Capillary Hoop Stove conceived by Tetkoba, a Japanese master of aluminum can stove development.

Edit: The Penny Stove, mentioned above, has become more or less obsolete as current cans have a protruding number stamp on the bottom lens that prohibits the crucial seal the penny needs for proper burning.

Like @Kullaberg63 said, the SVEA is not built for winter unless you have the pump. Then it does well, ok. But yes, next to those old XGK stoves anything looks slow. They will even beat the new XGk- EX. In fact the MSR stoves were invented because of frustration with the early SVEA, Optimus, Primus and alcohol stoves when used at high altitudes. I have the old Firefly from 83' that runs similar to the XGK with the design of the new Dragonfly and also smokes the new stoves.

See the Vintage Gear Thread