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Alcohol stove, alcohol candle, alcohol space heater, alcohol.. AKA playing with fire!

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  • Alcohol stove, alcohol candle, alcohol space heater, alcohol.. AKA playing with fire!

    Ok, I'm sure most of us have played with the ubiquitous alcohol camping stove. Not the most efficient means of cooking if the alcohol is just sitting there. I've found a way to get it to pressurize and cook as well as profane or natural gas.

    These chaffing lamps that can be found at dollar tree called Fancy Heat use a wick and methanol. Once the methanol is used up, they're just empty cans. I've pulled to wick head off, hammered three pin sized holes into the raised lip surrounding the cap head. Then I made three larger holes next to those to insert a cotton wick and penny nails into. The wick is meant to absorb the cotton and the nails are meant to 1. be used as a heat sink to help boil the alcohol and 2. act as a seal against most of the alcohol vapors, giving just one exit.

    The lit alcohol slowly heats both the cap head and the heatsink nails, causing the alcohol to slowly boil in the can. Within two-three minutes, the flames are comparable to a gas stove on the grid.

    I make sure that each cooking session the can is 90% full. This is about 6 oz of 91% isopropyl and 99% ethanol (IE; HEET in the yellow bottle) Non-continuous cook time is six hours on six oz, or 3.5 continuous hours on a full can.

    alcohol stove.jpg

    My aluminum cookware is having a hard time with this because the flames are too hot and are slowly boiling away at the aluminum. Stainless and cast hold up just fine. To extinguish, just blow out or if you don't have the lung capacity, a spray bottle with water and a couple of squirts.
    ____________________


    The next item is an alcohol candle. Simple and effective.

    For this, I just used a set of dollar store salt and pepper shakers glass/metal, 50 ft cotton clothesline (use nylon and you've created a grenade) a 2"x1" piece of aluminum foil.

    Take a decent sized nail, punch through the center hole on the salt shaker grating, then fold the 2"x1" aluminum piece and place on the inside of the grate where you screw in the glass reservoir, press it into the inside of the grate so as to get a flush fit. Push a second hole with the nail from the inside of the grate through the aluminum into the same hole on the grate. Now, take a five inch section of clothesline and place through the hole, once you've done so, fill the reservoir with 91% isopropyl, cap the shaker and let the alcohol soak into the wick.

    alcohol candle.jpg
    Useful and decorative. Filled to the beveled edge (2 oz), the candle lasts for six hours continuous.


    My next trick is going to be a flat panel radiator that can heat a 10x15 bedroom using one liter of alcohol.
    You're still walking free. Enjoy it while you can.
    Homesite: http://millenniummangear.com
    Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenniumgear

  • #2
    Hey MM - Can we get another picture or two of the stove ?? Thanx. Jst

    Comment


    • #3
      No problem, but it'll have to wait a couple days until I get home. I'm on the road in my truck right now and....... Ahhhh shit.... ANGERY! Your story's bleeding over into reality again!
      You're still walking free. Enjoy it while you can.
      Homesite: http://millenniummangear.com
      Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenniumgear

      Comment


      • #4
        Keeping you on your toes.
        I'm drunk tonith.

        Comment


        • #5
          Ok, I'm home and as promised I've taken some more pics of the burner.
          alcohol burner 2.jpg
          Better picture of the burner.

          alcohol burner 3.jpg
          2 minutes after ignition.
          alcohol burner 4.jpg
          5 minutes after ignition.
          alcohol burner 5.jpg
          10 minutes after ignition.
          alcohol burner 6.jpg
          Three minutes after setting a pot on to boil.
          You're still walking free. Enjoy it while you can.
          Homesite: http://millenniummangear.com
          Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenniumgear

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks MM. Man - that baby throws some serious heat.

            Comment


            • #7
              Want to try this! Added to the To Do List.
              Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
              Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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              • #8
                Ok, for my next trick, I've built an alcohol powered space heater (still perfecting it) I like to call the Ethylbox.

                It holds half a liter of alcohol and runs for four hours on high. The ceramic tiles capture and radiate the heat just fine, problem is the heat keeps rising through the chimney. I'm thinking of adding a O2cool desktop fan or a cheap PC fan to blow the heat out into the room.

                While it's off in the daytime, you can see the scorching of the heat on the ceramic tiles inside the Ethylbox.
                ethylbox1.jpg


                Running at night (31F outside, 50 inside a 10x23 room)
                ethylbox2.jpg

                Like I said, idea needs some work.
                You're still walking free. Enjoy it while you can.
                Homesite: http://millenniummangear.com
                Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenniumgear

                Comment


                • #9
                  Did you pick up some of those specialty wood stove & fireplace tiles for this, or just use some regular stuff you had on hand?
                  quam minimum credula postero

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Regular bath tiles for 22 cents each from Lowes. They're ceramic, they have held up so far. But I also haven't needed it for the past couple of days due to the 80 degree weather
                    You're still walking free. Enjoy it while you can.
                    Homesite: http://millenniummangear.com
                    Twitter: https://twitter.com/millenniumgear

                    Comment

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